The Street of Eternal Happiness

The Chinese dream on the Street of Eternal Happiness

Kai Ryssdal May 16, 2016

The Street of Eternal Happiness

The Chinese dream on the Street of Eternal Happiness

Kai Ryssdal May 16, 2016

62 year-old Zhang Naisun spends his evenings begging for money on the Street of Eternal Happiness. It's been twelve years since Zhang last spent a lunar New Year holiday with his family in rural Henan province. Rob Schmitz/Marketplace

What started as a yearlong radio series on Marketplace is now a book.

Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road is the full title of the new book out today by Marketplace China Correspondent, Rob Schmitz.

It follows a group of individuals who live and work along a single street in Shanghai as they go through, day by day, life in today’s China. Some thrive in China’s new economy while others continue to search for their version of the Chinese Dream.

Listen to the radio series on which the book was based.

Stories You Might Like

The story of China through the lens of one Shanghai street

A dream of freedom on the Street of Eternal Happiness

Where have all of Shanghai’s newsstands gone?

China’s Disneyland: Big enough for its consumer class?

Loss and redemption on the Street of Eternal Happiness

Economics helped spur Tiananmen Square protests

There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.