In the first of a new video series, Fairbank Center: On Books, Ya-Wen Lei, Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, discusses her just-published new book, The Gilded Cage: Technology, Development, and State Capitalism in China (Princeton University Press, 2023). Executive Director Dorinda (Dinda) Elliott discussed with Professor Lei the motivation behind her research and unpacked exactly what the phrase “gilded cage” means—as well as its future implications for China’s political economy.

Ya-Wen further discusses her book with The Wire China.