Amazing! Worth really reading, for sure.

This line was arresting: “For a more beautiful face, of course."

Also this quote, which initially disturbed me, and then disturbed me even more when I realized that's kinda how it works in the USA too:

John Osburg, an anthropologist who spent years studying successful businessmen in Chengdu, told me that “there’s always a fear that, if the officials to whom they’re tied are brought down in an anti-corruption campaign, it could bring trouble for them, too, and lead to the seizure of their assets. There’s also a concern that business rivals who may be better connected to people in the government could use their ties to the party-state to bring down their competitors.”