Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

As any traveler knows, some of the best and most honest conversations take place during car rides. So, when a long-time NPR correspondent wanted to learn more about the real China, he started driving a cab and discovered a country amid seismic political and economic change. China—America's most important competitor—is at a turning point. With economic growth slowing, Chinese people face inequality and uncertainty as their leaders tighten control at home and project power abroad. In his adventurous book The Shanghai Free Taxi, Frank Langfitt provides details about his free taxi service and how he got to know a wide range of colorful, compelling characters representative of the new China. They include folks such as Beer, a slippery salesman who tries to sell Langfitt a used car; Rocky, a farm boy turned Shanghai lawyer; and Chen, who runs an underground Christian church and moves his family to America in search of a better, freer life. Langfitt is currently NPR's London correspondent, covering the UK, Ireland a