A colleague recently asked me: “Any good books you’d recommend?” I glanced at my bookshelf – quite a few worth reading, actually. Let me start with economics. Why economics first? There’s an ancient Chinese saying: “All under heaven bustles for profit.” Virtually all human activity can be explained through economic principles. Understand the nature of economics, and you understand how the world works.

Getting Started

My journey into economics began with these two books:

  1. The World Is a Financial History
  2. The Wealth of Nations: A Financial History of China, Volume 2

Both are by Chen Yulu, former president of Renmin University of China and former vice governor of the People’s Bank of China. He tells the story of finance through the lens of history – a fresh angle that’s easy to follow.

Speaking of these books, I have to mention a legendary post from Tianya (a once-popular Chinese forum): What did we gain from the 2010 real estate regulation? Written before the housing price surge. The original post has been taken down, but someone archived it on GitHub – Tianya kkndme’s legendary thread on housing. It earned its legendary status by predicting “housing is for living, not speculation” a full eight years early – which, I suspect, is exactly why the original post was removed. In kkndme’s thread, he mentioned that his teacher was Chen Yulu and referenced the first book. So I tracked it down, bought a copy, and was deeply impressed. Then I discovered the second volume.

Years ago, I had zero interest in economics – it felt dry and impenetrable. That changed when I stumbled upon “Shuiku Forum” (also taken down now), home to another legendary figure – Ou Chengxiao. He earned his reputation primarily through real estate investment theory and practice, and “open-sourced” many lesser-known “tech trees.” He also wrote a book – How the Middle Class Can Protect Their Wealth. Most of the content comes from his publicly published articles, which you can find online. There are also compiled collections on Taobao, and since the author declared no copyright, there are no infringement issues.

Two more approachable books, suitable even for kids:

  1. How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes – Uses the story of a tiny island with just three people to isolate economic logic from the complexity of the real world
  2. The Money Dog (Bodo Schafer’s Kira and the Dog Named Money) – Told from a dog’s perspective, it covers how to manage money, invest, and achieve financial freedom

Deeper Thinking

After stepping into economics, I kept asking why things are the way they are. Then I found another series that gave me a new understanding:

  1. The Logic of Finance, Volume 1
  2. The Logic of Finance, Volume 2
  3. The Logic of Wealth, Volume 1
  4. The Logic of Wealth, Volume 2

This is Chen Zhiwu’s finance series, four volumes in total. The most striking question it poses: “Why are the Chinese so hardworking yet not wealthy?” After reading the series, many things suddenly clicked.

Theory

After reading extensively about economics, I noticed a serious problem: I seemed to have learned a lot, yet also nothing at all. There was always a disconnect from daily life. Even Ou Chengxiao’s “tech trees” felt more practical. That changed when I heard Zhang Wuchang’s two-and-a-half-hour lecture at the “Humanities and Economics Forum,” which led me to his body of work:

  1. The Theory of Share Tenancy
  2. Economic Explanation, Volume 1: The Science of Demand
  3. Economic Explanation, Volume 2: Income and Cost
  4. Economic Explanation, Volume 3: Price Takers and Price Searchers
  5. Economic Explanation, Volume 4: The Choice of Institutions

After finishing Zhang Wuchang’s works, I finally felt a sense of clarity – like a martial arts character unlocking their energy meridians. But was that the end?

Having come this far, it would be remiss not to read the foundational classics – The Wealth of Nations and Das Kapital. Since these are heavily theoretical and Chinese translations can lose nuance, I’d suggest reading them side by side in both Chinese and English, taking your time.