An elephant on a bicycle.

That's the most memorable picture from the book I finished reading a few days ago. The book was "China Shakes the World: A Titan's rise and troubled Future". It was a very interesting read, written by James Kynge, who has worked as the Financial Times' correspondent in Beijing for a number of years. The first few chapters describe how China has got to the position it's currently in, a rising superpower. The last few chapters contrast this, looking at some of the challenges to China's continued rise (things like environmental degradation, the collapse of trust (in government etc), and a government sometimes struggling to keep control. China's economy was what was described as the elephant... it needs to keep going, because if it slows down, it will fall off the bicycle, and shake the whole world economy (and more).
It was a good overview of China, but there were a few things that struck me as a little wrong - one of the points was how China has contributed to falling prices in a whole range of sectors. One of the main examples he used was falling prices of mobile phones and other technology items. Working in the tech industry, I know that's not quite how things work... prices fall as products mature, regardless of what China is doing.
The other thing which was slightly ironic was how Kynge credits China's buying of US Treasury bonds with keeping American iterest rates low and therefore providing a boost to the American economy. Those same (artificially) low interest rates are at least part of the reason for the current economic meltdown.
Those are some pretty minor criticisms though - overall it is well written, informative and easy to read.
If you want to do some more reading about it, there's plenty of China blogs out there: Drorism and Imagethief are two that have well-written, informative posts.