Finally finished How China Works by Xiaohuan Lan. It was my second book about China after Dan Wang’s Breakneck. I found it to be a great follow up because it goes it gives a high level overview of how the Chinese state is organised and goes into detail of how it raises taxes and allocates capital. Both in my view were missing from Breakneck, which is engagingly written but leans heavily on anecdotes. It is must read for anyone wishing to understand China, but beware that the prose is rather dry and academic.