Originally titled "What is Left When Everyone Has Left", the book presents facts and observations alongside a selection from my archive of over 5,000 images, striving to uphold the ethic that defines the journalistic profession in its purest form to answer the question: why did China steer away from the methods and policies they successfully pursued after 1979? Does the CCP have an agenda no one has quite seen through? Or are they struggling with challenges for which no perfect solution is possible?

I lived in China for almost 20 years, and saw the country, and the world, going through two historic cultural and economic transitions. The first one was towards globalization and defined the world where my generation was raised. The second one is towards strategic autonomy and defines our world today. The year 2019, when China celebrated the 40th anniversary of its opening and reform, can be considered a symbolic milestone separating the two periods (coincidentally, it was also my 40th birthday).