In 2004, NPR correspondent Rob Gifford traveled across China, following a single highway, Route 312, west from Shanghai for nearly 3,000 miles. He observed the booming economy behind China’s rise to power, but also discovered overwhelming poverty and numerous other things that could undermine the country’s new-found role on the world stage. Part On the Road, part brilliant social commentary, his observations, originally a seven-part series on NPR, have been collected here in China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power.

Gifford spoke with NPR’s Steve Inskeep late last month: “I’d just get on a bus, and you just find the four people sitting around you all have amazing stories about their life in the countryside or their life in the city. You know, everywhere you go, you just ask the people, ‘What are you doing? What’s your life like?’ And they just want to talk about it, and that’s really what the book is.”

Gifford stopped by The Diane Rehm Show earlier today, during which time he presented a mixture of humorous travel stories with his larger theories on the social and economic progressions of one of the most important countries in the world. Listen to the interview here and read the NPR article and excerpt here.