Yasheng Huang presents a detailed and meticulous analysis of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China during the reform period. The author should be commended for collecting and analysing descriptive information on China-based FDI that is useful to practitioners as much as to researchers, and for arguing a seemingly intriguing thesis about China's economic ascent. He also presents a number of industry cases, some of which, like that on the Chinese handicraft industry, are particularly captivating. Yet, at the end of the day, what this book does best in my mind is illustrate the confines of traditional academic paradigms when faced with real-life phenomena that are too broad and complex to be captured by a single lens. This is, it itself, an important service.