For the New York Times, Didi Kirsten Tatlow reports from a glamorous party for Vogue China’s fifth anniversary and contrasts it to a new book about the lives of China’s villagers:

The atmosphere was gilded and jubilant, in keeping with China’s remarkable rags-to-riches tale of the last 30 years.

These are fairy-tale days, for some, though not all.

Two nights earlier, He Xiongfei, a noted private publisher, had handed me his latest book: “The Good Grain People” by Aisin Gioro Wei Ran.

The book describes the beginning of Mr. Wei’s 25-year project, dubbed “Ten-Thousand Village Journey,” begun in 2006, to visit thousands of villages and document the poverty he sees.

“I’m just one person. I decided that the best thing I could do would be to tell people what’s really going on,” Mr. Wei said in an interview.

For more on the disparities between rich and poor in China, check out CDT’s News Focus section The Great Divide.