Wednesday, June 4 at 6:00 PM, Giada Messetti presents "China Is a Lobster – How the Asian Giant Is Changing" (Mondadori – Strade Blu, April 2025), in conversation with Ilaria Mundula.
“Fifty years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine today’s China,” says Giada Messetti. And that’s because, as one of her Chinese friends puts it, “China is a lobster.” The image is particularly fitting: like a lobster that must shed its old shell as it grows—becoming vulnerable while waiting for a new one to form—contemporary China is undergoing a painful and complex metamorphosis.
After exploring the current events and cultural dynamics of the Middle Kingdom in her previous essays, Giada Messetti now shifts her focus to Chinese society in this new book.
During her latest travels—after the reopening of China’s borders—she met people from diverse backgrounds and social classes. This allowed her to observe firsthand how much everyday life has changed for Chinese citizens: from the attitudes of young people toward work and their future, to women’s growing awareness of their role within the family and in society, to the elderly’s desire to enjoy their retirement years. Beyond that, backed by data and statistics, she outlines how habits and lifestyles are evolving, and she highlights the widespread awareness of environmental issues: the sky over Beijing is finally blue, signaling a real green shift.
This is a first-hand, non-ideological account—and therefore a particularly valuable one. It offers precisely the kind of nuanced insight needed to counter the many stereotypes still prevalent in the West. Because although the Dragon is currently facing serious internal issues—such as an aging population, slowed economic growth, youth unemployment, and a real estate crisis—China remains on the rise and continues to redefine global economic and geopolitical dynamics. That’s why trying to understand its contradictions and complexities is especially crucial in this era of great transformation.
Giada Messetti, originally from Gemona del Friuli (UD), has lived in China for many years. A sinologist and author of television and radio programs for Rai, Mediaset, and La7, she is a well-known communicator and commentator on Chinese affairs, appearing on television, in theaters, on the radio, at conferences and festivals, and writing for newspapers and magazines. She conceived, wrote, and co-hosted the television program CinAmerica—focused on the China–U.S. rivalry—which aired on Rai3 and is now available on Raiplay. For Mondadori, she published the essays Nella testa del Dragone (2020) and La Cina è già qui (2022). With this latest book, she completes an ideal trilogy.
Ilaria Mundula is a sinologist and expert in intercultural marketing and strategic communication, with direct experience in China and with Chinese communities in Italy. She is also a public digital-intercultural communication consultant and Head of the Chinese Digital Scenario Observatory at the Wem Park Lab of PIN – Prato University Hub.
