Multimedia: Author Talk on Golf, the 'Forbidden Game,' Exposes Stark Contrasts in Today's China

Dan Washburn and ESPN correspondent Jeremy Schaap in a discussion on golf in China at Asia Society New York on September 4, 2014. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

Washburn, who lived in China from 2002 to 2011, spent more than seven years researching and writing "The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream" (OneWorld, 2014). (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

ESPN correspondent Jeremy Schaap asks a pointed question at Asia Society New York on September 4, 2014. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

ChinaFile Editor Susan Jakes introducing the program on September 4, 2014. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

Washburn and Schaap sign copies of their books following the talk at Asia Society New York on September 4, 2014. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

NEW YORK, September 4, 2014 — ChinaFile, the online magazine of Asia Society's Center on China-U.S. Relations, presented a look at the social and literal landscape of present-day China with the New York book launch of The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream (Oneworld Publishing, 2014) by Dan Washburn. In keeping with the sports theme of the evening, Washburn was joined in discussion by ESPN correspondent Jeremy Schaap prior to a Q & A with members of the audience.

Lauded as "strikingly original" by the Wall Street Journal, The Forbidden Game focuses on three men intimately involved in China's unorthodox golf scene, where new golf courses are at once banned and booming. Washburn, who is Asia Society Online's Director and Chief Content Officer, lived in China from 2002 to 2011 and spent more than seven years researching and writing the book.

In the clip below, the author relates some of the ironies, as well as the human costs, inherent in the frantic rush to develop golf courses in traditionally rural areas.

Video: "Haves and have-nots" (5 min., 5 sec.)