Equal parts muckraking novel, transnational love story, and socially engaged panorama, Cho Chongnae's The Human Jungle portrays China on the verge of becoming the world's dominant economic force. Against a backdrop of rapidly morphing urban landscapes, readers meet migrant workers, Korean manufacturers out to save a few bucks, high-flying venture capitalists, street thugs, and shakedown artists. The picture of China that emerges is at turns unsettling,...