Nepal, Dec. 27 -- As a tumultuous year for our neighbourhood comes to an end, for Nepal, it's been a year marked by a bilateral high and a superpower tussle in Kathmandu's power corridors. The visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping was the peak of 'brand Nepal' in many ways; the visit is expected to kick-start several dormant agreements, as well as bring in more tourists, greater investments, and more people-to-people exchanges.

So for my year-ending column, I want to give a brief overview of a few books that help decode modern China. As with all reading lists, the caveat remains: this is not a complete list. It does not include works of fiction, which often provide searing insights into any society much better than nonfiction-in the case...