Shanghai Dream

Burned out hacker Cad Caldwell is on the verge of committing nanobot-induced suicide in a cramped Union capsule hotel when a mysterious package arrives from Tokyo.

Inside, a sleek black computer console unlike anything he has ever seen before. The console is a lifeline from someone high up in the Yakuza food chain and the sender wants Caldwell to do a job. The devil, however, is in the details.

Before long, Caldwell finds out that his Japanese client is dead and that he has become a moving target running from the long arm of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest Yakuza faction. But help is at hand, in the form of a Faustian bargain from the surgically-enhanced head of a secret Union electronic warfare unit who claims to hold the key to Caldwell's blocked memories.

To get his memories back, Caldwell must use the console to hack into the core of a secretive new network deep in the heart of New China.

“The future has already arrived. It's just not evenly distributed yet.” --
William Gibson

“If you want to see the future of China, that's Shanghai. Beijing has palaces, government offices, more interesting small shops, and better food. But there's already nothing like Shanghai on the planet, and the place is still under construction, with the national bird of China, the Construction Crane, in evidence everywhere. I sat in the superb bar on the 85th floor of the Grand Hyatt (like Hiltons and Sheratons abroad, there's no comparison with the domestic counterparts), smoking a Cohiba Lancero and sipping a Courvoisier, surrounded by vintage art. It was dark and foggy with light drizzle and, as a large blimp drifted by about 40 stories below me, its aerostat illuminated with advertising in Chinese, it became clear that I was already living in the world of the Blade Runner.” --
Doug Casey’s International Speculator