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dave_daines's review
4.0
A travelogue of the author's very long trip through China not long after it was opened to the west, sometime in the early 80s. His prose is insightful and descriptive, although sometimes a bit too grandiose. I occasionally was amazed at the condescending (and often racist or sexist) remarks about the Chinese - there would be a lot of editing to do if this was released even 10 years after it was. However, the author was clearly a man of his time and doesn't mince words about what he is thinking.
The strength of the book is in its documentation of the people the author meets on his journey. The author did an incredible job recording those conversations, and I'm impressed he was able to understand the various dialects he must have encountered along the way.
The strength of the book is in its documentation of the people the author meets on his journey. The author did an incredible job recording those conversations, and I'm impressed he was able to understand the various dialects he must have encountered along the way.
adamsw216's review
4.0
Colin Thubron's travelogue paints a fascinating picture of China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. Obviously not averse to literary flourishes, Thubron spends a good deal of time waxing poetic about the places he visits as he winds his way across the country. He provides a bit of historic background throughout his writings, but this is not an academic analysis. Interactions with the locals seem to provide a deeper picture of the state of the country at the time, though I imagine most of them are paraphrased. Some of Thubron's descriptions may rankle a more contemporary mindset, but I think this book is not only an interesting snapshot of China in the 1980's, but also of a kind of Western view of China at the time, as well. He has many moments of introspection about his own biases, but quickly moves on as there is much to see and experience. Overall, I found Thubron to be a talented writer (as long as you don't mind his more flowery prose) and the book itself to be an interesting view of China through Western eyes, both products of their time.
isering's review
3.0
Not sure whether I was just too distracted with my impending move to give this the attention it needed but I couldn't focus on this properly - the individual anecdotes didn't really tie together for me
jamesjustjames's review against another edition
5.0
I picked this book up as a curiosity due to our sudden interest in China in 2020 and instantly fell in love with Thubron’s style of non-fiction prose. This book is masterfully written, the language flows like a river, making writers like myself truly jealous at his skill. Being a travel book this really took me to China in a totally different time post-cultural revolution but pre-modern success story. I felt like I accompanied Thubron every second of his journey, the people he met old friends and the places familiar locales of which I really will never forget. Yes, it’s easy to say that this book is no longer relevant because of when it was written, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure, this book isn’t an up-to-date commentary on China in 2020 but a stark reminder of where China came from, through struggle, poverty and suffering. Thubron has created a travel journey which beautifully illustrates the Chinese culture and creates a conduit in which a western audience can understand a generation of people shaped by communism, Maoism and suffering.
left_coast_justin's review
5.0
This is my favorite book about China, and I've read quite a few.
Thubron is an endlessly sympathetic narrator as he travels through 'classical' China, befriending people along the way and extracting their stories. His masterly writing style is evident even in his chapter headings: Where a lesser writer might have written "To the Southwest" or "Guangxi and Yunnan," Thubron writes "In the Land of Peacocks," which is infinitely more vivid.
I read this book years ago, and yet many of the stories he tells are still lodged in my brain. A man collapsing with exhaustion in a flowerbed after having a gash treated by a local quack; a mother and daughter competing for the author's admiration with an impromptu fashion show; his visit to Mao's childhood home. One of the best stories appears very late in the book, about an indomitable, statuesque Chinese girl and her American husband. Just as he's concluded that "her husband didn't stand much of a chance," he extends the story a bit and hits us with a surprise ending.
This is a book about people, in all our sadness, joy and glory. That it happens to be set in China in the mid 1980's is almost beside the point.
Thubron is an endlessly sympathetic narrator as he travels through 'classical' China, befriending people along the way and extracting their stories. His masterly writing style is evident even in his chapter headings: Where a lesser writer might have written "To the Southwest" or "Guangxi and Yunnan," Thubron writes "In the Land of Peacocks," which is infinitely more vivid.
I read this book years ago, and yet many of the stories he tells are still lodged in my brain. A man collapsing with exhaustion in a flowerbed after having a gash treated by a local quack; a mother and daughter competing for the author's admiration with an impromptu fashion show; his visit to Mao's childhood home. One of the best stories appears very late in the book, about an indomitable, statuesque Chinese girl and her American husband. Just as he's concluded that "her husband didn't stand much of a chance," he extends the story a bit and hits us with a surprise ending.
This is a book about people, in all our sadness, joy and glory. That it happens to be set in China in the mid 1980's is almost beside the point.
bibliophiliadk's review
5.0
I was completely and utterly taken in by this book. From he first little annecdote that had me laughing aloud on the trainway to school to the end that turned me into a one-time-philosopher. Colin Thubron goes to China after the death of Chairman Mao, after the Cultural Revolution and after Deng Xiopeng has introduced new reform through out the country. Thubron tells us that he, for the purpose of this trip, has learned Mandarin Chinese and throughout the book it becomes very apperant why he did so. He wants to talk to people, wants to understand them and wants to understand the country's history, especially the Cultural Revolution. This is something he has heard a lot about at home in England, and he has his own opppinion of this, which is certainly not good, but he is constantly met my indifferent Chinese people. Well, perhaps not completely indifferent, but they have certainly accepted that this is the wayy life is for them. Though there is one Chinese woman who makes a big impression on Thubron. She tells him, that everybody in town thinks her mad, but that's only because she isn't like them. She doesn't conform, she doesn't follow the stream. Thubron himself is only sporadically visible in the book. Most of the book is made of small annecdotes about things he's seen, and retellings of conversations he's had. It's not often that he himself, his feelings, thoughts or opinions become visible to the reader. Instead he has a very unique and likable approach, I felt, anyway. In his conversations with the Chinese he often asks about the Cultural Revolution, and though his questions are careful and slightly guarded, his contant need for answers about this subject shows just how much he wishes to know about it. He doesn't volunteer any informations about himself. We know only that he is English because he is asked where he comes from. We know only that he's 46 because he's asked about his age. We know only that he's single because he 'invents' a wife at one point. Another interesting thing about Thubron is the way he travels. Alone. Many Chinese people he meets wonder about this, seeing him as almost strange. Some even offer to go with him, but he turns them down. We also never learn why he has embarked on this journey, but a good guess would be curiosity. This is just after the opening of China, so this country is virtually only a fantasy to a lot of people. At one point Thubron has a chance to sleep in Chairman Mao's bed, one of them anyway, and when he is in this enigmatic mans room he refers to him as goldlike, calling him He, and pondering over His life. To Thubron Mao is an exhaulted being. Towards the end we start to see more of Thubron. He starts one chapter with melancholy drabblings, he is tired of traveling, his tired of China, but most of all his tired of the Chinese and the 'sameness'. Before this points he has willingsly spoken to those who approach him. After this he becomes rude and even ignore certain people until they go away. A little after this, towards the end of his journey, he oversees a public trial, and it is here that we learn of his psycological journey, of his his travels have changed him. Because though he is still outraged about this public display of power and humiliation, he has finally come to accept that that is the Chinese way. In punishment and even in death the individual serves the masses. It is also very easy to tell that Thubron has an interest in China. In between tellings of his own journey he has little paragraphs of history about the places he visits og the things he sees.
katarzyna's review
1.0
I gave up after three chapters. There is a lot if interesting information about China's history and society but the author's writing prevents me from continuing reading the book. Not only does he use incredibly pretentious and complicated language to describe simple things, he also projects feelings and thoughts on people he talks to. I wish I would be able to finish this book since I love reading about China.
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