When the novel Beijing Coma by the Chinese writer Ma Jian came out last year, I had little interest in reading it. Something about the structure of the novel — which is narrated by a man in a coma who is able to perceive, though unable to respond, to what is going on around him [...]
Out of Mao’s Shadow (2008), by Philip Pan, is not only one of the best books about China that I’ve read recently, it’s also one of the best books that I’ve read recently, period. Pan, a former Beijing correspondent for the Washington Post, focuses on problems with China’s authoritarian state: its refusal to acknowledge its [...]
If you’ve ever run out of reading material on the road, you’ll sympathize with W. Somerset Maugham on reading-while-traveling, circa 1922:
How precious then is the inordinate length of your book (for you are travelling light and you have limited yourself to three) and how jealously you read every word of every page so that you [...]
Lost on Planet China made me laugh. Sometimes, it made me laugh hard. But it also made me want to strangle Maarten Troost, its author.
Troost embarked on a several-months-long journey in China as, admittedly, no expert on China. He is supposedly considering moving his children to China so that they will be prepared for the [...]
A few recent items of interest:
This New Yorker interview brought my attention to Earnshaw Books, which republishes old books on China, with a specific focus on foreigners’ accounts of their travels through China. I’ll be adding “Foreign Devils in the Flowery Kingdom” to my to-read pile ASAP.
An AP correspondent in China offers this account of [...]
Lonely Planet just released the newest (11th, May 2009) edition of their guidebook for China. I haven’t seen it yet, but hopefully the new release addresses some of the map errors that plagued the 10th edition.
Amazon is selling it for $21.11, or 34% off the cover price of $31.99. Alternately, Lonely Planet is doing a [...]
