Product Description

Simon Winchester undertakes a journey from the mouth of the Yangste River to its source. This is the story of the river, it's cities and their people, built around the author's own journey to discover something of the essence of China and her people, the Yangtse being her soul and centre

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #130530 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

About the Author
Simon Winchester, who has reported from almost everywhere during an award-winning 20 year career as a Guardian correspondent, now lives in NY. He is the Asia-Pacific Editor for Conde Nast Traveler & contributes to a number of American magazines, as well as the Daily Telegraph, the Spectator and the BBC. His books include: OUTPOSTS: TRAVELS TO THE REMAINS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE; KOREA: A WALK THROUGH THE LAND OF MIRACLES; THE PACIFIC; PACIFIC NIGHTMARE; PRISON DIARY, ARGENTINA.

Customer Reviews

Better than a thousand photographs...
I visited China three years ago - the usual tourist routes around Beijing, Shanghai and Xian - but the bit I enjoyed most was the Yangtze cruise. Perhaps because I had been there, I was able to relate to this book. More importantly, I wish I had read in before I went. There is so much that I missed - both tangible and atmospheric. But even if you have never been or intend to go, the author paints a picture more vivid than a thousand photographs. The style is amusing and anecdotal but also deeply knowledgeable - history without the boring bits. It will have you crying at the Rape of Nanking, and laughing at Dr Ho of the mountians ( nice bloke , crap tea ). It's a riveting good read and I thoroughly recommend it

A travel book with a difference
When I bought this book I was actually looking for a different book by the same author but this one caught my eye – I wasn’t disappointed.

The book tells of the efforts of Simon Winchester to travel all the way along The Yangtze river from east of Shanghai to the mountains of Tibet. There’s none of the humour of Bill Bryson or Peter Moore; instead this is more the sort of book you could imagine Alan Whicker writing.

At the start, Winchester explains some of the background to the book, notably explaining upstream and downstream, and introducing his travel companion whose real name we are not told for the risk of endangering her safety with Chinese authorities. Clearly, you’re reading a serious travel book. As the journey progresses he describes in detail Shanghai, Nanking, The Three Gorges (before the completion of the hydroelectric dam being built there) and Shigu (an astonishing place a long way along the Yangtze where the river undertakes a quite astonishing turn).

The book is written against the background of bureaucracy and officialdom which at various points threaten the continuation of the story.

As someone who has travelled only very briefly in China, I was absolutely fascinated by this book which perhaps in some way provides a little insight into a country which has so very much to offer.

Great Read
I would recommend this book not just as an enthralling voyage of discovery but also as a sharply observed insight into modern China. It gives you a sense of the great geographical size of the country and its great potential for good or evil for the future, as well as informing us with lots of interesting stories from the past.