The River at the Center of the World, (Paperback)

from PDCRead

At over 3900 miles long the Yangtze is the river that divides China. South of the river is the rice growing part of China, and north of it wheat is grown. But this divide also brings together the nation, as it supports millions of people livelihoods, and hold the keys to some of China's earliest ...

from jcbrunner

A wonderful book about a great river that packs many motifs into a great travel narrative. Starting in booming Shangai, we witness a newly liberated China which sheds the shackles of both colonialism and communism, only to colonize the poor Tibetans. Another classic motif is the river as a source...

from JBD1

Simon Winchester travels up the Yangtze and uses his trek to write about Chinese history and its various Yangtze-based focal points. A bit uneven (rather like the river, perhaps?), but overall I was intrigued by Winchester's tale. His visit to a Tea Research Institute was very amusing, and his in...

from jcbrunner

A wonderful book about a great river that packs many motifs into a great travel narrative. Starting in booming Shangai, we witness a newly liberated China which sheds the shackles of both colonialism and communism, only to colonize the poor Tibetans. Another classic motif is the river as a source...

from BooksForDinner

This is the fourth Winchester book I've read (the two OED books and the other China book being the first three). It's also the earliest, and while I enjoyed this book, I liked his later ones a little better. He seems rather fair in his assessments of China and its people, but how would I know?!?