Riding the Iron Rooster : By Train Through China - Paperback

from jcbrunner

Paul Theroux' account of his train journeys across and around China during the the late 1980s is both entertaining and enlightening. His fascination with and desire for travel by train lies in the forced prolonged intimacy with his fellow travelers. He is a consummate leech. While furiously guard...

from gypsysmom

This book about Paul Theroux's travels by train through China was written 20 years ago. Although this trip was before the Tiananmen Square massacre, Theroux did see and hear about some student and worker protests. China was definitely going through a process of change at this time. Deng Xiaoping ...

from ubaidd

Reading Mr. Theroux' travelogue of Chnia made me realize I should know more of Chinese history than I do (which is practically nothing). School history textbooks in India focus mostly on local, state and national history. In higher grades you deal with European history, India's colonial past and ...

from Sandydog1

This best-selling. snarky-tourist-spends-an-eternity-traveling-China in the mid-1980s, has held up well. Although long and sometimes redundant (HOW many trains are taken?), it is a wonderful account of mid 20th century China history and modern Chinese government/culture/behavior. 3 1/2 stars as a...

from robeik

Theroux rides the train through China in a period of time before the Tianamen Square demonstrations. He can be rather funny, although not as much as Bill Bryson. He can be rather rude of fellow travelers. He appears to have the knack of engaging with people, making for interesting reading. Howeve...