BOOK REVIEWS
359
slight knowledge of China achievable in six months comes through in the rather patchy treatment it gives 7 pages on Canton, 1⁄2 page on Swatow, 5½ lines on Chiu Chow, 14 pages on places in the Pearl River Delta accessible from Canton, and 8½ lines on Shaoguan is its sum total on Kwangtung Province, and most of this 9 pages is thin and derivative. It would not be possible to visit any of these cities and gain much from the experience without taking along a second guidebook.
The book's main aim is to point out that, since the recent liberalisations, it is possible for the foreigner to travel in China by himself, and stay in the cheaper hotels, and thus see more of the real China. This is, of course, true as far as it goes. But little hint is given in the book of the very real problems that still exist—the absolutely essential need to be fluent in both Mandarin and the local dialect if one is to argue oneself into the cheapest hotels as suggested, the extreme difficulty in the way of long-range telephoning in most places, the bureaucratic problems involved if one gets stuck (e.g., by roads being washed out), the practical difficulties of reaching consular, legal, or financial help in a disaster in other than major cities when on one's own, the psychological difficulties involved in walking round a town surrounded by crowds of gawpers (still a problem in some places), and the lack of even the most basic of facilities (even backpackers are likely to be thrown by the squalor of many cheap Chinese hotels). Some things are treated in a way that seems less than completely frank: most restaurant food in China outside the main cities is of the poorest quality, buses (except the Shenzhen luxury coaches) often excruciatingly uncomfortable, and the fight for tickets less than entertaining.
A more significant failing of this book is its lack of any attempt to explain the real China to the young and impoverished visitor it is aimed at. It is of little use showing such a one how physically to get to the genuinely non-tourist parts of a Chinese city if he is left totally at sea as to what is going on around him when he gets there, but little attempt to explain is made.
All in all, this book is of some value as giving the occasional practical hint to the would-be backpacker in China. But unless the backpacker has good basic knowledge of China, or is travelling
BOOK REVIEWS
359
slight knowledge of China achievable in six months comes through in the rather patchy treatment it gives 7 pages on Canton, 1⁄2 page on Swatow, 5%1⁄2 lines on Chiu Chow, 14 pages on places in the Pearl River Delta accessible from Canton, and 81⁄2 lines on Shaoguan is its sum total on Kwangtung Province, and most of this 9 pages is thin and derivative. It would not be possible to visit any of these cities and gain much from the experience without taking along a second guidebook.
The book's main aim is to point out that, since the recent liberalisations, it is possible for the foreigner to travel in China by himself, and stay in the cheaper hotels, and thus see more of the real China. This is, of course, true as far as it goes. But little hint is given in the book of the very real problems that still exist the absolutely essential need to be fluent in both Mandarin and the local dialect if one is to argue oneself into the cheapest hotels as suggested, the extreme difficulty in the way of long range telephoning in most places, the bureaucratic problems involved if one gets stuck (e.g. by roads being washed out), the practical difficulties of reaching consular, legal, or financial help in a disaster in other than major cities when on one's own, the psychological difficulties involved in walking round a town surrounded by crowds of gawpers (still a problem in some places), and the lack of even the most basic of facilities (even backpackers are likely to be thrown by the squalor of many cheap Chinese hotels). Some things are treated in a way that seems less than completely frank: most restaurant food in China outside the main cities is of the poorest quality, buses (except the Shenzhen luxury coaches) often excruciatingly uncomfortable, and the fight for tickets less than entertaining.
A more significant failing of this book is its lack of any attempt to explain the real China to the young and impoverished visitor it is aimed at. It is of little use showing such a one how physically to get to the genuinely non-tourist parts of a Chinese city if he is left totally at sea as to what is going on around him when he gets there, but little attempt to explain is made.
All in all, this book is of some value as giving the occasional practical hint to the would-be backpacker in China. But unless the backpacker has good basic knowledge of China, or is travelling
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