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You mention travel books, and they will be helpful on a tour. Let me suggest something different, oystergobbler.

The Chinese people are somewhat enigmatic and certainly far from monolithic. To understand China and its peoples in the early 21st Century, let me recommend the book "Oracle Bones," a National Book Award finalist for 2006. It is a very well written interweaving of several stories at once. This is no text; the pages just breeze on by. The New York Times Book Review article is at: nytimes.com/2006/…30spence.html

Author Peter Hessler spent many years in China after being raised and educated in the U.S. He interprets China through the eyes of a modern American, and I found it the best book of its kind on the subject of China today. You will have a much deeper understanding of the Chinese people if you go on your tour after reading Oracle Bones.

thanks sbs -

i will chase it down and see how it reflects my experience as a westerner. sounds like a good read.

If you have time, you could buy the book in China. They are not expensive, no more than USD8.

In Qingdao's book stores, there are many books to introduce my city, including history and sights, and they are in Chinese and English and good quality. When my foreign colleagues travel in Qingdao with me, I always prepared a book and take photos for them, and paste the photos on the page that introducing the scenic spot where we took the photo. When you come home, you show your family and neighbors the book, and tell them, "I have been there!" It should be funny.

Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng is an excellent book, although I'm not sure if it is available in China.

See telegraph.co.uk/news/…Nien-Cheng.html

I enjoyed reading this book on China and there food.

Shark`s fin & Sichuan peppers by Fuchsia Dunlop.

Drumbrake - I read that one. What an amazing & brave

lady. I have been trying to find out if she is still alive. I read a blog entry that was a couple of years old that said she was.

I have just read Prisoner Of Mao by Bao Ruo- Wang (Jean Pasqualini) - survivor of the labour camps.I don't think it is in print any more - got mine second hand, like Nien Cheng's book. Co-authored by the foreign correspondant Rudolph Chelminski.

SoBeSparky - That sounds like a good one.

Another good one, explaining China thru the eyes of a foreigner is - Season In Red - by Kirsty Needham.

Oyster Gobbler, if you wanted a light hearted & funny read about traveling in China then try Fried Eggs with Chop Sticks by Polly Evans.

Nien Cheng died on November 2 this year. She was 94.

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