Book Details

	Adrift in China By: Myers, Simon Published By: Summersdale Publishers Ltd. ePub for Digital Editions Price: $14.99 PDF for Digital Editions Price: $14.99 Mobipocket Reader Price: $14.99 Microsoft Reader Price: $14.99 Available to read online in eb20 (what's this?) PDF for Digital EditionsePub for Digital EditionsMobipocket ReaderMicrosoft Reader	EBOOK OPTIONS ADD TO CART ADD TO WISHLIST TELL A FRIEND RECEIVE ALERTS
	This is not an objective account. How could it be, having consumed such a slice of my life? China is the third largest country in the world, holds nearly a quarter of the earth's population and claims a recorded history going back more than 3,000 years. Foreigners' reactions to China and its people veer from one extreme to the other, as if the gargantuan size of the place demands a sweeping response. This is understandable. Time is needed for such a big and complex country, and time is something that most travellers don't want to give. Simon Myers spent years in the Middle Kingdom trying to fathom maybe just an inkling of China. Firstly as a Western student, still preoccupied with searching for much-missed dairy products; then as a businessman selling the capitalist icon, Coca-Cola, inaugurated to Business Drinking and losing face; and finally, independence: on the road on a Chinese motorbike and sidecar. An informed, amusing and personal account, Simon Myers goes beyond the clichés and offers a different take on life in the world's most fascinating and frustrating country.

Excerpt

Introduction There is the kingdom of China, which they say is a very extensive dominion, both along the coast of the sea, and in the interior. – Duarte Barbosa, ad 1518 To have an introduction these days seems somehow old-fashioned. Yet with a subject as colossal as China, a pause or brief reflection before entering such a limitless labyrinth can be a positive thing. China is the third largest country in the world, holds nearly a quarter of the earth’s population and claims a recorded history going back more than 3,000 years. Foreigners’ reactions to China and its people veer from one extreme to the other; the gargantuan size of the place demands a sweeping response. This is understandable. Time is needed for such a big and complex country, something most travellers today lack. This book is about a journey in China. One that started in 1990 and finished eight years later in a daze on a Changjian motorbike and sidecar in London. I didn’t think it would take that long – honest. If I had thought it would, I doubt I would have started. What began as an innocent year abroad to learn another language slipped unnoticed, like a tributary of the Yellow River, inevitable and lazy, into something bigger and more demanding. This book is about time spent studying, working and travelling in the Middle Kingdom during a decade when much changed in China, and yet much stayed the same. It is an account that seeks to acknowledge and celebrate the country’s particular disorientating appeal for the foreigner. For those readers yet to experience China, it may even provide some much needed guidance. In such an extraordinary country it is easy to get lost.

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