480 pages, maps, cloth, very good. From Library Journal: "Theroux's penchant for train travel is well known, his Great Railway Bazaar and The Old Patagonian Express are modern travel classics. On his latest jaunt he takes almost a year to crisscross China, traveling on 40 trains from the southern tropics to the wastelands of the Gobi in western Xinjiang to the dense metropolises of Shanghai, Beijing, and Canton. What emerges is a curious melange of ancient and modern: while some things are literally changing overnight, the Chinese still manufacture spittoons and steam engines. For Theroux, traveling is both about people, their thoughts, customs, and peculiarities and a form of autobiography, and here we learn as much about his own quirks and fancies as we do about the intriguing world of contemporary China. "

CHINA THE FAR EAST PAUL THEROUX RAILROADS TRAINS TRAVEL