Blurb:
When she learnt that the Chinese had built enough new roads to circle the equator sixteen times, Polly Evans decided to go and witness for herself the way this vast nation was hurtling into the technological age. But on arriving in China she found the building work wasn't quite finished. Squeezed up against Buddhist monks, squawking chickens and on one happy occasion a soldier named Hero, Polly clattered along pot-holed tracks from the snow-capped mountains of Shangri-La to the bear-infested jungles of the south. She braved encounters with a sadistic masseur, a ridiculously flexible kung-fu teacher, and a terrified child who screamed at the sight of her. In quieter moments, Polly contemplated China's long and colourful history -- the seven-foot-tall eunuch commander who sailed the globe in search of treasure; the empress that chopped off her rivals' hands and feet and boiled them to make soup -- and pondered the bizarre traits of the modern mandarins. And, as she travelled, she attempted to solve the ultimate gastronomic conundrum: just how does one eat a soft-fried egg with chopsticks?

Have a great day!

I haven't read this book yet, but I'm lending a bag of books to my old collegue from the Academic Bookstore, as due to age she is corona-housebound.

I know I was being prejudiced, but I didn't want to even try this book out.
They say that there have been such great thinkers in China, but in my opinion no country has done as much cruelty to it's own people, comparable to Hitler's Germany, that I could not read a book about China without thinking about those poor people.

You keep learning new things about old friends when you lend books to them. Or to be precise: when you pester them for a comment! Otherwise I would not have known...

I've read Kiwis might fly by the same author and as far as I remember, liked it. For some reason there is something lacking in this book and stopped reading at page 17. Don't worry, I alraedy know the next reader for the book...
Edit: Oops, she has already read this.

Who wants to travel to China? On offer at the Helsinki monthly meet-up.

Taken home from the local bc meet.