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Overall a great read with some powerful and well-balanced analysis of a greatly interesting country. He recognizes a lack of altruism within the society (ren chi ren) and hints that the lack of (Christian) religion is the cause of this. This is not a case at its own, Christian (underground) churches tend to get, even though they have a smaller number of followers, more news coverage in the West than the Muslims (Uighurs) in the North-Western provinces. Here in the west we are very eager to judge China by our own standards. For anyone who wants to visit China or wants to know whats going on in China. China is black nor white and Bob Gifford shows how hard it is to make any generalisations or conclusions.I read this book last year in the train while travelling in China and I came across several spots he describes in his book. This book shows its not that easy and that's because China is too complex and too diverse. Apart from that, this book gave some insights to the different sides of China and he shares some of the incredible personal stories of people he met on his trip.The great advantage Rob Gifford has is his ability to speak mandarin Chinese fluently which allows him to go anywere and speak with anyone, an ability many journalists in China still lack.The only point were his personal opinion really distorts his otherwise great analysis is when it comes to the morals and norms of the Chinese society.
Obvious example - I drank much wine back home but I could not drink here because I am not yet 21.China has some problems but it is quick to reform. They are burdened by strict laws and heavy taxes. We hardly pay any tax and we do whatever we want. Disclaimer: I am from China and I am apathetic about democracy. The US has been talking about reforming education, health, tax etc for DECADES but nothing is done. We are fully aware that most democratic countries have only 2-4% growth. I live in the US but I feel I have LESS freedom and human rights here than I did back home.Overall this is a well-written book but the author is definitely too West-centric. During recessions such as this one, growth is negative.China obviously does not have democracy, but our freedom is unimaginable to Westerners.
I enjoyed reading the book, though I find it over-simplifying and the author passed too many judgments which are sometimes superficial.
And herein lies the problem of western views on China. Because these visitors are too lost in their faithless pursuit of capitalistic goals in their home countries, they come to value spiritualism and the simplicity of the lives of the cultural minorities of China but simply refuse to understand that these minorities have desires to lead better lives as well. And I am almost 100% sure he's not. The sky is suddenly bluer, the people suddenly more spiritual and the aura of evil that surrounds coastal China suddenly disappear. A splendid book "China Road" has been in its early chapters.
The issue lies not simply with the fact that he refuses to see or accept differences in values but the fact that he cannot see his own tendencies to believe his own values are superior to those of others. All his actions with locals on sensitive issues has shown him completely reassured that he has the moral high ground. They have somehow decided for the Tibetans that they would be better off in their squalor and lack of social services and infrastructure. He has made his mind before even embarking on his trip and his trip only serves to help him find evidence to his already formed conclusion while ignoring those that opposed his conclusions. An unconscious and constant need find the victims of communism and try to help them escape their brainwash with his more ethical views. He loves and respects Chinese culture but here lies the greatest danger. Wishing to spend no time figuring how the Chinese government can manage to increase health and educational standards so rapidly in recent decades, he would rather focus time of his trip to travel to the poorest parts of China to see its flaws. He has even gone to such extends of disliking optimism in the minds of the Chinese citizens that foreseeing how his interviewees might give the typical optimism that their lives are not perfect but it's a lot better than 10 years ago and it's getting better, he would refuse to see that interviewee to opt for more hateful, communist-bashing interviewees instead.Of course, he is not doing any of that consciously.
The author asks insightful and important questions and formulate well documented responses.But as he gets into chapters 5 and later, you gradually realises that despite subtleties, almost all his underlying tones are negative, almost as if paid by some agencies to make China sound inferior despite superficial improvements. Despite the author's previous attempts to legitimise his claims with reliable sources in the preceding chapters, he seems to have concluded without visiting Tibet that the Tibetans are better off without the communist party despite his interviewees thinking otherwise. While it's perfectly fine that he wants to write a book criticising China (a perfectly noble goal in itself), he will never be able to do so without realising this. An inert sense of need to reaffirm their own superiority through a constant need to criticise other societies.I have recently made long trips through China with a western friend and the behaviours of himself, my friend and western tourists in his book all seem to fit the same pattern. For instance, in the section on the Tibet issue, he and the western travellers instantly change tone when travelling to ethnically non-Han parts of China.
They each serve as symbols of new eras of improved communication, transportation and commerce for their respective countries. At the dawn of Communist China there was Edgar Snow's famous RED STAR OVER CHINA (1937). And the two roads are also similar in that, although they occasionally open up to grand vistas, much of the scenery, such as it is, often looks the same for hundreds of miles. The latest books, such as those by Peter Hessler and this one, CHINA ROAD by Rob Gifford, are among the best to date.I've driven much of the length of I-90, and not much "happens" when you stay on route. China's Route 312 is, at least superficially, like U.S.
Gifford is "rather fearful" of China's future, but he asks, "Can there be any people in the world who deserve more to succeed, and to see and feel in their own lives the prosperity and freedom that we in the Western world take for granted." (p. Whether it's having been drafted to preach to a Christian congregation, sand surfing on the dunes at Dunhuang, or sleeping in a yurt at the Lake of Heaven, Gifford eloquently and delightfully brings those places and experiences to life for the reader.At the end of the book, Gifford gives his views on the future of China. This section feels a bit forced vis-à-vis the overall structure of the book--Gifford almost concedes as much--but his well informed ruminations are worth your while reading and pondering. This is what Rob Gifford, an NPR correspondent, does when he travels the whole length of Route 312.
(Actually, the book is an amalgamation of two trips Gifford made, although that's not made evident but for in the Acknowledgments).I've noted in another review that every foreign correspondent ever stationed in China seems to have written an account of his--I'm not sure if there are any accounts by women journalists--experiences there. Interstate 90: it runs the length of the country, from Shanghai to the border with Kazakhstan, just as I-90 runs from coast to coast. On another occasion, Gifford hitches a ride with a long-haul truck driver who gives Gifford a picture of the *real* China that can often be elusive to the foreigner.Anyone who's been to China can understand Gifford's wide range of emotions, one moment hating China and another loving--well, maybe not loving China per se, but the Chinese people. Gifford, on the other hand, does have a few remarkable experiences on the road, mainly because he's on a bus, has hired a driver, or has hitched a ride, and so is forced to interact with others. Fox Butterfield's ALIVE IN THE BITTER SEA (1982) stands out among these. Contemporary foreign journalists in China, who are much freer to travel and interact with people, naturally have much more interesting material to work with.
Gifford is frank about this when he encounters the corruption of local officials, the oppression of people with HIV/AIDS, and the hideous practice of forced abortion and infanticide. David Bonavia's THE CHINESE (1970) was among the first to report from the time of the Cultural Revolution onwards.
You wished he'd dwell on them just a bit longer; indeed, in the case of the abortion practitioners he even kicks himself for not pursuing the story.CHINA ROAD is probably at its best when Gifford explores the vast territories west of the ancient capital, Xi'an. 295).CHINA ROAD is another outstanding contribution to the published reflections on China by foreign journalists.
Sometimes these experiences are insufficiently explored before Gifford is back on the road. The two roads are both principally four lane roads of about the same length (I-90 is slightly longer at 4964 km.; Route 312 is 4825 km).
At one point, for instance, he hires a driver he nicknamed "Elvis" who has brought his wife along for the ride, or so Elvis claims; it turned out that she is a mistress who so occupies Elvis at night that the driver has trouble staying awake by day. The early post-Cultural Revolution books were intriguing insofar as they gave glimpses of a country being opened up, but their authors were limited in their access to people and places.
But get off the road and you do discover interesting towns and people. A gap of some years followed when the PRC, founded in 1949, was closed off from the rest of the world.
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