The River at the Center of the World : A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time

Rating:
Summary: Good concept, flawed execution
Review: Almost every review I see here speaks of Winchester's eloquent storytelling ability, but I cannot agree. I found the subject/trip to be obscured by his rather repetitive and cliched use of descrption. Winchester attempts to enshroud his subject in heaps of magical and varied descriptive prose - but, being no Amis or Twain, he invariably misses the mark. As keen as I am on the subject, I couldn't finish this book.

Rating:
Summary: Read backwards, as in China
Review: As a compliant reader, this book opens in Shanghai where their travels start. I found this boring and a rehash of other travel books and the usual lurid history. After reading less than half of this chapter, I flipped to the last chapter about the Yangtze headwaters in the primitive Himalaya-like mountain ranges. The story is more exciting and less covered compared to most travelogs, although both Theroux and Jenkins have written similar stories. With Winchester, however, I learned much more about the geography and history as I continued reading backwards. There is enough repetition throughout the chapters that each can stand on its own.

Each chapter has a detailed submap so that the reader can follow along and not get lost. The front and back covers have a highlighted map of China so that one does loose sight of the big picture. The text and map includes a discussion of the Yellow River too, and for perspective comparisons to features in the US and UK. However, there are no tour pictures, other than his full-page mugshot on the back dustjacket, even though he brought a Leica [p32].

Winchester's book includes more than a typical travelog, he intersperses vignettes that include geography [his undergrad work is geology] and temporal history. These vignettes delve into their subject at more than cursory level in tour guides, so that the reader has a deeper understanding into the whys and wherefores. Such vignettes include Chairman Mao's swimming the river, the Three Gorges dam project, minority peoples, tea, Wuhan bridges, Precambrian Yangtze man, Chinese holocaust museum, Lu Shan, etc. Unfortunately, the vignettes are not listed as subtopics in the TOC so that it is hard to relocate them. I'd highly recommend that the author take a look at computer books for useful TOCs. There is a 9-page index and 5-page annotated suggested readings list. Quite a few pages have footnotes that help the reader recall/learn lesser-known facts, but I would have really wanted a numerical list of endnotes so that the reader could further research topics of interest. Many indented quotes and poem translations are unfootnoted. There is a pasted-in correction of the text [p260].

The author, an emancipated Brit, tries to write in an American frame of reference, but many Brit colloquialisms show through; such as lift [elevator p163], ship-breaking [-wrecking p43], railway wagons [cars p198], Perspex [Plexiglas p59], notice board [sign p140], etc.

His writing style is typical of a reporter, who exaggerates describing scenes with overly powerful and emotion-charged phrases. The reader needs to filter these excesses, as in:

"In places like these the water is not so much water as a horrifying white foam--a cauldron of tortured spray and air and broken rock that is filled with the wreckage of battered whirlpools and distorted rapids and with huge voids of green and black, the whole maelstrom roaring, shrieking, bellowing with a cannonade of unstoppable anger and terror [p 333]."

Water is a person and has anger and is afraid? Need I say more about his allegorical attempts?

Other writing issues include his freelance writer upbringings, measured by # of words, such as:

"They take this runoff from the high Himalayas and the other ranges and then, capturing river after river after river along the way--all of which do just the same, scouring their source mountains for every drop of water they can find--they cascade the entire collected rainfall from tens of thousands of square and high-altitude miles down the earth-stained waters of the East China Sea [p144-5]."

I kid you not but here is a 70-word sentence, part of a two-sentence paragraph. He'd flunk English 1B in any university class. Clearly this book had no editors as this is his typical writing style.

And this book is full of excessively erudite phrases, such as:

"Trading companies are crammed into dusty art deco palaces and crumbling godowns; there are real estate brokers and paging firms and couriers where once there were more classically Chinese functionaries, 'likin' officials, octroi collectors and compradors [p208]."

Hint, there is no glossary.

Curiously, from the world's outcry on the demographic moves, and cultural and environmental damage alleged due to the 3 Gorges dam, the geocentric author does not show a dotted outline that the resulting 360 mile long reservoir would cover although the author claims to have detailed DoD secret topographic maps [p xii].

Overall, however, this book is a compelling read. One just hope it is all true [p xiv]?? Since the 2008 Peking Olympics is in the works perhaps a 2nd edition is forthcoming? [page# refer to hard cover edition]

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating tale of the Yangzi River
Review: For the discerning Western reader with an interest in all things Chinese, Simon Winchester's "The River at the Center of the World" makes for an enthralling read.

His arduous journey from the mouth of the Yangzi River to its source high in the Tibetan Plateau, is far more than merely a commentary of his travels. Entwined amongst his own colourful experiences, Mr Winchester captures a fascinating analysis of the river's history.

Indeed the Yangzi has a history worthy of telling in a book of this type. Charting a course that initially wanders from the urban delights of Shanghai near the Pacific coast then along the meandering, lower reaches of the Yangzi, the reader is taken through hundreds of years of Chinese history. The author touches on elements as diverse as the Opium Wars, the turbulent history of the tea trade, the Yangzi High Dam and Emperor Da-Yu - who is attributed with rerouting the river and keeping its vast waters within China. There is space even for the origins of Asian-man to be pondered upon.

Occasionally the author takes the reader on self-indulging investigative expeditions, such as seeking the anchor reportedly captured by communist forces in 1949 from the stricken warship HMS Amethyst at Zhenjiang. Upon finding it he declares it more likely to have come from a river junk. These expeditions are interesting nonetheless and aid his overall goal of depicting the Yangzi as a fascinating place both in present and past tenses.

Simon Winchester has certainly done his research. He tells of otherwise obscure river-navigators, chart-makers and naturalists who made their marks in respective fields along the river's twists and turns in times long past

Two thirds of the book is allocated to the more sedate stretch of water, between Shanghai and Wuhan, perhaps because this is where the far greater proportion of recent history lies. Other experiences though, like the Three Gorges, Tiger Leaping Gorge and the trip along forbidden roads in Tibet, are also allocated their due space.

The end product, though is one that vividly colours the mind with written-images of a river that has formed the very heart of the world's most populated nation -continuing to very much dominate day to day life today. It is a narrative of a journey that inspires the arm-chair reader to do likewise.

Indeed, I myself started reading Simon Winchester's book in far-off New Zealand, finishing it a few weeks later while visiting China - on the river itself aboard a ferry boat from Shanghai bound for Wuhan.

Very inspirational stuff indeed Mr Winchester.

Rating:
Summary: derived great pleasure
Review: I derived great pleasure reading Mr. Winchester's book. His Idea of a good travel book he explans at the end is one that derives great pleasure on imagined journeys to exotic and far away ports.

This book was all of that and more, he is a wonderful writer, great read from the beginning to the end.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book for anyone planning a Yangtze Cruise
Review: I read this beautifully written book before my recent China trip and was enchanted by the story. It begins with a story of a visit by the author to a man with an ancient scroll with a drawing of the Yangtze River. He decided to write a book about his travels and, along with a Chinese woman as a guide, journeyed from the mouth of the river near Shanghai all the way to the source in the Tibetan plateau. What really fascinated me was the way the author wove the history and culture of the region into the current day narrative and interactions with people. For example, the author discusses the activities that led to the downfall of the Qing dynasty and the beginning of the republic--all of which occurred in Wuhan along the Yangtze. Skeletons found in caves along the river are among the oldest ever found, making this area one of the cradles of civilization.

Some of the descriptions in the book are now dated since the first flooding of the area began in June 2003, covering much of the former riverfront and part of the villages with water. However the history and culture explored in the book are still very relevant, so much so that I reread portions while on the cruise in October 2003.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Great Facts, Poor Story
Review: I was disappointed too. It seemed to me that at the beginning the author makes it appear that his trip up the Yangtze was a very dangerous adventure. I guess the danger and the adventure are in the sequel. What is really scary is what will happen to the millions of people in the path of the "river sunami" should the dam not hold.

Also, I wonder what happened to his partner, Lily. If he let her help him knowing that she could face a lot of trouble later--I think he should have found another way of making the trip happen. It appears he used her to make a few bucks on a book.

On the back cover of the book is a review that states Winchester's life is "equal parts James Bond and Jan Morris." He's got to be kidding! 2.5 Stars.

Rating:
Summary: Simon Winchester has done the Yangtze proud
Review: Simon Winchester is one hot literary property these days. In the past several years he has produced such splendid nonfiction books as THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN, THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD and, most recently, KRAKATOA. Now the Picador branch of Henry Holt has issued a paperback reprint of Winchester's riveting 1996 paean to the majesty, history and folklore of the Yangtze River, THE RIVER AT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD. It is still a superb read.

Winchester determined to travel the length of the 3,964-mile river (third longest in the world) from Shanghai, where it empties into the Yellow Sea, back to its source in the remote and forbidding mountain fastnesses of Tibet. Being a curious and observant fellow, Winchester stopped at cities large and small along the way to sample atmosphere, probe local history and meet interesting people. He darted off-course now and then, sometimes of necessity, at other times simply because there was something nearby that piqued his interest.

As traveling companion he enlisted a resourceful and intelligent Chinese woman whom he disguises (for fear of official retribution against her) under the name of Lily. She plays a hardheaded and outspoken Sancho Panza to his Don Quixote, and brings a revealing personal dimension of her own to Winchester's story.

In addition to being a fine writer, Winchester is a born reporter. Nothing seems to escape his notice. He has done his historical and literary homework thoroughly and is not shy about intruding his own strongly held opinions into his narrative. Most of those opinions oscillate between nostalgia for the rich pageant of China's past as reflected along the river and utter disdain verging on disgust for what has become of the country under its Communist rulers.

As in most good travel writing --- indeed, like the Yangtze itself --- the "tributary" digressions in this book are fully as interesting as its main course. We learn the exact process for making Chinese brown rice vinegar and the history of tea as a major Chinese product. We learn the stories of intrepid but largely unknown westerners with names like Cornell Plant and Joseph Rock, who were early explorers of the river. We are fed many fanciful legends from Chinese mythology and a number of facts --- often depressing but always interesting --- from Chinese history.

The famous Three Gorges dam project is examined in detail and the area itself described fully. Winchester considers the whole monster project a defilement of one of China's most beautiful areas, a venture meant more to glorify the government that planned it than to help the people who will be affected by it. Many of those people, he feels, will simply be made miserable.

Chinese national pride, in fact, is a major theme that runs through the book. From the dawn of its history, China has regarded foreigners with suspicion and mistrust. They are "foreign devils" and "barbarians," and as a matter of pride they have to pay more for just about everything than do the native Chinese.

Winchester sent me scurrying to my unabridged dictionary a score or more of times to look up unfamiliar terms that seem routine to him. A few of them --- nunataks, portolanos, ayurvedic --- were nowhere to be found, but I did learn something about haars, skerry, compradors, corvees and kentledge, among others. My only tiny complaint about this reprint is that the maps, so sorely needed as the upriver journey continues, are inadequate.

The only addition to the book's 1996 text is a four-page afterword in which Winchester speculates about the future of the great Chinese cities. Beijing will continue to be the country's capital, its Washington D.C., he says. Shanghai, sitting grandly at the mouth of the Yangtze, will be its New York City --- and poor Hong Kong down in the south of the country, will be merely its New Orleans.

Unless there is some sort of unimaginable government upheaval in China, this fine book is likely to remain a classic account for many years to come. For a "foreign devil," Simon Winchester has done the Yangtze proud.

--- Reviewed by Robert Finn

Rating:
Summary: A jouney unto itself
Review: The back cover of the book tells of Simon Winchester's reverse-the-Yangtze boat travel from Shanghai back to its origin up in the western mountains. That sounds quite appealing to me as I have never traveled through the Three Gorges (not to mention that upon completion of the great dam near Xilin Gorge the river will raise at feet 400 feet and inundate thousands of pagodas). I have decided that the book was an instant disappointment after finished reading the first few chapters. Two things about this book that REALLY bother me:

1)Winchester, though researched all these interesting (historical) stories, does not say much about lives along the Yangtze River. He would spend pages and pages talking and reflecting on his memories as he sails through the river sceneries. You will ask: what about the Chinese people living along the river? How are their lives? What about his interactions with the locals? He omits all these as if they simply don't exist or he is just sailing along some remote uninhabited towns.

2)Over and over again Winchester implies his superiority (or superiority of the Western culture) over the Chinese. What on earth is this all about? But thanks to this book so I know what a REALLY good travel narrative/memoir is all about. Peter Hessler's "River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze River" is a completely opposite account to Winchester's in terms of both contents and attitude. Peter interacted and spent time to get to know the locals without judgmentally commenting on their disparaging lifestyles.

I simply don't like and don't agree with this book. Neither do I like the writing style nor the stories it has to offer. The narrative is repetitious and cliched. Not recommended. 2.2 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Easily the best travel book about China
Review: The English must have a special talent for combining the personal with the universal, the anecdotal with the historical, and the entertaining with the learned.

Following the Yangtze river upstream, Simon Winchester tells the story of modern China from the bustling, modern city of Shanghai near the mouth of the river to the highlands of the Himalayas where the Yangtze originates and where China has not changed much in 5,000 years. Embedded in the story of his journey is the history of China since the late 18th century: the arrival of the European powers, the Opium Wars, the Japanese invasion, the Civil War, and the years of Communist rule which culminated in the construction of a new Great Wall - the Three Gorges Dam that will irrevocably change the Yangtze river.

Winchester observes, describes, and rarely comments. He has an eye for the right details and the odd anecdote, and he is so well-read that he never loses the big picture. He loves the subject of his narration, and his enthusiasm is palpable on every page - especially when he tells the stories of the English sailors who explored the Yangtze River. His non-judgmental, open-minded way of writing makes the book a pleasure to read.

For people initiated to the ways of China there are many moments of recognition. Take the seemingly bizarre behavior of some village officials, for example, who claim they cannot show Winchester an ingenious invention on which they have spent their time because the key to the room where it is kept is lost. Of course, there is no invention at all, they have been idly wasting their time, drinking tea and smoking cigarettes in their offices but what a loss of face it would be to admit it!

Among travel books about China, "The River at the Center of the World" has no equal. It is simply the best, and most entertaining, introduction to China at the beginning of the 21st century.