- Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (3 Aug 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099490846
- ISBN-13: 978-0099490845
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 11 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 731,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Red Dust
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
On very rare occasions, a book can be so fresh, vivid and sincere that its integrity will be apparent almost before you have begun reading it. This brilliant account of a three-year exploration of China during the first wave of economic liberalisation following the death of Mao Zedong is one such book.
In Red Dust, Ma Jian tells the story of how, on his 30th birthday, facing arrest for spiritual pollution in his journalistic job in Beijing, he fakes an attack of hepatitis and flees into the Chinese hinterland. Uprooting himself from a bohemian lifestyle and his estranged wife and child, Jian walks vast distances and immerses himself in the remotest parts of China. Travelling clandestinely, and with little or no money, Jian survives by doing odd jobs and publishing poetry and short stories through his network of literary friends. At the same time, he has amazing adventures: on one occasion he finds himself lost in the desert with no water for three days; later on he has to scale a huge cliff with no equipment.
There is nothing emasculated or sanitised about this genuine adventure. Jian is forced to live from his wits. At one time he has to mug his own muggers back to rescue his camera; then he scrapes a living by selling scouring powder as toothpaste. These escapades, beautifully translated from the Chinese by Flora Drew, are told in an understated and elegant style, and, with Jian's status as both an insider and outsider, provide a complete portrait of what life is like for ordinary Chinese people in a way that no foreign writer could ever emulate. By turns poetic, wise and brave, Red Dust is worthy of a place alongside other great books of Chinese literature, such as The Mountain Village and Wild Swans, as both a classic work of travel writing and a compelling meditation on the spiritual bankruptcy of an age when all humanity's Gods have been shattered. --Toby Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Honest, raw, insightful. . . . The Chinese equivalent of On the Road."
--"Time"
"[Ma's] powers of description make every page buzz with life. . . . Someone who could rank among the great travel writers."
--"The New York Times Book Review
"
"A Sino-beatnik travelogue, [and] a fascinating search for self."
--"Mother Jones
""Red Dust is a tour de force, a powerfully picaresque cross between the sort of travel book any Western author would give his eye-teeth to write, and a disturbing confession."
--"The Independent "(UK)
"
""Ma captures the feel of wandering off China's beaten track, which is to say most of the country, far from the tour buses and souvenir stands."
--"Los Angeles Times" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
--"Time"
"[Ma's] powers of description make every page buzz with life. . . . Someone who could rank among the great travel writers."
--"The New York Times Book Review
"
"A Sino-beatnik travelogue, [and] a fascinating search for self."
--"Mother Jones
""Red Dust is a tour de force, a powerfully picaresque cross between the sort of travel book any Western author would give his eye-teeth to write, and a disturbing confession."
--"The Independent "(UK)
"
""Ma captures the feel of wandering off China's beaten track, which is to say most of the country, far from the tour buses and souvenir stands."
--"Los Angeles Times" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I hugely enjoyed this very honest perspective of China, without the usual political rhetoric, or the "I lived through it all, and I'm still alive - amn't I wonderful". This is the China of work units, documentation, guanxi, open plains, minimal accomodation, lethargy, enterprise ... a land of contrasts with a culture of social control that has existed for thousands of years longer than the Communist Party.
I recommend this book in particular, for those (like myself) who have travelled to China, but feel they will never experience what it is like to be Chinese. Brillianty written, honest, interesting, and thought provoking, and at times an inspiring account of a man just trying to be a man.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great book that is thoroughly enjoyable to read. It's nice to read a travelogue-style book written by a Chinese author, and the details of his perspective paint a picture that would not have been possible for an outsider. As much an inward soul-searching as long distance wandering, this book works on several levels. I really hope to see more from this author.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Red Dust is not an easy book to describe, better to just experience it for yourself. Ma Jian is eloquent, funny, incredibly observant, honest. His quest to find himself is one that anyone can relate to who has ever felt the absurdity of the society surrounding him. I would immediately order anything else I found from this author.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Chinese reader's view
It is true that quite a lot of young Chinese don't know much about the Chinese society. We grew up in a relatively peaceful time and were well-protected/blinded from the cruel... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Peggy Guan
If you only read,,,,
As an avid reader of many travel biographies,, I offer you a true wonder of skilled writing,,, if you only read just one book about China,, be sure to make it this one,,, Red... Read more
Published 11 months ago by travellingchef60
wierd, hallucinatory and fascinating
As a reviewer below rightly points out, this is one of those books that is hard to describe. It is also utterly compelling in parts, if you want a real stripped-to-the-bone view of... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Allenian One
Red Dust not settling down
Using the system to find himself, outside of Bejing,is the method, encountering the countryside and its people is the unexpected. Read more
Published 15 months ago by GENUSSLESER
A struggle to finish
I really struggled to get through this book. I found Ma Jian to be unbearably arrogant and pretentious both in his writing style (I don't believe everything around you can be... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Cameron88
Can't seem to understand the greatness of this book
Red Dust by Ma Jian tells the story of the writer's 3 year track through China in the eighties, before leaving the country for Hong Kong and later England. Read more
Published on 13 April 2010 by irisonbooks
fascinating journey through China
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in China, it is a truely fascinating account of the authors travels through China, although it starts off quite slow (compared to... Read more
Published on 11 Jan 2010 by R. Black
Travels in China
I picked up this book with the thought that it might provide me with a way of understanding what it is like to live and work in a country where the culture is so very different... Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2009 by LML
Insightful, funny, eye-opening.
Ma Jian's travels around China, coupled with a fascinating insight into the life of the author create an amazing combination. Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2007 by Jim Anso
China through the eyes of a Chinese
Red Dust is a fascinating insight not just because it reviews a country so enigmatic and distant to so many of us, but because it does so through the eyes of a Chinese traveller. Read more
Published on 6 April 2003 by A loving mother
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