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A BEND IN THE YELLOW RIVER is a sympathetic and intelligent portrait of a once-great civilisation in turmoil - embracing the ideals of a market economy, but unable, or unwilling to jettison the past; of the effects of the Cultural Revoloution, which left a large section of the population deprived of an education, of the devastation of the one-child policy. Witty, quirky and touching, this is a stunning view of another way of life.
From the Author
A Portrait of Small Town ChinaWhen i was 21 i arrived in Yuncheng, a small town in central Shanxi Province, on the last day of the Chinese Spring Festival. It was the beginning of two and a half years living and working there. And it was the beginning of unworking the stereotypes of Chinese people that are common currency in the West - stereotypes like 'inscrutable Chinese' - and the endless coverage of Human Rights, Dissidents and Tiananmen Square.
These are of course, important issues, but I don't think they give an accurate representation of a country that holds a third of the world's people. It is time people in the west looked intelligently at all the aspects of china - not just at single issues.
In my book I tried to represent the Chinese people I met as faithfully as possible - without judging them or considering them as peculiar or un-normal. I felt it was time that a country as big and important as China had an accurate book written about it; too many writers come to China looking for oppression and difference.
Travel is about seeing and learning with an open mind - not about reinforcing your own prejudices. If you look for oppression - then not surprisingly - that is what you will find.
I hope you enjoy A Bend in the Yellow River.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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