China Road

A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power

By: Rob Gifford

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

National Public Radio's Beijing correspondent Rob Gifford recounts his travels along Route 312, the Chinese Mother Road, the longest route in the world's most populous nation. Based on his successful NPR radio series, China Road draws on Gifford's 20 years of observing first-hand this rapidly transforming country, as he travels east to west, from Shanghai to China's border with Kazakhstan. As he takes listeners on this journey, he also takes them through China's past and present while he tries to make sense of this complex nation's potential future.

©2007 Robert Gifford (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Makes China come alive

His knowledge of the people, culture, and language makes this a rare find. If you like the travel-history genre (like Kaplan's Balkan Ghosts) I think you will like this as well.

pretty good.

Would you recommend China Road to your friends? Why or why not?

not sure i'd go out of my way to recommend this book, but i wouldn't stop someone from reading it either. gifford is clearly quite knowledgeable about china, and the book is filled with interesting anecdotes, cultural highlights, and historical facts and explanations. there seems to be a bit of a tension within gifford on china. he's clearly fascinated with the place, and has a deep respect for it, but he also has a tendency to make sweeping generalizations about the people as a whole that end up making the chinese people sound like a science project. i think this is mainly a result of his perspective, which is something akin to a close family friend. he knows china very, very well, but as an outsider can never truly understand it. having spend an extended amount of time in china, i can understand that. that said, i also appreciate the objective criticisms that he is able to give as an outsider. in the end, this is a good crash course on modern china. it gives both a historical perspective and a ground-level journalistic perspective, and it is far more interesting than reading a text book.

Excellent book read by my favorite reader

I haven't read/heard a good travel book in some time but this is a total winner. I gained a lot of insights into China. Simon Vance provides just the right tone to the reading. Highly recommended for anyone prepping for a China trip. You won't be sorry.

Captures China as it is today

Loved the insight and view of China away from the glamour of the major cities.

I've held onto this book for years

I had to read the first few chapters for a study abroad program, but kept the book afterwards. I eventually got the audiobook to finish reading it and I love it. I have never been so inspired to travel the silk road as he did before returning to England. Such great writing about China and Chinese people as he traveled through different areas and demographics of China.

Read this book!

Upon finishing traveling Route 312 with the droll and perceptive Rob Gifford, all I am is sad to call it an end. I immediately searched for more titles from him, but have been disheartened not to find any other books by him available. Not shocking, I suppose, as he is a reporter/journalist, not a novelist/writer. But still. I’ll have to keep looking.

With traditionally dry British wit, and a canny eye that understands the culture, Gifford effortlessly switches from using a wide lens to encompass the vast empire, then zooming in, region by region, weaving in and out between informative historical background and pertinent modern day observations and concerns.

Broad of scope and broadly appealing, this book really brought China into the 21st century for me. If you read one book on China this year (or decade), read this one.

Wonderful, wonderful narration (as always) by one of my favorite narrators, Simon Vance. I came across this book "serendipitously" because I was paging through books he narrated, looking for another of his. The man's got good taste!

Beautifully Written

This is a really great and still fairly relevant analysis of China. Also it is one of the most interesting travelogues I have ever read.

Whatever your current opinion is about the rise of China, be it a good thing or bad thing for America and Europe, this book will leave you with mixed emotions on the subject. As for me, I would love it if the whole world had plenty. The only problem is that if the whole world goes through the process needed to obtain plenty, there won't be much of the world left, afterwards.

Great insight into Western China

A large part of this book focuses on the author's travels through and past the Gobi desert as he follows a highway from East to West China. He has a number of encounters with Uyghurs, a population of Muslim Chinese whose plights and struggles rarely get mentioned in Western press. Gifford doesn't write a book about the Uyghurs, but rather integrates them into a larger narrative that depicts an expanding and hegemonistic Chinese future.

Modern China and Personal Stories.

narrator is great as his other performances. if you know basic modern Chinese history than the begining will be a refresher on it all. the rest is a mixture of the author's personal journey through the heartland of china, stories of the myriad of people he encounters, and the political landscape of modern China with a western viewpoint.

fabulous writing

This is an amazing journey down the old China Road with the well known journalist who does an outstanding job bringing Chinese culture to life. The book is written with great
attention to detail so the listener can easily visualize the scenery and people. I was fascinated as the author befriended people along the road who helped him "get further" in the journey. I must confess I am a bit fascinated by the lifestyle of the international journalist so this may influence my review. I think if you are interested to learn more about the real China this book is for you.