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China Road
- A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
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What listeners say about China Road
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Sarda
- 08-13-07
An Outstanding Book on China
I throughly enjoyed this book on China Today. The author doesn't bother trying to explain the political system, he is interested in the common people and their every day lives. His journey into the heart of China, and the people he spoke with, answered many questions I had about the people and the culture of today's China. His own curiosity, his empathy, and his sense of wonder drew me along on the journey. Even the narrator seemed to fit the story perfectly.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who seeks more information about China than can be gleened on TV or magazines.
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30 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Anonymous User
- 10-20-07
Amazing book
I have been living in China for a few months. Rob Gifford's book is amazing. It has the feelings and emotions of the current reality of China, and has wonderful connections between the daily life of people and its historical and cultural roots. The narrator is also the best narrator I ever heard on Audible. It makes the audiobook better than reading the book. He gives the mystery feeling which is the atmosphere the author I believe wants to convey. I quote this book often in my blog on China and if you have only one book you want to read about today's China, this is definitely the one!
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21 people found this helpful
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- Dr.
- 02-18-12
Very Engaging - Highly Recommended
If you are interested in contemporary China, this book is for you. This is not your usual travelogue. Although Gifford can provide a few good travel stories a la Paul Theroux or some other travel writer (e.g., a fascinating story about attending an Amway meeting in a remote frontier town), his travels are more an opportunity for him to explore the social - cultural - political issues that underpin contemporary China. I found his analyses to be thoughtful, insightful and very interesting. For example, what impact did the humiliating intrusions by the colonial powers starting around the 1850's have on the current Chinese psyche? Or, even though 100's of millions of Chinese have been lifted out of poverty by recent economic development, what does it mean that 100's of millions of people still struggle to eek out a living? Or, what lays ahead for the millions of non-Han minority Chinese living in West and Southwest China who do not want to be a part of the "Chinese Empire?" Well written, well narrated, well worth a listen.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Debbie
- 01-25-08
Entertaining
This "road trip" book was written by an English journalist that was taking one last long look at a country that he has spent years living in and reporting on for NPR before ending his foreign assignment and returning to England. Very interesting insider look at the development of China without forsaking the past of 'old hundred names'. The author (with an excellent narrator) speaks fluent Chinese and intersperses the story of local people with his own personal thoughts of what he sees and how he feels about China, the people who live there and their struggle to not only survive, but thrive.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- G-Man
- 03-13-11
Great 'Edu-tainment'
A Surpsing Find. Entertaining and educational. The sample didn't sound so great, but the book is.
If you want to learn about contemporary China, this is a great one.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Thomas J. Dorsey
- 12-16-07
Tom Dorsey President Dorsey, Wright & Assoc.
This is a magnificant book. If you are in business of any sort it's a must read especially if you work on Wall Street. Simon Vance is the best there is at reading a book. He is an added plus to listening to this book verses reading it. One of the best I have read yet.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Anne
- 02-26-10
True Observations
I relived my own China experiences with Rob Gifford's trip, especially the mixture of admiration and frustration that was my, and seemed to be his, reaction to the country. His insights, and well summarized historical background, helped me to understand some of why China is the way it is. The narrator was very good except for not pronouncing Chinese words properly, which drove me crazy.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Tom S.
- 04-24-09
One sided protrait of a young new nation...
Yes, China is a totalitarian state with many flaws, but I spend a month there and saw a different side of China. Optimism, entrepreneurship, growth and a much better standard of living for all have come from the heavy-handed government who are trying to do right by its citizens.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Matthew
- 01-22-09
Accurate, telling...
From spending time in many of these places myself I can say that the book is well-done in its portrait of China, its politics, and its cultural temperament. There are fascinating stories in here and poignant ones. If you have any interest in China you will love this book, and if you are IN China, you should be listening to it.
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2 people found this helpful
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- John
- 04-16-12
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.
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Story
Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan became free of the Soviet Union in 1991. But though they are new to modern statehood, this is a region rich in ancient history, culture, and landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world. Traveling alone, Erika Fatland is a true adventurer in every sense. In Sovietistan, she takes the listener on a compassionate and insightful journey to explore how their Soviet heritage has influenced these countries, with governments experimenting with both democracy and dictatorships.
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Outstanding book
- By George MP on 04-24-22
By: Erika Fatland
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Lost on Planet China
- By: J. Maarten Troost
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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When the travel bug bit, J. Maarten Troost took on the world's most populous and intriguing nation. As Troost relates his gonzo adventure - dodging deadly drivers in Shanghai, eating yak in Tibet, deciphering restaurant menus (offering local favorites such as cattle penis with garlic), and visiting with Chairman Mao (still dead) - he reveals a vast, complex country on the brink of transformation that will soon shape the way we all work, live, and think.
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I love Troost but...
- By Abigail on 02-25-09
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Country Driving
- A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 2001, Peter Hessler, the longtime Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, acquired his Chinese driver's license. For the next seven years, he traveled the country, tracking how the automobile and improved roads were transforming China.
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Pass the white rice please
- By Nick on 02-18-10
By: Peter Hessler
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See You Again in Pyongyang
- By: Travis Jeppesen
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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From terrifying missile tests, its unmissable Olympic cheering squad, and the war of words between President Trump and Kim Jong Un - not to mention stranger-than-fiction stories of purges and assassinations - news from North Korea has dominated global headlines. But what is life there actually like? In See You Again in Pyongyang, Travis Jeppesen, the first American to complete a university program in North Korea, culls from his experiences living, traveling, and studying in the country to create a multifaceted portrait of the country and its idiosyncratic capital city.
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Save me from the hippie millennials with a PhD
- By Verified purchaser on 06-21-18
By: Travis Jeppesen
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The Not-Quite States of America
- Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung Outposts of the USA
- By: Doug Mack
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone knows that the United States of America is made up of 50 states and, uh...some other stuff. The territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands are often neglected, but they are filled with American flags and national parks and US post offices and some four million people, many of whom are as proudly red-white-and-blue as any Daughter of the American Revolution.
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Worthwhile Learning
- By Alena Amato Ruggerio on 05-02-23
By: Doug Mack
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Oracle Bones
- A Journey Through Time in China
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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A century ago, outsiders saw China as a place where nothing ever changes. Today, the country has become one of the most dynamic regions on earth. In Oracle Bones, Peter Hessler explores the human side of China's transformation, viewing modern-day China and its growing links to the Western world through the lives of a handful of ordinary people.
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Great Book, except for the narration.
- By Daniel on 11-09-10
By: Peter Hessler
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Where the West Ends
- Stories from the Middle East, the Balkans, the Black Sea, and the Caucasus
- By: Michael J. Totten
- Narrated by: Steven Roy Grimsley
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Prize-winning author Michael J. Totten returns with a masterpiece of travel writing and history in this journey through 13 nations - all but two formerly communist - just beyond the edge of the West where few casual travelers venture. His work as an independent foreign correspondent takes him deep into the field beyond the sensational headlines, from his hilariously miserable road trip with his best friend to Iraq to the Wild West of Albania, the most bizarre country in Europe; from the killing fields in Bosnia and Kosovo to a Romania haunted by the ghosts of its communist past.
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Not a right wing fanatic
- By Love on 12-11-13
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Fast Times in Palestine
- A Love Affair with a Homeless Homeland
- By: Pamela J. Olson
- Narrated by: Julia Farhat
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Pamela Olson, a small town girl from eastern Oklahoma, had what she always wanted: a physics degree from Stanford University. But instead of feeling excited for what came next, she felt consumed by dread and confusion. This irresistible memoir chronicles her journey from aimless ex-bartender to Ramallah-based journalist and foreign press coordinator for a Palestinian presidential candidate.
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Palestine from the Inside—and Out
- By Susie on 11-04-13
By: Pamela J. Olson
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The Souls of China
- The Return of Religion After Mao
- By: Ian Johnson
- Narrated by: Ian Johnson
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The Souls of China tells the story of one of the world's great spiritual revivals. Following a century of violent antireligious campaigns, China is now filled with new temples, churches, and mosques - as well as cults, sects, and politicians trying to harness religion for their own ends. Driving this explosion of faith is uncertainty - over what it means to be Chinese and how to live an ethical life in a country that discarded traditional morality a century ago and is searching for new guideposts.
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expository but boring
- By Laurent V. on 05-07-18
By: Ian Johnson
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The Fracture Zone
- A Return to the Balkans
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning journalist and author Simon Winchester takes readers on a personal tour of the Balkans. Combining history and interviews with the people who live there, Winchester offers a fascinating glimpse into the complex issues at work in this chaotic region. Unrest in the Balkans has gone on for centuries. A seasoned reporter, Winchester visited the region twenty years ago. When Kosovo reached crisis level in 1997, Winchester thought a return visit to the beleaguered area would help to make sense out of the awful violence.
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Loved this-Great combo:Story and History Explained
- By Jeremy on 07-10-14
By: Simon Winchester
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The Almost Nearly Perfect People
- Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia
- By: Michael Booth
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than 10 years, and he has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely audiobook, he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another.
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Obsessed with bad politics
- By Erik on 09-07-20
By: Michael Booth
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Street of Eternal Happiness
- Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road
- By: Rob Schmitz
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Modern Shanghai: a global city in the midst of a renaissance, where dreamers arrive each day to partake in a mad torrent of capital, ideas, and opportunity. Marketplace's Rob Schmitz is one of them. He immerses himself in his neighborhood, forging deep relationships with ordinary people who see in the city's sleek skyline a brighter future, and a chance to rewrite their destinies.
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Deserving of better audio
- By Rachael on 02-19-18
By: Rob Schmitz
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Age of Ambition
- Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
- By: Evan Osnos
- Narrated by: Evan Osnos, George Backman
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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As the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party’s struggle to retain control.