A glorious travel book spanning the astonishing diversity of the huge country that is China. Theroux is a disengaged and acerbic voyeur of Chinese culture, focussed firmly on the objective of personal reportage. There is no attempt to be objective because the subjective has a life-blood which emanates a rich colour which would otherwise be drained. I've reread this a few times now. This is my favourite travel book, a genre I haven't dipped into very much of late.

EXCELLANT DESCRIPTION OF ARRIVAL IN TIBET. WHEN I SAW A DOCUMENTARY ON TIBET I FELT AS IF I HAD ALREADY BEEN THERE. HEARD THIS ON BOOKS ON TAPE ( )

2935 Riding the Red Rooster: by Train Through China, by Paul Theroux (read 15 Dec 1996) This tells of the author's traveling in China in 1986 and 1987, mostly by train, though he also tells of his exciting trip by car in Tibet. This book convinced me not to go to China--not that I ever wanted to. This was before the 1989 massacre in Beijing, but there were student demonstrations going on. The book really told me more than I wanted to know about China: dirty, crowded, and I'd hate to eat their food. ( )

Theroux spent a year exploring China by train, and his impressions about what has and has not changed in the country, as gathered in hundreds of conversations with Chinese citizens, make up a large portion of the book.

I enjoy Theroux's extremely sharp eye for details. I think he's done an excellent job of capturing the flavor and culture of mainland China in his travels. ( )

I normally have liked the books by Theroux I have read. At least so far. This one was ok, but having read other books about China, this one seemed lacking in helping me to visualize what travel through China might be like. There were moments when I felt as if I were on the train with him, but part of the time I felt detached. ( )