Book Reviews

A journalist, author, businessman, translator and even musician, Graham Earnshaw likes to meet mighty challenges. In a Shanghai restaurant six years ago, he devised one of his toughest yet. Sporadically, it has preoccupied him ever since.

Inspired by adventurous travel writers from the past, the Chinese-speaking Englishman decided to walk across the world’s most populous nation. Doing so, he'd observe amazing and mundane sights, talk to everyone he could and sip countless cups of tea. Never mind that he walks with a slight limp due to a childhood surgery.

Although the journey remains incomplete, Earnshaw's 2,000-kilometre progress in five provinces (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei and Sichuan) fills a fascinating book, The Great Walk of China, Travels on Foot From Shanghai to Tibet (2010, Blacksmith Books, 342 pages, HK$130).

Surprisingly, instead of making one long journey, the author walks for a few days per month and then returns “home” to Shanghai before resuming next time at precisely where he'd stopped. The logistics and costs of this come-and-go strategy must be nightmarish. But the author explains. “In a way, it is simply a series of strolls through the countryside.... I walk up to 15 or even 20 kilometres a day....”

Traveling on foot means seeing what people in vehicles definitely miss. “I began to notice quite a number of black caterpillars crawling about on the ground, only a couple of inches in length but fast on their suckers. I spied one strike off boldly across the asphalt road, heading from one slab of fields to another.”

Fascinating encounters, surprising situations and unforgettable experiences fill most of the pages. “There I was, knee-deep in mud in a rice paddy in the Dabie Mountains working alongside the farmers. No longer on the road observing a scene, but rather a part of the scene itself....”

As China matures, Earnshaw comes strolling along in time to see it happen or witness the results. “When I first came to Mainland China in 1978, this was a very closed country. Foreigners were not allowed to travel beyond a radius of about 20 kilometres from the centre of Beijing without official approval from the Foreign Ministry. Every road out of Beijing had a sign posted and a checkpoint that required foreigners to stop and turn back if they lacked a pass to proceed. My walk is a way to test today's limits, of proving how much China has changed and how much it has opened up to the world.”

The author's sense of humor works well on readers, just as on the people at roadsides.  “...a man rode up on a motorcycle and stopped.... The bike had a big wicker basket on the back and he took off the cover, revealing dozens and dozens of tiny baby ducks.
‘How much?’ I asked as everyone from the house gathered around.
‘Three RMB ($0.40) for a pair.’
‘Wow, that's cheap,’ I replied.
‘No, expensive!’ Xu Yan's family corrected me earnestly.
‘Right, expensive!’ I said quickly. ‘Outrageous!’ I added to the duck seller.”

After so much legwork and countless chats, Earnshaw knows China better than most Chinese people do. Some of his best strolls take him past the massive Three Gorges Dam and across reform-through-labor prison-farms. Long before the final page, his readers too know China much better than before.

Interesting observations spill off the pages:
-- many of rural China's older people remain illiterate:
-- the youngsters can read, but seldom do, preferring dismal TV;
-- a typical farmer may be slightly drunk, which relieves boredom without hindering his fieldwork. “Not so much drunk, perhaps, as floating gently in a mild alcoholic haze.”;
-- many Chinese see “foreigners” only on TV;
-- hospitality prevails. “I could easily have had three or four meals a day for free from these hospitable people in one of China's poorest regions.”;
-- local police remain suspicious of outsiders, but no longer simply chase them away;
-- pollution spews from factories, and litter abounds, yet rural China's natural beauty lingers;
-- the Chinese people hold opinions as diverse as anyone else's;
-- more commercial slogans than political ones fill walls. “Now the predominant slogans are for birth control or promotional lines for motorcycles and mosquito coils.”

Despite the book's greatness on many levels, it has a huge flaw too. When telling of spectacular scenery, quirky folks and bizarre sights, the author brags about the great photos he took.

“I continued at a slow pace: the mountains and valleys were easily the most beautiful country I had passed through since the start of my walk, and I wanted to make sure I experienced every view and took every photo, aiming for the perfect digital photographic equivalent of a classical Chinese painting with mountains, water, trees, and, somewhere in an insignificant corner, a humble human overawed by the wonders of Nature.”

So where are those pictures? A black-and-white photo opens each chapter. Otherwise, the book's as desolate of images as it is rich in prose.

Now in his late 50s, Earnshaw has written several past books, including Life and Death of a Dotcom in China (2000) and Tales of Old Shanghai (2008). He speaks Mandarin and Cantonese.

For readers, The Great Walk of China offers such a sweet deal! The author does all the legwork, and they can enjoy every encounter and incident. Gladly, even gleefully, they'll savor each step, each view and each “hello there” on this long march.

Approval rating: 89 per cent.

For more information: www.blacksmithbooks.com or www.earnshaw.com.