MaryA-I will give it a try.

Harumph!!!!!!

Ekscrunchy recommends the boof and Panda takes no notice. It is only after said boof is recommended by Marya does the black-and-white furry one deign to take the suggestion!

I don't want to distract EKS from her holy mission. You should have been there in my third grade class when I gave a boof report.

UMMM, Senor Panda--If you take your nose away from your boof, you will notice a new addition to an old thread on this board.

Duly noted. The end appears nearly upon us. Break out the calculator. I hope you can think exponentially.

What does exponentially mean???

I'm not explaining the difference between an arithmetic and an exponential progression. I will merely say that the penaly will need several commas and no decimal points.

Well, I hope that I can bring this thread back to a semblance of not being hijacked. Andy, do read Gifford's China Road. It's a quick read and gives great insight into the country and it's future. I would say it's a must for anyone planning on going there.

Thanks Craig. I've diverted so many threads in the past that it would small of me (an oxymoron for a giant panda) to mind if any thread of mine is diverted (a much nicer term than hijacked).

I'm usually travelling or writing so don't read as much as I'd like. I also kind of avoid reading certain books so as to write originally.

My recommendation is my book from Tibet, Dialogues Tibetan Dialogues Han.

http://www.amazon.com/Dialogues-Tibe.../dp/9889799936

I can't resist throwing another title into the mix for those preparing to get lost on planet China.

If you are someone who appreciates slow travel or, better yet, staying put long enough to consider a faraway land a second home, have a look at Michael Meyer's book: THE LAST DAYS OF OLD BEIJING: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed.

Meyer, an American who originally spent time in China as a Peace Corps volunteer and then studied Mandarin at Tsinghua, lived in a Beijing hutong and volunteer-taught English in a local elementary school for two years. His story is both a charmingly intimate portrait of the relationships he developed and a tutorial on Beijing hutong life over the ages and cataclysmic changes brought by dynastic changes, revolution, liberation and so forth, leading up to the massive -- and massively destructive -- urban "renewal" efforts linked to the 2008 Olympics. More than that, the book is a tribute or even a love song, an effort to preserve in written form that which may not survive in architectural form except as cultural relic.

I obviously recommend this book as a Westerner with limited knowledge about China and a lot of questions triggered by the experiences I had in Beijing a few years ago. It is a pleasure to read and helps me to understand some of the bewildering things about Beijing. I wish that someone with deeper knowledge of the city could weigh in on such a title and make other recommendations. (Peter N-H, are you out there?)

Tis a shame for the interest in such a crappy country imo.

Yes, but, as you suggest the key word is "interest." I don't see how we can fail to be interested in them...And aren't our fortunes intertwined at this point?

"Interest" isn't tantamount to rapture... or even approval.

Gifford's and Meyer's books do a creditable job in identifying and exploring some of the difficult issues that concern people observing China's rise. I'd like to find more such sources.

OK, my Amazon order just arrived. Let the reading begin. The faithful posters had better hope that I like these books. hell hath no fury like a Panda bored.

If you are stirred to wrath, just don't bite any of the tourists to your PRC (if anyone still calls it the People's Republic of Cambridge).

We expect boof reports, or at least a thumbs up/thumbs down.

I just picked up Shanghainese's recommendation -- Cecilia' Chiang's THE SEVENTH DAUGHTER.