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Fun and informative guide to China
Print Edition
I’D say it’s quite an ambition to introduce China in one book. With its thousands of years of history, combined with the diversity of its people and land, many things in China have changed dramatically in the past two to three decades.
Alongside the reminders of the past, towering steel and glass skyscrapers, upscale shopping centers, young people dressed in designer fashions, modern subway systems and countless restaurants and clubs are all part of China’s big cities.
However, “behind the glitzy façade, most Chinese remain conservative people governed by Confucian values,” observes Matthew B. Christensen in his latest book “A Geek in China: Discovering the land of Alibaba, Bullet Trains and Dim Sum.”
In his book, modern China is a wonderful mix of old and new where you find ancient Buddhist monasteries alongside gleaming high-rise buildings, glitzy multi-storied restaurants next to dingy noodle shops right out of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and high-fashion shoppers passing old men doing tai chi in the park.
“This book attempts to expose you (the reader) to the various things in China that makes it quintessentially China. These are the things that all Chinese know and have grown up with,” says Christensen in the introduction to the book.
Christensen is professor of Chinese in the Department of Asian & Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University, where he has been teaching for the past 20 years. Having spent the past years training students to visit, work and study in China, he suggests “the optimal time to study Chinese in China is after you have developed a solid base in the language.”
For those who are applying for a study program in China, there are chapters discussing how to deal with culture shock, what it’s like to work in an office, Internet and cell phone culture, dating and marriage practices, top popular movies and movie stars, the contemporary art scene, and holidays.
For visitors to the country, the author includes sections on what to see, including both common cultural attractions and off-the-beaten-track sites, and how to get around in China. Sections on visiting Hong Kong and Taiwan are also included.
Packed with photographs and short articles on all aspects of Chinese culture, past and present, “A Geek in China” is a smart, concise and accurate guide to the world’s most populous and longest continuous culture.
Christensen also blogs about his adventures exploring China at intothemiddlekingdom.com
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