Culture Shock!

Well, I was only in China for 18 days, but I found this book unusually informative, really interesting to read, and very helpful on a number of occasions where I would have totally misunderstood a given situation.

I have read and reviewed lots of guide books. This is the best. I compared it with the similar guide to Korea and found this writer's style very direct, enjoyable and honest. I had started reading it before heading to China at the end of Mar. 2001 to see about jobs teaching ESL. I was engrossed reading this on planes and also the express train between Shanghai and Nanjing. The book is so incredibly accurate and insightful, that after meeting with three possible students coming from single-child families, I understood directly how the family planning movement affected the typical family. Descriptions of Nanjing and Shanghai were right on. I didn't get to Beijing but possibly this was due to admonitions about it being the most polluted city in China. I would have wished the author spent a bit more time describing other cities such as Jinan, Yantai and Nanching. Surely the next edition will include parts on the new economic development zones, Macau, Hong Kong and Hainan.I am planning on moving to China. Like my Visa card, I will not leave home without the book. There are guidebooks. This book provides enjoyable, readable, informative material. I plan to read again and again, then share with some Chinese friends. For those traveling, keep some tissue in your fanny pack. The airplanes and flight schedules are much better than before and offer fine service. Having had a great dinner consisting of some riblet slices of Peking Duck, a Chinese herb-spaghettti dish and delightful vegetable broth for 7.5 RMB, then buying whole sliced pineapples to eat in my hotel room for 3-5 RMB and finding the same items priced above $5 in US stores, I found China to be a bargain as well as having excellent food. No one I spoke with heard of "Chop Suey" or "Chow Mein." The author doesn't mention this but so what. He indicates that go by the rules and one will be fine. The Chinese are a very proud people. At least some of our Congresspeople and diplomatic statespeople should read this twice before departing for or speaking about China. China is the new great economic superpower. Don't wait five-ten years. Now is the time to go and get in, while opportunities abound.Dr. Alan D. Kardoff, Melbourne FL, [email protected]

An entertaining and engaging book which will do a very good job of preparing the reader for the real China. Having spent several months in China after reading this, I can say that it was one of the best jobs of preparing me for what I actually experienced. China is changing so fast that no text, including this one can be 100% correct, but it came very close.

Kevin Sinclair was so accurate in his description of traveling in China that we felt he had walked the same hutongs, crossed the same streets [carefully], been courted by the same businessmen at the same restaurants drinking the same liquids and toasting, [and re-toasting] each others' good health. Though we didn't understand most of the toasts that were offered us, we offer this to toast to Kevin Sinclair: "For making our trip to China a blast! For encouraging us to get to know the people and the places, and for helping us to understand the Chinese way, so that we were truly able to enjoy and celebrate the diversity of human lifestyles!" And to those who are heading to China - read it! Or why bother going?

I have used the Culture Shock! series many times, but feel compelled to write about this particular one. Culture Shock! China does give a good feeling of how the Chinese work. With such special analogies like the onion peel theory and the entire chapter devoted to "Mei You" (if you have ever traveled to China or will this is the key phrased used on foreigners) this book gives a good broad perspective of what a traveler will find in the Chinese Culture. It is well written and organized and reads very easily - good airplane book.