From Publishers Weekly
That Danish journalist and essayist Jensen witnessed something momentous and formative on his journey through southeast Asia is clear, but the declarative force of his title belies the gradual, continuous nature of his discovery. Where and when did the beginning of the world make itself visible to this lonely traveler? On Nanjing Dong Lu, where brash consumerism explodes in pyrotechnics on the eve of the New Year, prompting Jensen to exclaim, "China is shedding its skin"? Or was it in Udang, the former capital of a kingdom now known as Cambodia, where amid the rubble of a wasted monastery he finds a grove of trees, carefully tended and labeled with Latin species names? Or in Vietnam, where erotic women have forgiven their past sorrows and whose "process of forgetting... was the sandpaper with which they refined an outlook on life"? In all these places and others, Jensen describes a near mystical experience in language so luminous one wonders whether to praise the author or the translator. Often, the headiness of his reactions threatens to discredit him he confesses that for him Asia represents a "dream." A very Western political view also compromises his analogies he views modern China almost exclusively through the lens of Tiananmen Square; Cambodians are uniformly asked about life before 1979, during the period of Pol Pot's nightmarish "geno-suicide"; and he thinks of Vietnam and war as inseparable, "as though that were the country's name." Still, Jensen's solemnity and spirituality distinguish him from most Western observers, as does his easy turn of anecdote into metaphor.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This view of Asia by a Danish writer provides a different perspective not only on the cultures and histories of China, Cambodia, and Vietnam but also on the role of U.S. foreign policy and politics in these regions. Jensen is a columnist and literary critic for a Copenhagen daily and won Denmark's Golden Laurels Award (best book of the year) for this work. In recounting his journeys through this trio of troubled nations, he combines personal observations, interactions, historical perspectives, political analysis, and self-examination. Jensen finds both charm and calamity in China. Cambodia is a distressing experience, while Vietnam provides him with a surprising liberation from the bonds of his own personality. Jensen writes thoughtfully, even philosophically, as he probes for the motivations behind the actions of the societies he encounters. For instance, he speculates at length on the essence of evil as manifested by the Khmer Rouge. The United States is taken to task for its actions in Southeast Asia on several occasions, and readers should be prepared (in light of our recent patriotic fervor) for some negative remarks. However, traveling in the company of this articulate Dane results in a unique and enjoyable armchair journey. Recommended for all libraries. Janet Ross, formerly with Sparks Branch Lib., NV
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* First published in Danish in 1996, this poetic, moving travelogue transcends its genre. It recounts the author's "journey through countries which in recent years have been the scene of cataclysmic events." Here we see China after the massacre at Tiananmen Square; Vietnam still struggling to recover from the civil war two decades earlier; and Cambodia more than a decade after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime. Although the author claims his book is neither historical nor political, it is actually both, a political and historical book shaped by the hands of an artist. The smooth and colloquial English translation achieves both eloquence and elegance, qualities one assumes were evident in Jensen's original prose. The precise portraits of the people Jensen met and the moving word-pictures of the things he saw (some of them hauntingly beautiful, others horrifyingly ugly) are unforgettable. The book has been compared to the travel writing of Bruce Chatwin, and it features a glowing recommendation from Paul Theroux, but in fact it resembles the work of neither of them. It is unique unto itself, and it is a must-read for those who appreciate travel writing with a sociopolitical edge. David Pitt
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