Amazon.com
British born author Simon Winchester lived in Hong Kong before setting off on a journey up the Chang Jiang or Yangtze River as it is most often referred to in the West. In The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze and Back in Chinese Time, he chronicles his adventures across China along the 3,964-mile River. Employing nearly every mode of transportation--including boat, train, jeep and shoe leather--Winchester recalls his passionate exploration of the countryside, while providing important and engaging historical information. His recollections of the Chinese people are often less complimentary, as he exudes an air of disgust at the country's apparent disregard for pollution, its awkward modern architecture and decaying historical monuments. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
"The delicious strangeness of China," as Winchester puts it, is as much the subject of this absorbing account of a personal journey as is the Yangtze River, the third-longest in the world and the entry to China's heartlands. Along its banks, some of the most important events in the country's history have played out, and the river occupies a singular place in the national psyche. In 1994, Winchester followed its course from the East China Sea to Tibet by boat, car, train, plane, bus and foot; but this is more than an ordinary account of a traveler's pilgrimage, although it is a must for any visitor to China. Wryly humorous, gently skeptical, immensely knowledgeable as he wends his way along the 3900 miles of the great river, Winchester provides an irresistible feast of detail about the character of the river itself, the landscape, the cities, villages and people along its banks. Most notably there is Shanghai, once "the most sinful city in the world," now an economic powerhouse rivaling Hong Kong; Wuhan, where the 1910 revolution began that brought Dr. Sun Yat Sen to power and where Mao Ze Dong, at 70, chose to make his famous swim; the Three Gorges, where a great, controversial dam to rival Aswan is being built; and Chongquin, once Chiang Kai-shek's smoggy and furnace-hot capital. Finally, Winchester made his way to the great river's source 15,000 feet high in the mountains of Tibet. A journalist who has written extensively about Asia (Pacific Rising; The Sun Never Sets) and spent nine years in Hong Kong making frequent visits inland, Winchester is comfortable with the country's long, complex history and politics, and he writes about them with an easy grace that defies the usual picture of China as an enigma wrapped in a conundrum.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal
A geographer by training, Winchester, the Asia-Pacific editor of Conde Nast Traveler magazine, decided that traveling from the end of the 3,965-mile Yangtze River toward the source would allow him to journey deep into the heart of China. The trip also takes him back in time as he moves from ultramodern coastal cities like Shanghai to the still underdeveloped interior. Along the way, he and a valued Chinese companion-guide, Lily, travel through polluted urban industrial cities, flat plains, and some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world. Winchester includes lucid discussions of topics related to geographic areas of the river: a fascinating account of tea in Lushan, once a tea-growing center, and an excellent chapter on the controversial decision, universally condemned by environmentalists, to dam the river and flood, among other things, the scenic Three Gorges. His work is a vivid account of the Yangzte as it will cease to be when the dam is completed. An interesting, informative, well-written account; highly recommended for public and academic libraries.?Caroline A. Mitchell, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The New York Times Book Review, David Willis McCullough
. . . typical of the tone of his sometimes grumpy, always fact-filled book: the poor Chinese never seem to know--or care--that they're making a mess of things. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
China attracts ever greater numbers of curious travelers desiring to somehow penetrate its mesmerizing diversity and dramatic history. Winchester's compelling, erudite account of an awesome, nearly 4,000-mile journey up the Yangtze River will doubtless become essential reading for China buffs. A fitting guide, Winchester combines journalistic expertise with an unquenchable thirst for tangible knowledge of the great river. The details of the adventure, undertaken with a Chinese companion named Lily, are spendidly told--from Winchester's story of how the trip first came about to his decision to encapsulate the river's impressive geographic meanderings with a concurrent history of China. Winchester seemed destined to write this fluent chronicle, both satisfying and intriguing. Alice Joyce --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review