
China Road
A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $17.16
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Simon Vance
-
By:
-
Rob Gifford
Listeners also enjoyed...




















Accurate, telling...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In audio format, however, it is hard to visually related to the mentioned locality/demographically. Hope your written book include some of that.Spell checkResume Words: 84 | Characters: 521
Very insightful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good history!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
True Observations
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fascinating, relevant, and well-balanced
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Entertaining travelog style view of China
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I wanted more of the journey, not the elaboration
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who seeks more information about China than can be gleened on TV or magazines.
An Outstanding Book on China
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you consider the audio edition of China Road to be better than the print version?
It provides an alternate way to experience the book. Convenience, drive time, walking, etc.What did you like best about this story?
Personal experiences shared and beautiful writing.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
The constraints of time don't allow this luxury. I also don't like to absorb too much at once.Any additional comments?
Tackling a theme for a book as complex as China requires an enormous about of skill and knowledge and most of all sensitive objective approach. While deciding to purchase this book, I was a little wary because I did not want to become overwhelmed with academic and generalized discussions on how China???s rise is imminent and threatening. As it turned out, however, the book was a very enlightening experience. Not only did it provide a great deal of insights into China, it boosted my fascination with the topic even more. The author shares his experiences of traveling on route 312 from Shanghai all the way to the Kazakhstan border. Many of those experiences include candid conversations - not interviews - with the myriad of everyday Chinese. It often felt like I was part of the conversations. The author, Rob Gifford, skillfully weaves Chinese history, politics, and culture into a comprehensive story that reads like fiction but is actually a primary account of his time there. He shares his personal views in a manner that is thoughtful and credible, which includes his appreciation, as well as abhorrence of various aspects of Chinese society today. Having never visited China and now desiring to go there even more so, I feel like I could visit China with some important insights gained from reading ???China Road???. The author???s skill with words brings the land and people right into the mind from the high energy bustle to the tranquil and serene. I highly recommend this book for just about anyone. It is an easy and delightful read.Best book on China I have read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you listen to China Road again? Why?
Yes - I've read the book and have now listened to it. I'd do it again, because (as someone who lives in China) this is the best book on modern China that I've ever read. It is my first recommendation to anyone wanting to understand China today.What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Simon Vance actually pronounces Chinese correctly. It is really horrible that so many great books on China have audiobooks with the most basic pronunciation errors, making it a constant cringe-inducing experience to anyone who knows even the most basic Chinese. The readers of Wild Swans, Factory Girls, and Peter Hessler's books all make these mistakes. It's as if someone read Les Miserables, and pronounced it "LESS MISERABLE-S" and the main villain "JAY-VERT". I'm not asking for the subtle consonants, or tones, or native pronunciation, but just the absence of the most basic errors - things a reader could learn with a ten minute "basic Chinese pronucniation" intro. Heck, just learning the following rules would solve 95% of the problems:- Pronounce the "x" as an "sh", not a "z".
- Pronounce the "q" as a "ch", not a "k".
- Pronounce the "zh" as a "j", not a "z".
We wouldn't put up with this sort of thing for a minute from narrators of books in European settings. We wouldn't tolerate a reader who read the spanish-double "L" as a standard L and not a "Y". So why are these incompetent readers not screened out?
Great narration, rich info, fantastic writing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.