China: Including Hong Kong and Macau: The Rough Guide, First Editio (Rough Guide China) [Paperback]

Simon Lewis (Author), Jeremy Atiyah (Author), David Leffman (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rough Guide China | Publication Date: April 1, 1997

Along with five thousand years of continuous history, China is undergoing the most rampant modernization of any country in Asia. In this first edition of its 100th title, Rough Guide gives all-embracing coverage of the country, past and present. Includes side trip information across China's borders to Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Vietnam and Nepal on the trans-Siberian railway. 130 maps and plans.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Travel guides are swell wherever, with museum tips here and restaurant recommendations there, but a great guidebook is essential in China. Independent Western travelers hang on their travel guide's every word for survival, and Rough Guide delivers, describing hotel, restaurant, and transportation details accurately and clearly. It also provides scads of information on culture, history, sights, dangers, pleasures, politics, health, weather, clothing, money, and customary niceties. The maps are excellent, and important phrases (hotels, destinations) are written in Chinese characters. And as a backpacker bonus, the book weighs a mere 1.3 pounds despite the thoroughness of its content.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1104 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 1 edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185828225X
• ISBN-13: 978-1858282251
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,641,937 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > Travel > Asia > Macau

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstading for out of the way places, July 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: China: Including Hong Kong and Macau: The Rough Guide, First Editio (Rough Guide China) (Paperback)

The book describes in detail almost everything one needs to know about going to China. From reccomending large 5 star hotels to Yurts in out of the way villages, the Rough Guide helps you get there the way you want to get there. The guide is so detailed that it even reccomended a small village in the middle of Inner Mongolia called Zhaohe. I went there and found it to be what the guide promised...out of the way and no tourists. Invaluable information such as this makes traveling in an already crowded China more rewarding and interesting.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as helpful as I'd hoped, February 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: China: Including Hong Kong and Macau: The Rough Guide, First Editio (Rough Guide China) (Paperback)

I am a big fan of the Rough Guide series and of their philosophy of including socio-political commentary, to remind travelers that the world isn't just for show. And what the China guide does well it does VERY well, with great detail. But my wife and I took both this book and a competitor's guidebook for our monthlong China trip, and Rough Guide contained maybe 1/3 as many things to see and do, and left many places to stay off the list altogether. Worse, some maps were just plain wrong. A travel guidebook that you find yourself leaving in the hotel room is not a good one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars As good as they come, but already way out of date..., October 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: China: Including Hong Kong and Macau: The Rough Guide, First Editio (Rough Guide China) (Paperback)

This is one of few guides to China whose authors seem to have a fair amount of understanding of, and interest in, the country they're writing on. This is reflected in a carefully crafted book with a lot of interesting footnotes that make it a good read as well as a travel companion. Something which reflects more the rapid growth of the PRC rather than the authors is the fact that even a mere 18 months after publishing, I found the guide to be accurate only about 50% of the time. You decide whether to shell out for it.