Customer Reviews

HEART OF THE DRAGON

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Heart of the Dragon was issued as the companion piece to a BBC documentary series of the same name that was aired in 1984 or thereabouts. Since Alasdair Clayre, the author, was producer, writer and chief director of the series the correlation of the two projects would seem to be perfect: this is no mere tie-in, but an outstanding book in its own right. The connection with the series means that the book is extensively illustrated. That may lead some readers to think that this is a "coffee table book", but they would be mistaken. Clayre, in a series of subject chapters (Living, working, cosmology, etc.) sets out a tremendous amount of information. Having read a great deal about China, and traveled there frequently, I expected very little from this book. To my surprise I found it very informative, combining broad overviews and succinct summaries with interesting specific bits of information. The result is a very good textbook of Chinese culture and recent history. The editorial review above implies that this book is some sort of propaganda piece. I cannot agree. Clayre is very critical of Mao, and indeed, his assesment of much of 20th century Chinese history is more acerbic than that of my old teacher, Chalmers Johnson. You can't get much more Cold Warrior than that.
I think that the book does slightly overemphasize China's past accomplishments and Western misunderstandings, but this is a very slight reservation. At 20 cents, this is a steal. Buy it or get it from your library.
Alisdair Clayre spent 3 years writing and producing this book. A fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford,, and a protege of Isaiah Berlin, he writes beautiful mandarin prose--- oxbridge mandarin, that is. The series went on to win an Emmy, the first foreign series so honored. Clayre did not live to see it. Apparently afraid his work would not be appreciated, he committed suicide a few days before the first broadcast.