Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet China

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The lonely planet China guides, for the two years that I taught in China, were indispensable for its general information about places that do not disappear overnight, e.g., train stations, large hotels and hostels. It is relatively useful in physically orienting yourself with cities and the larger tourist destinations. If you want a more informative guide on the history of places that you visit, I would suggest the Rough Guide. General information on what to expect when traveling in china is also useful however some of this is outdated as well.

Outside of this, the Lonely Planet essentially provides you with a tour of China without being on a tour. Everyone and their Grandmother that has a backpack will have this book. Do not expect to find little known attractions with this book, as when a site shows up here, it immediately becomes an overnight success. This is particularly true of all of the restaurant listings and entertainment venues as many of them actually vie to be mentioned in this book. I have also seen many a decent restaurant ruined by callous and hastey remarks.

I have good reason to believe that the Lonely Planet does not verify all that they publish from one edition to the next. While I lived in Chengdu, a new edition came out and listed several restaurants and bars that had been closed for over a year and a half- more than ample time for the Lonely Planet to verify their existence.

With all of this said, no other guidebook remotely comes close to matching the utility of the Lonely Planet. Its an essential point of departure, that I would recommend augmenting with other resources, to discovering your own adventures in China.

Just got back from China and used the latest edition as guide. That's all it is... a guide. Tries to be your "insider" pal but fails on several fronts. China's too darn big and changing too fast for any publisher to dare think a single "China" volume is sufficient. I mean, would you trust a single "USA" guidebook? Of course not, even if it's as thick as a phone book (and this ungainly little brick is just that).

Many wonderful sights/attractions/wonders are not even mentioned... Did editor decide to excise them, or do researchers look only so far?? I, for one, would have liked to see more attractions mentioned. But if the LP people are going to keep up the chatty little comments with every such entry (a Lonely Planet hallmark), they will have to break up "China" into many volumes. For example, book does not even show on Wuhan map the fascinating, large Taoist temple there... cutting the chit-chat about Mao's Villa there (worth visiting but the text on it is useless) could have made room. But if they want to keep the cute comments (surfing buddhas on a temple wall in Kunming, overrated herbalist in Lijiang, Europe in miniature in Chengdu), they are going to have to break the book up into at least three volumes.

Restaurant reviews could be chopped in half, that's for sure. They are boring, outdated, sometimes wholly erroneous. Phone numbers have always been a joke in LP editions for any country I have used ...I own some seventeen LP's... but these numbers were wholly useless to me on my recent trip.

As other reviewers note, it is necessary to concede that China is always changing, and with growing speed. Perhaps LP just can't send their researchers out fast enough. But there are enough expats living in Chinese cities to be tapped for updates. Incidentally, expats are a great resource for any traveller... already Shanghai and Beijing have weekly "what's on" style tabloids in English that are very helpful to the visitor. Anyway, on the expat account alone, generally clever LP editors really have little excuse for not having a finger on China's latest and greatest.

What's good about Lonely Planet China?? Liberal use of Chinese characters and Pinyin romanization, for one thing. Made it super easy to communicate with taxi drivers. The Orientation section for each city is excellent... three paragraphs to prepare you for the layout and characteristics of the city. History section is good, too. I truly love the off-the-beaten path viewpoint that makes Lonely Planet so much fun... so I hope future editions retain this, while getting on the ball with useful / necessary details.

Using this book, traveller / reader will get a generally good trip, but will be led astray / waste time more than once by old info (where to catch bus to Buddha, where to find Muslim food, etc), and from incomplete phone numbers.

China continues to change at a hair-raising pace so I can almost forgive the fact that Lonely Planet can't seem to keep up. Except that it should be able to catch up after three editions yet somehow manages to lag behind even that schedule.

I can't forgive at all the snarky attitude of its writers who seem to operate on the principle, "if you don't have anything nice to say, try at least to make it sound witty and superior." The result is usually smug cynicism, which is an unattractive attitude in a traveller, and all the more trying when all you really want to do is find the hotel after 36 hours in hard class. Sometimes I get the feeling these guys don't really like to travel...

Rather than simply being obsolete, or imprecise as another reviewer notes, Lonely Planet is often simply inaccurate. How do they do it? I'm not sure. I've had reports that the underpaid and tightly itineraried writers can't always complete their assignments and sometimes rely on second-hand information from other travellers. I've met a German guidebook writer (not lonely planet) who admitted she'd done the same, so it's not all that far-fetched.

China can be a frustrating country for budget travellers, particularly those with no other option than train or bus on long journeys. Not much english is spoken, even in the major cities and the whole country appears to operate under alien premises. (These happen to be two of the best reasons to travel there.) However, outdated, imprecise and inaccurate guidebooks just exacerbate the potential frustrations.

There are better guidebooks. Consider titles in the Cadogan Guide series, particularly "China: The Silk Routes" by Peter Neville-Hadley. Read the editorial and customer reviews on its Amazon page, which are bang on.

Oh, by the way, I took one star off for inaccuracy and two for being unpleasant. China's a tough assignment but it's no reason to get nasty.

The China LP is an excellent resource for the novice traveller to China if you use it correctly. By "use it correctly," I mean that you have to learn to ignore large chunks of it. Some of the info is invaluable for even the most veteran China-traveller: the maps showing where the train stations and cheap foreigner-accepting hotels are (perhaps the most annoying phenomenon in China is the proliferation of cheap guesthouses that, owing to Commie regulations, cannot accept foreigners. In this aspect, the LP is a life-saver; I've wasted literally half my day trying to find accomodation in cities not covered by the LP). For the uninitiated, the LP can be somewhat helpful for showing where the major sights in Beijing, Hong Kong, Xi'an, and other large cities are.

For Chinese speakers, the recent revisions have been particularly helpful, with the addition of characters throughout the book (instead of in the annoying, hard-to-find glossary secton in each chapter).

However, that being said, I really despise the LP. In terms of restaurants and food, AVOID USING THE LP AT ALL COSTS. You will waste your time trying to find non-existant or crappy, overly expensive restaurants. China (especially southern China) is packed with some of the best food in the world in the most unexpected places. Do not waste your time chasing after a restaurant on the other end of Guangzhou when every street corner has a little restaurant that's incredible. Half the fun of China for me was exploring all of the street vendors and little holes in the wall.

For those of who want to see anything outside of the major cities without being funnelled into the tourist ghettos known as Dali, Yangshuo, and Lijiang, avoid this book like the plague. Those three tourist traps are mind-numbing in their monotony of banana pancakes and muesli with yogurt. Most of the people who use the LP to guide them through China are essentially spending a huge wad of cash to fly to China in order to avoid as much as possible actually being in China. Easily the most edifying experience I had in China was when I to places uncovered by the LP (e.g. far western Sichuan, southern Qinghai). Admittedly, to get outside of these ghettos requires a least a modicum of Chinese language ability, but this can be overcome be finding help from other travellers who speak Chinese, natives who speak English, or, in the worst case, using a phrasebook.

China is a difficult country to travel in, but the only interesting experiences you'll have is when you drop the book and open yourself up to unexpected ephiphanies.

Lonely Planet China provides excellent introduction on the destinations and I do enjoy reading it. I appreciate the writers and the editors to have done such wonderful research on those small villages and towns.

However, most of the "practical" information is getting unpractical, because it's apparently far outdated. Hotel rate, admission fees, cost of the food and so on are really misleading the travelers! After traveling thouroughly in China, I really do not believe I can find a place that costs 10 RMB per night, even in a backpacker's guest house.

I have to say, this is not a good "guide book" as most of the supposed to be useful info is useless.

the reviewer from ottowa, ontario canada was way off. this book is the swiss army knife of practical knowledge concerning how to survive, get around, and even have a great time in the massively complex and ever-changing world that is china. granted, the book has a cheeky, irreverant air to it, but believe me when i say this humor came as a great psychological boost at times. i know, i travelled extensively in china for 1 year and also lived in shanghai. i went there speaking no chinese at all and managed to learn to speak passably well by the time i had to leave.

let's be realistic; it is impossible to fit all of china into 1 book. shanghai alone could fill a book this size, but what lonely planet sacrifices in up-to-the-minute nightlife coverage in major cities (this purpose is served far better by english city mags) and historical information (not to mention pretty pictures) it more than makes up for with it's sheer volume of practical information from all over china. how to get to, tour, eat, sleep, and even attempt to get off the beaten track (becoming really hard in china) at any location in this massive country.

i sincerely believe it would take a lifetime for a single individual to compile this much information.

this book isn't perfect, some info is out-of-date, but if you're going to china, it is indispensible.

This is a pretty good book, but the points about it inaccuracies should be noted. In their defense China is a very rapidly changing country (in shanghai I once counted over thirty cranes from one spot) so any guidebook will quickly be out of date. [...] if you are looking for a guidebook to paint you a pretty discovery channel Sunday school vision - this is not the book for you. On the other hand if you are a serious traveler who wants to get a more 'real' travel experience this is probably the best book in the pack of china guides. I know its been a big help to me on a number of occasions.

I first travelled to China in 1998 and brought with me the then current edition of the Lonely Planet. My review of it is here somewhere. Despite being on a guided and highly structured tour, I found the guide absolutely indespensible and I used it constantly before and during my trip.

China has changed so much in just two years. The change is even more evident in the major touristy type cities such as Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. Fortunately, as China changes so does the Lonely Planet guide. And fortunately, the guide is just as good as ever.

I enjoyed the LP China book for two reasons. First off, the background information is so awesome for preperation for a trip to China. China is a great trip, but at times it is not an easy trip. However, the guide does a good job of letting you know ahead of time what wonders, amazments, and frustrations may lie ahead.

Once in China the book is awesome on where to go, the background and history of where you are, and how to get there. The maps and train times are oh so important.

China is a great and challenging trip. To do it right you need to be ready for it before and while there. Simply put, the LP book is the best way to get ready for a big trip to China.

This book never left my side during two trips to China. This book is worth every penny it costs.

Let's face it, China's a big place and changing at the speed of light. I credit this newest edition of LP China for trying to keep up but as a frequent traveler to China, I've been frustrated to no end in seeking the dead-end addresses and recommendations that's listed in this edition. There's so many inaccuracies, it's embarrassing. Previously "undiscovered" spots are now teeming with tourists, there's a sorry list of restaurants and most of the ones listed seem to cater to foreigners anyway, making redundant the China experience. I'm usually a big fan of Lonely Planet, but LP books seem increasingly to be chock full of unnecessary and often demeaning commentary towards the local population. Noone can hope to try to understand China, so keep your smarmy opinions out of it, editors! I can buy Paul Theroux for that and have a LP that's lighter in the backpack.

China is such a great country both in area and history. I found this relatively small book not as useful as other LP guides for smaller countries or areas. Nearly 1 billion of China's population are farmers and live most of their life in rural, agriculture orient villages. This book just can't cover that part of China well. It might did good enough of covering big cities and modern part of Chinese living but certainly missed out a lot too. You can read this book for getting general information and try to get other LP guides targeting smaller areas. Try LP Southwestern China!

commenter lives in a former China ruled island, Taiwan outlying mainland China where now is politically separated from communist China. China and Taiwan both share the traditional Chinese culture.