The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time [Hardcover]

Simon Winchester (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1996

An author travels up the Yangtze river from the Tibetan border to the East China Sea and attempts to get at the soul of China as he passes through the many faces of China. 12,500 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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.

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (October 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805038884
• ISBN-13: 978-0805038880
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,182,379 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Simon Winchester studied geology at Oxford and has written for Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian, and National Geographic. Simon Winchester's many books include The Professor and the Madman ; The Map that Changed the World ; Krakatoa; and A Crack in the Edge of the World. Each of these have both been New York Times bestsellers and appeared on numerous best and notable lists. Mr. Winchester was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by HM The Queen in 2006. He lives in Massachusetts and in the Western Isles of Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Dip Into Chinese History, June 13, 2000

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time (Paperback)

The subtitle "A Journey up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time" more or less explains this combination travelogue/history. Winchester's aim is to travel the length of the Yangtze heading upriver. In doing so, he does a superb job of explaining the importance of the Yangtze River in Chinese history by blending in all manner of history from Western gunboat diplomacy to Mao's Long March to the Rape of Nanjing to the current Three Gorges Dam project. In fact, the book isn't bad as a way to sort of dip into Chinese history for the uninitiated. The travelogue aspect is also well handled, as Winchester travels with a Chinese woman translator/problem-solver. Modern China doesn't come across very well in his description, as he encounters the usual corruption, but also amazing episodes of lethargy and apathy from the locals. At times, the technical hydrology/geology stuff gets tiresome, but overall, it's an excellent read--especially for prospective travelers to area.

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good concept, flawed execution, September 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time (Paperback)

Winchester's idea to travel "backwards" through time by following the Yangtze to its origin could have led to a very compelling tale. Unfortunately, Winchester made very little effort to set his journey apart from the way most Western tourists travel. Soft-seat trains and boats maintain a significant separation between the author and his subjects. Consequently, aside from some well-researched historical stories, there isn't much insight into the Yangtze region or its people.

Winchester's condescending tone also reinforces the outsider's perspective of the book. The further one gets into the book, the more it becomes obvious Winchester views Western culture as inherently superior to Chinese culture. This is a major flaw in the book because it prevents Winchester from observing and describing what is going on around him effectively, and perhaps more importantly, from being influenced and changed by his travels.

Overall, the book has a few interesting passages but the author's cultural biases reduce most of it to what is essentially a tourist's impressions of a vacation. Two books that touch on the Yangtze region with much greater insight are Red Dust (Ma Jian) and River Town (Peter Hessler). I recommend reading either book before picking up Winchester's book.

120 of 147 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I'm actually quite annoyed by this book..., March 10, 2003

By 

Matthew M. Yau "Voracious reader" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time (Paperback)

The back cover of the book tells of Simon Winchester's reverse-the-Yangtze boat travel from Shanghai back to its origin up in the western mountains. That sounds quite appealing to me as I have never traveled through the Three Gorges (not to mention that upon completion of the great dam near Xilin Gorge the river will raise at feet 400 feet and inundate thousands of pagodas). I have decided that the book was an instant disappointment after finished reading the first few chapters. Two things about this book that REALLY bother me:

1)Winchester, though researched all these interesting (historical) stories, does not say much about lives along the Yangtze River. He would spend pages and pages talking and reflecting on his memories as he sails through the river sceneries. You will ask: what about the Chinese people living along the river? How are their lives? What about his interactions with the locals? He omits all these as if they simply don't exist or he is just sailing along some remote uninhabited towns.

2)Over and over again Winchester implies his superiority (or superiority of the Western culture) over the Chinese. What on earth is this all about? But thanks to this book so I know what a REALLY good travel narrative/memoir is all about. Peter Hessler's "River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze River" is a completely opposite account to Winchester's in terms of both contents and attitude. Peter interacted and spent time to get to know the locals without judgmentally commenting on their disparaging lifestyles.

I simply don't like and don't agree with this book. Neither do I like the writing style nor the stories it has to offer. The narrative is repetitious and cliched. Not recommended. 2.2 stars.