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READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Books for

Enrich your travels with reading! Here's a hand-picked list prepared for your journey in conjunction with the book experts at Longitude.

Essential Reading

Item EXCHN84. Buy these 5 items as a set for $84 including shipping, 15% off the retail price.
With free shipping on anything else you order.

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Lonely Planet Discover China

Lonely Planet Discover China

by Lonely Planet

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 448 PAGES

Focusing on must-see and memorable places and experiences, this all color guide by the discerning editors at Lonely Planet, featuring hundreds of color photographs and maps, includes suggested tours and itineraries along with not-to-be-missed places to stay, eat, shop and see. (CHN674, $27.99)

Understanding China

Understanding China

by John Bryan Starr

  • HISTORY
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

The Yale professor's essential primer on the history, politics and economy of China. A succinct and refreshingly forthright best-selling guide, this third edition brings us right up to date with events in the rapidly evolving nation. (CHN196, $17.95)

Search for Ancient China

Search for Ancient China

by Corinne Debaine-Francfort

  • ARCHAEOLOGY
  • 1999
  • PAPER
  • 160 PAGES

With information on everything from jewelry to emperors' tombs, the Great Wall and the dazzling 400-year Han empire, this shirt-pocket survey of discovery features 150 illustrations. (CHN69, $15.95)

Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China

Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China

by Jung Chang

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2003
  • PAPER
  • 524 PAGES
  • FAVORITE

In this riveting tale of three generations spanning the end of Old China, Mao's regime and the Japanese occupation, Chang chronicles the enormous changes in China since 1929. (CHN04, $16.99)

China Adventure Map

China Adventure Map

by National Geographic

  • 2011
  • MAP

A double-sided, full-color map of China, at a useful scale of 1:4,375,000, which shows roads and cities. Printed on tear- and water-reistant paper. (CHN06, $11.95)

 
Culture Smart! China

Culture Smart! China


by Kathy Flower

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 168 PAGES

Take along this handy guide to local customs, etiquette and culture. (CHN434, $9.95)

Eyewitness Guide Beijing and Shanghai

Eyewitness Guide Beijing and Shanghai


by Eyewitness Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2011
  • PAPER
  • 240 PAGES

This superb guide features color photography, excellent maps and a neighborhood-by-neighborhood overview of each city. (CHN385, $23.00)

Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook

Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook


by Hua-Yuan L. Mowry | Justin Ben-Adam Rudelson

  • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 256 PAGES

A handy phrasebook for basic Mandarin, focusing on pronunciation, grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler. (CHN72, $8.99)

Odyssey Guide Xi'an, Shaanxi & the Terracotta Army

Odyssey Guide Xi'an, Shaanxi & the Terracotta Army


by Kevin Bishop

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2009
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

With color photographs, insightful essays on culture and history, site plans and places of interest in and around China's ancient capital. (CHN34, $24.95)

The Chinese Kitchen

The Chinese Kitchen


by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo

  • FOOD
  • 1999
  • HARD COVER
  • 452 PAGES

An authoritative compendium of Chinese recipes and food-oriented cultural practices. Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's cookbook doubles as an introduction to China itself. (CHN134, $39.95)

China, A New History

China, A New History


by John Fairbank | Merle Goldman

  • HISTORY
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 546 PAGES

A sweeping history of China from the Paleolithic to Tiananmen, revised with a new chapter by Merle Goldman. A standard for history buffs. (CHN11, $27.50)

China, Inc. How the Rise of the Next Superpower Changes America and the World

China, Inc. How the Rise of the Next Superpower Changes America and the World


by Ted C. Fishman

  • HISTORY
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

An economist and former commodities trader, Ted Fishman draws on statistics, case studies and interviews in this lively economic history and guide to understanding China's spectacular economic growth and future prospects. (CHN305, $17.00)

Life and Death in Shanghai

Life and Death in Shanghai


by Nien Cheng

  • HISTORY
  • 2010
  • PAPER
  • 560 PAGES

A plainly told account of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution in Shanghai, from an author who was a six-year political prisoner. (CHN42, $17.95)

The Great Wall, China Against the World, 1000 BC - 2000 AD

The Great Wall, China Against the World, 1000 BC - 2000 AD


by Julia Lovell

  • HISTORY
  • 2007
  • PAPER
  • 412 PAGES

The Who, Why and Wherefore of the Great Wall, this marvelous history demolishes myths (no, the wall is not a continuous structure of great antiquity, as much of it was built in the 1600s) with fresh insight and wit. (CHN308, $15.00)

The Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China

The Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China


by William Lindesay

  • HISTORY
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 32 PAGES

A beautiful introduction to the extraordinary tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, First Emperor of China, this concise visual overview features richly colored illustrations and photographs accompanied by detailed captions. (CHN126, $12.95)

Chinese Art

Chinese Art


by Mary Tregear

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 216 PAGES

A quick, but surprisingly thorough survey of Chinese art, including calligraphy and painting, sculpture and ceramics, as well as garden design, architecture, and various crafts. (CHN153, $19.95)

The Arts of China

The Arts of China


by Michael Sullivan

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 352 PAGES

A lively survey of Chinese visual arts and culture through the ages, thoroughly illustrated and accessible. With a new chapter on the 20th century and beyond, this fifth edition covers bronzes, ceramics, painting and architecture from the Neolithic to now. (CHN16, $39.95)

China Road

China Road


by Rob Gifford

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2008
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

NPR's Gifford writes with warmth and affection of his encounters with truckers, small farmers and regular folk along fabled Route 312 from Shanghai to the border of Kazakhstan. (CHN433, $17.00)

Mao, The Unknown Story

Mao, The Unknown Story


by Jung Chang | John Halliday

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 814 PAGES

In this extraordinary biography Chang (Wild Swans) and her historian husband reveal Mao as a brutal, power-hungry monster with close ties to Joseph Stalin. (CHN301, $20.00)

Mr. China, A Memoir

Mr. China, A Memoir


by Tim Clissold

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2006
  • PAPER
  • 262 PAGES

An excellent portrait of contemporary China. Clissold writes with humor and insight in this entertaining account of his encounters with the Chinese and the Chinese way of doing business. (CHN306, $14.99)

Red China Blues, My Long March from Mao to Now

Red China Blues, My Long March from Mao to Now


by Jan Wong

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 1997
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

Jan Wong tells of her experiences in the "hermetically sealed bubble of Maoism" as one of two westerners to attend Beijing University, then offers a first-hand account of recent reforms in China. (CHN37, $15.95)

Red Dust, A Path Through China

Red Dust, A Path Through China


by Ma Jian | Flora Drew

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2002
  • PAPER
  • 324 PAGES

An astounding memoir by an urban poet, painter and writer on the road to Tibet. A vagabond, rebel and Buddhist, Jian abandons his Beijing life for a 3-year southwestern journey through Tibet, Burma and Guizhou Province. (CHN150, $16.00)

Empire of the Sun

Empire of the Sun


by J. G. Ballard

  • LITERATURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 279 PAGES

Ballard's widely acclaimed novel of an English boy in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation, drawn from his own experiences. It's a powerful tale of the upheaval and trauma of war. (CHN265, $14.00)

Empress Orchid

Empress Orchid


by Anchee Min

  • LITERATURE
  • 2005
  • PAPER
  • 346 PAGES

In this novel of the glorious, decadent last days of 19th-Century Imperial China, Min (Red Azalea, Becoming Madame Mao) combines her tale of a young girl from the provinces who marries an emperor -- and then improbably becomes the Last Empress -- with a lovingly re-created portrait of life in the Forbidden City. (CHN267, $14.00)

Waiting

Waiting


by Ha Jin

  • LITERATURE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 308 PAGES

A spare, haunting story of a military doctor who tries for 18 years to divorce his peasant wife so he can marry a more sophisticated nurse at his hospital. Greatly evocative of quotidian life in China during the Cultural Revolution and after. (CHN80, $16.00)

A Field Guide to the Birds of China

A Field Guide to the Birds of China


by John MacKinnon | Karen Phillipps

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2000
  • PAPER
  • 586 PAGES

A comprehensive field guide to the birds of China, featuring 128 color plates illustrating 1,300 species of birds. Contains introductory chapters on the history of ornithology in China, biogeography, and conservation. (CHN85, $124.00)

More Recommendations

Here are some other groups of books that might be of interest

Longitude provides recommended reading for travelers in partnership with the leading tour operators and travel programs for hundreds of destinations worldwide. We've got the classic, new and hard-to-find books and maps to help you get the most out of your adventures.