Here's a page from Longitude, the specialty bookseller for travelers. To order online, and to see the latest, most comprehensive selection of books and maps, go to http://reading.longitudebooks.com/LO723. You may also call 800-342-2164 to order or request a catalog.

These 5 items are available for $86, including U.S. shipping, a 15% discount (Item no. EXCHN151)

Giant Pandas in the Wild, Saving an Endangered Species  •  Lu Zhi NATURAL HISTORY •  2002 •  HARD COVER  • 128 PAGES In this important new book, Dr. Lu Zhi offers an indepth portrait of the giant panda and international conservation efforts to protect the panda and its habitat in China. A researcher since 1985 and former coordinator of WWF's panda program in China, Dr. Zhi chronicles the social lives and population dynamics of 20 individuals in a number of reserves, both in text and photographs. With a foreword by Claude Martin, Director General of WWF-International, and excellent color photos by George Schaller and Lu Zhi. (CHN173, $35.00)
Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China  •  Jung Chang BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2003 •  PAPER  • 524 PAGES • FAVORITE A 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 through her family's story, which includes arrest during the Cultural Revolution, exile to the Sichuan wilderness and coming to terms with the bewildering state of China today. It's quite a tale, wonderfully told without a trace of rancor or bitterness. Living in London since 1978, Chang visits her mother back in China every year. You can imagine Chang with notebook in hand back in the family apartment absorbed in the stories of her much-loved mother. The book opens with the statement, "At the age of 15 my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general. It was 1929 and China was in chaos." (CHN04, $16.00)
The Last Panda  •  George Schaller NATURAL HISTORY •  1993 •  PAPER  • 291 PAGES The great naturalist George Schaller spent almost 5 years in the wild in Sichuan province studying the panda in the 1980s. This book is both his description of the great panda in nature, and an eloquent plea for how to save the species in the wild. With 16 color plates. (CHN24, $15.00)
Understanding China, A Guide to China's Economy, History, and Politics  •  John Bryan Starr HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 356 PAGES John Bryan Starr, a professor of history and former director of the China Association, brings his classroom experience to this admirably brief, clearheaded introduction to contemporary China. Revised edition. (CHN196, $16.00)
Central China Map  •  Nelles MAP An excellent shaded relief map in the regional series by Nelles, at a scale of 1:1,500,000. It's an attractive map at a much-better-than-usual scale which covers from Shanghai west across the country, including Xian, Three Gorges and other popular destinations. (CHN65, $10.95)

China Map  •  International Travel Maps    •  A double-sided, shaded-relief map of China, at a useful scale of 1:3,800,000, indexed with an inset map of central Beijing. (CHN06, $11.95)
Fodor's Exploring China  •  Christopher Knowles   • GUIDEBOOK  •  This excellent guidebook, featuring maps and color photos, brings old and new China to life, with sections on places to visit, a useful language guide and practical information for getting around. (CHN25, $22.00)
Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook  •  Hua-Yuan L. Mowry  •  Justin Ben-Adam Rudelson   • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS  •  A handy phrasebook for Mandarin basics. This guide focuses on pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler. (CHN72, $8.99)
Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, A Sweet-sour Memoir of Eating in China  •  Fuschia Dunlop   • FOOD  •  Dunlop writes with verve and flavor on her eating adventures in China -- including the time she tried snake stir-fry -- and includes recipes in this entertaining cultural portrait. (CHN509, $24.95)
The Chinese Kitchen  •  Eileen Yin-Fei Lo   • FOOD  •  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  •  John Fairbank  •  Merle Goldman   • HISTORY  •  A sweeping history of China from the Paleolithic to Tiananmen, revised with a new chapter by Merle Goldman. A standard for history buffs. (CHN11, $22.50)
Essential Tibetan Buddhism  •  Robert Thurman   • RELIGION  •  The foremost Western scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, Thurman has chosen well from its vibrant sacred literature, and helpfully includes suggested further reading, explanatory notes and a directory of sacred sites. (TBT15, $14.95)
In Exile from the Land of Snows, The Dalai Lama and Tibet Since the Chinese Occupation  •  John Avedon   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Avedon's masterful, passionate cris de coeur, still the best book on the subject, shows the lives of the Tibetan people at home and in exile since the Chinese takeover in 1950 through the eyes of its leaders, monks and regular people. (TBT04, $16.95)
Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism  •  John Powers   • RELIGION  •  A comprehensive study of the history and philosophy behind Tibetan Buddhism, suitable for the general reader. (TBT40, $22.95)
Oracle Bones, A Journey Between China's Past and Present  •  Peter Hessler   • HISTORY • NEW  •  In this fine portrait of tumult and tradition, Hessler (River Town) finds clues to modern China's realities in the personal stories of peasants, scholars, day laborers and activists. (CHN316, $15.95)
Ancient Sichuan, Treasures from a Lost Civilization  •  Robert Bagley   • ARCHAEOLOGY  •  A richly illustrated catalog of the art and archaeology of Sanxingdui and the Chengdu plain, featuring large color photographs of 128 works of bronze, jade, and clay dating from the thirteenth century B.C. to the second century A.D. (CHN278, $75.00)
Search for Ancient China  •  Corinne Debaine-Francfort   • ARCHAEOLOGY  •  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, $12.95)
The Arts of China  •  Michael Sullivan   • ART & ARCHITECTURE • COMING IN JANUARY  •  A comprehensive survey of Chinese visual arts and culture through the ages. It's a lively overview, thoroughly illustrated and accessible, of bronzes, ceramics, painting and architecture, from the Neolithic to the modern era. (CHN16, $39.95)
Chasing the Panda  •  Michael Kiefer   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  The spellbinding tale of an unlikely duo and their successful expedition to Wolong in 1936 to recover a panda bear. (CHN166, $24.95)
Looking for Chengdu, A Woman's Adventure in China  •  Hill Gates   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  Anthropologist Hill Gates sets off on a series of excursions through the inland province of Sichuan. Gates is especially curious to learn how the economic boom has effected the women of Sichuan, which was the birthplace of Chinese economic reforms in the 1970s. (CHN74, $23.95)
Mr. China, A Memoir  •  Tim Clissold   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  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, $14.95)
Red Dust, A Path Through China  •  Ma Jian  •  Flora Drew   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE  •  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, $15.00)
The Lady and the Panda, The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal  •  Vicki Croke   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  An entertaining account of the 1936 adventures of Ruth Harkness, the New York socialite and dress designer, who traveled to China on a quasi-scientific expedition and emerged with a baby giant panda, the first the world had ever seen. (CHN250, $14.95)
Giant Pandas  •  John Seidensticker  •  Susan Lumpkin   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  Lumpkin and Seidensticker, Senior Scientist at Smithsonian's National Zoological Park, combine gorgeous photography and the latest research to provide an excellent introduction to pandas, their behavior and conservation. (CHN456, $19.95)
Giant Pandas, Biology and Conservation  •  Donald Lindburg  •  Karen Baragona   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  This collection of scholarly essays, drawn from the Panda 2000 symposium, covers panda biology, evolution, habitats and conservation. (CHN312, $70.00)
Nature: Pandas: Pandas of the Sleeping Dragon, The Panda Baby  •  Nature   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  A double-feature from the award-winning Nature series: Pandas of the Sleeping Dragon narrated by George Page and filmed in the bamboo forests of Wolong; and The Panda Baby, the story of the San Diego Zoo panda cub. (CHN263, $19.99)
Pandas  •  Heather Angel   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  A series of gorgeous color photographs of pandas, mostly concerned with the Giant Pandas of Wolong and with a section on the red panda. Includes some information on natural history. (CHN137, $17.95)
Wild China  •  John MacKinnon  •  Nigel Hicks   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  A beautiful oversize book of photographs featuring Chinese wildlife and natural history. This informative, up-to-date survey of the wildlife of China also features excellent maps and detailed explanatory text. (CHN19, $39.95)
A Field Guide to the Birds of China  •  John MacKinnon  •  Karen Phillipps   • FIELD GUIDE  •  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)
Chinese Wildlife, A Visitor's Guide  •  Martin Walters   • FIELD GUIDE  •  A compact introduction to birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, and plants found from the Tibetan plateau to the deserts, tropical forests, and mountains. Featuring a very good selection of 200 large color photographs. (CHN440, $26.99)
Photographic Guide to Birds of the Himalayas  •  B. Grewal   • FIELD GUIDE  •  A pocket guide to 250 birds found from the foothills up to high elevations ranging from the Hindu Kush and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh in the Eastern Himalayas. With brief descriptive information, maps and 260 full-color illustrations. (HML31, $15.95)