Middle kingdom inside China today
- London Pan Books 1981
- 379 p.
This book recounts author experiences in China and seeks to interpret them. It does not present a formula designed to explain the country and its people. He have neither discovered such a formula nor made any great effort to do so. He once received a visit in Peking from my friend Conrad Ahlers, the journalist. Like most people who visit China for the first time, he came armed with a ready-made theory that enabled him to understand what went on there. It took him only twenty-four hours to realize that his rule of thumb was inaccurate. The same applied to the other theories he evolved in the next few weeks, most of which he discarded just as promptly.. 'I'm all mixed up,' he told me before boarding his plane. 'I know less about China now than I did when I got here."