Author – John Bryan Starr
A review of Understanding
China
I haven’t read much outside of novels but wanted to in
choosing Understand China. In picking something to read you must let
whatever topic of interest floats and stays within you to direct your
course. I purchased this book in May of
2011 and was a bit slow on reading it all the way through. I desired to learn about a country I knew little
about, other than what you hear word of mouth which can be as reliable as Wikipedia. As the final page turned I was left with
knowledge that put a few more wrinkles in my brain.
What’s it about?
The book consists of the Chinese economy, its geography,
history and politics. I’m not into
politics and although it states on the front cover that the book contains
information on it I have no one to blame but myself. I found those sections a bit more grinding to
go through but it wasn’t as awful as I assumed it would be. The geography doesn’t have as much content as
the other three main topics.
Chapters I enjoyed
The first two chapters focused on geography and history
which kept my interest easily.
Discovering China’s population growth wasn’t always so far up in numbers
as I assumed it was throughout history.
It occurred in later dynasties and the country’s population until then
was moderate and more in tune with the rest of the world. The severe lack of arable land also was
fascinating to learn about as I again assumed since the country had size it had
plenty of farmland. The effect Taiwan
has on China was also more of what I didn’t know. It goes to lengths describing how Taiwan
seeks to break away from China but that’s never going to happen.
Wrap Up
If
you want to simply learn about something, in this case China, decide what it will
be and go for it. Nobody is holding you
back and if China is that thing then this is a great book to start off
with. The politics slow it down unless
that’s your thing then you’ll discover much to delight you. I’d recommend chapters 1,2,13 and 16 as high
points.
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