China: The Complete Guide with Scenic Tours and Business Travel Tips

by Fodor's Travel Publications Inc.

All the essentials of a perfect trip

· Distinctive hotels, large and small, for every budget
· Great meals: shark's fin soup, Peking roast duck, Mongolian hot pot, straw mushrooms on crab
· China by plane, boat, and train—from Beijing's Forbidden City to Guangzhou's Huaisheng Mosque
· Markets, fairs and shopping, and tips on cutting costs
· Essays on Chinese history, culture, and language
· Special feature—detailed maps and plans of sights

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Reference

624 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1902

About the author

Fodor's Travel Publications is a United States-based producer of English-language travel guides and online tourism information. It was founded by Hungarian Eugene Fodor in 1936.
Fodor’s was acquired by Random House in 1986 and sold to Internet Brands in 2016.

Reviews

[Saurabh · Rating 1 out of 5]

What I learned from this book is to stick to Lonely Planet while travelling. This is just about the worst travel book I've ever read.

For example, they gave glowing reviews to the Peking duck of a Shanghai restaurant. As it turned out, this restaurant was inside a hotel. Not even the receptionist knew its name (the address matched and they had Peking duck on the front of the menu, so we knew it was the one). Nobody was eating there. The seats were covered with cloth. I bet the writer just stayed in that hotel and thrashed out his review on a deadline after ordering room service.

There has been no thought given to the layout. Trying to find even the most usual travellything (eg. visas, currency, emergency nos., useful phrases), which in the Lonely Planet books is a pleasure, here is a major PITA. Once we found info about the Shanghai maglev train, but later we just couldnt find it again. There was nothing in the index or Shanghai transportation or anywhere logical. Perhaps it was in the description of a train museum in rural Po-dunk or something ("... By the way, if you are ever in Shanghai, you should try the maglev train...").

[Mojca · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The relevant sections for the parts of China we were in were fairly helpful, but I will think twice before I buy more electronic travel guides. Simply put, they are a pain in the butt to deal with. I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to find things in them. You can't dog-ear an iPad, alas!

Also, both this guide and Lonely Planet's have one major failing, in my opinion. None of the listings gives the names in Chinese characters, which I found to be the most critical thing. For instance, if I needed to take a taxi somewhere, saying something like 'Take me to the Nanjing Museum' to a taxi driver was useless. Taxi drivers spoke almost no English and even my most earnest attempts to render place names authentically fell flat. The only thing that worked was having the name of the place I wanted to go to written out in Chinese characters and pointing to it when I got in a cab.

I don't think it would be too much of a stretch for the editors of these guides to ensure that the Chinese characters for hotels, major sights, restaurants, etc. are listed in the headings.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son visited China with a friend this past summer. And this volume, another in the Fodor’s series, accompanied him. Curious to get a better sense of China from a tourist perspective, I took a look at this volume upon his return. And I think I would find this, too, a nice resource were I ever to visit this country.

If you are familiar with the Fodor's series, this is another fine entry. The book begins by providing some context on China. Then, a quick and dirty region-by-region look, from Beijing to Shanghai to Eastern China to Hong Kong, and so on. Interspersed in these regional analyses are what are termed "closeups," laying out subjects such as Best Beijing tours, Extreme climbs on the Great Wall, Yunnan cuisine, Damming the Yangtze, the Silk Road, Forbidden City, and a Culinary tour of China. There are many maps as well.

All in all, a useful resource if one were interested in a trip to China.

[Jessica Lange · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't actually use this book to plan my trip to China. I hired a travel agency for that. But I did use this book to read up on the sights I would see, the customs, and the history. So it fit the bill for my purposes. However had I been using this book to find restaurants and hotels I would really only find higher end stuff. So if you're looking more for bargain travel you may want to look elsewhere.

[John Orman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty standard Fodor's guidebook, with many details of locations to visit in China. I liked the sections on Great Itineraries and History of China. Many great photos too!

I am using the book to plan a possible trip to China, since I have never been there. Not sure if I will ever make it, but I got quite a vicarious adventure by reading this book!

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like I needed a good travel guide for China more than for any of our other trips because the culture and how the people think is so different. This one more than did what I needed it to do. it took care of the almost impossible job of describing the history and culture of this huge, fascinating place.

[Booklover]

paper book