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Riding the Iron Rooster

Paul Theroux

4.02 · Rating details · 8,474 ratings · 336 reviews

Paul Theroux invites you to join him on the journey of a lifetime, in the grand romantic tradition, by train across Europe, through the vast underbelly of Asia and in the heart of Russia, and then up to China. Here is China by rail, as seen and heard through the eyes and ears of one of the most intrepid and insightful travel writers of our time.

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Paperback, 464 pages

Published March 28th 1989 by Ivy Books (first published 1988)

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May 26, 2012 mark monday rated it it was ok

Shelves: guidebooks

3 Things about Riding the Iron Rooster:

(1) land sakes, Paul Theroux does not like human beings! he seem like a very disdainful and contemptuous person in general. that disdain and contempt certainly includes the Chinese - which was an off-putting and distancing thing to experience when reading a travelogue concerning China. at times it really got to me and i found myself disdainful and contemptuous of the author in return. he began to drive me up the wall with - as another reviewer notes - his r 3 Things about Riding the Iron Rooster:

(1) land sakes, Paul Theroux does not like human beings! he seem like a very disdainful and contemptuous person in general. that disdain and contempt certainly includes the Chinese - which was an off-putting and distancing thing to experience when reading a travelogue concerning China. at times it really got to me and i found myself disdainful and contemptuous of the author in return. he began to drive me up the wall with - as another reviewer notes - his relentlessly consistent authorial voice. i'd have to remind myself that he also wrote The Mosquito Coast, which besides being my dad's favorite film (scary, that), is all about escaping from the dirty, disgusting world of conformist, unimaginative humans - and the terrible dangers that can arise from that sort of mentality. so it's not like Theroux doesn't have a good read on his own personality and his maybe-not-so-secret desires. and that's kind of admirable.

(2) i read this side-by-side with Mark Salzman's Iron and Silk. the contrast between the two was illuminating. on the one hand, Salzman seems like such a decent and sweet guy, someone i'd like to know. his book is very well-intentioned... and, sadly, sorta vapid. it has no teeth and no bite, just a soft babyish gumming of sorts. the writing is also basically uninteresting. on the other hand, Theroux, who is a person i have no interest in knowing, is all bite (and lots of bark too). he lets you know his thoughts and he is fearless when it comes to being percieved as a snotty asshole. he doesn't care and he writes it like he sees it. his writing may be bleak, but it is also very real. this is a man who looks at the ugly side of things and reports on it in prose that is often exceedingly impressive. but still rather ugly.

(3) apparently people who regularly sleep in (as i do) have homes that smell "feety". you know, like feet. huh. i did not realize this and i'm not sure if this is true. i think this is another example of Theroux being a dick regarding habits he disdains. oh, Paul. ...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Jeff rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

The nice thing about buying books by the box at a used book sale is that I’ll take a chance on something I normally wouldn’t pick up at full price. In this case it was a travelogue.

Paul Theroux’s travels through China took place in the mid ‘80’s, which makes most of the political content somewhat dated (not to mention repetitive to the Nth degree). Everyone in China that he comes across gets questioned about the changes in the political climate, specifically the differences between Mao and the ...more

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Oct 19, 2013 Caroline rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-star-reads, world

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. For most of us the glass is either half empty or half full. But some take it further. Over there in the corner sits Paul Theroux, sniffing grumpily at the chlorine in his paltry dose of water, and absently scratching at the thick coating of limescale on the side of the glass. In his pocket sits his notebook, which later he shall use to diss both the water and the waitress.

Why do we put up with it? We put up with it because the man is brilliant.

This was my first Theroux read, and what a delight i ...more

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Mar 03, 2008 Lara Messersmith-Glavin rated it liked it

This book exhausted me. 450 pages of train rides, blurred landscapes, glib conversations, and Paul Theroux's relentlessly consistent authorial voice throughout, cramming in detail after detail from a year-long journey throughout China in 1987; it became a reading challenge more than a pleasure.

I wasn't about to get off the train in Heilongjiang, worn out around page 300, not because I was so riveted, but rather because I wanted to know if he would ever bring it all together, if his partial and This book exhausted me. 450 pages of train rides, blurred landscapes, glib conversations, and Paul Theroux's relentlessly consistent authorial voice throughout, cramming in detail after detail from a year-long journey throughout China in 1987; it became a reading challenge more than a pleasure.

I wasn't about to get off the train in Heilongjiang, worn out around page 300, not because I was so riveted, but rather because I wanted to know if he would ever bring it all together, if his partial and often repetitious reflections would ever coalesce into a larger meditation - his consciousness of travel writing as autobiography does little to bring out critical reflections of his own judgments.

I suppose he did, in part, take me as a reader to a final destination that put the rest of the trip into a clearer perspective. I will not spoil the details, but I can easily say that the last chapter makes the whole endurance-read worthwhile, especially under the conditions in which I experienced it: that is, living in Chengdu, the last big city before the Tibetan frontier, in the middle of the largest Tibetan uprising since 1959, only two months before Beijing is to host the 2008 Olympic games. His fondness for Tibet and the risks he takes to be there are sentiments I hold close to my heart.

Both the greatest fascination and largest frustrations I felt with this book stemmed from the inevitable constant comparisons I made with my own China experiences. Of course, the country in which I live is not the same as the one he visited, separated as we are by not only two very different personalities and purposes, but also two decades of monumental attitudinal and political change. The China Theroux explores is one just emerging from its era of isolation, and is in a breathless and mistrustful, albeit hopeful, period of testing the air let in from Deng Xiaoping's open-door policies. People seem eager to talk to Theroux, (although it is often unclear which language they are using - his Chinese seems to be much better than mine). After 7 months in one place, I have yet to be invited into someone's home. The yuan is stronger against the dollar in 1987 than it is now; bicycles are still a dominant form of transportation in many areas; the Cultural Revolution is still a topic of regretful conversation; the Internet has yet to consume the minds of the youth, and the one-child policy has yet to produce its generation of solipsistic princelings and career-driven princesses. He spends pages admiring Chinese craftsmanship in the objects of daily life: locks, clocks, fountain pens. I wonder how it is that these things could have changed so quickly: my bicycle lock can be unhinged by a sharp gust of wind. I also wonder how much the introduction of American consumer demands for cheap crap have contributed to the downward spiral.

Perhaps the most chilling inconsistency between his China and the one I see every day is the absence of the events in Tian an'men Square in 1989. He discusses student protests in passing, and he and others make innocent predictions: "they will amount to nothing," most say. "They do not have the courage," or even, "Things are different now - the State will do little in response. It will all blow over." My edition of this book was published in 1988; I cannot help but wonder if he added a note to later editions, a comment in retrospect on the irony of these passing predictions, all laid bare and sadly naive in the glare of more recent Chinese history.

Many things are, of course, the same, and so familiar I laughed out loud: the shrieking into telephones; the utter lack of safety precautions anywhere; the staggering, ultraplanetary beauty of the Tibetan landscape; the impossible yet tenacious geometry of the rice terraces; the gross views afforded by public trench-style squat toilets; the luscious smells of steamed dumplings; the ubiquitous hawking of lougies and spitting on the floor in restaurants, classrooms, buses, bars.

Theroux is a fine writer; his attention to human detail is commendable, and, unlike most travel writers, he admits to his own presence in a clear and responsible fashion - you cannot pretend that the experiences he puts forth are your own. You are simply sitting beside him, privy to his thoughts. The book is a rambling chain of anecdotes, prone to repeating observations at times, but also giving a genuine warmth to each new interaction as characters come in and out of view, and offering a due nod to the immense cultural complexity of a place like China, unified in many ways only by government.

An unwieldy and tiring book, but full of fascinating detail and unusually privileged insight - and occasionally, funny as hell. ...more

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Oct 26, 2012 Daren rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: train, non-fiction, 4-star, china, usa-author, travel, north-east-asia

A year in China in the mid 1980's. Pretty much if the train went there, so did Theroux.
He is a cynical man, who generally dislikes more than he likes, but he manages to describe fantastically what it is he doesn't like!
I enjoyed this more than The Great Railway Bazaar and The Old Patagonian Express, although they are very similar in style.
The first chapter was enough to convince me I would enjoy this book. It tells of Theroux joining a group tour from London to China by train. Why he ever though ...more

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Feb 22, 2018 Missy J rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography, travelogue, 2018-books, china-related, non-fiction

"...any travel book revealed more about the traveller than it did about the country."

For the 3rd consecutive year, I have made it a point to read one Paul Theroux travel book at the beginning of the year. On Goodreads, there are many unfavorable reviews that criticize Theroux for being judgmental of his co-travelers and the places he visits. Funny enough, I don't get that impression at all. I find that Theroux writes very honestly and doesn't want to romanticize the places he travels to nor trav "...any travel book revealed more about the traveller than it did about the country."

For the 3rd consecutive year, I have made it a point to read one Paul Theroux travel book at the beginning of the year. On Goodreads, there are many unfavorable reviews that criticize Theroux for being judgmental of his co-travelers and the places he visits. Funny enough, I don't get that impression at all. I find that Theroux writes very honestly and doesn't want to romanticize the places he travels to nor travelling itself. He is not afraid to bring forward his opinion and see the self-destructiveness of mass-tourism. I love how original his thoughts are!

"Sightseeing is one of the more doubtful aspects of travel, and in China it is one of the least rewarding things a traveller can do - primarily a distraction and seldom even an amusement. It has all the boredom and ritual of a pilgrimage and none of the spiritual benefits."

I was very excited to read this book. In the 80s, Theroux embarked on his second trip to China, making it a point to take every train possible to visit every corner of the country.

"You have to see Tibet to understand the Chinese. And anyone apologetic or sentimental about Chinese reform had to reckon with Tibet as a reminder of how harsh, how tenacious and materialistic, how insensitive China could be."

The book starts out in London and the first chapter sees Theroux part of a tourist group crossing through Europe and Russia into Mongolia via the Trans-Siberian Express. After that he is pretty much on his own. He visits 3 big Chinese cities (Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou) before embarking for the more rural places. However, that's when the Chinese government notices that there's a white guy travelling to these remote parts of China and thus, keeps sending a chaperone to monitor Theroux (it happens in Xinjiang, Tibet, Heilongjiang, Yunnan...).

Two interesting quotes on Hong Kong:
'Maybe the Chinese government will straighten things out when they take over Hong Kong.'
'No. They will ruin it. No democracy.'
'There's no democracy there now. It's a British colony. The Governor-General is appointed. And the strange thing is,' I said, because I had suddenly realized what a political anachronism Hong Kong was, 'very few people actually speak English in Hong Kong.'
'We speak Cantonese.'
'That's the point. It's part of Guangdong province, really. British culture didn't sink in. It's all Cantonese.'

"This sleeping-car was all Hong Kongers in screechy ski-suits. They had travelled non-stop from Kowloon. They had never before been to China, had never seen snow; their English was very poor -
and yet they were colonial subjects of the British crown. They did not speak Mandarin. Like most Hong Kongers I had met they were complete provincials, with laughable pretensions. Was it the effect of colonialism? They were well fed and rather silly and politically naive. In some ways Hong Kong was somewhat like Britain itself: a bunch of offshore islands with an immigrant problem, a language barrier and a rigid class-system."

One of the Boxer chants in 1900 was:
'Surely government banner men are many;
Certainly foreign soldiers a horde;
But if each of our people spits once.
They will drown banner men and invaders together.'
(Poems of Revolt, Peking, 1962) ...more

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Jan 12, 2008 Michelle rated it liked it

We moved to China this year, largely ignorant of China's history, both recent and ancient. This book was incredibly eye-opening as to what the cultural revolution entailed, what it did to Chinese culture and people, and how much things have changed here since the book was written. Theroux captures the essence of China quite clearly for us. While he seems unlikeable or crabby at times, he is also very real and very clear about what travelers oftentimes must endure for the sake of a journey, of le ...more

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Nov 19, 2008 Eric_W rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel

Among the first inventions of the Chinese were such things as toilet paper (they were enamored with paper and in fact invented a paper armor consisting of pleats which were impervious to arrows), the spinning wheel, seismograph, steam engine (as early as 600 A.D.) and parachute hang gliders in 550-559 B.C. which they tested by throwing prisoners off towers. This same country, according to Paul Theroux in Riding the Iron Rooster, is driving many animals to extinction. The Chinese like to eat stra Among the first inventions of the Chinese were such things as toilet paper (they were enamored with paper and in fact invented a paper armor consisting of pleats which were impervious to arrows), the spinning wheel, seismograph, steam engine (as early as 600 A.D.) and parachute hang gliders in 550-559 B.C. which they tested by throwing prisoners off towers. This same country, according to Paul Theroux in Riding the Iron Rooster, is driving many animals to extinction. The Chinese like to eat strange foods and are superstitious about the medicinal value of exotic animals who achieve status not from individual beauty or from intrinsic qualities, but because they taste good.

Theroux, who has a passion for trains, wandering, and gossip, found many changes in China since his first visit of several years earlier. People were much freer and willing to talk. Theroux's writing is fascinating because he's so nosy. He's not afraid to ask anything. And he notices everything. It's his way of "getting the measure of a place." If he sees someone reading he makes note of the title, memorizes the contents of refrigerators, labels in clothes, compares prices, copies graffiti and slogans, and collects hotel rules. My favorite: "Guests may not perform urination in sink basin."

At one point he was forced to fly to catch a particular train and his description is particularly revolting; people standing in the aisles while landing, puking, the plane popping wheelies on the runway, the aircraft itself having wrinkled skin. The cultural revolution was uniformly hated by everyone he spoke with and the change in the people could be measured by the change in their slogans. Formerly when students were asked what they wanted to do with themselves they would reply, "to serve people." A book filled with interesting tidbits.

I should note, as an avid reader of Airways magazine that airlines in China have improved tremendously, have terrific equipment today, and service standards far exceeding United's. Theroux's book is quite dated in that respect. ...more

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Aug 02, 2007 Patrick O'Connell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Want to understand China? Read this along with Peter Hessler's Rivertown and you will get a pretty good picture.

Unlike most travel writers, Theroux is cynical, and accordingly perhaps a little more insightful. Anne Tyler may have written "The Accidental Tourist", but Theroux is certainly the reluctant tourist. ...more

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Feb 21, 2008 Stacey rated it really liked it

One of the best travel writers out there. Theroux makes you want to overturn your desk, light your cube on fire and turn in your company ID...so you can get into the world and LIVE!

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Dec 28, 2013 Elaine rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

This is an account of over a year Theroux spent exploring China in the 1980s.He writes a very detailed account of every landscape,meal and conversation he had during that time [not quite but it sometimes feels that way!]. Theroux is not afraid to ask intrusive questions of anyone he meets and has a certain lack of tact about what subject to address ie, nothing stops him.He did find,however, that while the Chinese simply didn't answer if they didn't want to they were very open and candid in talki ...more

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Oct 25, 2007 L.J. rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Travel readers

Shelves: belongs-on-my-shelf

A gem of a book from Theroux. Having read several of his train travel books (and his paddling book in the South Pacific) I have not been disappointed with his travel narratives. Because the book takes place so many years ago it would be interesting to get a follow-up from him, but as for reading it now it is still a grand adventure through China to places most people are not exposed. I enjoyed his description of the South and the coastal area near Vietnam and was very interested in his experienc ...more

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Sep 13, 2014 Megs rated it it was ok

Recommended to Megs by: from the Little Free Libary

Shelves: travel, lost-interest-stopped-reading

I was so excited to pick up this book because it is about a man's journey across Europe into China via rail. The author's travels took place in the 1980's and I was interested in learning more about China and seeing it through a visitor's eye, hopefully with some insight. I got halfway through the book, and just couldn't take it anymore. The author's ego is giant, he complains constantly about food and accommodation, and the worst part is that he is condescending towards his contemporary Chinese ...more

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Sep 13, 2007 T. Scott rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: other Theroux books

This isn't a travel book or just a book about China. It's a book about the pain in the ass that travel can be and the annoying, obnoxious, petty and unpleasant people you meet along the way. These are all the things that make the book (and most of his others) interesting. He doesn't leave out the boring parts in between. He's a little bit of a curmudgeon and can sometimes be downright mean. Every road isn't rocky however, and he gives you a real sense of place; you can almost smell it. ...more

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Aug 27, 2007 Frank Noe rated it really liked it

This is the book that inspired me to take the Trans-Siberian train, basically traveling from Berlin to Hong Kong by train, in 1990.

The core of the book discribes Paul's adventures spending nearly a year on the rails of China. I really enjoy his perceptions of people and local customs. ...more

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May 31, 2008 Jrobertus rated it really liked it

Theroux is a great American travel writer. This is one of my favorites of the many I have read. The Iron Rooster is a Chinese train that carries him deep into the back waters of China in the mid 80s. His descriptions are both acrid and humane. Go figure.

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Apr 12, 2020 Sairam Krishnan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would; I say this because I have read Theroux before, and found him insufferable. But this is a different book, and this is a different journey, and I was happy to travelling with him this time.

Theroux is a very good writer, and blends (some) banality and (a lot of beauty) in his sentences, making this book excellent travel writing of a sort that is not really written anymore - unromantic, straightforward, and full of adventures and hairy stories.

Also ...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Richard Etzel rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel, non-fictional

1982, half dozen years after the death of Mao, I hooked up with a farmers group Kansas on a cultural exchange to China. What an experience that I shall never forget. Theroux's Riding the Iron Rooster brought back vivid memories of what I saw. We traveled from Shanghai to Beijing in 17 days by bus, train and air. He reminded me of the communes we visited, the schools, Freedom Stores (set up for tourists as a way to import foreign currencies used in trade with the rest of the world), factories, sm ...more

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Dec 09, 2007 Adam rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: International Culture/China/ Travel people

If Rick Steves is your type of guide than this is not your book. Paul Theroux is the UN-romantic travel guide. Well he isn't really a guide. He is a man on a long vacation through Mongolia, China and Tibet. He is wonderful at telling stories within his book without making the book seem a collections of short stories. He suffers no fools and readily critques aspects of culture that he thinks are worthy of it. He does not hesistate to point out that sub standard education, or housing or even gover ...more

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Dec 16, 2011 Ensiform rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, china, travel

The Iron Rooster is the name of just one train line; Theroux took them all, from London through Eastern Europe, Mongolia, China, and Tibet. A vast book (440+ pages), and deeply insightful into the Chinese mind at the beginning of the new political openness: Theroux talks to Party hacks, students, and everyone else who will subject themselves to his endless questions. He sets out, sort of, to disprove the inscrutability of the Chinese, and their saying “We can always fool a foreigner.” To his cha ...more

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Aug 07, 2007 James rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel-literature, non-fiction

This book fits right in between Theroux's first travel book and his last. It's sarcastic and caustic, but not to the extent of The Great Railway Bazaar (fortunately). It's also informative and provides fascinating insight into China, but not to the extent of Dark Star Safari regarding Africa (unfortunately). Ultimately, though, it's a unique, geographically comprehensive account of China that is highly entertaining, very descriptive, and generally fascinating. The highlights are the descriptions ...more

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Oct 03, 2007 Joel rated it liked it

Made me want to take a long trip on a train. Theroux makes a lot of comments about China that may have been true at the time, but which don't seem to be that true now -- what a difference 20 years makes. This book was written right before the events of 1989 (published in 1988), so the political stuff is really fascinating -- to see people's thoughts and attitudes about government just prior to that horriffic time. ...more

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Oct 14, 2011 John rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: travel

I had thought somehow I'd missed reading this one of Theroux's, but the final chapter of visiting Tibet (by car, there was no train a generation ago as there is now) was familiar enough that I realized I had. Still, though a bit dated, it proved interesting in his observations about the Chinese; he was a bit less ... snide than I recall him from other books. ...more

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May 17, 2008 Justianna Birzin rated it it was amazing

I loved the way that China became geographically real to me while reading this book, and the fact that Paul Theroux refused to toe the party line during this trip in the early 80's. Anyone interested in what's happening to Tibetans can get a good sense of the problem in this book. ...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Noreen rated it really liked it

Shelves: china

Not a regular genre. Current picture of people in China in different geographic areas. There are significant differences in food, outlook and culture. China is not a monolithic culture.
Enjoyed this immensely. Increased my interest in other Theroux books.

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Jul 22, 2016 Sorin Hadârcă rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: theroux, china, travel, asia

China by train is educational but uninspiring. I got the meaning of a hundred of Chinese Ha-Ha! but still wouldn't jump aboard that train. Except for Tibet. The last chapter outweighed the rest of the book. ...more

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Jan 20, 2008 Alan rated it liked it

Shelves: biography-and-memoir, railroad

Theroux in China. As always, sprinkled with his reflections, more than travel.

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Jun 19, 2013 Emi Bevacqua rated it it was ok

Shelves: asia, non-fiction, travel

Book would have been so much better if author wasn't so incredibly full of himself. ...more

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Nov 02, 2017 magdalena dyjas rated it liked it · review of another edition

it could've been a brilliant book, but unfortunately I've found it extremely patronising... ...more

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Aug 22, 2020 Alex Kudera rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A few hours later, the insomnia kicked in, and I polished off the final nine pages.

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About Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux

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Paul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work is The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), a travelogue about a trip he made by train from Great Britain through Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, through South Asia, then South-East Asia, up through East Asia, as far east as Japan, and then back across Russia to his point of origin. Although perhaps best know ...more

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“Like most Hong Kongers I had met, they were complete provincials, with laughable pretensions. Was it the effect of colonialism? They were well fed and rather silly and politically naive. In some ways Hong Kong was somewhat like Britain itself: a bunch of offshore islands with an immigrant problem, a language barrier and a rigid class system.” — 0 likes

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