Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “My First Trip to China Scholars Diplomats and Journalists Reflect” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

My First Trip to China Scholars Diplomats and Journalists Reflect

Kin-ming Liu

3.75 · Rating details · 12 ratings · 2 reviews

“Illuminating . . . Fascinating . . . Engaging. A reminder of the kinds of shattering debutante encounters with the enormity, and often imponderability, of Chinese realities that have shaped those who travelled there. Features reminiscences by many of the voices that have come to define how, until fairly recently, the West understood, however partially and imperfectly, Chi “Illuminating . . . Fascinating . . . Engaging. A reminder of the kinds of shattering debutante encounters with the enormity, and often imponderability, of Chinese realities that have shaped those who travelled there. Features reminiscences by many of the voices that have come to define how, until fairly recently, the West understood, however partially and imperfectly, China.”
- Asian Review of Books

“Captures the freshness and curiosity of first encounters with China . . . The richness of the book lies in the variety of accounts at different times in history.”
- South China Morning Post

My First Trip to China is essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand the evolution of Western attitudes toward contemporary China. At the same time, this collection provides a vivid, personal window onto a fascinating period in Chinese history. Thirty leading China experts—ranging from Perry Link, Andrew Nathan and Jonathan Mirsky, to W.J.F. Jenner, Lois Wheeler Snow and Morton Abramowitz—recount their first visits to China, recalling their initial observations and impressions. Most first traveled to China when it was still closed to the world, or was just beginning to open. Their subsequent opinions, writings and policies have shaped the Western relationship with China for more than a generation.

About the Editor: Kin-ming Liu is a ChinaFile Fellow at the Asia Society’s Center on US-China Relations. A former chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, he has worked for Apple Daily and the Hong Kong Economic Journal, and is currently with the South China Morning Post.

What the reviewers are saying:

“To collect the stories of first encounters with China was a brilliant idea. Not only do we get the benefit of many fascinating insights (and hindsights) from a range of foreigners and overseas Chinese, but these deftly edited views from the outside make up one great story: the history of Communist China. More than a history of one damned thing happening after another, however, this is a history of perceptions, lies, myths and revelations, as much about China as her rulers wish it to be seen, as about those who chose to see China, more and sometimes less clearly, over the last half century.”
- Ian Buruma, author of Bad Elements

“The opening of China to the world, and then of the world to China, is one of modern history’s most consequential stories. That story is told in a fresh, innovative fashion in this insightful collection of personal experiences related by a distinguished collection of historians, diplomats, journalists, political writers and others who ventured behind the Bamboo Curtain early on. Leading the way are disillusioned leftists stunned by the horrors of the Cultural Revolution and Mao’s Great Leap Forward that they discover. They gradually give way to knowing observers of a tumultuous society determined to become once again a world power. Their accounts form an impressionistic vision of epochal change taking place on the gallop.”
- Jim Hoagland, contributing editor, The Washington Post

“This is a wistful and absorbing volume, and a fitting remembrance for all of us who once thought that China was going to be easy to study.”
- Jonathan Spence, author of The Search for Modern China ...more

Get A Copy

Kindle Edition, 216 pages

Published November 20th 2012 by East Slope Publishing Limited

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about My First Trip to China Scholars Diplomats and Journalists Reflect, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about My First Trip to China Scholars Diplomats and Journalists Reflect

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-31

Average rating 3.75 ·

Rating details

· 12 ratings · 2 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of My First Trip to China Scholars Diplomats and Journalists Reflect

Apr 20, 2013 Frank rated it it was amazing

Fascinating book. Kin-ming Liu showed a lot of vision in collecting these essays, by important journalists, scholars, diplomats and businessmen who have played a large role in the way Westerners have understood China during recent decades.
These "first trip" essays are full of personal anecdotes that shed light both on China, and on the authors. Some are humorous --for example, when Perry Link tries to buy a broom as a souvenir for his Mother, or when Jerome Cohen gets a completely fabricated r ...more

flag Like · see review

Mar 06, 2013 Wsclai rated it really liked it

Though the PRC today is very different from what is described in the book, it is still an eye-opening voyage, which provides an alternative views to the history of the communist China.
I have learned about One-child policy from books and know that it has long been implemented much against the will of people. Yet, I was appalled to know that women who were 9-month pregnant were coerced to abort their children with C-section. The brutality is far from what I can imagine.
Another part that impressed ...more

flag Like · see review