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In Manchuria: Journeys Across China's Northeast Frontier

Michael Meyer

4.02 · Rating details · 453 ratings · 70 reviews

In the tradition of In Patagonia and Great Plains, Michael Meyer’s In Manchuria is a scintillating combination of memoir, contemporary reporting, and historical research, presenting a unique profile of China’s legendary northeast territory. For three years, Meyer rented a home in the rice-farming community of Wasteland, hometown to his wife’s family, and their personal sag ...more

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Hardcover, 352 pages

Published February 17th 2015 by Bloomsbury Press

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Jan 26, 2016 Sue rated it it was amazing

Twelve years ago when I was planning a trip to China, I used a guidebook which issued a warning to the effect that “no matter how up to date this book is at the time of its printing, it will be out of date by the time you read it.”

Michael Meyer tries to grab hold of that slippery country and to give a sense of its past and present by living in a remote Manchurian village called Wasteland and digging through the layers of history. All the while, the village is hurtling into the twenty-first centu Twelve years ago when I was planning a trip to China, I used a guidebook which issued a warning to the effect that “no matter how up to date this book is at the time of its printing, it will be out of date by the time you read it.”

Michael Meyer tries to grab hold of that slippery country and to give a sense of its past and present by living in a remote Manchurian village called Wasteland and digging through the layers of history. All the while, the village is hurtling into the twenty-first century, as Eastern Fortune Rice, an organic rice production facility, buys up land and crops, moving farmers into highrises. A spa – not likely to be patronized by the locals – springs up and inspires the rapid building of roads.

Meanwhile Meyer lives with a farmer in a traditional hut, sleeping on a cotton bedroll atop a kang, a brick platform heated by burning dried rice stalks underneath. He loves this place and enjoys village status because his wife grew up in Wasteland. When he is not volunteering in the local school as an English teacher, he travels in often rough fashion through Manchuria, a region whose history is embedded in the imperial aspirations of China, Japan, and Russia.

As a land on the “wrong” side of the Great Wall, Manchuria has a unique past, not so tied to the ancient great dynasties that are so much the hallmark of Chinese pride. Meyer gives us a lot of history; I was woefully ill informed about the Russian and Japanese incursions on this land, and I kept turning to Wikipedia for grounding in dates and sequence.

When Meyer moved between his personal experiences and chapters on history, I initially found the narrative somewhat fractured, but the book got stronger for me as the threads came together, and I was left feeling that this is a wonderful book. I especially relished the stories of his travels to find lost histories – Russian churches, a willow palisade “wall,” old train stations.

In Manchuria is equal parts history lesson and village cultural study. It’s lovely to be embraced by Meyer’s zeal for his story.
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Oct 08, 2015 Beth Cato rated it really liked it

Shelves: research, 2015, nonfiction, memoir, chinese

I read this with the hopes of data I could use in my novel research, and I ended up delighted with the book overall. This is one of several great travelogues/historical explorations I have read in recent years (Children of Kali by Kevin Rushby is worthy of note here). Meyer approaches the book with an American perspective, but as an American who is quite happy to immerse himself in other cultures. He lived for a year in his wife's native Manchurian village of Wasteland, while his wife is elsewhe ...more

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Mar 06, 2015 Bookworm rated it liked it

Would be good for those who are interested in Chinese history. Former Peace Corps member Michael Meyer takes us through a journey of rural China, from it's time under the emperors to the modern day and the changes and shifts it has gone through. When people think of China they may think of the Forbidden City or the Great Wall or Communism or any other number of things, but Meyer takes the reader on a very different journey through a place where probably a lot of people may have never heard of, u ...more

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Apr 06, 2015 Sally rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel, history

I thoroughly enjoyed this description of Northeastern China, centered on the village (named Wasteland) where the author's wife spent her childhood. Largely a memoir of the author's experiences and travels to sites of interest, it gives quite a lot of the history of Manchuria, as this part of the country was traditionally called, from the imperial period through the Japanese occupation, the Mao years, and into the present. This history is both from research and from the point of view of people wh ...more

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Feb 24, 2016 Ethan Cramer-Flood rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Michael Meyer is such an exquisite writer on China that I almost couldn't finish this book, both because nearly every sentence generated additional thoughts -- forcing me into perpetual distraction -- and because my sense of inadequacy in the face of his ridiculous skill was constantly in the back of my head. Damn you Meyer, for being this good! :) ...more

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Feb 13, 2015 Mainlinebooker rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

I adored Meyer's previous book about the fall of the hutongs in Beijing, China but I felt this piece to be more disjointed. In attempting to show what has happened to the small farmer and advent of big agribusiness into the Manchurian way of life, he mixes three narratives. One is his personal life and the time spent living among the Manchurian natives in a small village, another is the vast history of Manchuria, the conquests, and its peculiar place in the thinking of the rest of China, and ano ...more

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Jul 25, 2015 Dave Eisenstark rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone interested in the world.

Terrific book. The characters in it are wonderful, including the author. I would have enjoyed an even larger cast and more day-to-day action. Certainly you have to think of Great Plains by Ian Frazier and the Peter Hessler books on China when you read this. A great tradition the author follows nicely. I'm anxious to go back and read Meyer's book on the hutongs as well. ...more

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Mar 08, 2015 Shannon Reed rated it really liked it

I love this book. I learned so much about a region of the world I barely knew existed. Honesty compels me to admit that I know the author, which is why I picked up this book. But instead of being a slog of oblagation, it was truly a joy to read

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Jan 30, 2015 Claudia Callis rated it really liked it

Very interesting book about the changing countryside of China.

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May 28, 2015 victor harris rated it did not like it

I really enjoyed his other books, not this one. As another reviewer noted, it was "plodding." The writing was flat and it never got anywhere. There was nothing tying the story line together. ...more

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Dec 06, 2017 Kuang Ting rated it really liked it

Author Mr. Meyer was a reporter in China before. He first came to China in 1990s with Peace Corps. It's very interesting to note that he was a classmate of Peter Hessler. They learned Chinese in a college in Sichuan, then sent to different schools to teach English. It's said that Hessler was the best Chinese learner in class, and Meyer was the second. After teachers days, they both went to Beijing and became journalists. This is Meyer's second book about China. The first one is about old alleys Author Mr. Meyer was a reporter in China before. He first came to China in 1990s with Peace Corps. It's very interesting to note that he was a classmate of Peter Hessler. They learned Chinese in a college in Sichuan, then sent to different schools to teach English. It's said that Hessler was the best Chinese learner in class, and Meyer was the second. After teachers days, they both went to Beijing and became journalists. This is Meyer's second book about China. The first one is about old alleys in Beijing.

'In Manchuria' is another great journal on contemporary China. Manchuria is the old name of China's Northeast. It's the hometown of Manchu which was the founding tribe of Qing Dynasty, China's last dynasty. Its location makes it a strategic place in modern history. Bordering Korea and Russia, everyone wants to take control. Russia could use it to reach the Pacific, getting its first ever harbor that wouldn't freeze in the winter. Japan wanted to use it as a base to invade whole China. Manchuria is a fertile land, so it could also relieve Japan's burden on its excessive population. Japan can export resources back to homeland as well.

In short, Manchuria has become a troubled land since 19th century. Meyer visited many places in the region. He weaves history and anecdotes perfectly into his travelogue. He gives detailed information on the past, present, and future of this land. He introduces each country's influence here.

Meyer's wife is from the village he stayed. She studied English in China and went to Berkeley studying law. She was based in Hong Kong during Meyer's three years stay in her hometown. They had their first child in the end and it wrapped up Meyer's journey.

In addition to history, Meyer gives lively depiction on local people. He lived with his wife's relatives. He taught English in primary school there. It was a small village. A foreigner's presence was 'well-known' to everyone. He showed us traditional rural lives. The personas are very colorful. I learn how people from Northeast think or behave.

Finally, a main theme runs through all chapters. Traditionally, individual farmer takes care of his own farmland. However, aging population in rural areas makes it unsustainable. Private companies are taking over their lands. These companies employ high tech agricultural methods to enhance output. It also relieve China's heavy burden to feed 1.3 billion people. Furthermore, the firms promise to provide necessary measures for old farmers livelihood. For example, the firms build new apartment and encourage them to move here, leaving the old farm houses. Thus, old ways of living are disappearing.

In Manchuria not only captures the characteristics of China's rural people but also introduces readers to this lesser known area in China. It's a nice book to know more about this beautiful country.
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Sep 16, 2017 Adrian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Michael Meyer has provided an approach to travel writing with which I was previously less acquainted. While my travel writer of choice, was, and is, Robert D Kaplan, Meyer provides a style and narrative in contrast, in the sense that a greater portion of the novel is personal recollection of interactions with people, but not just any people, people who form the human and personal accounts of China's transformation.
Having previously lived in Jilin Province, and having personally explored the citi Michael Meyer has provided an approach to travel writing with which I was previously less acquainted. While my travel writer of choice, was, and is, Robert D Kaplan, Meyer provides a style and narrative in contrast, in the sense that a greater portion of the novel is personal recollection of interactions with people, but not just any people, people who form the human and personal accounts of China's transformation.
Having previously lived in Jilin Province, and having personally explored the cities described in this book, namely Harbin, Changchun and Shenyang, Meyer brings the places to life in the form of a journey through history, worthy of any previous travel writing I have encountered.
The transformation of rural China of the subtitle, is largely the corporatization of rural China. Meyer takes us through a journey, from the Qing Dynasty, to subordination in the Japanese puppet state of Manchuguo, to collectivization in the Mao era, to the abolition of the latter and the introduction of the household contract responsibility system in 1984, and eventually the abolition of all agricultural taxes in 2006.
The people described in the book are faced with the dilemma of the conglomerate of East Fortune Rice who were effectively buying up the land, and redeveloping the town, a development with mixed views. As Meyer describes, this may offer the chance for the urbanisation of the village, the chance to live in 2 bedroom apartments with central heating, rather than the Kang, but perhaps some people are content with the life they have.
Meyer provides an insight into Chinese culture one is unlikely to gain from scholarly history or current affairs books because he intimately interacts with the ordinary people themselves, therefore, the book is educational, and educational in a warm and personal way.
Definitely recommended to those with an interest in China, and particularly those with an interest in China's much overlooked Northeast. The Northeast is a charming, unique place of beautiful forests, and lively people, and is well worth a visit, or even living for an extended period, as I have done. For those considering the Northeast, Meyer's book is a very good prelude. ...more

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May 25, 2020 Ann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, historical

This was a riveting book, written about the northeastern part of China known as Manchuria, an area which is not usually written about as much as more southern parts. Manchuria was, however, prominent in the pre-WWII and WWII days, due to the Japanese invasion of China which occurred in that part of the country. I have a special interest in this due to my son's having spent two years very near the village written about in this book; also, several of the things about the culture I observed during ...more

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Nov 17, 2017 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club-2017, kindle, non-fiction

The more I read about China, the more eager I am to learn about this nation, rich in history and culture. Michael Meyer, becomes an expat living in rural China after a stint in Peace Corps, and enjoys teaching there. He meets his Chinese wife and decides to rent some land in a small village called Wasteland - the home of his wife's family.

What follows is a charming and interesting story of Meyer's personal experiences in an area of China rarely written about, the people, and it's history. I e ...more

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Aug 10, 2020 Bella rated it really liked it

While reading his wonderful experiences in a foreign country makes me miss my hometown which is a small village in Northeastern China near the village the writer mentioned in this book. I had a lot of my childhood memories brought back in my mind when I read all kinds of activities people did during the freezing winter; they sat on Kang with sunflowers and sipping a cup of hot tea; they sang the folk songs I know. I miss my family and my hometown.

Besides the writer's adventures in China, his wi ...more

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Nov 12, 2017 Pan Hu rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-audible

As a native Manchurian (people from Manchuria), I find this book really fun to read. There are a lot of interesting subtle observations of Manchuria people from a foreigner's perspective and some even made me homesick. This is a book I would recommend if someone wants to know the roots of modern Manchuria people and culture.

One thing I do not like about this book is the lengthy details of historical backstory. Though they are crucial to introducing the historical background to people unfamiliar ...more

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Jun 23, 2020 Chris Paul rated it really liked it

An impressive picture of DongBei, I've been to Jilin for several times, I like the people there, the natural beauty there, and most important, the excellent ski resort makes me want to go back every winter. But the history about Qing Dynaty & the anti-japanese war is a little bit boring, it's too long and noting new. ...more

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Sep 05, 2018 Jason rated it really liked it

Shelves: china

Fantastic and insightful look into the history and places of cities, peoples, politics, and changes shaping China's lesser known 'dongbei' northeast. Heard of Manchuria, but always wondered what it was and is--now you can know. ...more

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Dec 26, 2018 BDT rated it liked it

A fun piece that is occasionally difficult to follow. The local history and environment of Manchuria is fascinating, and is described with rich and vivid language. The author's personal experiences are also fascinating, yet at times repetitive or lengthy. ...more

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Jun 23, 2019 Katherine Speece rated it it was amazing

I read this book while I was living in the dongbei last summer and it added such depth and meaning to the region. Meyer brings a seemingly desolate area to life. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to learn more about everyday life in rural China.

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Jul 11, 2019 Hunter Marston rated it really liked it

A brilliant overview of the complex history, culture, and development of modern day northern China, in Manchuria is a fun and expertly narrated story of this relatively neglected yet fascinating part of the world.

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Aug 07, 2019 Aditi added it

Shelves: first-reads

DNF

I was given this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Despite several attempts, I found it difficult to get absorbed in the book and sadly ended up abandoning it. Hence no ratings or a real review.

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Mar 22, 2017 Jenny Knowles rated it it was amazing

This is a fascinating account of living in today's Manchuria with thoughtful sections about the history of this part of north west China over the last century. It is part travelogue, part social science, part philosophy and is written in an absorbing way with some lovely language. ...more

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Jun 03, 2017 Owen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: china, biography

It's a good book when I wish it was longer. ...more

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Jun 28, 2019 Kawing rated it really liked it

Both personal and well-researched - full of humour too! I genuinely enjoyed the book and this is great for anyone travelling in the North East of China.

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Sep 14, 2019 Kojimatomy rated it liked it

Thanks for Michael to pay attention to northestern of China where is longly ignored by Chinese. From this book, I have known that what have happened in history and contemporary in Manchuria.

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Oct 01, 2020 Anne S. rated it really liked it

Michael Meyer alternates between the story of his wife's family and how they ended up in Wasteland, a town in Manchuria, with the larger history of Manchuria. His writing is interesting and humorous. ...more

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Mar 12, 2017 Richard rated it really liked it · review of another edition

very enjoyable. just didn't hold my interest as much as I like. it seemed to be more about the author then it was about Manchuria or those who live there ...more

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Dec 29, 2014 Zeb Kantrowitz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley-read

The subtitle of the book is a good summary of what the book is all about: A Village Called Wasteland and the Transformation of Rural China. Meyer who first spent time in southern China as part of the Peace Corp, married a woman from northeastern China (Manchuria). After being married for thirteen years, his wife (now a lawyer) took a job in Hong Kong. Meyer (a travel writer and author) decided it would be a great time to visit her family in Manchuria and travel around the area.

His wife’s family The subtitle of the book is a good summary of what the book is all about: A Village Called Wasteland and the Transformation of Rural China. Meyer who first spent time in southern China as part of the Peace Corp, married a woman from northeastern China (Manchuria). After being married for thirteen years, his wife (now a lawyer) took a job in Hong Kong. Meyer (a travel writer and author) decided it would be a great time to visit her family in Manchuria and travel around the area.

His wife’s family was from a little town on the Songhua River outside of Jilin in the middle of Heilongjiang Province (Manchuria), called Wasteland. All he could find out about the town was that it was declared a village in 1956. Prior to 1949, it may have just been a group of houses off a side road. After the takeover of the Communist Chinese it was declared a commune and the land in the area was flooded and turned into rice paddies. The village was famous for the type of ‘sticky rice’ they grew known as ‘big wasteland rice’.

Meyer (from Minnesota) spent three years living in the town which was just like a small town in the Middle West of the US. He lived among his wife’s aunt and uncles who had spent their whole lives in the village, from before World War 2. They remembered the times when the land was owned by absent landlords, the wars of the Warlords (before WW2), the Japanese occupation. They were there when the Russians chased out the Japanese and the war between the Communists and the Nationalists.

Under the Communist Chinese they were forced into communes, attacked by the Red Guards during the “Cultural Revolution” and were part of the first areas to be given private use of the land they lived on. By the time Meyer went to live in Wasteland, the village was being swallowed up by a huge new Agribusiness called “Eastern Resources”. Everyone in the village remembered his wife as a child (when she was called the Princess) before she married Meyer and went off to the US. In the US she went to college and became a lawyer specializing in international law.

Meyer spent much of his time traveling around the Province studying the wars between the Russian, Japanese and Chinese over this land. He interviewed (he is very conversant in Mandarin) many of the local politicians and toured all the important Museums in the area. In his own way Meyer gives the reader a history lesson as well as a discussion of the cultural changes to Manchuria during the twentieth century.

For me though the best part of the book is his descriptions of the older people of the village of Wasteland. These are the ‘common people’ of the area who have lived through all of the changes from the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, the Chinese Republic of 1912-1949, and under Communist rule. His description of the small town atmosphere where everyone knows everyone’s business is truly worth the read. All during his stay in the village the old ‘aunties’ question him as to when he will start a family. (At the time he was 39 and his wife Frances was 34.) This is a great view of the changes to rural China (and the whole country) from ground level. Well worth your time.

Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
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Mar 30, 2015 Steve rated it really liked it

While I sometimes labored through In Manchuria, it was more often due to a busy summer and a distracted mind. Make no mistake, writer Michael Meyer is gifted in making history engaging without being intellectually insulting – no easy task.

Obviously, in a project as all-encompassing as telling the “transformation of rural China,” some chapters are more interesting than others. Meyer not only tells the history of the region, but also describes his sojourn. I found the chapters dealing with the Ja While I sometimes labored through In Manchuria, it was more often due to a busy summer and a distracted mind. Make no mistake, writer Michael Meyer is gifted in making history engaging without being intellectually insulting – no easy task.

Obviously, in a project as all-encompassing as telling the “transformation of rural China,” some chapters are more interesting than others. Meyer not only tells the history of the region, but also describes his sojourn. I found the chapters dealing with the Japanese occupation and the puppet state of Manchukuo to be the most fascinating and revealing. My wife, like Meyer’s, is from this area (his wife from the book’s titular village Wasteland, mine from Harbin), and her unflagging dislike for the Japanese is understandable given the history. While Nanjing might have garnered the majority of sympathetic global press, Harbin and the northeast were also the settings for tragically little-known Japanese atrocities. I particularly appreciated Meyer’s inclusive recollection. He tells the story as objectively as possible, referencing both Chinese and Japanese horrors from that terrible period, and there’s certainly plenty of tragedy to spread around. As anyone familiar with China’s last hundred years knows, China has inflicted plenty of pain and misery on her own people, and Meyer reminds us in various ways how there is still a paucity of complete information taught in China’s schools. This doesn’t help matters (my wife’s deep-seated feelings bear this out), and it makes me sad that ignorance still holds reign when it comes to public education. Needless to say, it’s a moving and riveting section of the book.

There are local touchstones in two endearing Wasteland characters, Auntie Yi and Sang Jiu, to whom Meyer periodically returns and gains vital perspective and first-hand lessons in Chinese history. In telling the history of this particular region of China, he essentially reveals the chain of events for the entire nation. Afterall, Mao’s vision was all about returning the country to the farmers. The culture of rural, farm-centric China is the key player here, and Meyer reveals the shrinking position farming has in modern China and how that defines the transformation going on nationwide. Not only are the citizens eschewing farming for city jobs, but the farmers who do stay are constantly pressured to give in to big corporations and governmental bureaucrats with grandiose visions to alter the landscape of the entire country. The influence of Big Farming has done a number here at home, and clearly, its reach is global.

In Manchuria is a well-written mash-up of history and journal, told by a man with a great deal of experience in the area, coupled with critical Mandarin chops, and a personal stake in the game. Instead of the run-of-the-mill cautionary tomes about the daunting growth of China and her increasing influence on the global stage (usually with the words “dragon” and/or “red” worked into the title for dramatic affect), Meyer offers this comfortable narrative filled with history, humor, and heart. It’s a great history and a great read. ...more

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About Michael Meyer

Michael Meyer

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Michael Meyer is an American travel writer and the author of In Manchuria: A Village Called Wasteland and the Transformation of Rural China and The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed. He graduated from University of Wisconsin–Madison. He first went to China in 1995 with the Peace Corps. Following Peace Corps, he graduated from the University of Califo ...more