The Dutch men seemed uncomfortable until Mr. Wang changed the subject. He talked about modified starch and how it is different from normal, unmodified starch. The distinction was subtle and I had difficulty grasping it; at last Wim spoke up. He wanted to clarify things. “Basically, modified starch is the same material as crude oil,” he said. “It’s a carbohydrate.”
Pages and pages of this book we’re devoted to Chinese corn starch. More than I ever wanted to know about corn starch! This kind of diversion made the book less interesting. A lot of Information about how China and the Chinese operated but way too much about corn starch!
