Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through ChinaPaul Theroux, the author of the train travel classics The Great Railway Bazaar and The Old Patagonian Express, takes to the rails once again in this account of his epic journey through China. He hops aboard as part of a tour group in London and sets out for China's border. He then spends a year traversing the country, where he pieces together a fascinating snapshot of a unique moment in history. From the barren deserts of Xinjiang to the ice forests of Manchuria, from the dense metropolises of Shanghai, Beijing, and Canton to the dry hills of Tibet, Theroux offers an unforgettable portrait of a magnificent land and an extraordinary people. |
Contents
The Train to Mongolia | 15 |
Train Number 24 | 65 |
Night Train Number 90 to Peking | 77 |
The Shanghai Express | 104 |
The Fast Train to Canton | 145 |
Train Number 324 to Hohhot and Lanzhou | 166 |
The Iron Rooster | 185 |
Train Number 104 to Xian | 214 |
Train Number 16 | 290 |
Train Number 17 | 311 |
Number 295 | 324 |
Number 92 | 343 |
On the Lake of Heaven to Yantai | 361 |
Number 508 | 373 |
Train Number 234 | 385 |
Number 375 | 396 |
The Express to Chengdu | 229 |
Train Number 209 to Kunming | 244 |
Number 80 | 261 |
The Slow Train to Changsha and Shaoshan Where the Sun Rises | 277 |
Train Number 275 | 415 |
The Train to Tibet | 435 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American asked birds buildings called changed China Chinese cold Cultural Revolution dark didn't don't English face factory Fang feel five foreign four gave hands hard head hills Hong houses hundred interesting knew later laughed light lived looked meant miles Miss Mongolian mountains never night official once Party passed Peking person political Qinghai railway river road Russian seemed seen Shanghai showed smiled smoke snow sort station stopped streets talk tell things thought Tibet Tibetan told took tourists town train trees turned Ulan Bator walked walls watching whole woman women write young