Strange! That is the word that comes to my mind when I think of what all I have read when I picked up the book, "50 things you did not know about China". Sometimes we think we know most of the things about a place. We are not in the world where information is hidden in the form of directories and encyclopedias and yet it is humbling to know that we don't really know everything. This book by Alchemy Publishers tells you just that - facts about China.
Written by Brendan O’Reilly who is an authority on the topic having observed the local customs and traditions first hand while he taught English at Jiujiang University in China for three years makes it more interesting and authentic. Brendan’s work has been featured in various publications, including Asia Times, BBC Vietnamese, Business Insider, The Diplomat and China Outlook. Brendan is conversational and literate in Mandarin Chinese.
It is a pleasant read with a smooth flow and a matter of fact way of story telling. He manages to build up the facts into interesting tit bits which dispel your notion of knowing the details about the Middle Kingdom, their forbidden cities and things not to do in China as well as things to do in China. Several interesting stories are here in this little books, many facts from ancient China. Some strange, some bizarre and some downright shocking!
Here are a few: A Chinese Muslim eunuch once kidnapped the king of Sri Lanka. The one-child policy only applies to a third of Chinese couples. China loans more money than the World Bank does. Four hundred million Chinese people can’t speak Chinese. China will soon have more bullet trains than every other nation in the world – combined.
Though we could get most of the facts mentioned in the book on the Internet, the way the story is built up, narration, suspense and the excitement is what kept me reading the book. To be frank I believed in the contrary to some of the cool facts about China mentioned in the book or have had a misconception about their origin. Such small tit-bits of information woven into interesting stories that keep your interest high packed into a pocket sized book is a good read to have a peep into the customs and traditions of the Middle Kingdom. Definitely worth if considering you don't know most of the facts about 1/7th of the world population and our neighbour.
Whether you are checking for the top things to do in China or things not to do in china, you have it all in here. Pick it up today from flipkart here.
Rating: 3.5/5
Verdict: Pick up
Pic is from here.
Written by Brendan O’Reilly who is an authority on the topic having observed the local customs and traditions first hand while he taught English at Jiujiang University in China for three years makes it more interesting and authentic. Brendan’s work has been featured in various publications, including Asia Times, BBC Vietnamese, Business Insider, The Diplomat and China Outlook. Brendan is conversational and literate in Mandarin Chinese.
It is a pleasant read with a smooth flow and a matter of fact way of story telling. He manages to build up the facts into interesting tit bits which dispel your notion of knowing the details about the Middle Kingdom, their forbidden cities and things not to do in China as well as things to do in China. Several interesting stories are here in this little books, many facts from ancient China. Some strange, some bizarre and some downright shocking!
Here are a few: A Chinese Muslim eunuch once kidnapped the king of Sri Lanka. The one-child policy only applies to a third of Chinese couples. China loans more money than the World Bank does. Four hundred million Chinese people can’t speak Chinese. China will soon have more bullet trains than every other nation in the world – combined.
Though we could get most of the facts mentioned in the book on the Internet, the way the story is built up, narration, suspense and the excitement is what kept me reading the book. To be frank I believed in the contrary to some of the cool facts about China mentioned in the book or have had a misconception about their origin. Such small tit-bits of information woven into interesting stories that keep your interest high packed into a pocket sized book is a good read to have a peep into the customs and traditions of the Middle Kingdom. Definitely worth if considering you don't know most of the facts about 1/7th of the world population and our neighbour.
Whether you are checking for the top things to do in China or things not to do in china, you have it all in here. Pick it up today from flipkart here.
Rating: 3.5/5
Verdict: Pick up
Pic is from here.
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