In Search of Old Peking - Softcover

Arlington, L.C.; Lewisohn, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1927077214 ISBN 13: 9781927077214

Publisher: Soul Care Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

In Search of Old Peking is much more than a classic guide book: it is both a painstakingly constructed portrait of one of the world’s great cities in the 1930’s and a lament for the end of a unique era. L.C. Arlington was an American who had served in the Customs and Postal Administrations since his arrival in China in 1879; William Lewisohn, a British Army officer turned journalist. These unlikely but happy partners had seen Peking at the pinnacle of its glory. This book is the outcome of their determination to record the delights, both major and minor, of the city they had known. The descriptions of the buildings and monuments are set within the wider context of Chinese history and are entertainingly illuminated by anecdotes about northern Chinese life and customs. First published in 1935, this book was regarded as the standard guide to Peking. It remains astonishingly evocative today, for residents and visitors alike.

About this title

Review:

Wonderful, evocative account of old Peking before the mass destruction by the current regime. This book reads like the wonderful Blue Guides of Europe (before Blue Guide recently changed the format and gutted so much of the information). The extent of description is amazing - the Lama Temple's rituals, for example, involving canabalism in pantomine: the monks worked themselves into a frenzy and then tore to shreds a man-like figure made of dough and filled with red liquid jam - mess everywhere!. The authors also recommended that tourists of the day go armed in the temple because of the determined attentions (ahem!) of the monks. I used this book as a guide in the 90's while living in Hong Kong and visiting Peking - it still had great value despite all the losses (the coverage of the Forbidden City is incredible) I found many interesting out-of-the-way spots I would have missed if I'd relied on my strangely (sadly) poor Blue Guide China. In Search of Peking is one of those books (like Austin Coates' Myself a Mandarin for Hong Kong) that will really make you glad you lived (or visited) in China, despite all the modern concrete.

About this edition

• Publisher: Soul Care Publishing
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1927077214
• ISBN 13: 9781927077214
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 434