FLOWERS ON AN IRON TREE Five Cities Of China 1975 Ross Terrill 1st Ed 1st Print

Description: ABOUT THIS BOOK We have shaken off the idea of China as a threat to America. We can look at Chinese life on its own terms and for what it may have to offer. One-quarter of mankind, perched on the earth as we are, grap- pling with problems that bother many lands. China's solutions to problems are often novel. We finally learned that because China is different from us does not make it a threat to us. But because the Chinese are no threat does not mean their way of life is the same as ours. Flowers on an Iron Tree offers work and play in five cities of an elusive land which has two of the world's seven most populous cities. There are nations, like the United States, which have depth, with numerous cities of substance widely scattered. There are other nations, like France, where each nerve seems hooked up to a key center. On the whole China is of the first kind; it has depth. After a visitor thinks he has seen the essence of the nation, China can throw before him a dozen fresh cities. Even urban China is a rainbow of diversity. Why do I give you these five cities; not others, not the countryside? Urban China is the cutting edge of tomorrow's China. And I happen to be an escapee from a village boyhood who feels at ease in cities. I went to these five and liked them. I found that the face, style, and busi- ness of each differs in intriguing ways from the others. Shanghai is China's New York. Dairen is a kind of Seattle, damp and sparse and on the fringes. Hangchow as a pool of beauty's self- indulgence might raise a bid from San Francisco. Wuhan is an inland giant that answers to Chicago. In the mirror of Peking an American might make out the features of Washington. These cities are big. Their combined population exceeds that of the five U.S. cities mentioned. But they are not "advanced"; their fine points are not ours. China is poor as well as vast. A Chinese home has…

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End Time: 2024-01-06T18:26:59.000Z

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