by Mark Salzman
This is an easy to read account of Salzman's two years teaching in China. It was the 1980s, so his perspective on China (and the Chinese perspective on him) is different from that of Peter Hessler's in River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze in the next decade. Salzman's encounters are charming and dep...
Recommended to me by a friend who speaks Mandarin and worked in China for a few years. The book is a little dated now but offers an interesting glimpse into the Chinese people and what it would be like to live there as a foreigner.
Salzman is a sweet guy, there's no doubt about it. his tales of his time in china are direct, cleanly written, and rooted in a clear love of the world around him and the people in it. he manages to effortlessly sidestep any potential landmines in terms of race, culture, or class simply by being hims...
I really like Salzman, ever since The Laughing Sutra, which I think no one but me ever read. He's kind of a goofball, so his travel memoir is very generous toward others, and somewhat self-mocking. He amuses me and seems like someone you'd enjoy hanging out with, because, in fine obsessive form, h...
Salzman writes in an unaffected voice that makes me feel like we're chatting over a cup of coffee. His experiences traveling to China as a teacher of English and student of martial arts are wonderfully told.
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