China, Africa, and Genghis in books

Peter Hessler has come out with another literary gem on China as his highly commended Country Driving really does not disappoint. Hessler’s third book proves to be quite an eyeopener. It has his usual thoughtful and poignant prose about regular people in China but it also sheds some light into concepts like “guanxi” and how local governments make so much money. What I like about Hessler is how he tells the stories of regular people like peasants, students or factory workers and makes them so interesting, showing their struggles and dreams whilst highlighting the dynamism, the humor, the harshness and even inanity of life in China, all the while being sentimental but not overly so nor idealistic. Even the banal things are a pleasure to read about. In Country Driving, he first writes about his road trips in Northern China as he follows the Great Wall and drives through several provinces. The middle part is about his time in an isolated village north of Beijing where he buys a holiday home and befriends a husband and his family. Finally, he goes to Zhejiang and meets two entrepreneurs who open a factory that manufactures bra rings. Each part is good, especially the last one which touches not only on the running of the factory, but the mercenary aspects of prized employees, the politics and economics involved in creating economic zones, and the rigors of factory work. People who’ve read Factory Girls, written by Leslie T. Chang, his wife, will find some of this familiar, because the incredible dynamism and optimism of young Chinese workers, many who’re just young teenagers, is the same in Zhejiang as it is in Guangdong.

Dark Star Safari, Paul Theroux’s story of his journey across Africa from Cairo to Cape Town, was blunt, fascinating and just a great read from beginning to end. Just don’t expect a sunshiny book of adventure and leisure, as it got quite pessimistic at some parts, especially in his return to Malawi, where he spent some time teaching in the 60s, as Theroux got quite harsh on the state of Africa. The book is heavy on history in the beginning, covering Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, then gives way to more personal musings in East Africa heading further down South. Deeply disappointed, rather appalled, at the lack of development and possibly regression, he sees throughout East Africa, Theroux looks at a village in the bush at one point and thinks that maybe this is the only way of life where people thrive in Africa, a stirring critique of sub-Saharan Africa’s ability to adapt to modernity. It’s understandeable if the unsavory connotation of this part (Oh look, Africans can only live well in the bush) comes to readers’ minds at first, but the book is much deeper and thoughtful than that. Also, perhaps while we’d all like to think we have nobler perceptions than that, at least we should save any reservations for after making a similar trip to those parts. There are a lot of memorable exchanges Therox has with people, such as when on bringing up South Africa’s Communist Party, a South African, an immigrant from Bulgaria, exclaims, “If you live in a democratic country and you are a Communist, there is something wrong with you. You must be crazy!” Another one, maybe less amusing but still notable, happens in Zambia as several locals criticize Indians for their business acumen. Theroux’s pessimism and bluntness isn’t directed only at Africans, as he confronts an American female missionary over her anti-homosexual stance on a train in Mozambique. It’s kind of fitting, in an unfortunate way, that at the end of his long continental journey in South Africa, he loses his main luggage to unknown after it’s left in a Johannesburg hotel safe while he travels to Cape Town.

Historical fiction is a favorite of mine, especially military fiction and Conn Iggulden’s Genghis – Bones of the Hills was my latest read in this category. It follows Genghis Khan, who else obviously, after he has invaded deep into the land of the Chin (China) who is now confronted by a new foe from the west. The Khwarezm Shah oversees a wealthy Islamic empire that straddles the trade routes in what is now Central Asia, controlling grand cities such as Bukhara and Samarkand. The Great Khan had sent envoys to this shah who were rejected, executed actually, and the plot/history predictably unfolds as you’d expect. Victory doesn’t come easy for the Great Khan and there is an interesting followon campaign concerning the Shah’s son who becomes some sort of mullah and attracts a whole band of Muslim warriors in a jihad against the Mongols. In addition, there is a campaign by Genghis against the Assassins, the famous extremist sect who struck fear in the whole Middle East, including Saladin, whilst based in their impenetrable fortresses. The writing is decent, the characters are varied, but one of the most striking parts of the book is the tension between Genghis and his oldest son Jochi due to the question of the latter’s true paternity. This is the third book in Iggulden’s series on Genghis. The latest one being Empire of Silver which comes after this one.