Beijing Blur

When Sydney journalist James West lands a job at a state-run radio station in Beijing, he imagines he knows a lot about China - from dragon's heads and acrobatics, to communist slogans and brothels. Then he arrives, and finds himself at a rave, dancing on the Great Wall. But is one night of hedonism on China's most well-known landmark an accurate reflection of the 'real Beijing'? Or an anomaly in an otherwise tightly controlled culture, still dealing with the aftershocks of the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Square? To find answers, he talks to the next generation about the China they will create for themselves. Against a backdrop of the changing seasons in Beijing, a city he grows to love, he enters a brave new world of bloggers, punk-rock dens and underground queer culture. An intimate account of one young Australian's year abroad, Beijing Blur is also the story of modern China - a nation poised at one of the great turns of the global historical tide.

ISBN 1854584685   DEWEY edition DC22 ISBN13 9781854584687 (What's this?)   Pages 240 Publisher Crimson Publishing   Published in Richmond Imprint Crimson Publishing   Height (mm) 216 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 138 Publication date 01 Jan 2009   Academic level General DEWEY 306.0951

West plays the perfect host and friend, introducing you to China's post- Tiananmen generation with refreshing insight, honesty and hilarity. --Wanderlust You'll be swept up in the energy, contradiction and confusion that is modern Beijing --The Cairns Post The best travel writers come across as a fable companions who balance fact with entertainment and West has it down --Madison Magazine What West has done is explore the Chinas you never hear of, or those whose existence the reader may even have assumed impossible... intimate, evocative and erudite writing, shimmering with honesty --Canberra Times Fascinating and intimate --Q News

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