Invisible China: A Journey Through Ethnic Borderlands

(Hardback)

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In this eloquent and eye-opening adventure narrative, Colin Legerton and Jacob Rawson, two Americans fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Uyghur, throw away the guidebook and bring a hitherto unexplored side of China to light. They journey over 14,000 miles by bus and train to the farthest reaches of the country to meet the minority peoples who dwell there, talking to farmers in their fields, monks in their monasteries, fishermen on their skiffs, and herders on the steppe. In Invisible China , they engage in a heated discussion of human rights with Daur and Ewenki village cadres; celebrate Muhammad's birthday with aging Dongxiang hajjis who recount the government's razing of their mosque; attend mass with old Catholic Kinh fishermen at a church that has been forty years without a priest; hike around high-altitude Lugu Lake to farm with the matrilineal Mosuo women; and descend into a dry riverbed to hunt for jade with Muslim Uyghur merchants. As they uncover surprising facts about China's hidden minorities and their complex position in Chinese society, they discover the social ramifications of inconsistent government policies--and some deep human truths as well.

Reviews

"A spectacular achievement reminiscent of early 20th-century anthropological monographs by Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict, with much to charm readers in search of a travelogue on China's remote border and interior regions." -- Publishers Weekly "Legerton and Rawson eschew flourishes and hew to description in imparting their experiences for travel readers intrigued by China's remote regions." -- Booklist "An earnest, revealing travelogue." -- Kirkus Reviews "A remarkable look at an extremely complex society." --FEAST

Author Bio

Colin Legerton has worked as a Chinese-English translator and is currently in the master's program of Central Eurasian and Uralic studies at Indiana University. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana. Jacob Rawson gives presentations on China's ethnic minorities and the Korean minority in Japan and is currently in the master's program of Chinese and Korean linguistics at the University of Washington. He lives in Mount Vernon, Washington.