chairmanbernanke's review
3.0
Beijing’s old neighbourhoods have been drastically changed by economic factors. The author’s interlocutors and photos have a lot to say.
margaretefg's review
4.0
I found Mayer an engaging guide to the old hutong neighborhoods of Beijing. The book is partly a story of his two years living there and volunteer teaching in a local elementary school and partly an investigation of the history of Beijing's architecture and neighborhoods and the policies and practices that are reshaping the city. The history is enlivened by detailed portraits of individuals, famous and ordinary.
bellatora's review
5.0
Meyer provides a fascinating insight into life in China's old neighborhoods, the hutongs. He writes about his own experience teaching English while living in a hutong as well as explaining their history and the destruction of classic architecture in favor of "modernity" in both China and other countries.
While hutong life is not perfect - it definitely could use better utilities - it has a true community feel. If money had gone into providing improvements for the residents, it could have been the best of both worlds, modernity and tradition. Unfortunately, the powers that be chose to shuttle hutong residents into isolating and sterile apartment buildings far from the city center and across multiple highways.
I always mourn when beautiful historical architecture and lovely communities are destroyed. I'm glad that Meyer was able to capture the hutong's essence even as they disappear.
While hutong life is not perfect - it definitely could use better utilities - it has a true community feel. If money had gone into providing improvements for the residents, it could have been the best of both worlds, modernity and tradition. Unfortunately, the powers that be chose to shuttle hutong residents into isolating and sterile apartment buildings far from the city center and across multiple highways.
I always mourn when beautiful historical architecture and lovely communities are destroyed. I'm glad that Meyer was able to capture the hutong's essence even as they disappear.
ormbog's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
With Beijing as a springboard the author delves into chinese life and history. Through his experience living in a hutong in Beijing, conversations with his neighbours and colleagues, interviews with historians etc. we get to experience Beijing - and China - through time. For me - as a Scandinavian - it is quite interesting to actually 'meet' the people of China instead of their caricatures. The books breathes knowledge. It can be quite dry at times but it is still a very satisfying reading experience.
purslane's review
3.0
While by most standards this is a pretty good book—vivid characters, interesting topic diligently pursued, and so on—at a certain point the reader confronts Meyer's writing, his basic use of English, and that is where the book collapses. Here are a few of the worst examples, collected mostly from a span of twelve pages.
"In Chinese, the still ubiquitous phrase is weifang gaizao, appended [he meant "abbreviated"] to weigai" (38–39)
" . . . adding new luster to a city whose economy was already surging as the capital of the fastest growing economy in the world" (54–55)
"Hot pot is known as a Beijing cuisine [he meant "dish"]" (62)
"Winter was my favorite season in Beijing, despite that our breath froze even inside the house" (62)
"skates made by sliding a blade into a grooved shoe soul" (66)
Meyer's syntax is tedious. His sentences almost invariably begin with "The" or "In." On page 55 are five paragraphs. Numbers 2, 3, and 5 begin with "The Investigation"; number 4 begins with "The report."
The book reads like a hastily written first draft.
"In Chinese, the still ubiquitous phrase is weifang gaizao, appended [he meant "abbreviated"] to weigai" (38–39)
" . . . adding new luster to a city whose economy was already surging as the capital of the fastest growing economy in the world" (54–55)
"Hot pot is known as a Beijing cuisine [he meant "dish"]" (62)
"Winter was my favorite season in Beijing, despite that our breath froze even inside the house" (62)
"skates made by sliding a blade into a grooved shoe soul" (66)
Meyer's syntax is tedious. His sentences almost invariably begin with "The" or "In." On page 55 are five paragraphs. Numbers 2, 3, and 5 begin with "The Investigation"; number 4 begins with "The report."
The book reads like a hastily written first draft.
canadianbookworm's review
5.0
This is a fascinating read, looking not just as the current day situation of architecture and urban planning (or lack thereof) in Beijing, but also at the history of the architecture of the city.
Meyer includes an extensive bibliography for further reading as well.
Meyer lived in a room in old courtyard housing in the Dazhalan area of Beijing, to better understand what was being lost with the destruction of these neighbourhoods. He found an active community that interacted with each other and knew their neighbours. Meyer volunteered to teach English at the local grade school and thus became part of the life of the neighbourhood. He made friends and gained insight into the people's lives. When necessary to better understand lives, he visited the areas that migrant workers came from, or followed workers as they did their work.
I learned so much about China, its people and its history.
Meyer includes an extensive bibliography for further reading as well.
Meyer lived in a room in old courtyard housing in the Dazhalan area of Beijing, to better understand what was being lost with the destruction of these neighbourhoods. He found an active community that interacted with each other and knew their neighbours. Meyer volunteered to teach English at the local grade school and thus became part of the life of the neighbourhood. He made friends and gained insight into the people's lives. When necessary to better understand lives, he visited the areas that migrant workers came from, or followed workers as they did their work.
I learned so much about China, its people and its history.
johnmarlowe's review
3.0
This was the true story of an American English teacher in Beijing, and his life in the Hutong he found himself living in. It 19s a sad book in a way, about how the Chinese in general do not care about the past. It 19s a story of 1CThe Hand 1D, the mysterious and faceless people who come by in the middle of the night and paint the Chinese character for 1Cdemolition 1D on the houses in the hutongs. The book was another good insight into the Chinese mind and Chinese life.
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