A Good Read

Mark requested this book for Christmas and I have to say, it was a REALLY good read! If you have adopted or have a heart for China as we do, it is a must read in my opinion. While much of it made me very sad, it opened my eyes in many ways to the land that gave birth to 2 of my daughters. Some of it is a little "technical" for me, and goes into way more history than I can swallow at once. (Mark on the other hand just loves that!) The best thing is, he is traveling along, meeting ordinary people, and writing their hearts. Some parts we read and looked at each other wondering how in the world we explain this country to our daughters in their future. Below is the back cover. Happy Reading!

National Public Radio China correspondent Gifford journeyed for six weeks on China's Mother Road, Route 312, from its beginning in Shanghai for nearly 3,000 miles to a tiny town in what used to be known as Turkestan. The route picks up the old Silk Road, which runs through the Gobi Desert to Central Asia to Persia and on to Europe. Along the way, Gifford meets entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on China's growing economy, citizens angry and frustrated with government corruption, older people alarmed at changes in Chinese culture and morality, and young people uncertain and excited about the future. Gifford profiles ordinary Chinese people coping with tumultuous change as development and commerce shrink a vast geography, bringing teeming cities and tiny towns into closer commercial and cultural proximity; the lure of wealth is changing the Chinese character and sense of shared experience, even if it was common poverty. Gifford notes an aggressive sense of competition in the man-eat-man atmosphere of a nation that is likely to be the next global superpower.