A Tale of Five Chinese Cities – 五城记

Published April 2020, Chinese Publishing Corporation, Beijing

Published in both Chinese and English, this book is a description of five unique places in China, and the role that they played in shaping my perceptions and understanding of modern China. Beijing, the capital, Hohhot in Inner Mongolia, Xian, the ancient capital in central China, Shanghai, the great entrepreneurial and logistics hub, and now one of the country’s most vibrant centres, and finally Hong Kong, a place where through the British rule till 1997 the East really did meet with the West.

While semi-autobiographical, this book attempts to understand the unique physical terrain of contemporary China, and the ways in which one can try, as an outsider culturally and socially, to interpret and engage with the different kinds of symbols, and the meanings attributed to them.

The book is available at http://product.dangdang.com/28537617.html

The introductory chapter can be found in English at https://bkerrychina.com/2020/04/25/chinese-life-five-chinese-cities/ and in Chinese at https://bkerrychina.com/2020/04/25/五城记%ef%bc%9a一个英国人在中国/