Random House New Releases - Travel - Asia - China - Between June 18, 2012 and July 18, 2013.

Fodor's Hong Kong by Fodor's

2013-07-16T00:30:00-05:00

Fodor's Hong Kong with a Side Trip to Macau
Written by Fodor's

With cutting-edge architecture, chic restaurants, and hotels alongside ancient temples, outdoor markets, and hole-in-the-wall dim sum establishments, Hong Kong is an intoxicating destination. Whether travelers are stopping over on the way to a farther destination or spending a week in the city, this full-color guide will inspire them to experience all that Hong Kong has to offer.

EXPANDED COVERAGE: New hotel and restaurant recommendations have been added througout this new edition to keep up with Hong Kong's constantly evolving offerings. Coverage of Macau is even more user-friendly and accessible than ever.

INDISPENSABLE TRIP PLANNING TOOLS: Features on Top Attractions, free experiences, and what to do with kids make it easy to plan a trip. Best bets charts for restaurants and hotels; easy-to-read color regional maps; and tips on how to make the most of your time make it easy to enjoy the best Hong Kong has to offer.

DISCERNING RECOMMENDATIONS: Fodor's Hong Kong ebook edition offers savvy advice and recommendations from local writers to help travelers make the most of their visit. Fodor's Choice designates our best picks, from hotels to nightlife. "Word of Mouth" quotes from fellow travelers provide valuable insights.

ON-THE-GO MAP: A handy take-along companion map of Hong Kong gives travelers essential information about top attractions, walking tours, and nearby dining so they can travel with confidence.

ABOUT FODOR'S AUTHORS: Each Fodor's Travel Guide is researched and written by local experts.

National Geographic Traveler: Beijing & Shanghai by David Butow

2013-03-05T00:30:00-05:00

National Geographic Traveler: Beijing & Shanghai
Written by Andrew Forbes and Paul Mooney
Photographed by Catherine Karnow and David Butow

This gorgeous National Geographic travel book, filled with copious, useful information and travel tips, guides you to the exquisite sights of Beijing and Shanghai, China's two most intriguing cities. Among its most popular features are cut-away illustrations of renowned buildings, detailed maps, and sumptuous photographs.

Broken into chapters, the guide first takes you to Beijing and such famous attractions as the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and Summer Palace, as well as lesser known sights such as the Muslim Quarter, Baoguo Temple, Military Museum, and Fragrant Hills Park. In Shanghai, among the many interesting places you'll see are the French Concession, the Bund, and the fabulous Shanghai Museum.

All sights are prefaced by an elaborate introduction to the history and culture of both cities. Extensive sidebars discuss architecture, temples, the Taiping Rebellion, and more. Guided walking tours include the fascinating hutongs and a stroll from Lotus Mountain to Huangua Cheng along the Great Wall. And a hefty Travelwise section, including hand-picked hotels and restaurants in each city, rounds out all the vital information you'll need to make your trip a success.

Completely updated and revised, this new edition includes new experiential sidebars, insider tips from National Geographic experts and others, as well as a useful "charting your trip" section that helps you plot your upcoming trip.

Living Shrines of Uyghur China by Lisa Ross

2013-02-12T00:30:00-05:00

Living Shrines of Uyghur China Photographs by Lisa Ross
Written by Lisa Ross

Lisa Ross's ethereal photographs of Islamic holy sites were created over the course of a decade on journeys to China's Xinjiang region in Central Asia, historically a cultural crossroads but an area to which artists and researchers have generally been denied access since its annexation in 1949. These monumental images show shrines created during pilgrimages, many of which have been maintained continuously over several centuries; visitation to the tombs of saints is a central aspect of daily life in Uyghur Islam, and its pilgrims ask for intercession for physical, mental, and spiritual ailments. The shrines, adorned with small devotional offerings that mark a prayer or visit, are poignant representations of collective memory and a pacifistic faith, and endure despite vulnerability to natural forces of sand, heat, and powerful winds. Their simplicity and austerity as captured by Ross invoke ideas of spirituality, eternity, and transcendence.

Three essays—by a historian of Central Asian Islam, a Uyghur folklorist, and the curator of an accompanying exhibition at the Rubin Museum of Art—situate the photographic content in context. This volume emerges at a critical time, as modernization and new policies for development of China's far west bring about rapid, extreme, and irrevocable change; the region is its largest source of untapped natural gas, oil, and minerals. Many of the sites in Ross's work are threatened by political and economic pressures—her images are valuable, therefore, not only for their intrinsic beauty, but as an important record of a rich and vibrant culture.

Brave Dragons by Jim Yardley

2013-01-22T00:30:00-05:00

Brave Dragons A Chinese Basketball Team, an American Coach, and Two Cultures Clashing
Written by Jim Yardley

From the former New York Times Beijing bureau chief comes a closely observed story of a struggling Chinese basketball team and its quixotic, often comical attempt to make the playoffs by copying the American stars of the NBA.

When the worst professional basketball team in China, the Shanxi Brave Dragons, hired former NBA coach Bob Weiss to improve its fortunes, the team's owner, Boss Wang, promised that Weiss would be allowed to Americanize his players by teaching them "advanced basketball culture." That promise would be broken from the moment Weiss landed in China. As we follow this team of colorful oddballs on a fascinating road trip through modern China, we see Weiss learn firsthand what so many other foreigners there have discovered: that changing China happens only when and how China wants to be changed.

The Devil Soldier by Caleb Carr

2012-11-28T00:30:00-05:00

The Devil Soldier The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China
Written by Caleb Carr

A courageous leader who became the first American mandarin, Frederick Townsend Ward won crucial victories for the Emperor of China during the Taiping Rebellion, history's bloodiest civil war. Carr's skills as historian and storyteller come to the fore in this thrilling account of the kind of adventurer the world no longer sees.

In Xanadu by William Dalrymple

2012-09-18T00:30:00-05:00

In Xanadu
Written by William Dalrymple

William Dalrymple’s award-winning first book: his classic, fiercely intelligent and wonderfully entertaining account of his journey across Marco Polo’s 700-year-old route from Jerusalem to Xanadu, the summer palace of Kubla Khan.

At the age of twenty-two, Dalrymple left his college in Cambridge to travel to the ruins of Kubla Khan’s stately pleasure dome in Xanadu. As he and his companions travel across the width of Asia—crossing through Acre, Aleppo, Tabriz, Tashkurgan, and other mysterious and sometimes hellish places—they encounter dusty, forgotten roads, unexpected hospitality, and difficult challenges. Stylish, witty, and knowledgeable about everything from the dreaded order of Assassins to the hidden origins of the Three Magi, this is travel writing at its best.

In Xanadu by William Dalrymple

2012-09-18T00:30:00-05:00

In Xanadu
Written by William Dalrymple

Random House New Releases - Travel - Asia - China - Between June 18, 2012 and July 18, 2013.

Fodor's Hong Kong by Fodor's

Fodor's Hong Kong with a Side Trip to MacauWritten by Fodor's

National Geographic Traveler: Beijing & Shanghai by David Butow

National Geographic Traveler: Beijing & Shanghai Written by Andrew Forbes and Paul Mooney Photographed by Catherine Karnow and David Butow

Living Shrines of Uyghur China by Lisa Ross

Living Shrines of Uyghur China Photographs by Lisa RossWritten by Lisa Ross

Brave Dragons by Jim Yardley

Brave Dragons A Chinese Basketball Team, an American Coach, and Two Cultures ClashingWritten by Jim Yardley

The Devil Soldier by Caleb Carr

The Devil Soldier The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in ChinaWritten by Caleb Carr

In Xanadu by William Dalrymple

In Xanadu Written by William Dalrymple

In Xanadu by William Dalrymple

In Xanadu Written by William Dalrymple

Fodor's Hong Kong with a Side Trip to Macau
Written by Fodor's

National Geographic Traveler: Beijing & Shanghai
Written by Andrew Forbes and Paul Mooney
Photographed by Catherine Karnow and David Butow

Living Shrines of Uyghur China Photographs by Lisa Ross
Written by Lisa Ross

Brave Dragons A Chinese Basketball Team, an American Coach, and Two Cultures Clashing
Written by Jim Yardley

The Devil Soldier The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China
Written by Caleb Carr

In Xanadu
Written by William Dalrymple

In Xanadu
Written by William Dalrymple