I grew up hearing the song Route 66 playing on the AM radio (yes, this thing called an AM radio really did exist). Great memories, and I often fantasized about hoping into a convertible and experiencing the Route 66 journey.

Rob Gifford, of NPR fame, recently came out with a book titled, China Road. Gifford spent the past six years working and traveling as a reporter for National Public Radio (NPR) in China.

I bought it this past Friday, could not put it down over the weekend, and finished it last night.

I loved this book, and would put it right up there with some of the other vicarious pleasure reads about China I have experienced with such books as Peter Hessler’s, River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze; John Pomfret’s, Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China, Tim Clissold’s, Mr. China: A Memoir; and Jung Chang’s, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, among others.

(By the way, just ignore the negators out there who nit pick these types of books apart and often just want to rain on your party of enjoyment, and ask them this simple question, ”Have YOU ever written a book like this? Have YOU even ever written and published a book at all? Since you have not done so, please sit down and shut your trap until that occurs and you earn the right to complain. Don’t grouse by the fact that I enjoyed this book and you did not. Thank you.”)

Gifford’s book is about his journey along Route 312 in China. Route 312 is China’s version of Route 66 in the US.

As the book cover notes, Route 312 flows three thousand miles from east to west, passing through the factory towns of the coastal areas, through the rural heart of China, then up into the Gobi Desert, where it merges with the Old Silk Road. The highway witnesses every part of the social and economic revolution that is turning China upside down.

This is not an academic book, but an experiential one.

I felt that in a very intimate and moving way he captured so much of the good and bad of China, so that if one is not a “China hand” one can still grasp, understand and relate to it on a number of levels.

It’s also clearly not a “I love China and you should too” book that some would predict an NPR reporter would write. When Gifford sees something that makes him love China, he let’s you know it and and when he witnesses something that make him hate China he pulls no punches.

The following quote one page 274 his book sticks in my mind:

It’s impossible to be neutral about China. Some foreigners hate it from the moment they set foot here. Others love it so much they put down roots and never go home. I wonder if other countries divide people so intensely in their emotions. For myself, I have always tried to retain my own unity of opposites, attempting to keep the love and hate in balance. But’ it’s difficult, especially as a journalist. I’m supposed not to care. I’m just supposed to observe. But how can I not care when one fifth of humanity is being convulsed before my eyes, and thousands are making millions and millions are being crushed? And if I seem a little confused about China, it’s because I am. And if you’re not confused, then you simply haven’t been paying attention.  [Emphasis mine.]

Here, here.

I was grateful for him taking the time to write and share this incredible road trip and experience with me.

Check out his book. You won’t regret it.