Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train through China

Paul Theroux has always had an extremely sharp eye for detail, and an even sharper pen with which to mold these observations into telling, sometimes ascerbic commentary. In "Riding The Iron Rooster", Theroux is at the top of his form in capturing the flavor and collective psyche of mainland China during the last quarter of the 20th Century.

One of the more revealing angles put forth in "Iron Rooster" is the face-saving that the Chinese government has engaged in with respect to The Cultural Revolution. Everyone knows that what Mao Tse Tung did was monstrous, but few in China appear willing to own up to the magnitude of the sin in any public way; so half-measures are taken to pay "proper respect" to Mao at just the appropriate place and just the appropriate time.

The author also nicely captures the first wave of pro-capitalist fervor that began engulfing China in the late 80's. But the core of Theroux's book, as always, are the vivid snapshots of the customs, foibles and mores that constitute a culture.

Reading "Iron Rooster" as I boarded a plane in Hong Kong in 1994, I discovered I was about to experience, first-hand, the aeronautical and social turbulence that the author ascribed to Chinese plane travel. By the time I landed in Guangxi Province, all of his observations had been confirmed.

"Riding The Iron Rooster" is vintage Theroux - insightful, droll, always pleasurable.

While a little slow in getting up a head of steam, "Riding the Iron Rooster" makes for a captivating read. The wonderful places that Mr. Theroux visits and the diverse characters of the people he encounters and details in the pages of this twelve-month odyssey places the reader in a virtual world - right upon the train with him. China has certainly changed immensely since the mid 1980s when this account was authored, but Theroux's writings lends great insight into the national psyche that prevailed during the decade following Mao's death and the end of the Cultural Revolution. With especially the latter, Theroux seems obsessed - be it Shaoshan where Mao was born, mighty Shanghai or isolated Tibet, he relates the present-day to events from the mid-1960s, usually via the often ghoulish memories of local citizens. He offers criticisms and praises where he feels they are due. For me though the highlight comes through rich descriptions of the places to where he travels. Theroux visits dozens of localities which will remain but mere place-names on a map for the vast majority of his readers. However, through his writings one is privileged to share such sights as the isolated grandeur of the Xinjiang desert as he coasts along by steam-drawn train. The rugged mountain scenery of Sichuan is also memorable but with the unforgettable account of his journey across the Tibetan Plateau in a dilapidated old taxi (with an even worse for wear driver), he saves his best for last.

In an instant I would recommend this book to any traveler contemplating a trip to China. Mr. Theroux touches upon almost every place of interest in this fascinating land and lends a unique perspective into the Chinese persona. While an obvious allowance is needed for the political, social and economic changes that have occurred over the past 15 years, "Riding the Iron Rooster" remains a useful if not valuable travel companion.

I am great fan of Thoreaux, and have read ALL of his travelogues. It is rare for someone of his literary genius to risk his life and reputation to travel to remote places in the most inconvenient manner to report his candid observations and penetrating insights into the characters and cultures of the place. We the readers are the beneficiary of his extraordinary ability to take the least traveled road and report back the very essence of the experience in a most vivid and often impolitic manner.

That said, I found Thoreaux's relentless questioning of every local he meets about Cultural Revolution irritating as well. Thoreaux seems to find curious or amusing the Chinese' reticence about discussing their haunted past. However, Thoreaux's own behavior is inconsistent and rather curious, since when he was in South Africa ('Dark Star Safari'), he did not interrogates the locals there about the Apartheid. When he was in Russia ('Great Railway Bazaar'), he did not interrogate them about the Stalinist purges. When he was in Australia ('Happy Isles of Oceania'), he did not press the locals about the Australians' long hisory of mistreatment of the Aboriginals.

Every country - especially those with history as a Colonial power - has its own haunted history of violence that it'd prefer not to revisit in depth. America has its own share, including slavery, lynchings, and violence against the native Americans. If a foreign writer travels solo through the American Deep South questioning the locals about these topics, s/he may receive a response more hostile than an uncomfortable 'Haha'. It's a tribute to the civility of the Chinese culture that Thoreaux did not suffer violence at the hand of the locals for his deliberate provocation.

Thoreaux admits that he is an equal opportunity offender, that his writings have alienated or offended his publishers, his business contacts, foreign governments, etc. Yes, his writings are very often politically incorrect, but overall he is a brilliant writer of exceptional courage and singularity of vision. There is no one like him, and I admire him greatly as one of my favorite writers of all time.

This is a well-written literay account of Theroux's travels through the difficult land of modern China. I first read this while living in (British) Hong Kong and making trips to and through the mainland. I have never laughed so much at the crazy predicaments Theroux gets himself into or observes (many the same as I was experiencing), and was struck not only at the quality of his writing but how rare a writer he is for covering this difficult and insecure part of the world.

What shines through in the pages of this book is that Theroux the writer is beholden to no one; he delivers accuracy of description everytime, and while this is the essence of a good travel writer, it is not a trait relished by governments out east like China's, where in fact the culture demands "saving face" over telling the blunt truth (see Bo Yang's book The Ugly Chinaman for an in-depth account of this fascinating aspect of Chinese culture). Even some westerners who live out East (and might like us to think of the Third World as some kind of paradise posting) can get upset at this kind of sober truth-telling about "their" China. For the detached reader, Theroux's book is an honest, funny, non-spin-doctored account.

If you like this book, try Theroux's Kowloon Tong, his Hong Kong novel banned in China, a very accurate depiction of that small city and the people (both westerners and easterners) who lived in it at the time of the Handover (I read it while living there). Timothy Mo's The Monkey King is another classic China novel about an eccentric Chinese family - a witty, poignant tale, and a book so on the mark that, if anything, it was even more attacked by certain frumps out East than Kowloon Tong!

I was assigned this book for a class in modern Asian history. The professor was deadly dull, but I'm glad I took the class because it led me to Paul Theroux. In RtIR I found some of the funniest and most memorable bits of nonfiction in my life. China is a truly unique place and Theroux seems very well suited to its mysteries.

The author has made a career out of sharing his wit and wisdom about his travels in the world (fiction as well as non). As in all his travel tales, Theroux points out everything odd and fascinating to him along his route to and through the area he's focused on, including meaningful chunks of local history, literature, and cultural background. This is very literate travel writing and, taken with a grain of salt, can be highly educational though parts are a bit dated now.

You'll learn nearly as much about Theroux (or the character of Theroux, travel writer) as you do about the place. There is no story here: this is travel writing and you must go with the flow or put the book down. But the payoffs are tremendous; there are always dozens of "I gotta read this to somebody" passages in Theroux books. This one is no exception. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in modern China and some humor.