Through the Dragon's Mouth: Journeys into the Yangzi's Three Gorges

By Ben Thomson Cowles

Book Overview

This exhilarating and fascinating book is the account of Cowles' amazing adventure: a nineteen-day trek in which he immersed himself in the life of the notorious river. Sharing a ninety-five-foot junk with sixty-five crewmen, he encountered bandits, sages, revolutionaries, birth and death, and ultimately, a sense of meaningfulness that has accompanied him ever since -- an awareness that we are all brothers on the long river.Lyrical, thought-provoking and suspenseful, it is filled with reverence for oriental philosophy and a running commentary from the I Ching. Armchair adventure travel writing at its best, it's illustrated throughout with photos and illustrations plus a sixteen-page full-color insert.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1564742946
• ISBN13: 9781564742940
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Fithian Press
• Length: 319 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Missionary in China

This is an honest work, constructed in a thoughtful manner. This book really gave me a feeling for a gritty two-way passage through the Dragon's Mouth in 1946. Cowles, living in China, is a wide eyed missionary in the most turbulent of times, and his perspective is very interesting. This work is highly historic, and has some beautiful pictures and illustrations which bring the work to life.

The best written on the Yangzi Gorges by a great China hand.

Anyone who has gone to China, or who plans to go should make this book a must. Dr. Ben Cowles is an expert of the first order on China in general and the Gorges in specific. As one who has been to China 67 times since President Nixon was there, few I have met have the knowledge, love, passion and experience for such a book as Dr. Cowles. When you put it down and that is hard to do once you pick it up, you will feel, "I have been there." Dr. Joseph B. Kennedy, Chairman, U.S.China Education Foundation

A facinating review of a part of China's history.

A remarkable adventure through China's Yangtze River written by an author who is a part of that history.This is a must read book both well written and well illustrated.