Route 312 is the Chinese Route 66. It flows 3,000 miles, 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. In this surprising book, radio journalist Rob Gifford, a fluent Mandarin speaker, takes Route 312 from its start in the boomtown...

"A new collection of essays exploring the nature of time and place in a shrinking world, from the award-winning author of Sightlines"-- "In this remarkable collection, part travelogue, part cultural and personal history, poet and author Kathleen Jamie touches points on a timeline spanning millennia, and considers what surfaces and what reconnects us to our past. From the thawing tundra linking a Yup'ik village in Alaska to its hunter-gatherer past...

Rose's remarkable account follows the journey of Robert Fortune, a Scottish gardener, who was deployed by the British East India Company to steal China's tea secrets in 1848. This thrilling narrative combines history, geography, and old-fashioned adventure.

"Based on decades of research, The Dawn of Tibet draws on a rich trove of archaeological, textual, and ethnographic materials collected and analyzed by the author. Bellezza describes the vast network of castles, temples, megaliths, necropolises, and rock art established on the highest and now depopulated part of the Tibetan plateau. He relates literary tales of priests and priestesses, horned deities, and the celestial afterlife to the actual archaeological...

Journey across China from the peaks of the Himalayas to the barren steppe, the sub-Arctic to the tropical islands, through deserts both searingly hot and mind-numbingly cold and see a dazzling array of mysterious, beautiful, wild and rare creatures.

Translator and independent scholar Bill Porter, also known by his Chinese name, Red Pine, takes a fast-paced pilgrimage to China during which he pays homage to dozens of China's greatest poets by visiting their graves, or trying to, and performing idiosynchractic rituals with small cups of Kentucky whiskey. Includes biographical informaton, history, travel writings, over 200 classical poems in Chinese with English translations, and over 100 photographs....

Anthony Bourdain is a seasoned traveler who's hit up all corners of the globe many times over. More often than not, while passing through, he has time to kill in some of the world's biggest hubs. So instead of sitting at the airport hotel, he sets out to explore each city in the short amount of time he has there. Constantly on the move and only in town for a mere number of hours, Bourdain and friends he connects with along the way, unleash an unpredictable...

Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, "Strange Stones" is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Hessler's best reportage--a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and a warm sense of humor.