Riding the Iron Rooster : By Train Through China book cover
Award-Winning Rail Journey Classic

Riding the Iron Rooster : By Train Through China

by Paul Theroux

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Paperback ISBN: 9780140112955 30 Mar 1989 196 x 130 x 31 (mm) 362g

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Winner of the Stanford Dolman Lifetime Contribution to Travel Writing Award 2020

Paul Theroux left Victoria Station on a rainy Saturday in April thinking that taking eight trains across Europe, Eastern Europe, the USSR and Mongolia would be the easy way to get to the Chinese border - the relaxing way, even. He would read a little, take notes, eat regular meals and gaze contentedly out of windows. The reality, of course, was very different.

In fact, Theroux experienced a decidedly odd and unexpected trip to China that set the challenging tone for his epic year-long rail journey around that vast, inscrutable land - a journey which involved riding nearly every train in the country.

'Wry, humorful and occasionally querulous ... as Theroux makes excruciatingly clear, travelling alone in the Middle Kingdom is not for the faint of heart or stomach' Time.