Winchester's condescending tone also reinforces the outsider's perspective of the book. The further one gets into the book, the more it becomes obvious Winchester views Western culture as inherently superior to Chinese culture. This is a major flaw in the book because it prevents Winchester from observing and describing what is going on around him effectively, and perhaps more importantly, from being influenced and changed by his travels.

Overall, the book has a few interesting passages but the author's cultural biases reduce most of it to what is essentially a tourist's impressions of a vacation. Two books that touch on the Yangtze region with much greater insight are Red Dust (Ma Jian) and River Town (Peter Hessler). I recommend reading either book before picking up Winchester's book.

122 of 149 found the following review helpful:


I'm actually quite annoyed by this book...  Mar 11, 2003 By Matthew M. Yau "Voracious reader"
The back cover of the book tells of Simon Winchester's reverse-the-Yangtze boat travel from Shanghai back to its origin up in the western mountains. That sounds quite appealing to me as I have never traveled through the Three Gorges (not to mention that upon completion of the great dam near Xilin Gorge the river will raise at feet 400 feet and inundate thousands of pagodas). I have decided that the book was an instant disappointment after finished reading the first few chapters. Two things about this book that REALLY bother me:

1)Winchester, though researched all these interesting (historical) stories, does not say much about lives along the Yangtze River. He would spend pages and pages talking and reflecting on his memories as he sails through the river sceneries. You will ask: what about the Chinese people living along the river? How are their lives? What about his interactions with the locals? He omits all these as if they simply don't exist or he is just sailing along some remote uninhabited towns.

2)Over and over again Winchester implies his superiority (or superiority of the Western culture) over the Chinese. What on earth is this all about? But thanks to this book so I know what a REALLY good travel narrative/memoir is all about. Peter Hessler's "River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze River" is a completely opposite account to Winchester's in terms of both contents and attitude. Peter interacted and spent time to get to know the locals without judgmentally commenting on their disparaging lifestyles.

I simply don't like and don't agree with this book. Neither do I like the writing style nor the stories it has to offer. The narrative is repetitious and cliched. Not recommended. 2.2 stars.

17 of 18 found the following review helpful:


A well written but inaccurate trip up the Yangtze.  Oct 31, 1999
Simon Winchester fascinates the reader with his storytelling ability. As he takes us along on his journey up the Yangtze, the reader feels compelled to read chapter after chapter in a shared journey to the source of the river. Unfortunately Mr. Winchester story is grim and unpleasant - from his hatred of the Shanghai Oriental Pearl TV tower and the Nanking occupation by the Japanese to his altitude sickness in Tibet. He also mentions on more than one occasion seeing corpses in the water. In September 1999 while traveling 1649 miles up the river I saw paper cups, plastic bottles, and other litter but no bodies of any kind - animal or human. Fortunately, I traveled the Yangtze before reading Mr. Winchester's book. I may not have gone if I'd read it first. If that happened, I'd have missed a wonderful adventure filled with beautiful scenes and friendly people.

17 of 19 found the following review helpful:


A fascinating tale of the Yangzi River  Jun 16, 2000 By Mr Howard Follas
For the discerning Western reader with an interest in all things Chinese, Simon Winchester's "The River at the Center of the World" makes for an enthralling read.

His arduous journey from the mouth of the Yangzi River to its source high in the Tibetan Plateau, is far more than merely a commentary of his travels. Entwined amongst his own colourful experiences, Mr Winchester captures a fascinating analysis of the river's history.

Indeed the Yangzi has a history worthy of telling in a book of this type. Charting a course that initially wanders from the urban delights of Shanghai near the Pacific coast then along the meandering, lower reaches of the Yangzi, the reader is taken through hundreds of years of Chinese history. The author touches on elements as diverse as the Opium Wars, the turbulent history of the tea trade, the Yangzi High Dam and Emperor Da-Yu - who is attributed with rerouting the river and keeping its vast waters within China. There is space even for the origins of Asian-man to be pondered upon.

Occasionally the author takes the reader on self-indulging investigative expeditions, such as seeking the anchor reportedly captured by communist forces in 1949 from the stricken warship HMS Amethyst at Zhenjiang. Upon finding it he declares it more likely to have come from a river junk. These expeditions are interesting nonetheless and aid his overall goal of depicting the Yangzi as a fascinating place both in present and past tenses.

Simon Winchester has certainly done his research. He tells of otherwise obscure river-navigators, chart-makers and naturalists who made their marks in respective fields along the river's twists and turns in times long past

Two thirds of the book is allocated to the more sedate stretch of water, between Shanghai and Wuhan, perhaps because this is where the far greater proportion of recent history lies. Other experiences though, like the Three Gorges, Tiger Leaping Gorge and the trip along forbidden roads in Tibet, are also allocated their due space.

The end product, though is one that vividly colours the mind with written-images of a river that has formed the very heart of the world's most populated nation -continuing to very much dominate day to day life today. It is a narrative of a journey that inspires the arm-chair reader to do likewise.

Indeed, I myself started reading Simon Winchester's book in far-off New Zealand, finishing it a few weeks later while visiting China - on the river itself aboard a ferry boat from Shanghai bound for Wuhan.

Very inspirational stuff indeed Mr Winchester.

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