Six Degrees of Separation—From the New York City Lonely Planet Guide to Wild Swans

It’s been a while since I have done Six Degrees, but when I saw this month’s prompt, I knew I had to participate. A chance to revisit travel memories? I’m there!
The prompt from Kate at booksaremyfavouriteandbest is “…look to your bookshelf – do you see a Lonely Planet title there? Or an Eyewitness Travel title? Or any other travel guide? That’s your starting book.”
Yes, I do indeed see some Lonely Planet guides! Lonely Planet was my go to when I started seriously travelling, so I have acquired more than one.

Let’s start with the New York City Lonely Planet Guide. I was fortunate to spend two months in NYC with my not yet but soon to be husband. Lonely Planet guide in hand we went on some cool adventures. That’s why I always loved the guides: there was always something offbeat in them. This was also pre Internet popularity, which gave travel a different vibe. It was easier to have an unexpected adventure without Google always close by.

We relocated to Beijing soon after our magical time in NYC, and that meant another Lonely Planet purchase of the Beijing city guide. My husband knew his way around Beijing a lot better than we did NYC, but still it came in handy for the occasional consultation.

We ended up living in Beijing (and Wuhan) together for about three years, so I acquired a number of books while I was there. I must have bought “Encounters with Ancient Beijing” after a visit to Zhongshan Park, a smaller and less well known park but with some impressive ancient trees. It had been my intention to read the book so that we could go on some adventures to visit some other majestic trees, but we ended up relocating again before that happened. I am sure my husband would be relieved to hear that those plans had been scuttled. One of our Lonely Planet adventures that has become legendary in its telling and retelling is the two hour trip we took from NYC in order to see some sugar maple trees. Yes, as requested by this Canadian girl on her birthday. The Beijing half did not quite understand the Canadian’s enthusiasm at the time, but has now softened his outlook since living in Canada for some time. I can only imagine where this “encounters” book would have led us. Maybe it still will…

Anyway, I tried to immerse myself in different aspects of the Chinese culture while I lived over there, both in the expat and Chinese areas. I knew I had to pick up “Foreign Babes in Beijing” as soon as I saw the title. Alas I never did get to see the Chinese soap opera—it aired before my time there—that the title of the book is based on, but it made for some interesting reading. The book is written by a foreigner who just happens to land a job on the soap opera.

Next up is “The Good Women of China” written by Xinran, who was a popular Chinese radio talk show host. Again, the radio program was aired before my time there. The second chapter of that book called “The Girl Who Kept a Fly as a Pet” is highly controversial, and after I read it, I understood why. It stayed with me for a long time. Another chapter that was memorable was the one on the earthquake in Tangshan in 1976. I had never heard of it and many people have not, mainly because the focus was on Mao’s death that year. I actually had a student who lived through the earthquake and who told me bits and pieces. Shocking!

“A Many-splendoured Thing” by Han Suyin is one of my favourite books I read while I was in China. Likely because the author is biracial, she wrote well from both perspectives of an interracial relationship. At least I thought so. It helped bring some insight on my own relationship.

I’m ending with a book that I read before my time living in China with my husband, but which is a powerful one. “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang is a lengthy book, but I recommend you take the plunge into this saga of three female generations of a family.
So there you have it: starting with a geographical travel book and ending with a historical travel one. Thanks for walking through some of my memories with me.

Shoe’s Seeds and Stories
@Copyright 2024 Linda Schueler