Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live Squid
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The author wishes to acknowledge this. His editor had been—as if she didn’t have enough to deal with—forced to grapple with a book that wanted to become a 500-page monster, and she’d tamed it into something manageable during labor. He cannot thank her enough. He also cannot apologize enough, so he has decided to flog himself here, out here, on the stage.
He would also like to acknowledge all the other people at Broadway Books whose lives he’s made challenging—Clare Swanson, Laura Lee Mattingly, Anne Watters, and Rachel Rokicki. He’d long believed that for a July publication, May, possibly even June, might be a good time to submit a manuscript. He has since been disabused of the notion. He would also like to thank his agent, B. J. Robbins, whose good humor and optimism coaxed him through.
Regarding China, the author received invaluable assistance from Dan Friedman, Greg Adler, and Huaping-Lu Adler. Xie xie very much. Also, to the farmer who offered him an orange on the train from Shenyang to Dandong, he would like to say thank you. Just as he was succumbing to China fatigue, Jack St. Martin came out to travel with the author for a couple of weeks. And they got drunk. Several times. The author is grateful.
Finally, the author would like to acknowledge his family. His boys, Lukas and Samuel, no longer remember the long absence as he wandered around China. But the author does. He will not miss out again. And to his wife, Sylvia, thank you. And yes, once again, he owes her big-time.
Further Reading
Among the books I consulted, several proved particularly useful. Surely Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday is now the definitive word on the Great Helmsman. Jonathan Spence’s The Search for Modern China offers a sweeping and elegantly written overview of modern China. Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking ensures that one of the great crimes of World War II is not forgotten. And finally, if there is a funnier and more harrowing account of what it’s like to do business in China than Tim Clissold’s Mr. China, I have yet to find it.
Also by
J. MAARTEN TROOST
The Sex Lives of Cannibals
Getting Stoned with Savages
PUBLISHED BY BROADWAY BOOKS
Copyright © 2008 by J. Maarten Troost
All Rights Reserved
Published in the United States by Broadway Books, an imprint of The Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
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Dragon illustration is adapted from an image by New Vision Technologies, Inc., Digital Vision/Getty Images
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Troost, J. Maarten.
Lost on planet China: the strange and true story of one man’s attempt to understand the world’s most mystifying nation, or how he became comfortable eating live squid / J. Maarten Troost.
p. cm.
1. China—Social life and customs—2002– 2. China—Description and travel. 3. China—Humor. 4. Troost, J. Maarten—Travel—China. I. Title. II. Title: Strange and true story of one man’s attempt to understand the world’s most mystifying nation, or how he became comfortable eating live squid.
DS779.43.T76 2008
915.104'6—dc22
2008011281
eISBN: 978-0-7679-3001-7
v1.0