South of the Clouds

September 15, 2015
Journalist/translator and intrepid traveler Porter (Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China, 2008, etc.) takes readers on another virtual journey into the China few Westerners know. On his latest, Porter traveled to Yunnan, in southwestern China, a place opened to foreigners way back in Marco Polo's day-courtesy of the invading Mongols, the author points out-but not much visited even so. The narrative opens in the frontier city of Wuchou, fairly new "as Chinese towns go," having been built 1,400 years ago, "back in the T'ang dynasty, when the Chinese decided they needed a more permanent presence in order to control the trade goods that poured forth from that region." The Chinese have been seeking to control the place ever since, as Porter quietly points out while traveling from one ethnic enclave to another, telling tales of amity and enmity. As a reporter, he's a font of oddities, noting which towns are renowned for snake recipes, which cater to the tourist trade, and which are best avoided altogether. Mostly, he writes with good humor ("Kuelin...now featured the standard overpriced tourist facilities and services that catered to large tour groups, which were okay if you don't mind being treated like a sheep"), and he's inclined to laugh at himself for getting into odd situations-e.g., perched on a high cliff over the Yangtze River, with only himself to blame for the predicament. The book has a slightly scattershot feel, without the keen sense of goal and direction that marked Porter's Road to Heaven (1993), but the journey is absorbing all the same, a tale of precarious mountain passes, forbidden borderlands, and mostly lovely people, to say nothing of a statue of a "two-foot-high vulva." As satisfying as any trip by Paul Theroux but with a much less prickly and much more forgiving narrator.

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November 1, 2015

Porter, aka Red Pine, is a longtime translator of Buddhist texts and author of books on China. Here he shares his experiences visiting Yun-nan province, one of the most beautiful places in the country. Yun-nan was vital in the early days of connecting the East and West. It also has one of the largest number of ethnic groups in the country. Porter uses short, fact-filled chapters with descriptive titles such as "Tea" and "Chickenfoot Mountain." A confusing aspect of the book is the use of the modified Wade-Giles romanization for Chinese names, places, and terms (e.g., Kowloon is Jiulong; Lijiang is Lichiang). It would have been clearer if the author had put both names within the text. However, Porter's appealing writing style and humor make this a minor inconvenience. He either traveled on the back of trucks with villagers, hitchhiked, or "caught the next leaves-when-it-fills-up bus." On one of his journeys, Porter illustrates the kindness of the Chinese people when he accidentally "kicked an old Chinese lady in the head as I got in, [and] she just laughed and handed me a baked potato." VERDICT The perfect choice for anyone and everyone interested in all things Chinese.--Susan G. Baird, formerly with Oak Lawn P.L., IL

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2015
Inspired by a teacher's atlas, Porter, an American-born, Hong Kongbased travel writer, radio personality, and noted translator of Taoist and Buddhist texts, sets off in 1992 to learn firsthand about the ethnic minorities of the Yunnan region in southwest Chinathe last territories to come under China's rule 800 years ago. His six-week journey follows Marco Polo's footsteps and ancient trading routes. Taking off from Hong Kong on a 10-hour hovercraft ride, Porter heads into the Pearl River Delta toward remote and exotic areas infrequently visited by foreigners. Porter uses his personal charm and fluency of the language to uncover hidden gems while suffering deprivations that most of us would rather read about than experience. He eats, sleeps, and travels like a local to witness wedding ceremonies, hidden shrines, temples, natural wonders, regional museums, and local markets. Porter recounts the origin stories of each ethnic group with a mixture of magic realism and political science. The first in a series of three travel memoirs, South of the Clouds introduces the reader to the multifaceted lands outside of the huge mega cities of urban China. His journal-like entries will spark curiosity about this varied region, filled with warm and very human inhabitantsdespite their mythical origins in gourds, frogs, mountains, and tree stumps.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)