Whether revealing small-town supersitions or exposing Beijing’s underworld, these works of literary fiction offer insights to modern China. The diversity and dynamics of a country on its way to being the economic power of the world are reflected here in the literature of its best writers.

Travel to the idyllic mountains and streams of West Hunan; a picturesque water town and the silkworm-raising country of Zhejiang; the high plateau of western Sichuan where Tibetan culture intermingles with that of Han Chinese; the primitive vitality of the sorghum fields of Gaomi county in Shandong; a Henan village struggling with poverty; and the pastoral world of the northeast province of Heilongjiang. But China is not just mountains and rice paddies; its cities are growing at a truly amazing pace and China includes stories of a country and people in conflict set in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei as well.

China: A Traveler’s Literary Companion proves there is no better way to learn about a land and its people than through its literature.

Whereabouts Press is an independent publisher of books that convey a sense of a place—a country, a region, a city—through stories. Unlike guidebooks written by professional travel writers, Travelers Literary Companions feature stories written by literary writers—all of whom are native to the places they write about. They didn’t write specifically for travelers. They wrote because they had good stories to tell. And their stories tell us not just about people, but about the soul of a place.