In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan

In this insightful and engaging book, DeFrancis, emeritus professor of Chinese at the University of Hawaii, recounts his 4000-mile, six-month trek in 1935 through Inner Mongolia and other parts of China, including stretches of the Gobi Desert and sensitive border areas long since closed to outsiders. DeFrancis, then a 23-year-old student, joined a Canadian friend who admired Genghis Khan and wanted to retrace Khan's route, traveling as much as possible like ordinary Chinese people. Mixing observations about daily travails (diet, camels, soiled laundry) with accounts of people and places, DeFrancis tells memorable tales: a camel driver admits he sold his daughter into prostitution during a famine; a visit to the ruins of the lost city of Etsina, described by Marco Polo, prompts reflections on its 14th-century demise. DeFrancis's party spent two weeks under house arrest at the orders of a Muslim warlord in Gansu and eluded the Long March of the Chinese Communists by traveling down the Yellow River on an inflated sheepskin raft dubbed Titanic II . Chapter introductions supply brief updates on the places visited. Illustrations not seen by PW. (June)