Lonely Planet China Reviews

• Good guide book with minor problems

  
  By AJUWAJZA1FIGK on 2005-09-26
  I've been using Lonely Planet guides for all of my travels in the past decade (and not finding LP, I go with Moon Guides). Luckily, the new edition of the LP China guide came out a month before my visit to the Middle Kingdom. I planned my itinerary inside China based off of recommendations in the book: Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Suzhou and Guilin --using the book as a reference everywhere. Here are my impressions after the trip, starting with the positive:
  
  -- The book is overall a good value for helping find which sites are worth visiting on a tight schedule. I found all of its site descriptions to be spot on and was not dissapointed by any of the places I visited based on suggestions from the guidebook.
  
  -- As ususal, the LP maps are tremendously useful when navigating major cities and towns.
  
  -- the advice on scams was tremendously useful in China, where being a foreigner makes you an instant target for unwanted attention. If anything, they should expand this section.
  
  However, there were a number of minor quibbles that kept this book from being as useful as other LP guides (like Japan or Canada) which I will go over below:
  
  -- As noted by other reviewers, the prices on admissions are already out-of-date. The book was published in June '05 and my trip was in August '05, yet very few prices corresponded to those in the guide. All prices were higher.
  
  -- Often the hotel reviews were far too generous. After staying at many "mid-range" and "High-end" hotels recommended by the guide, my travel companion and I laughed at the wonderous descriptions given in the LP guide for most of them.
  
  -- Some of the slang used in the guide is unfamiliar to US readers. Granted, this point is a very minor quibble, but it's annoying when you're trying to get a feel for a place from the book and you can't understand what it's trying to say.
  
  -- Since many, many people go to China to shop, and nearly all stores involve serious haggling, I was disappointed that the book did not have a good section on how to approach shopping in China. For this I had to go to various forums on the web, but there's really no reason to not include the universal rules in such a general guidebook.
  
  -- Finally, I was a little surprised that this LP guide seemed a little toned down in its editorial criticism of the enormous inequalities and visibile authoritarian elements within China. This is not to say I was expecting a political statement, but a charming aspect of many LP guides are their willingness to point out blatant or just-below-the-surface problems in the countries and cultures it covers. In many cases the China guide did point issues, particularly with minorities, but often it gave the Chinese gov't a pass in areas where even a fairly oblivious tourist like myself couldn't help but notice. With that said, I have a suspicion that this may have been a judicious choice by the editors, since bringing in books that are too critical to the Chinese Government is forbidden (as clearly stated on the customs forms visitors must sign when they enter the country).
  
  Overall I found this book to be useful. I did side-by-side comparisons with a Frommer and Nat'l Geographic China guide before I purchased it and I felt that the LP guide was willing to make more editorial opinion judgments on what was really worth making time for.
  
  

• Needs massive overhaul - 3 1/2 stars

  
  By A2JJVCE4MWPQX9 on 2001-04-27
  Just got back from China and used the latest edition as guide. That's all it is... a guide. Tries to be your "insider" pal but fails on several fronts. China's too darn big and changing too fast for any publisher to dare think a single "China" volume is sufficient. I mean, would you trust a single "USA" guidebook? Of course not, even if it's as thick as a phone book (and this ungainly little brick is just that).

  Many wonderful sights/attractions/wonders are not even mentioned... Did editor decide to excise them, or do researchers look only so far?? I, for one, would have liked to see more attractions mentioned. But if the LP people are going to keep up the chatty little comments with every such entry (a Lonely Planet hallmark), they will have to break up "China" into many volumes. For example, book does not even show on Wuhan map the fascinating, large Taoist temple there... cutting the chit-chat about Mao's Villa there (worth visiting but the text on it is useless) could have made room. But if they want to keep the cute comments (surfing buddhas on a temple wall in Kunming, overrated herbalist in Lijiang, Europe in miniature in Chengdu), they are going to have to break the book up into at least three volumes.

  Restaurant reviews could be chopped in half, that's for sure. They are boring, outdated, sometimes wholly erroneous. Phone numbers have always been a joke in LP editions for any country I have used ...I own some seventeen LP's... but these numbers were wholly useless to me on my recent trip.

  As other reviewers note, it is necessary to concede that China is always changing, and with growing speed. Perhaps LP just can't send their researchers out fast enough. But there are enough expats living in Chinese cities to be tapped for updates. Incidentally, expats are a great resource for any traveller... already Shanghai and Beijing have weekly "what's on" style tabloids in English that are very helpful to the visitor. Anyway, on the expat account alone, generally clever LP editors really have little excuse for not having a finger on China's latest and greatest.

  What's good about Lonely Planet China?? Liberal use of Chinese characters and Pinyin romanization, for one thing. Made it super easy to communicate with taxi drivers. The Orientation section for each city is excellent... three paragraphs to prepare you for the layout and characteristics of the city. History section is good, too. I truly love the off-the-beaten path viewpoint that makes Lonely Planet so much fun... so I hope future editions retain this, while getting on the ball with useful / necessary details.

  Using this book, traveller / reader will get a generally good trip, but will be led astray / waste time more than once by old info (where to catch bus to Buddha, where to find Muslim food, etc), and from incomplete phone numbers.
  
  

• Necessary but unsatisfactory

  
  By AX090BQY2Z146 on 2001-03-21
  The lonely planet China guides, for the two years that I taught in China, were indispensable for its general information about places that do not disappear overnight, e.g., train stations, large hotels and hostels. It is relatively useful in physically orienting yourself with cities and the larger tourist destinations. If you want a more informative guide on the history of places that you visit, I would suggest the Rough Guide. General information on what to expect when traveling in china is also useful however some of this is outdated as well.

  Outside of this, the Lonely Planet essentially provides you with a tour of China without being on a tour. Everyone and their Grandmother that has a backpack will have this book. Do not expect to find little known attractions with this book, as when a site shows up here, it immediately becomes an overnight success. This is particularly true of all of the restaurant listings and entertainment venues as many of them actually vie to be mentioned in this book. I have also seen many a decent restaurant ruined by callous and hastey remarks.

  I have good reason to believe that the Lonely Planet does not verify all that they publish from one edition to the next. While I lived in Chengdu, a new edition came out and listed several restaurants and bars that had been closed for over a year and a half- more than ample time for the Lonely Planet to verify their existence.

  With all of this said, no other guidebook remotely comes close to matching the utility of the Lonely Planet. Its an essential point of departure, that I would recommend augmenting with other resources, to discovering your own adventures in China.
  
  

• Good for package tourists; not for exploration

  
  By A2NJ49L6YEZO4T on 2004-03-05
  They say that everything you hear about China is true somewhere. Everything you read in LP China may also be true somewhere but unfortunately not always where you are. Originally published in August 2002 this book is well past its prime. It is still superior to the Rough Guide but could use a serious update. Speaking of which the overleaf promises guidebook upgrades on the Internet but they discontinued this in favour of user discussion.

  Pricing - the cost of tea in China, you say? Like most things in China, prices are in constant flux and I question the value of including them. They are more misleading than helpful. Tourist attractions will generally be higher than what the book says but other prices will be close.

  Locations - I live in the city of Wuhan and in the last two year it has undergone tremendous changes. There is simply no way for a printed book to keep up with them. For example, in the last six months the bus routes in WuChang have changed four times.

  If you are going to travel around China be flexible! Expect that nothing in the guidebook will be where you expected. Expect to bargain for everything, hotel prices included. Remember that any guide book is only a starting place. As I have travelled around southern China I have used this book as a starting point and then asked the locals what they would do. Most have never been to the "tourist sites" but can show you a great street restaurant just around the corner.

  This book is great for those thinking of going to China but who will never make the trip, or for those who are going on a package trip to fourteen cities in eight days. For those who want to explore China on their own I would advise caution.
  
  

• There are better guides

  
  By A2H62NCX6JW1RR on 2001-11-22
  China continues to change at a hair-raising pace so I can almost forgive the fact that Lonely Planet can't seem to keep up. Except that it should be able to catch up after three editions yet somehow manages to lag behind even that schedule.

  I can't forgive at all the snarky attitude of its writers who seem to operate on the principle, "if you don't have anything nice to say, try at least to make it sound witty and superior." The result is usually smug cynicism, which is an unattractive attitude in a traveller, and all the more trying when all you really want to do is find the hotel after 36 hours in hard class. Sometimes I get the feeling these guys don't really like to travel...

  Rather than simply being obsolete, or imprecise as another reviewer notes, Lonely Planet is often simply inaccurate. How do they do it? I'm not sure. I've had reports that the underpaid and tightly itineraried writers can't always complete their assignments and sometimes rely on second-hand information from other travellers. I've met a German guidebook writer (not lonely planet) who admitted she'd done the same, so it's not all that far-fetched.

  China can be a frustrating country for budget travellers, particularly those with no other option than train or bus on long journeys. Not much english is spoken, even in the major cities and the whole country appears to operate under alien premises. (These happen to be two of the best reasons to travel there.) However, outdated, imprecise and inaccurate guidebooks just exacerbate the potential frustrations.

  There are better guidebooks. Consider titles in the Cadogan Guide series, particularly "China: The Silk Routes" by Peter Neville-Hadley. Read the editorial and customer reviews on its Amazon page, which are bang on.

  Oh, by the way, I took one star off for inaccuracy and two for being unpleasant. China's a tough assignment but it's no reason to get nasty.
  
  

• Solid Over-View But Not Very Indepth
  By AF9BQQYCKQ3UC on 2005-11-05
  As others have mentioned, China is a sprawling country that will transport you to 1421, 1890, 1850 or 2005 depending on where you or what your interests are. There is really no way any one guide book could satisfy everyone.
  
  Here is what the Lonely Planet-China manages to deliver and why you'd want to buy this book: An over-view of nearly every city you might be able/want to visit. The brief history and signifigance of each city and its main sights are mostly accurate. Within each city, there are a range of hotels, transportation and resturants. Depending on the size of the city, that can range from from a few paragraphs to several dozen pages.
  
  After most cities pages, there is a page with English & Chinese words/characters so you can point to them for your cab driver or if you have any questions at the hotel. They are in tiny print so hopefully, no one needs glasses to read them.
  
  There are also Chinese phrases (along with English) of the most important things you might need to ask or say.
  
  If you are planning on traversing on your own or if you speak Chinese adequately, this is a decent starter book as to what you might want to go or see in a particular city.
  
  If you're on a tight guided trip - this might be adequate enough for you to get a sense of where you are in the city in respective to everything else.
  
  If you have relatives in China or you're traveling with a Chinese speaker and your trip is short, this book offers you enough of an over-view of most things.
  
  Why this book might not be for you?
  
  Just think of any large American or European city near you with hundreds or thousands (well, not really in the US) of years of history - can you describe all there is to do, see, eat, etc in several pages adequately? Rome? New York? Etc? Not really. That's the main problem with Lonely Planet-China. It's really an all too brief over-view.
  
  If you're with a guided tour group and you are a really detailed person, you'll want to get the city specific books (Lonely Planet or otherwise) of each particular city to learn the history of what you're seeing and what else you might want to do your few hours away every few days.
  
  First, in the major cities, China is literally changing overnight. There are 4,000 skyscrapers in Shanghai and 1,000 going up in the next YEAR. Most all of the information pertaining to lodging & restaurants are changing EVERYDAY. But going to China as a non-Chinese speaker is not necessarily easy. If you're willing to pay typical major US city hotel rates, there are dozens of choices in Beijing and Shanghai not listed here - most which will pick you up in a limo from the airport - a very necessary arrangement for non Chinese speakers. There are car rental agencies now but unless you are a cab driver in Manhatten and you can negotiate your way in Chinese out of any fender benders, do NOT even consider driving in China.
  
  The other problem with the guidebook is that you definitely need to sit down and map things out way in advanced. For instance, there is a descripotion of a sight, you need to find the key to that city - then look at the monochome map - find the number to see exactly where it is. They also are not very clear about how far each sight to each other. The maps are not huge so what seems like 3 inches might really be way, way out of town. It would also be nice if they were clearer in exactly what you absolutely need to see and why in comparison to another temple ... for instance, each publically accessible section of the Great Wall also offers you different things.
  
  And of course, the food. If you love food, China is the mother mecca of food - it's extremely inexpensive unless you just eat at the tourist spots of course, personally I have had a filling breakfast for $.25 USD and massive banquets for less than $8 USD a person. From the street to 6-story restaurants, there is no way any guide can keep up but also what's disappointing is that most foods are very regionalized in China and that is NOT really mentioned in this guidebook - if you are really traveling around to different parts of China - there are definitely dishes and delicacies that are sometimes ONLY available in that city or region and if you want to eat it, sometimes by the next train stop, it's NO longer available (many if not all sit down restaurants have picture menus but I don't think that's pointed out also).
  
  BTW, many major historical sites and in particular Beijing historical sites are undergoing renovation for the Olympics and beyond so be prepared to see scaffolding.
  
  If you have any other questions, please feel free to email us.
  
  Overall - a decent book with a decent over-view of most of the cities in China. The real problem is a printed book cannot hope to cover the thousand years of history, the overnight changes going on right now as we speak and of course, the thousands of food choices.
  
  Enjoy your trip!
  
  
• It was a survival guide for me in China
  By A2XGK1LU6LMUSN on 2000-08-14
  My friend and I have been in China two times: each for 3 weeks. LP was one of the guidebooks we used throughout. The first trip was to the South (up to Lijiang in Yunan) and the second was to the west (up to Turpan). Both trips planted in us rewarding experiences and beautiful memories. We wanted to go to Tibet, but we had no enough time (by bus, it already would have taken 3 days to Lhasa from Qinghai).

  While reading some of the reviews on this page, IMHO, I think that if you'd like to learn more about history of China or language, you should buy history books or some sort. LP mainly serves as a "survival" guide. If you ever are in China, you will know how much "survival" means to you.

  About inaccuacies in this book, you should keep in mind that China is still a changing country. Everthing was so unpredictable. But that's actually one of the things that makes China so fascinating to travel in. Nevertheless, I found that the info was as much accurate as it could be. For example, in Beijing, you can follow the direction in the book to get the cheapest money exchange rate (a laundry shop in an alley was actually there!).

  If you're planning to spend time in China on your own, I highly recommend this book. You also need one or two good phrase books, if you don't know about Chinese. If you are also interested in historical part of China, also bring with you a good history book. But I doubt it, for the following reasons: 1) the experiences, sceneries, people, etc. will make you forget about history, and 2) they are all to heavy to carry. Imagine you are loading your backpack on your back walking and looking for a place to sleep, or on a bus with a map in one hand. I wouldn't carry a lot of books.

  I have found so many intersting people travelling in deep China, most of them from European countries. They all carry this Bible with them.

  If you're traveling in places like China, I advise you have a special home-made wallet that sits between the innest shirt and your skin, or inside the underwear. You should keep all your important documents and money in this wallet.
  
  

• Opinionated bordering on utter disrespect
  By on 2000-07-24
  My friends would often rave about the quality of LP guides. So I decided to borrow a LP China guide. I was quite disgusted.

  Being able to read/write Chinese and well acquainted with Chinese culture, I was quite outraged at the author's ignorant, insensitive, disrespectful and inaccurate depictions of the Chinese language, culture, and history.

  Imagine if you picked up a guide book on France and the guide book suggested that the people of France *stubbornly* hangs on to speaking and writing French. That's the impression I get when reading this guide book on China. In fact, one part in the book even faults the country/people for using Chinese characters (i.e. its own written language! ) instead of switching to romanization.

  The entire book shows an obvious lack of research and understanding of a country as complex as China.

  Calling the Ming tombs an empty bank vault also shows an obvious lack of appreciation, understanding, and sensitivity towards Chinese history, architecture, and recent cultural turmoils.

  It seemed like the only definition of "good", according to the author, is how much English is around and how much beer is served.

  The only consolation for me is that I didn't actual pay money for this book.
  
  

• If you hear of a better book, don't hesitate to buy it!
  By on 1999-06-26
  China is such a huge country that a thorough guide would fill 10 volumes. However, this Lonely Planet guide was extrememely sloppy and often wasted space on unnecessary anecdotes that were supposed to be funny, but provided no useful information- cultural or otherwise. In a country where there is very little English and everying is written in characters, precise directions are very important. This book would say things like "the only English-speaking travel agency is down the street." "The street" would often go on for miles! Would it have killed them to tell you whether it was to the left or the right? Also, we would have really appreciated it if the book had written more important information in Chinese characters. That way, when you are trying to get to the train station or the hospital or something, you could just point to the character instead of attempting to say something they will almost certainly not understand. There are very few choices, but there has to be a better guide book on China somewhere.
  
  
• You Must Have This Book If You Go To China!
  By A29E0Q47E8CPPO on 2001-01-07
  I first travelled to China in 1998 and brought with me the then current edition of the Lonely Planet. My review of it is here somewhere. Despite being on a guided and highly structured tour, I found the guide absolutely indespensible and I used it constantly before and during my trip.

  China has changed so much in just two years. The change is even more evident in the major touristy type cities such as Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. Fortunately, as China changes so does the Lonely Planet guide. And fortunately, the guide is just as good as ever.

  I enjoyed the LP China book for two reasons. First off, the background information is so awesome for preperation for a trip to China. China is a great trip, but at times it is not an easy trip. However, the guide does a good job of letting you know ahead of time what wonders, amazments, and frustrations may lie ahead.

  Once in China the book is awesome on where to go, the background and history of where you are, and how to get there. The maps and train times are oh so important.

  China is a great and challenging trip. To do it right you need to be ready for it before and while there. Simply put, the LP book is the best way to get ready for a big trip to China.

  This book never left my side during two trips to China. This book is worth every penny it costs.
  
  

• like a pair of training wheels
  By A24DRX7WM1VA2L on 2001-06-14
  The China LP is an excellent resource for the novice traveller to China if you use it correctly. By "use it correctly," I mean that you have to learn to ignore large chunks of it. Some of the info is invaluable for even the most veteran China-traveller: the maps showing where the train stations and cheap foreigner-accepting hotels are (perhaps the most annoying phenomenon in China is the proliferation of cheap guesthouses that, owing to Commie regulations, cannot accept foreigners. In this aspect, the LP is a life-saver; I've wasted literally half my day trying to find accomodation in cities not covered by the LP). For the uninitiated, the LP can be somewhat helpful for showing where the major sights in Beijing, Hong Kong, Xi'an, and other large cities are.

  For Chinese speakers, the recent revisions have been particularly helpful, with the addition of characters throughout the book (instead of in the annoying, hard-to-find glossary secton in each chapter).

  However, that being said, I really despise the LP. In terms of restaurants and food, AVOID USING THE LP AT ALL COSTS. You will waste your time trying to find non-existant or crappy, overly expensive restaurants. China (especially southern China) is packed with some of the best food in the world in the most unexpected places. Do not waste your time chasing after a restaurant on the other end of Guangzhou when every street corner has a little restaurant that's incredible. Half the fun of China for me was exploring all of the street vendors and little holes in the wall.

  For those of who want to see anything outside of the major cities without being funnelled into the tourist ghettos known as Dali, Yangshuo, and Lijiang, avoid this book like the plague. Those three tourist traps are mind-numbing in their monotony of banana pancakes and muesli with yogurt. Most of the people who use the LP to guide them through China are essentially spending a huge wad of cash to fly to China in order to avoid as much as possible actually being in China. Easily the most edifying experience I had in China was when I to places uncovered by the LP (e.g. far western Sichuan, southern Qinghai). Admittedly, to get outside of these ghettos requires a least a modicum of Chinese language ability, but this can be overcome be finding help from other travellers who speak Chinese, natives who speak English, or, in the worst case, using a phrasebook.

  China is a difficult country to travel in, but the only interesting experiences you'll have is when you drop the book and open yourself up to unexpected ephiphanies.
  
  

• Use With Caution!
  By AKT1BE40MS4S9 on 2007-11-08
  It is confusing that many of the reviews here are for the National Geographic Traveler China book, by the same author as the Lonely Planet book. The National Geographic book has lots of pictures and is a good "idea" book. The Lonely Planet is geared to the independent traveler, with much more specific information about how to get around. This review is for the Lonely Planet.
  
  My husband and I have successfully used Lonely Planet books on many other trips, but we were disappointed in the China book. Obviously China is a huge country, and it is changing very quickly, so we were not surprised to find that many places no longer exist and that some of the information was out-of-date. But we WERE surprised at the amount of blatantly wrong information. For example, the section on Jade Dragon Snow Mountain near Lijiang was so mixed-up that we ended up spending the day at the wrong hiking area.
  
  In most countries it would be fairly easy to double-check the accuracy of a description by asking a hotel concierge or taxi driver. In China, though, we often had problems communicating, so we relied much more heavily on our guidebooks.
  
  The book is huge, but it didn't need to be quite so big. Many of the descriptions are excessively wordy, and sometimes it seemed like the author was more interested in writing a clever review than clearly giving the facts.
  
  The best thing about the book is that names of places and most streets are written in Chinese. It was incredibly helpful to be able to point to the place we wanted to go. We found that our accents and pronunciations were so bad when we tried to read pinyin that most people didn't even realize we were trying to speak Chinese to them.
  
  We looked through other guidebooks at some of our guest houses, and unfortunately none seemed to be much better.
  
  
  
• Poor Effort
  By A186RXJ48J4Q01 on 2001-08-26
  I recently traveled for ten weeks in mainland China using LP's China guidebook. I have used the Lonely Planet series for over thirty countries and find them to be among the best if not the best of all the guidebooks out there. This edition falls short. Way short! I sometimes wondered if I was in the same city the guidebook was describing. For example, LP calls Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, a "budget traveler's paradise" and then goes on to mention three places in a city of over 9 million people. In Hangzhou, their first recommendation is a vacant lot and has been for a year. Second pick is a restaurant.I began to really wander if anyone actually "traveled" these places to update them or just sat around in Yunnan Province,a drank beer and depended on other travelers for information. The bood has many good points. The maps are good. The transportation info is still fairly accurate and the use of Chinese characters is extremely helpful. It is not impossible to use the latest edition as your only guide. It is just that you had better have some well-developed travel skills before venturing into China and hoping this book will save you. It won't.
  
  
• Complete Crap
  By on 2004-02-22
  This book is so bad. If I could give it 0 stars believe me, I would. Many of the things listed in this book no longer exist. I went to one city and all 4 places listed in the LP as budget accomodations were no longer in business. Maps were incorrect. Attractions were listed with one address and placed elsewhere (and incorrectly) on the map. It would help greatly of it had more Chinese of the locations listed so you can show cab drivers. I finally gave up, chucked it into the trash and continued my 4 month trip through Asia without consulting any guidebook and had a much nicer time. Down with the Lonely Liar! You don't need a guide book. Just talk to other travelers.
  
  
• Equipment Failure
  By A3P320QL6EKGB9 on 2002-12-18
  Backpacking in the mountains there is a thing called: equipment failure. It is when your sleeping bag does not keep you warm, even though you are well within the manufacture's temperature rating. It is when your tent leaks, where the manufacture did not get the stitching quite right. Depending on conditions such equipment failure can range from uncomfortable to fatal.

  Recently I relied on Lonely Planet to bus from Hangzhou to Huangshan.

  Time after time I found myself muttering to myself: Guide Book Failure!!! Guide Book Failure!!!

  Guide book failure is normally not fatal.
  And if you have a good sense of humor
  and are a fairly seasoned traveller
  it can be rather interesting
  for you meet alot of friendly people who turned out to be very helpful.

  So, as alot of other people above have pointed out, if you buy Lonely Planet, use it as a door stop, or place it on your coffee table, or press flower in it, but don't rely on it travelwise; and use your money instead to invite a few of the friendly, helpful people you encounter on your trip to China to a coffee, drink or meal.

  Bon voyage
  
  

• Consider National Geographic Traveler
  By A6I2ECNHIFH5W on 2004-08-24
  I received a copy of the Lonely Planet China as a gift. I am neutral about the book. Good general information. However...China is so dynamic and changing...it doesn't ring true in many cases.
  
  I would suggest the National Geographic Traveler China guide. It is very well balanced...gives excellent background...so the traveler can interpret and experience the wonders of China through high quality text, pictures and maps.
  
  I would still suggest the Lonely Planet guide for those that have not travelled much...and a starting point. But those that have past international travel experience will find it much too basic and generic. Nat'l Geographic will provide a comprehensive pretrip planning guide so you can best tailor your trip and will enhance your experience while visting.
  
  Another factoid side note. The author of National Geographic Traveler China (Damian Harper) co-authored several guides of China, Beijing, and Hong Kong for Lonely Planet. To validate...click the D. Harper's name near the book title above. Same author...but with the quality of National Geographic.
  
  
  
  
  
• Excellent - if Outdated - Guide for the Middle Kingdom
  By A2B0XO8BTPRX7R on 2006-07-12
  The Lonely Planet guidebook is a commonplace symbol on the long hard road through Asia. Everywhere you go on the tourist circuit (and sometimes off it) you will see tourists and backpackers totting well-thumbed and/or pristine copies of the blue book for immediate reference. While in some destinations, particularly South-East Asia, a well-delineated tourist circuit has already been established and a guidebook is not really needed, China is a different sort of challenge, and - barring proficiency in Mandarin - some sort of manual is essential in traveling from one place to the other and in exploring the myriad sightseeing destinations without the wallet-sting of the package tour.
  
  I used this guide to visit the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Henan and Guangxi and the municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in the spring and summer of 2005. Aside from offering fairly informative sections on China's history, health issues and basic language skills, this particular guidebook is necessary in that it contains the characters for all locations covered. Aside from Hong Kong, Shanghai and the tourist-Mecca of Guilin/Yangshuo, most Chinese natives do not speak nor recognize English, and having a concrete symbol to point at goes a long, long way in making this vast country assessable. Factor in lodging recommendations, reasonably competent maps, bus and train time-tables and the boxed articles about misc. culture, Lonely Planet: China contains all one would need for an adventurous trek through this ancient, swiftly-changing nation.
  
  Change quickly outdates any guidebook, however. Published in January 2005, this particular edition should prove satisfactory for information in every regard *except* price. With a burgeoning Chinese upper middle class more than willing to spend extra lucre for their two-week vacations, the prices for tourist destinations have risen anywhere from 30 to 60 percent in the last year and a half. For example: Black Dragon Pool Park in Lijiang is listed as having an admission fee of 20 yuan; the reality is now 60 (USD $2.50 to $7.50). For Shaolin Si, entrance is 100 yuan instead of the listed 60. Transportation costs have risen only slightly - roughly 5 to 10 yuan - while hotels are always a nebulous rate, given the Chinese predilection towards bargaining... and, aside from government-listed tourist fees, one should always attempt to bargain; getting something half off the quoted price means you're paying a fair price.
  
  This guidebook - which, in the core writing, hasn't changed in years - gives a great overall analysis for the 33 provinces / Special Economic Zones. But if one is planning their trip around certain specific locals - Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tibet - it would be better to pick up on of the individual guides covering those areas, as cramming information about all of China's environs in roughly 1000 pages does tend to short-change certain sections. Personally, I feel the guide works best for someone traveling through three or more provinces on their trip. Prior research is very important: China is enormous and there is a lot to see and do. In order to maximize one's potential, an itinerary is necessary and this guidebook goes a long way in terms of preliminary research.
  
  Enjoy your trip!
  
  
• Good travel literature, but not a good guide book!
  By A28X47RPHH0H8T on 2002-04-14
  Lonely Planet China provides excellent introduction on the destinations and I do enjoy reading it. I appreciate the writers and the editors to have done such wonderful research on those small villages and towns.

  However, most of the "practical" information is getting unpractical, because it's apparently far outdated. Hotel rate, admission fees, cost of the food and so on are really misleading the travelers! After traveling thouroughly in China, I really do not believe I can find a place that costs 10 RMB per night, even in a backpacker's guest house.

  I have to say, this is not a good "guide book" as most of the supposed to be useful info is useless.
  
  

• A good review of LP.
  By AK747AEWOYRWE on 2004-11-23
  I arrived home from China 2 weeks ago after being there for 2 weeks. I visited the most amazing places, and yes, I took the most recent LP with me. Alot of reviewers here have stated the lack of important information in this publication, however, I found this book to be valuble on my journey. China is a tough place to travel, English isnt spoken in most places and the general public (outside of those who deal with tourists often) are not a particularly friendly bunch to westerners. In reading this guide, you must take into account that it ISNT a tour guide, it is simply a reference to sites and popular places. I found the Chinese text to be very helpful when using taxi's. China is an ever changing place, and if you have ever been there, you will know how vast it really is. A mecca of laneways and confusing streets. LP was an invaluble read for me and I would recommend this guide for those who are imbarking on thier first trip to this wonderful place.
  As a well travelled person, I have used LP many times in different places, I think some people forget to step outside the book and just find things on their own will...
  
  
• Authors have little understanding of China; too much outdated information
  By A288VUIR7WY7KQ on 2008-01-02
  I was born in China and lived there for more than 20 years. Since I moved to the States, I have traveled in China frequently on business and for family reasons.
  
  I am planning a trip to China with the rest of my family who traveled in China only once in 2006. To help them organized for the trip, I was looking for a guide book. I browsed this book in a local book store. I was shocked to see that it contains so much value-judging commentaries about Chinese history, customs, government policies, etc. Unfortunately the authors seem to understand little about Chinese history, culture, politics, economy and business. Some of their commentaries are blatantly racist. In describing Chinese moving around in their own country (whether Tibet or Xinjiang), on their own free will, the book's use of "hordes" and "flood" is derogatory, if not plainly racist.
  
  I do not intend to buy this book to brain wash my kids: They are going to China with an open mind and will be there to see with their own eyes and to judge on their own. Thank you very much.
  
  I also found quite a few misleading information about some popular sites. Other readers have already commented on some of them.
  
  So thanks to the authors for spending so much time on the commentaries and not enough time on providing accurate information for tourists, I am not buying this lonely planet.
  
  
• This is the Guide Book for China
  By A29E0Q47E8CPPO on 2000-02-03
  China is a tough trip. No matter how you go, on your own, at tour, a grant whatever...its a tough trip. Some days are ultra rewarding and unforgettable and others can be like Dantes inferno. China is a must trip but it is a mixed bag. its so big and so vast. The Lonely Plant Guide is a must for both before and during. The beginning of the book does an incredible job preparing you for your trip and exposing you to Chinese culture. While there the maps and the listings are extremely helpful and are must reads. The guide is opinionated and most often accurate. I will always remember the description of the Ming tombs as an empty bank vault. They were 100% correct. Its a great book, and a valuable tool to get the most out of your trip. Read Orville Schells Mandate of Heaven and Mark Salzman Iron and Silk, watch To Live and get this book before going to China.
  
  
• LP Guide Delivers A Great Outline for Adeventurous Travelers
  By A1NZ5L7DIWD5HP on 2000-01-18
  Last summer I had the incredible oppurtunity to travel throughout China, from China's wild wild west Xinjian Province to Beijing, when I was only sixteen. Although, from reading others' review of the Lonely Planet Guide, it seems as if it is a horrible way to get around, it sincerely is not. I found that LP delivered a safe and secure sense of being while traveling throughout China. Although sometimes some information was incorrectly stated, such as prices, for the most part be found that it only was in our favor. If you are planning to travel to China and are looking forward to traveling without ties, the LP Guide will help you accomplish this. I think LP is a good starting off point and will get you where you need to go, but the real adventure and lure of China lies with what is not written in the pages of any book.
  
  
• Misses a lot but overall useful for travel in CHina
  By on 1999-05-28
  China is a difficult country to travel in, a fact which the new Lonely Planet China guide makes quite clear. Modern China is rarely exotic and at times quite frustrating for tourists, and the book does not mince words on this subject. However, if you are planning on undertaking some hard independent travel in the PRC, LP is up to the task and contains a lot of very practical information about budget lodging and transportation. LPs main shortcoming, as I see it, is that it concentrates too much on the cities and sites "worth seeing" and not enough on some of the beautiful counytside.
  
  
• A very hard and very well-managed and great endeavour
  By A3TDLPOQO65P6X on 2002-09-12
  This edition of "Lonely Planet China" is excellent. It is better than the previous one, which was very good itself but had some weaknesses. Despite the immensity of China and the numberless topics and regions that have to be covered herein, the authors have done an excellent job indeed. Most of LP's masterpieces are guidebooks to much smaller countries or regions (it is indeed inevitable for travel guidebooks to be the better, in overall terms, the smaller the region they cover). But this one is an exception: despite its hugeness, China has been covered with superb maestry by people who do know about it. Having said this, we cannot diminish the importance of LP's guidebooks to Beijing and Shanghai - if you are planning to spend much time in those cities, it may be a good idea to get those guidebooks also, since this huge and heavy book cannot cover as much of those cities as the authors thsemselves would obviously love to. The same obviously applies for Hong Kong and Macau, Taiwan, and Tibet, all of which have generated their own LP guidebooks. Xinjiang is instead wonderfully covered in "LP Central Asia". This is not to persuade you to get more and more guidebooks, but China is indeed an immense place and one book can hardly be enough to cover it all in depth. In this book itself, its excellent coverage of some regions is stronger than others: it is better on the Coastal towns than it is on the deep interior of China, which reflects indeed the number of tourists who go to these places. Having said this, this book does nevertheless contain most of what a visitor will need or want to know about big China. And in a place that is chaotic and tough for foreigners like China, this may indeed be an essential tool for the less experienced travellers, and a greatly useful aid to the more experienced ones too. The coverage of places to stay and eat is absolutely excellent, not just for the major cities but also for minor towns and sites (the authors would indeed seem to have been to everywhere in China where the government did not stop them from going !). The section on permits and other legal matters is of immense value to anyone, and well up-to-date. And of course, the sections and special chapters on history, culture, religion, are extremely well written, great for the traveller and the armchair reader alike. Even though the best discoveries are those a traveller will make herself / himself, this guidebook is surely a great tool and help in anyone's discovery of this wonderful land. All in all, a masterpiece despite its limitations. A weakness is of course that things being as volatile as they are in China, information is subject to unexpected changes, and some may have become out-of-date by the time this book was printed. But this is of course inevitable, and it simply means that - as in any country - a traveller should not rely on only a guidebook, but make a considerable effort to gain as much as possible of current circumstances on her / his own, which is in fact part of the wonderful travel experience.
  
  
• don't buy this book
  By on 2004-01-08
  Admittedly there are not many other China guidebooks around, but this one seriously sucked. I bought one at my local bookstore for a recent trip to China and (i) the attitude of the editors is simply disgusting [If they can't appreciate the country then they shouldn't even bother to write a book about it] (ii) too much of the info is extremely outdated. We all know that China is growing rapidly and whatnot but that really is no excuse for Lonely Planet to not do their homework and give us horrendously erronous info (iii) Any 'off-the-beaten-track' sight featured in Lonely Planet books inevitably become tourist traps for obvious reasons. It's the last time I'm ever buying Lonely Planet books. (Of course, there's the whole bring-the-hippies-there-and-ruin-the-place thing, which is yet another reason not to buy more Lonely Planet books...)
  
  
• Beware the book
  By A2ONFG5W68CRJ2 on 2004-05-09
  To echo the words of other readers, this is disappointing and out of date.

  On the second point, bear in mind that many prices have increased (sometimes more than doubled) since this book was published.

  On the first, try to ignore almost every recommendation on accomodation and food that the guidebook makes. In many locations the majority of listed restaurants are Western and those that are Chinese are poor quality, high priced and seem to be recommended only for having an English menu. Go somewhere else, point, go for pot-luck or learn a little Chinese before you go and you'll enjoy everything much more.
  
  

• Good, useful guide with some inaccuracies.
  By A2DGSDKN23WXQL on 2000-07-20
  Travelling in China is not easy, to say the least. While my 3-week visit to China was an unforgettable experience, it was laden with all kinds of frustrations. This book makes things a bit easier on the traveler. Its accuracy is good, even though this edition is getting a bit dated -- due to this the information containted in the book was occasionally incorrect. But never fear -- a new edition should be out any day now.

  One of the people that I was travelling with brought his copy of the Let's Go guide, and we felt that the books complemented each other nicely. However, I felt that the Lonely Planet guide was more detailed and just better overall. The advice is useful and usually fairly precise. However, I did not appreciate how opinionated and cynical the book was when presenting the history of the regions and the description of landmarks. When travelling in a country as different from the western world as China, it is important to keep an open mind -- something that this book has definitely not done.

  I should note that the book was missing some much-wanted precision. Sometimes if a landmark was pinpointed on the map, the precise address for it was not given in the text. Some landmarks that appeared on the map were not even mentioned in the text.

  All in all, this is a fairly good and useful book -- I would not describe it as spectacular. I am looking forward to seeing whether the new edition will be a significant improvement over this one.
  
  

• Very Useful
  By A17N23WXA7EAF on 2000-08-24
  I used this book when traveling alone in China twice. The cultural descriptions of China's many and diverse regions were helpful, accurate and hardly suffused with glamor. More importantly, the nuts and bolts travel information such as hotels, railroads, airlines, regulations, etc. was right on the mark.

  A word of warning, if you're spending time in Kunming, some of the streets and restaurants referenced in this book no longer exist because of the massive construction effort there.
  
  

• An arrogant nightmare
  By A2FZDJ9BG3DHL on 2002-12-07
  I agree with the previous reviewer when he says a) the arrogant tone of previous editions continues here, b) if you have an old edition, there is no need to upgrade, as there isn't much new here as they really don't update much. That second point is particularly egrigious, as there has been so much change in China of late. The most classic example is in the South West of China (there is a separate guidebook for this, which is better, but not much). The guidebook refers to Chengdu as "backpacker's paradise", but I'm here to tell you there are a lot of sorely disappointed backpackers who've wound up in Chengdu on this advice and left pretty quickly. Or tried to leave quickly but couldn't, as while the book tells you that there are 85 trains to different places, it shows there are four different train stations on the map in completely different places in town, wbut never tells you which is the main one or which one you might need to get to to get the heck out of dodge. Other descriptions include bus lines as "luxiourious rulers of the road" when there's not even a bus line in the town. This continues everywhere throughout the book. The Beijing section is *particularly* bad when it comes to listing cheap accomodation anywhere near Tianamen Square. According to the book, it is woefully lacking. But if they'd ever listed YHA hostels (they don't, who knows why), there's more cheap, clean, English speaking beds within walking distance of T-Square than you can imagine. Something like 2000 of them. When I met up with a friend in Beijing and we prepared to get on the Trans-Mongolian out of the country, we didn't even leave this book behind, we actually burned it and did a little dance that we wouldn't have to use it again.
  
  
• To much opinions one can do without
  By on 1999-01-18
  It is unfortunate that most so-called "independent" travellers keep a book from the Lonely Planet series as their travel companion and they more or less blindly follow its advice as an instruction. Somehow one suspect that by now the publishers are aware of this fact and hence they would subject the content of the books to a more rigorous scrutiny. I am particularly appalled to see the Lonely Planet's China being used/misused as a reference book by many local Chinese. The phrase "good places go bad, bad places go bankrupt" gets a new dimension in the light of the active involvement of Lonely Planet in its actual realization. I think that the book on China, more than other books in this series, often shows a remarkable lack of judgement. Their advice for caution is sometimes so out of proportion that it only seems to encourage mistrust. It often expresses a blatant disrespect for the culture (including every-day life and contemporary values of ordinary people) and the regulations of the country. (The book issues "warnings" that the attraction is meant for chinese tourists, i.e. it may seem "tacky" for non-Chinese; it advises you to put in the music cassette you brought from home if you do not like the music they play on the bus (would this apply for Chinese coming to Europe, for instance?); it gives instructions on how to get a fake student ID to get cheaper tickets; the criterion for a "nice place" is the quality of the western food they serve or abundance of beer, etc., etc.). Apparently, the book targets people who are not particularly interested in China or Chinese culture, who preferably do better staying at home listening to their own music and eating their own food.

  The two stars rating is because of the informations on the hotels and the maps you may need while not having time to search for better yourself. If most of the highly subjective opinions are omitted the book would not be so bulky; a fact of great concern for backpackers
  
  

• China (EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDE)
• Beijing (City Guide)
• Mandarin: Lonely Planet Phrasebook
• The Rough Guide to Mandarin Chinese Dictionary Phrasebook 3 (Rough Guide Phrasebooks)
• Shanghai (City Guide)