Chinese Life: A Tale Of Five Cities

Chinese Life:

A Tale Of Five Cities

Kerry Brown

China Translation amp; Publishing House

February 2020

80.00 (CNY)

Chinese Life: A Tale of Five Cities is the first autobiographical work by British diplomat and China studies expert Kerry Brown. This book tells an autobiographical narrative of Kerry Brown’s life， business， and diplomacy in China， and how he started his “second life.” He used sincere and humorous language to record his different identities and periods in China. It tells the story of China and an Englishman who loves China. The work is different from ordinary biographical works. It does not record the life experiences and deeds of the characters chronically but cuts in from the perspective of cities and urban culture. The author runs through the five cities of Hohhot， Beijing， Shanghai， Xi’an， and Hong Kong， explores the ordinary life of Chinese people in the eye of a foreigner， and records the changes and development of Chinese society over the past 40 years of the reform and opening up.

Kerry Brown

Born in Kent， England， he was educated at Cambridge University and pursued a Ph.D. at the University of Leeds. He is a famous professor of China studies in the UK and the deputy director of the “Lau China Institute” at King’s College London.

In this book， I have decided to focus on something tangible and very physical as a way of telling my China story， but also illustrating this issue of difference， and how differences can aid the quest to make something more defined and knowable. Place is something that always fascinated， and continues to fascinate me， in my life in England. The relationship of particular places， for instance， to the lives of writers， something I mentioned at the start of this introduction， in Kent. The memory traces， as they are called， that are left after major events in places like fields where battles occurred， or buildings where major events happened， or cities or towns which testify to the many different kinds of lives that have been lived there over the generations. Ancient places were of specific interest-- fragments of old churches in the UK which went back to the earliest period when Christianity was being spread here， in the fifth and sixth century， or the faint traces of roads from the Roman period， which are often left in the landscape. Domestic buildings which， despite modernized facades facing the high streets， were clearly very ancient behind these， or woods which had iron age or other remains covered up by shrubs or trees， but still were just about visible.

Coming to a new city， right from when I was quite young， I would always try to get a map of it in my head.

This was helped in Britain， and Europe， by the simple fact that almost every place， however old or new， usually had a specific pattern -- a church or churches， or a cathedral， somewhere near the centre， and then perhaps a city or town or village square， with businesses， restaurants， a pub， hotels， and， spanning out from this， parks， monuments， major streets， leading to other hubs and major features. Sometimes there were very visible public buildings-- government offices， or institutions， or museums. At other times there were art galleries， or newly rebuilt areas where the feel and features of the buildings were wholly different. All of this helped build up an idea of age， character， and contributed to the sense of place.

One of the great challenges in exploring places in China， as this book will illustrate， is that the lay out and geography， and the meaning of particular places， along with the best way to interpret these， is very different. Contemporary China， the place I have been visiting and familiar with over the last quarter of a century， is somewhere that has undergone and continues to undergo immense physical transformation. Cities can change in the space of a few years， so they are often almost unrecognizable from the first time one visited. This only adds to the original problem -- how someone from a different cultural background can start to ‘read’ the terrain they are physically walking in when it itself is so changeable. Temples instead of churches is one of the easier issues to re-adapt to and be alert about. But the ways in which city space and town space is organized and managed， the functions of buildings， their style， the ways in which you can date them -- all of this requires different kinds of knowledge.