I like the competent, assured prose. I would have been more interested if this had been set in a more troubled period, such as the Cultural Revolution (I collect autobiographical accounts). I was sceptical, since I don’t want to read about someone’s vacation or mild culture shock in another country — although I could definitely relate to the toilets on the trains. Ugh. I’ve traveled and know exactly what you’re talking about. And little details, such as second class being highest, were new, and amusing, to me.

Then “Taoist music” caught my eye. I was extremely curious to see what “conduct[ing] fieldwork in Taoist music” would be like in contemporary China.