The only English translation of John Blofeld's memoirs as a Westerner living in China prior to the Communist Revolution <br /><br />• Paints an intimate portrait of the grace and refinement of ancient Chinese civilization <br /><br />• Originally written in Chinese for Chinese readers, revealing a rare glimpse of Blofeld's private Chinese side and uncensored views <br /><br />• The last book by the great English sinologist, translator of the I Ching and author of <em>Taoist Mystery and Magic</em> <br /><br />The reveries and remembrances contained in the travel diaries of John Blofeld cover every aspect of his life in China--from visits to opium dens and sing-song houses to sojourns in the Buddhist monasteries and Taoist hermitages of China's sacred mountains. Here is a vivid glimpse of “old” China as it existed in elegance and grace for three thousand years before China's Communist Revolution. Originally written in Chinese for a Chinese audience, Blofeld's travel diary reveals a rare, uncensored view of pre-communist China to which few westerners have been exposed.<br />