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China
- ISBN13: 9780756660987
- Condition: New
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Product Description
DK Eyewitness Travel’s full-color guidebooks to hundreds of destinations around the world truly show you what others only tell you. They have become renowned for their visual excellence, which includes unparalleled photography, 3-D mapping, and specially commissioned cutaway illustrations.
DK Eyewitness Travel Guides are the only guides that work equally well for inspiration, as a planning tool, a practical resource while traveling, and a keepsake following… More >>
Jul 27th, 2010 at 5:08 am
I used two tour books to plan my trip to China: Eyewitness for the general details of the itinerary, and Lonely Planet for the logistical details. The Eyewitness guide has a massive amount of beautiful photographs and illustrations that help give the traveler an idea of the sights he or she can choose from, which is very important–unless you have a year or so to spare, planning a trip to China is as much about choosing what NOT to see as it is choosing what to see. I could also see this being the perfect guide for the more casual traveler; someone in a tour group or someone accompanying a designated “navigator.”
That being said, if you are traveling solo (that is, not in a tour group or other organized group of some kind) you will also want to have a more “details-heavy” guide such as the Lonely Planet, which is full of details Eyewitness does not have, including bilingual maps and place names, as well as more and deeper descriptions of sightseeing locations, hotels, restaurants, and nightlife.
All tour books have their strengths and weaknesses, and although the lesser amount of logistical details is the main drawback of Eyewitness China, the large number of helpful photos and illustrations is its main strength. Although solo travelers will need a little more than this, for the casual or group traveler this guide alone would probably be more than enough to enjoy your trip to the Middle Kingdom.
Rating: 4 / 5
Jul 27th, 2010 at 7:27 am
This is actually my fourth DK guide book. Prior to DK Eyewitness China, I’ve used Eyewitness Great Britain, Eyewitness London, and Eyewitness Paris on my previous backpacking/business trips. Never had any problems with any of the aforementioned titles. So this year, my wife and I decided to use the DK Eyewitness China for our 3.5 week vacation in the Middle Kingdom. We have also brought a copy of Lonely Planet, figuring it would give us more information over the image-intensive DK guide. The decision to bring along the Lonely Planet guide turned out to be a mistake and an extra pound or two that we didn’t really need in our suitcase. The few times we attempted to use the Lonely Planet guide for information on various cities, we found exactly none of the information we needed. Instead, we got an earful of ramblings intended for college backpacking kids. DK guide, on the other hand, provided very easy to use maps and no-nonsense information. If you’re exploring a major site, DK’s 3d pictorial coverage is especially helpful in term of quickly orienting yourself. Sure, this book doesn’t cover everything. Frankly, overall, Lonely Planet probably does offer more information – if you have the patience to read through all the horrible writings to get to the point. But if you want a highly usable and well-designed tour book that’s lean and mean, this one is for you. Recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
Jul 27th, 2010 at 8:41 am
In preparing for a recent business trip to China (my first time going there), I asked one of my (Chinese national) colleagues for a few suggested books that provide a good overview of China, both from the historical perspective as well as the “touristy” perspective, and this is the book that was recommended to me.
I’ve had “China (Eyewitness Travel Guides)” (672 pages) for a couple of months, and found it fascinating reading but really didn’t want to judge it until I had a chance to put it to the test while traveling in China. Well, I am here to tell you that the book performed great from that perspective as well. But before we get to that, let me point out that the first 70 pages of the book, providing a general overview and a summary of China’s 5000 year history are nothing short of essential, and one of the things that set this book apart from many other China travel guides.
The real test of the book came for me when I was in some of the not so obvious places on my trip. Yes, we all have heard about and know some things of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, but what about places like Xi’An (in Shaanxi Province) and Xiamen (in Fujian Province), which I happened to visit. The information provided by this book is just excellent, and helped me prepare, both mentally and otherwise, for my trip. I agree that the “Where to Stay” and “Where to Eat” sections in the back of the book are not the best parts of the book, and frankly I did not use them for my trip, although I did find the practical tips such as “Do’s and Don’ts of Eating Etiquette” quite helpful. Not only does this book make a great travel guide, but it is on top of that available here on Amazon for 40% off of the book’s cover price. You can’t go wrong with this.
Rating: 4 / 5
Jul 27th, 2010 at 9:39 am
I am a graduate student in US but came from China. This book has a lot of vivid pictures and illustrations. I bought this book because I want to know what China is from the point of view of the US tourists. Although I had been in China for 27 years before I came to US, I only visited limited places that the book covered. I think this book is very nice and interesting because it contains some personal experiences of the author(s). However, in the first chapter, I still found some misunderstandings or incorrect information about marriage of people from 1949 to 1980′s. Anyway, these are not related to eyewitness guide to travel. But as a travel guide, it is great!
Rating: 4 / 5
Jul 27th, 2010 at 9:49 am
I’ve been a devoted fan of Let’s Go (back in the 80′s), transitioned to Lonely Planet (the 90′s) and experimented with Rough Guides and Moon books for all my world travels. I shunned the glossy photo-rich books as being too short on valuable content and too heavy and thick to carry. But after reading all the site reviews, I bought this along with Rough Guide (also highly praised), and wow, I am a total convert. I am actually halfway through reading it cover-to-cover, and the photos are invaluable in helping us decide where to spend our free time in China. You won’t be disappointed.
Rating: 5 / 5