Majesty, squalor, civility and smiles in a gee whiz Instamatic Blur
And I only wrote half of what I saw...
Marco Polo, recalling his travels in China, A.D. 1324
The People's Republic of China is as much a land of paradox and poesy, blood, sweat, glory and incongruity as the riven country that greeted Marco Polo. The temples and tombs, palaces and pagodas and gardens, majestic mountains and mighty rivers, art and artifacts as old as civilization: they are all there, glittering, tangible and not quite believable. Off the usual tourist track are the ramshackle...