AustLit

"The author describes his book as the answer to the question, so often asked, and posed in the title, as to why he went to China. It is not a history of the early, pre-Communist Republic of China; nor is it a complete biography. Fitzgerald's personality, does however, emerge from every page--independent-minded, obstinate, endlessly curious. The whole history of twentieth-century China and of modern Sinology is hardly humdrum, but this is an outstanding book by an unusual author. Here we have a first-hand account of old China surviving into the modern era, of China in turmoil, of old China hands, primitive transport and 'loony' missionaries."

Source: ANU Library.