SOURCE: Wright, Elizabeth. “Theroux in China.” New Statesman & Society 1, no. 15 (16 September 1988): 40.

In the following review, Wright offers a generally positive assessment of Riding the Iron Rooster.

Paul Theroux is a man who travels unburdened by illusions—a rare gift, and especially so in the case of those who travel to China. For centuries people from the west have imbued the Chinese with virtues in the abstract, and then on arrival in the country blame the Chinese for not living up to expectations. Or, even worse, interpret every word and action, which would be considered a normal part of human behaviour when observed anywhere else in the world, as possessing an almost mystical significance. No danger of that with Paul Theroux [in Riding the Iron Rooster].

Theroux spent a year travelling through China. It was not his first visit, but the second journey came at a time when the...