This book will interest both seasoned sinologists and anyone who has spent time travelling in China or is interested in the art of travel writing.

Sheds new light on the importance of the diaries of Xu Xiake (1587-1641), a compulsive traveller who spent a lifetime visiting and writing about China's 'beauty spots'.

The book also includes an extended section of criticism by and about women writers.

The perfect antidote to those guides that tell us what to do when we get there, The Art of Travel tries to explain why we really went in the first place - and helpfully suggest how we might be happier on our journeys.

This two-volume work on The Great Enterprise of the Manchus is the first scholarly narrative in any language relating their conquest of China during the seventeenth century.

With comparative frontier history and pioneering use of indigenous sources, Giersch provides a groundbreaking challenge to the China-centered narrative of the Qing conquest.

Bringing together original contributions from scholars around the world, this volume traces the history of travel writing from antiquity to the Internet age.