Destinaton: Chonquing, China

Book: Under the Huang Jiao Tree: Two Journeys in China September, 2009,(presently in 3rd printing) by Jane Carswell

Winner: Whitcoulis Travel Book of The Year 2010

Not until we are lost do we begin to discover ourselves. Henry David Thoreau.

There are always two journeys, the outer and the inner. Jane Carswell.

New Zealand resident Jane Carswell accepted a job teaching English in China, but her objective was to learn. She wanted to learn about herself by putting herself in an unfamiliar situation. At the same time, she figured, she would learn about this new culture.

Both journeys that she describes in Under the Huang Jiao Tree were difficult, although she was more adept at dealing with the physical hardships than many of the other English teachers in the group. Her description of self portrays a person calmly accepting, with brief moments of despair and wonder, whatever is thrown at her.

Assigned to a top grade school, she was surprised to see the distinct class differences between students, depending on their exam scores. The better students had airy, well-equipped classrooms, while the students who had not scored high enough (sometimes by a hair, sometimes because they were sick the day of the test) were relegated to dark basement rooms without even a teacher’s desk. Eventually students and other teachers invite her into their homes so she is able to see where they come from–physically and emotionally.

We learn very little about the actual teaching here, but she deftly sketches personalities with a sentence or two, and I came away feeling that I had learned a lot about Chinese culture–most of it surprising. For instance, things seemed to happen without advance notice, or scheduled things never quite went off on time, but the Chinese just smiled their way through. I was shocked by the poor living conditions of some people–couples we would consider middle class living without a bathroom in their apartment.

Some people will no doubt find the book inspirational, because she tells us all about her inner life and her discovery after returning home of a true calling as a Benedictine oblate. I had mixed feelings. While I learned a great deal about the way the Chinese society works, quite beyond what you might see from a tour bus window, her constant focus on herself annoyed me.

Perhaps it was my expectation that this would be more travel book and less spiritual journey because it won a Travel Book award. But its secondary description as a spiritual book makes more sense. Perhaps I was just annoyed because I am a frivolous traveler who has ignored the inner journey. I am not sure if that is true. Perhaps it was a rare case of personality conflict between the reader and the writer. (You can read another take on teaching English in China from Ashley Bruckbauer, who wrote the guest post on Pearl Buck below.)

When Under the Huang Jiao Tree wonThe Whitcoulis Award, I wrote to the publisher and asked if I might have a review copy. They sent me the book and the catalogue of Transit Lounge Books. I recommend that readers looking for fresh literature about faraway places, take a look at what they offer.  And this may be the only place Americans can find this book, too. (The image of the schoolgirls is through Creative Commons license from Flickr.com. Click on the photo to learn more.)

See other posts on China —Pearl Buck, Three books on China

Do you feel that you discover things about yourself when you travel? Can you describe some self discovery that came about in a foreign surrounding?