Lonely Planet China (Country Travel Guide)
by Andrew Stone, Carolyn Heller, Christopher Pitts, Chung Wah Chow, Damian Harper, Daniel McCrohan, David Eimer, Min Dai, Robert Kelly, Thomas Huhti
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Book Reviews of Lonely Planet China (Country Travel Guide)
Book Review: EXTREMELY outdated
Summary: 1 Stars
Save your money and frustrations and get yourself a different Guidebook. Only a couple days into our trip, I was flipping through the book to find the Copyright Date because I thought maybe we received an old version on accident. The issue I have is that it says 2009 yet it's very OBVIOUS that it is pre-2008. Things in China are changing so rapidly that I expect somethings not to be quite up-to-date. But when we are clearly many of the things listed in this book were changed for the 2008 Olympics. The subway in Beijing is the perfect example. In this book, both Tian'anmen stops are written in Chinese. The subways in Beijing are now written in English so then you find yourself trying to translate the Chinese into the English to figure out which stop you need to go to. We all agree this change probably happened for all the tourists in 2008.
In Shanghai it talks about the most popular snack food street in the city near Nanjing Rd. We walk about there to find out it was completely razed. In fact, half the street has been rebuilt into a nice street filled with chain restaurants. My point: the area wasn't just bulldozed yesterday. It's been at least a year!
The sad fact is that we didn't use this book for most of the trip. In Beijing and Shanghai we used the Eyewitness book that was extremely helpful. In Xi'an we ended up using local maps and actually used this book to determine which sights we wanted to see.
I had a few other issues with this book. I felt like the sight recommendations were weak. There were some places this book advised people to visit but I'm not sure why because the places were either boring or there was nothing to see. An example is the Shanghai Museum. Highly recommended? NO WAY! Speaking of Shanghai, this book it so outdated that it didn't have the Aquarium in there yet. I had to find that information in the other book I had.
The restaurants were a joke. First, and it's almost humorous at this point, but without exaggeration, about half of the restaurants don't exist any more. I don't mean they are out of business. I literally mean it's now and empty lot!! Crazy! The couple places we did go to weren't very good. Again, the exception to this was Xi'an- the restaurants were good there.
The hostels recommended were not the best options. We went to hostels.com and the hostels mentioned in LP not only had mediocre reviews but had some major and significant complaints. No heating? No hot water? We went on our own for this.
Someone wrote a review that this book should be scrapped and rewritten from scratch. I agree at least for the 2 aforementioned cities. I would be VERY skeptical of the 2011 book as they'll probably once again pick-and-choose things to update and slap on a new Copyright and make you believe it's really up-to-date.
Book Review: WARNING: Lonely Planets being confiscated at China airports!
Summary: 1 Stars
It is incumbent on me to advise all potential buyers of Lonely Planet China that there have been numerous reports from tourists and backpackers in China who have had their LP guidebooks confiscated by immigration officials at all international Chinese airports and border checkpoints. This has to do with several factors, namely that LP heavily politicizes their "guides" with pro-democracy and pro-Tibetan commentary. I personally am all for a free Tibet, but I would never openly say so in China because I don't feel like being deported. Maybe later. Also, LP stupidly did not include Taiwan on their "map" of China, which is pretty much the most offensive thing you can do to Communists. Sometimes I wonder what the editors at LP are thinking. They really are getting cocky. Not to mention that as opposed to the old LP guidebooks that were written by and for backpackers, they are now specifically catering to the middle classes and rarely list any true budget backpacker hostels and eateries. But mostly I just wanted to remind people that you might be throwing away twenty bucks by bringing this into China. I actually live and work in China and know what I am talking about.Book Review: This is a reference book, not a bible
Summary: 4 Stars
Lonelyplanet is better than nothing and is a good start. I highly recommend both reading it and highlighting it well, but not solely relying on it. The perks of this book are: maps, language phrases, and gaining general ideas. All of the big touristy things are on the map. Some of the really fun obscure things are not. When you go out on a limb, explore and discover the little gems for yourself, you will be thankful that all of the tourists have not found out about it yet. Traveling is about making your own journey and not just having someone map it all out for you. This book is perfect for a general guide and even better b/c of the maps, which I just can't emphasize more in a disorienting place like China, and ticket price estimates. Also, don't expect this book or any other book on China to be up to date. China is changing so rapidly, something new is being built and something old is being destroyed daily. Don't be surprised if that restaurant you highlighted does not exist anymore and if there are new ones instead.Book Review: much outdated
Summary: 3 Stars
This book has a lot of outdated information. I just spent 2 months in China. Things are changing rapidly with the rise of the new middle class that likes to travel and see their country.
For example, the book recommends going to yangshuo instead of guilin in order to see the Li River, Rice fields, and other sites in this area. Well let me tell you I am so glad I didn't follow the recommendation. Yangshuo is overrun by Chinese tourists. Almost impossible to walk the main street due to the crowds. Guilin is much saner, less touristy, lovely.
The book also doesn't tell you to expect crowds on the Li River and when bamboo rafting on the Yulong river. I do recommend these trips, but be advised you will be on the rivers with 50 or 60 other small boats or rafts. China is on the move and this book needs to be updated to help readers avoid the worst of the crowding.
Book Review: Not updated enough!
Summary: 3 Stars
I traveled for 3 month through China and pretty much gave up on this guide (latest edition) after the first 1.5 mth. There is a LOT of outdated information in this book. Granted, china is changing VERY fast, but there were things that were in this guide that I have been told have been shut down over 3 years (and it wasn't just by the touts)!! I encountered some outdated information practically every city I went to in China, from closed down things to see, restaurants that have long moved and hotels that were no longer in operation. Come on lonely planet! If you expect to be the leader in this field, you need to do a better job overhauling your new editions and checking your facts.