appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

David Wilson

Atlas of China
National Geographic, HK$208
Pieced together by a National Geographic phalanx of cartographers, writers, editors, researchers and  consultants, Atlas of China is impressively compact. The  guide, equipped with more than 400 maps and illustrations, weighs in at only 98 pages.
And yet, it  is thorough, covering subjects ranging from conservation and military strength to economic and 'human' development, including standards of living, employment and so on.
In addition, big cities are profiled. That includes Hong Kong, whose humble 'barren rock' origins are revisited. When, a few years after the  second world war, the People's Republic of China came into being, Hong Kong was far from barren, and the appearance of its new neighbour must have been a worry. 'An enormous eastern communist country looked straight at a western capitalistic colonial enclave right on its shoreline,' the atlas says.
Chengdu,  Beijing, Kunming,  Lhasa, Shanghai, Taipei (controversially), Urumqi,   Xian and the ice city of Harbin,   make the cut too.
Big on history, the atlas  offers a timeline that opens with the 1766-1122BC Shang dynasty and takes the reader on a journey that encompasses the 1899-1901 Boxer Rebellion,  the 1958 Great Leap Forward and Sars.   The final entry documents how, in January  last year, the mainland took out one of its old weather satellites, proving it  can shoot down enemy spy satellites if the mood takes it.
China comes across as a waking giant equipped with formidable muscle and reach.  Experts may accuse the team behind the atlas of skimming the surface. But a new guide published by the same company, Inside China, does the digging. For anyone who needs to come up to speed on the Middle Kingdom fast, Atlas of China takes some beating.



review