The Love Of China

The Love of China (1979) by Anthony Lawrence – Octopus

China is not a small subject.

It is not even a moderately sized subject.

It is the sort of subject that makes an atlas look nervous.

The Love of China by Anthony Lawrence, published by Octopus in 1979, is a richly illustrated celebration of one of the world’s oldest, largest and most culturally complex civilisations, taking in landscapes, cities, traditions, history and everyday life with the sort of confidence only a large-format 1970s book could manage.

This is China before smartphones, before mass tourism, before social media, and before every traveller felt obliged to photograph breakfast.

Instead, there are people, places, architecture, countryside, customs and the enormous visual variety of a country stretching from mountains and deserts to rivers, farmland and vast cities.

The late 1970s were also a fascinating moment in which to look at China.

The country was emerging from the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution and beginning to open more visibly to the outside world, meaning books like this offered many Western readers a glimpse of a place that had for decades seemed distant, politically mysterious and extremely difficult to visit unless one had a very good reason and an impressive collection of official paperwork.

Anthony Lawrence approaches the subject with admiration and curiosity, giving the book the feel of a visual journey rather than a dry reference work.

The title rather gives the game away.

This is not A Brief Administrative Survey of China.

It is The Love of China.

You are expected to be impressed.

And there is plenty to be impressed by.

Ancient temples, monumental architecture, traditional crafts, landscapes shaped by centuries of cultivation, bustling streets, rural communities and the immense weight of Chinese history all contribute to a portrait of a country that had already been reinventing itself for several thousand years before the rest of the world started calling everything “disruptive”.

Books like this are particularly interesting now because they capture not only their subject but also the era in which they were made.

The photographs preserve a version of China from the 1970s, before the extraordinary economic transformation of the following decades changed cities, transport, industry and daily life on a scale that would have been difficult to imagine when this book appeared.

That makes it part travel book, part cultural portrait and part accidental time capsule.

It is also wonderfully free from the modern problem of constant updates.

Nobody is asking you to subscribe.

Nobody is suggesting another article.

Nothing pops up to ask whether you accept cookies.

You simply turn the page and look at China.

A remarkably efficient system.

For readers interested in Chinese history, culture, travel, photography or social history, the book offers a substantial visual record from a particularly interesting period.

It also has the decorative appeal of the classic Octopus illustrated books of the era: large, handsome, informative and perfectly capable of occupying a coffee table with a certain amount of authority.

This copy is in Good condition, making it a pleasing vintage example for anyone who enjoys older illustrated books with a strong sense of place and period.

Ideal for travellers, historians, photographers, collectors of vintage cultural books or anyone who would like to visit late-1970s China without needing a visa, a suitcase or several days on an aeroplane.

Sold by Crappy Old Books, where international travel is largely achieved by walking to the correct shelf and where passports are not currently required.

ISBN: 0706411404
Condition: Good

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