Liam D'Arcv Brown set out to travel to the four corners of the People'sRepublic in an attempt to reconcile modern China's seemingly irreconcilableextremes. His 10.000-mile journey took him from an isolated fishing commu-nity in the East China Sea, a 'steamy' tropical holiday resort on Haman Islandand a rebellious Muslim city on the Silk Road to a primitive riverside village inremote Manchuria. Along the way, he discovered many surprising aspects to lifein China that the wider world seldom glimpses.