Paul Theroux sailed down the Yangtze witha party of American millionaires. If this at times surprised the Chinese- which it did- both the idiosyncrasies of the company and the impressions of China itself provided rich material for the kind of perceptive, witty writting at which the writer excels. One hesitates, in a Chinese context, to describe the book as "sweet sour", but there could be worse descriptions: good-humoredly observant on the foibles of his fellow countrymen, on the Chinese future he is often disquietingly apprehensive. The text is stylishly complemened by Patrick Procktor's black and white illustrations.