If you want to know what to expect when you travel to China for the first time, this is a book for you. Written and photographed by an open-minded architect, it shows, in over 300 images, what the author and his wife saw on a ten-day trip and how they reacted. They followed the popular route from Beijing to Xi'an, the three gorges of the Yangtze River, and finally Shanghai. It's not a sugar-coated account: It shows not only the familiar sites, like the Forbidden City in Beijing or the terracotta warriors in Xi'an, but also the landscapes and people they saw along the way, warts and all (with the warts few and far between).

Given the author's background, there is a natural emphasis on architecture. But this is not an exclusive focus. The land and the people are equally fascinating and depicted throughout the book. China is undergoing a rapid transformation from a rural to a more urban society, and how this transformation makes itself felt is a recurring theme of the book.