“The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom” by John Pomfret

A rare non-fiction post on The Fiction Addiction!

I was interested in The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom, by John Pomfret, because I’d really enjoyed Chinese Lessons, his narrative nonfiction look at the stories of five classmates and how their lives show greater changes in Chinese life.

The “beautiful country” of the title is Mei Guo, the Mandarin name for the USA, and the “middle kingdom” is Zhong Guo, the traditional Mandarin name for China. This book explores the complicated relationship between China and the United States, and uses Pomfret’s years in China to deepen this analysis. I’d already read some of his work about China and Chinese life in Chinese Lessons. This one is a bit drier, but still has that understanding from an American living in China for years.

The book offers insight and explanation of the history of the US-China relationship. This gives context to modern issues. Pomfret traces the two countries’ relationship back to the 18th century, when American merchants, missionaries. and explorers first began to engage with China. This was interesting to me because Yantai, where I first lived in China, had been one of the treaty ports, and also when I stayed in Shanghai, I visited the French Concession area. Looking at the historical relationships between China and the west, especially when China had closed borders, adds perspective to the current relationship. He also looks at how China saw America and Americans over the years. I liked this because it was informative about general trends without stereotyping.

Pomfret describes the US and China as nuanced societies, with a more complicated relationship than we usually hear in a headline (or tweet of a clickbait headline). It can be a little slow in places, because he explains carefully how he’s drawn his conclusions, but it’s worth it for the layered understanding in this book. This is a rare non-fiction book for me,  a very interesting and engaging read for anyone with an interest in China.