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China, A Geographical Survey. By T. R. Tregear. [Sevenoaks: Hodder and Stoughton, 1980. Hardcover £13–95, Paperback £7–95.]

China, A Geographical Survey is newly published, but it is not a new book. It is essentially a reprint within one cover of materials from the author's Geography of China of 1965 (based on material mainly from before 1959) and Economic Geography of China of 1970 (with virtually no materials after 1965). The book has all the faults of such an origin. The whole Maoist decade from 1966 to 1976 has slipped by almost without notice; Dazhai gets only one passing mention. Only occasional passages of Maoist political rationalization mark the waxing of the Cultural Revolution; and of course these now seem as old fashioned as the pre-Maoist detail. There is no recent material at all, and no discussion of current trends of any kind; " contemporary " ends about 1965. Material which dates from 1965 or earlier (like that in the chapters on economic geography, taken from the 1970 book) is now nearly 20 years old; and much of the material on physical and historical geography, taken from the 1965 book, is much older. Meanwhile important changes have been taking place on the ground in China, in Chinese interpretations of the community's experience, and in western knowledge and understanding of China; but Tregear makes no claim to knowledge or understanding of these, whether in detail or in outlook. Thus, on the unhappy Sanmen enterprise, Tregear's material is taken directly from the 1970 book which relied heavily on the Plan of 1955. On the historical foundations of the economy, taken mainly from the same original, there is no sign of Perkins's work, or Elvin's. On industrial development, also mainly from the same book, there is little or nothing from the U.S. Congress volumes. On Hong Kong, industry takes a back seat in an account dotted with bits of 1970s detail but based as to fundamentals on the 1950s. The whole book is essentially a reprint of material much of which was sound in its time (though always disappointingly pedestrian), but which has reached old age and is now approaching senility. It is in no sense a reinterpretation. Even so, referencing is often poor, especially for the maps; and some of the output tables are useless, if not meaningless. In the tables, jin, catties and tan jostle uneasily without explanation. Most of the photographs are more recent than the text, and the book is attractively presented. But the reviewer who is a geographer is bound to regret this republication of obsolete, slipshod and uncritical work under the name of geography.