Book excerpt: Peter Fleming was special correspondent for The Times in the 1930s, He was tasked with 'investigating the communist situation in south China', little did his bosses realise he would create a new type of travel writing. Travelling for seven months through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express to Manchuria and onwards to China. A book Full of humour and insightful social commentary about a part of the world few had travelled through in 1934. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.