--- can you point out several things to describe the China that is better in this part than America? I think all the book is saying that China is badbut I think every country has their weak points, so I would like to find out that the foreigner 's ideas about China. I also think the foreign country shouldupload the information of new China instead of stoping in the old poor China. e.g.: Until now there are still lots of people ask me if we ride the horse to go toschool, or do we need to climb the mountain to go to school and so on... It really makes Chinese upset, and this book also make chinese embarrassed.

Do you think China could ever reach a point of peace between the government and the people?

The more and more choices the people of China get, like being able to move to anywhere in China and to be able to chose a job when they are older, will they ultimately want to select there government leaders?

(For students who have not read his book) 

1.  What are the most significant changes have you seen in China since your first visit in the late 1980s?

2.  What are the most important or interesting changes that have taken place in China since your road trip in 2005?  Why are they important? Where do you see China going in the next five to seven years?

3.  Though some Chinese are critical of their own government and its policies, it is difficult for them not to be offended when this criticism comes from the outside---from other governments and their people.  In fact, most of us get defensive when our country is criticized because we believe that our ways are best and we love our country and culture.  What advice do you have to help us (the future leaders of an interconnected, globalized world) avoid stereotyping and making unfair judgments of China, its people, and government?

4.  In your view, is the current form of government in China working?  What's the central government doing right?  What should it reform?

5.  Are local governments, which you often describe in the book as corrupt and ineffectual, doing anything right?  Have local governments learned anything from the central government's mistakes? 

6.  Why is it important for the future leaders of the world to learn more about China? 

What, if any, are the take-away life-lessons you learned during your travels in China?

How did the experience you write about change your life?

Do you still keep in touch with anyone you met on this trip?

Do you miss China?

Now, almost five years later, would you like to repeat this journey?  How do you think 2011 China Road would be different (for you personally, as well as the country itself)?

What explains the enormous economic gap between rich and poor?

How stable is China's political system?

Could you describe what your job as a Western correspondent in China involved? How well were you able to learn about all the complexities of China?

What do you think is the most important thing for China or the Chinese people to do at this point in history (for example, improve education, better environmental protection, more jobs, or what)?

How many 'states' are there in China?

Is Tibet part of China?

Would you elaborate on the following passage from the book:

"...if i seem a little confused about China it's because I am, and if you're not confused then you simply 
haven't been listening."  

What do you yourself not understand?  What piece of China present and past confuses you the most?

Does the average Chinese person feel that they are participants in the perceived notion that China will be the next great power?

Did you get the sense that money is moving out of the eastern cities and into the countryside, or is there still a significant economic divide between the two?  

How did the change in China's economy effect our economy here in the USA?

One of the things that surprised me most was the gap between the traditional role of girls in China - or at least my perception of it - and the lives that these girls were living once they left home. I was amazed at how young, disconnected from family, and extremely assertive they were.