Letters Back to Ancient China

A 10th-century Chinese mandarin travels forward in time, and writes letters home reporting on the strange land of 'Zha-ma-ni' in which he is surrounded by giants with big noses, and frightened by the iron carriages called 'mo-tao-kas'. We gradually realise that he is in present-day Munich, and the hapless voyager's encounters with modern life and love, make delightful reading.&quote; Scotland on SundayTwo million copies of the German edition have been sold which belies the claims that the Germans do not have a sense of humour and do not like satire.