The Years That Were Fat: The Last of Old China
by: George N. Kates

Softcover. Cambridge MA, The M.I.T. Press, reprint, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 268 pages, b&w illustrations. Marco Polo was the first Westerner to describe the old capital of China in its grand design, and the early Jesuits were the first to appraise its architectural values. George Kates is one of the last Westerners to take its measure. After his seven leisurely, abundant years in Peking, by the end of which the Japanese had come to occupy it, the old China had finally disintegrated under the blows of warfare and social revolution.What Kates reveals cannot be found today. Kates describes the city with a special competence because he made it a particular object of scholarly research. He wormed out of the Imperial City itself every secret of its hidden courts and deserted harems; and in this book he brings to life again the people and the system that created it.