Guidebook Researchers

[roddy]

I've been asked to post this on here. Contact details are at the bottom for anyone interested.

Roddy

At the last moment two experienced China guide researchers have turned out to be too busy to contribute to a new China guide for a major UK publisher. Most of the gaps have been filled using local freelance writers, but there are a few towns scattered across China for which coverage is still needed. The work is not arduous, requiring the completion of a brief questionnaire on practical matters, and a 40-word review which needs to be concise and to the point, rather than of literary merit, not least since it will in most cases be edited and cut.

The reviews needed are of the top two or three hotels and restaurants, probably beyond the average teacher's experience, so information picked up on recent holiday trips is not likely to be of use, and this work mostly suits residents who can do a little research with no overhead.

Those about to take trips during the October holiday and who are willing to give up a little time for research might also be able to make contributions for the towns they are visiting.

Material is needed for Inner Mongolia (Hohhot only), Shanxi, Shaanxi (Yan'an only), Hunan, Yunnan, Anhui (Jiuhua Shan only), and Guizhou. Those neither resident in nor planning to travel very soon in these areas need not apply.

Contributors should have been in China at least a few months, and should have a modest ability in Mandarin--enough to ask simple questions in hotels and restaurants, get the gist of menus, and provide the names of establishments in Chinese characters. Previous experience of writing for publication would be a plus.

Pay for such brief contributions to a book must needs by modest, and depends upon the number of reviews undertaken. Material must be filed no later than mid-October; earlier would be preferable.

Please write as soon as possible with brief details of residence, language ability, and destinations to be covered (if different from place of residence) to pnhpublic (at) shaw (dot) ca, constituted as an email address in the usual way.

Peter Neville-Hadley

www.neville-hadley.com