Two Kinds of Time

Graham Peck (1914-1968) made his first trip to China in 1935 and served with the U.S. Office of War Information in China throughout the 1940s. His memoir, Two Kinds of Time, first published in 1950, is witty and eloquent in both its words and the drawings with which it is lovingly illustrated. Long out of print in its unabridged version, this engagingly written eye-witness narrative of China on the eve of revolution remains an important source of historical and political information. Robert A. Kapp's new Introduction analyzes the book's original contribution and highlights its relevance to issues in the twenty-first century world.

"What is missing in the most recent assessments of China's tectonic changes over the past half century is a baseline against which to measure the grand scale of its development. Two Kinds of Time by Graham Peck, written in lucid, descriptive prose by someone who has based his reportage on 'being there,' provides just such a baseline. In the most vivid way, Peck takes us back to Chiang Kai-shek's China during WWII, and by doing so, reminds us of the amazingly transformative odyssey this so-called "sick man of Asia's" has been on since." - Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, The Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society

"This unique and fascinating book tells how Graham Peck looked into the hearts of the Chinese of his day, from peasant to coolie to clerk, and understood what he saw as few Americans ever have. Today, rising China is immersed in a new kind of revolution. Understanding China is critical for our future - this book is a unique treasure-house of background for that understanding." - Sidney Rittenberg, longtime resident in the People's Republic of China, now professor of China Studies at Pacific Lutheran University

"Peck . . . viewed wartime China from the vantage point of the common man; his Two Kinds of Time is a rare and delightful work, filled with ironic humour and empathy for China's ordinary folk." - The Cambridge History of China, vol. 13: Republican China, 1912-1949, ed. John K. Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker