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One's Company: A Journey to China in 1933
Catching all the fascination and humour of travel in out-of-the-way places, One's Company is Peter Fleming's account of his journey through Russia and Manchuria to China when he was Special Correspondent to The Times in the 1930s. Fleming spent seven months with the 'object of investigating the Communist situation in South China' at a time when, as far as he knew, 'no previous journey had been made to the anti-communist front by a foreigner', and on its publication in 1934, One's Company won widespread critical acclaim. Packed with classic incidents - brake-failure on the Trans-Siberian Express, the Eton Boating Song singing lesson in Manchuria - One's Company was among the forerunners of a whole new approach to travel writing.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
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About the author
Peter Fleming
34 books49 followersAdventurer and travel writer. A brother of James Bond author Ian Fleming, he married actress Celia Johnson in 1935 and worked on military deception operations in World War II. He was a grandson of the Scottish financier Robert Fleming, who founded the Scottish American Investment Trust and the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 14, 2018
This is Peter Fleming's, the brother of Ian Fleming's, account of his seven months of travel through Russia and Manchuria to China in 1933. In China he traveled to the anti-communist front, claiming to be the first foreigner to have done this. He was employed as a Special Correspondent to The Times in London. He did not speak Chinese and no accompanying interpreter traveled with him, although for portions of the trip he met up with others who helped interpret.
He crosses Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, but very little mention is made of the train ride, other than criticizing the porters, the food and fellow travelers. I found his manner pretentious, opinionated, pompous, arrogant and scornful of others. He holds discriminatory racial and religious views and criticizes other nationalities. His manner annoyed me from the start. As the travels progressed into Manchuria and China, there is less of this, but then he draws himself as a star comedian, juggling between flippancy and irony. His jokes failed to make me laugh. His “comic scenes” were long, drawn out and boring. I found the prose wordy.
His travels in Manchuria were interesting. Life out in the countryside after Japanese occupation is well drawn. One gets a feel for the atmosphere.
His travels in China are drawn to excite, but very little happens and little of importance is said. All information of political content is gathered into one short chapter at the beginning of this part of his journey. He had a very short meeting with Chiang Kai-Shek; he is given permission to approach the front between the Communists and the Nationalists. He is impressed by the presence of the man, his lack of ostentation.
The book is light, both in tone and in content. There is so much missing. He says little about any of the larger cities he stayed in.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by David Shaw-Parker. It is read clearly and at a good speed. The author’s humorous lines are captured, if the author’s humor should happen to appeal to you. I have given the narration four stars.
I must remind you that a book I give two stars is one I consider OK.
He crosses Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, but very little mention is made of the train ride, other than criticizing the porters, the food and fellow travelers. I found his manner pretentious, opinionated, pompous, arrogant and scornful of others. He holds discriminatory racial and religious views and criticizes other nationalities. His manner annoyed me from the start. As the travels progressed into Manchuria and China, there is less of this, but then he draws himself as a star comedian, juggling between flippancy and irony. His jokes failed to make me laugh. His “comic scenes” were long, drawn out and boring. I found the prose wordy.
His travels in Manchuria were interesting. Life out in the countryside after Japanese occupation is well drawn. One gets a feel for the atmosphere.
His travels in China are drawn to excite, but very little happens and little of importance is said. All information of political content is gathered into one short chapter at the beginning of this part of his journey. He had a very short meeting with Chiang Kai-Shek; he is given permission to approach the front between the Communists and the Nationalists. He is impressed by the presence of the man, his lack of ostentation.
The book is light, both in tone and in content. There is so much missing. He says little about any of the larger cities he stayed in.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by David Shaw-Parker. It is read clearly and at a good speed. The author’s humorous lines are captured, if the author’s humor should happen to appeal to you. I have given the narration four stars.
I must remind you that a book I give two stars is one I consider OK.
March 25, 2009
In the 1930s, it was apparently the done thing for a privileged young Englishman to go off to some unspeakable country for a year or so, then come home and write a minor masterpiece about his experiences. Just off the top of my head I can think of Robert Byron in Persia, Fitzroy MacLean in the USSR and Evelyn Waugh wherever it was tropical and shitty.
Peter Fleming is very much in the tradition, meaning he’s ironic, slightly scornful and rarely dull. The conventions of this particular sub-genre also demand a certain authorial persona, and Fleming nails it, passing himself off as the standard plucky British amateur on a lark in war-torn China. To give you a taste of his fine, flippant style, here he is describing the aftermath of a train derailment he survived in Siberia:
...The five sleeping cars, headed by my own, were disposed in attitudes which became less and less grotesque until you got to the last, which had remained, primly, on the rails. Fifty yards down the line the engine, which had parted company with the train, was dug in, snorting, on top of the embankment. It had a truculent and naughty look; it was defiantly conscious of indiscretion.
See, now that’s just good writing. ‘Primly’ is an inspired choice in itself, but then to personify the engine as a petulant child – that’s something like genius.
I don’t want to oversell One’s Company. It’s not an important book in the grand scheme of things; maybe it’s not even an important book about China. But at 75 years of age, it’s still smart, funny and charming as hell. We should all be so lucky.
Peter Fleming is very much in the tradition, meaning he’s ironic, slightly scornful and rarely dull. The conventions of this particular sub-genre also demand a certain authorial persona, and Fleming nails it, passing himself off as the standard plucky British amateur on a lark in war-torn China. To give you a taste of his fine, flippant style, here he is describing the aftermath of a train derailment he survived in Siberia:
...The five sleeping cars, headed by my own, were disposed in attitudes which became less and less grotesque until you got to the last, which had remained, primly, on the rails. Fifty yards down the line the engine, which had parted company with the train, was dug in, snorting, on top of the embankment. It had a truculent and naughty look; it was defiantly conscious of indiscretion.
See, now that’s just good writing. ‘Primly’ is an inspired choice in itself, but then to personify the engine as a petulant child – that’s something like genius.
I don’t want to oversell One’s Company. It’s not an important book in the grand scheme of things; maybe it’s not even an important book about China. But at 75 years of age, it’s still smart, funny and charming as hell. We should all be so lucky.
October 25, 2018
So I am really disappointed that I didn't enjoy this book. There was no reason I shouldn't have liked this - it ticks all the boxes for me - travel, unusual location for the time - 1930's, varied travel methods, apparently articulate and witty author...
And I am not sure what is was,(or wasn't), but I just didn't get on with the book. I disliked the writing style, which I found pretentious (quoting french phrases at me always pisses me off, as I am shite at languages, and yes, I agree there were only a couple), it was overly wordy, and it just didn't hold my attention. So I battled through it, but just didn't enjoy the battle.
So, this goes back in the shelf, and I will read it again one day.
And I am not sure what is was,(or wasn't), but I just didn't get on with the book. I disliked the writing style, which I found pretentious (quoting french phrases at me always pisses me off, as I am shite at languages, and yes, I agree there were only a couple), it was overly wordy, and it just didn't hold my attention. So I battled through it, but just didn't enjoy the battle.
So, this goes back in the shelf, and I will read it again one day.
March 2, 2022
A year before the experiences he documents in One's Company Peter Fleming introduced himself into the literary scene with his classic Brazilian Adventure, which details his exploration of the Brazilian jungle on an expedition in search of disappeared British adventurer, Percy Fawcett. It's hard to imagine a sequel that could achieve the same sense of wonder, excitement, and giddiness for unexplored lands that Adventure gives the reader. And sure enough, One's Company doesn't manage it. But it almost does. And it, too, deserves a sacred place on every shelf devoted to travel fiction as well as firsthand journalism about the comings and goings on in 1930s China.
Fleming divides his book into two parts. The first part includes a sort of lengthy introduction that traces the author's journey across the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Fleming has little respect for Russia or Russians. He doubts their efficiency, capability, or devotion to productivity. No wonder he isn't surprised when his train derails due to "brake failure," although fortunately nobody is killed. Fleming makes it safe and sound to his destination in Manchuria--or as it was known after the Japanese invasion following the Mukden Incident, Manchukuo. While there he interviews the deposed Chinese emperor, Pu Yi, put on the throne of Manchukuo as a puppet ruler by the Japanese. It is not a productive interview. But the rest of the time in Manchuria apparently was. Fleming comes away impressed by and sympathetic towards the Japanese, seeing them as a relatively benign force of modernization for China. If nothing else, they will rid the area of Chinese bandits and lay the groundwork for social advancement in the region.
Part II focuses on the south of China and Fleming's trip to the frontlines of the Nationalist forces fighting against the Communists. He never meets any Communists--at least that he is aware of, yet once again puts some degree of faith or hope that the Nationalists and Chiang Kai-shek will eventually manage to pacify the region and root out the Communists in the next five years or so. This, despite the corruption of many Nationalist generals and the poor state of many Nationalist armies. One major revelation is the interview Fleming pulls off with Chiang, coming because of the intervention of Madame Chiang. Fleming finds him impressive and stalwart, expecting good things from him. The other insight One's Company provides is the seemingly ever present role of Christian missionaries. Fleming also sympathizes with most of them, but his descriptions of their actions nevertheless often prove disquieting. They're willing to separate themselves not only from the people they desire to convert but from competing denominations and Christian branches of belief. Thing are not at the level of hypocrisy and patronization that say Maugham describes in his travels through China. But if you pull aside the curtains and take a peek into the interiors of things and the descriptions of how foreigners have essentially made China theirs, with only secondary thought given to the Chinese themselves, you can see how current day Chinese resentments of the West are justified.
The Coda or afterwards of the book details another train ride. This time, it comes after Fleming has crossed the Pacific from first China and then Japan and made his way to Seattle. For a few pages, he describes an unsettling journey across the United States. In particular, he finds distress among the magazines he is left to read. But it's all well and good at the end. At least his American train does not derail before the end of the trip.
Fleming divides his book into two parts. The first part includes a sort of lengthy introduction that traces the author's journey across the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Fleming has little respect for Russia or Russians. He doubts their efficiency, capability, or devotion to productivity. No wonder he isn't surprised when his train derails due to "brake failure," although fortunately nobody is killed. Fleming makes it safe and sound to his destination in Manchuria--or as it was known after the Japanese invasion following the Mukden Incident, Manchukuo. While there he interviews the deposed Chinese emperor, Pu Yi, put on the throne of Manchukuo as a puppet ruler by the Japanese. It is not a productive interview. But the rest of the time in Manchuria apparently was. Fleming comes away impressed by and sympathetic towards the Japanese, seeing them as a relatively benign force of modernization for China. If nothing else, they will rid the area of Chinese bandits and lay the groundwork for social advancement in the region.
Part II focuses on the south of China and Fleming's trip to the frontlines of the Nationalist forces fighting against the Communists. He never meets any Communists--at least that he is aware of, yet once again puts some degree of faith or hope that the Nationalists and Chiang Kai-shek will eventually manage to pacify the region and root out the Communists in the next five years or so. This, despite the corruption of many Nationalist generals and the poor state of many Nationalist armies. One major revelation is the interview Fleming pulls off with Chiang, coming because of the intervention of Madame Chiang. Fleming finds him impressive and stalwart, expecting good things from him. The other insight One's Company provides is the seemingly ever present role of Christian missionaries. Fleming also sympathizes with most of them, but his descriptions of their actions nevertheless often prove disquieting. They're willing to separate themselves not only from the people they desire to convert but from competing denominations and Christian branches of belief. Thing are not at the level of hypocrisy and patronization that say Maugham describes in his travels through China. But if you pull aside the curtains and take a peek into the interiors of things and the descriptions of how foreigners have essentially made China theirs, with only secondary thought given to the Chinese themselves, you can see how current day Chinese resentments of the West are justified.
The Coda or afterwards of the book details another train ride. This time, it comes after Fleming has crossed the Pacific from first China and then Japan and made his way to Seattle. For a few pages, he describes an unsettling journey across the United States. In particular, he finds distress among the magazines he is left to read. But it's all well and good at the end. At least his American train does not derail before the end of the trip.
January 18, 2017
Питер Флеминг, на всякий случай, — старший брат Иэна и некогда был гораздо известнее автора Джеймза Бонда, потому что много ездил по миру и вполне потешно об этом писал. За потешность эту его и упрекали — мол, это все Берти Вустер. Флеминг, будучи «спецкором» английских газет этого, собственно, особо и не скрывал: на этой (его второй после травелога по Бразилии) книжке имеется предуведомление — автор призывает читателя не забывать, что автору 26 лет и он не владеет ни единым языком, кроме родного. И при этом едет в 1933 году по СССР, Маньчжурии и «красному» Китаю. И рассказывает, как ему это удается (удача его вполне тупа, преимущественно: ну что сказать, то и дело пожимает плечами он, — повезло). Ну и задача его — описать все так, чтобы это было «можно читать» (в понятиях журналистики 30-х годов, само собой).
Однако в этой поверхностности английского фантика, которого носит по бурным водам гражданской войны в Китае, — бездна обаяния и, как ни странно, довольно много верных и точных наблюдений. Жаль, что до Владивостока не доехал, конечно, хотя вполне понятно, что он бы мог написать о родном городе (описал же он Москву, и довольно смешно). Потому что Азия — она всегда и везде Азия: черточки узнаются до сих пор и они универсальны — что Мукден, что Маньчули, что Владивосток — все это одна «дальневосточная атлантида». Хайлайт, конечно, — японская карательная экспедиция против хунхузов, нелепая и безуспешная. Взгляд на известную нам по другим источникам реальность — но с другой стороны. В общем, крайне рекомендуется.
Однако в этой поверхностности английского фантика, которого носит по бурным водам гражданской войны в Китае, — бездна обаяния и, как ни странно, довольно много верных и точных наблюдений. Жаль, что до Владивостока не доехал, конечно, хотя вполне понятно, что он бы мог написать о родном городе (описал же он Москву, и довольно смешно). Потому что Азия — она всегда и везде Азия: черточки узнаются до сих пор и они универсальны — что Мукден, что Маньчули, что Владивосток — все это одна «дальневосточная атлантида». Хайлайт, конечно, — японская карательная экспедиция против хунхузов, нелепая и безуспешная. Взгляд на известную нам по другим источникам реальность — но с другой стороны. В общем, крайне рекомендуется.
August 23, 2023
I listened to the audiobook version and the narrator was brilliant! He really managed to bring the book to life and I felt like I was listening in to the author telling of their adventures directly rather than someone reading words off of a page. The book content itself was interesting, not so much in what the author had to say of their travels but rather in what they had to say about their travels showed about them. Fleming was very disdainful of pretty much anywhere that wasn’t England and definitely saw himself as being far superior to everyone he met. He gave the impression of not really enjoying the whole trip and it being more of a chore with the occasional adventure which still wasn’t quite the sort he would have preferred. I would have liked to have known though how much of this attitude he actually felt and how much of it might have been applied to his writing as a sort of character for his intended readership. Not a book I will return to or that stands out as very memorable but I’m glad I’ve read it nevertheless.
October 25, 2018
So I am really disappointed that I didn't enjoy this book. There was no reason I shouldn't have liked this - it ticks all the boxes for me - travel, unusual location for the time - 1930's, varied travel methods, apparently articulate and witty author...
And I am not sure what is was,(or wasn't), but I just didn't get on with the book. I disliked the writing style, which I found pretentious (quoting french phrases at me always pisses me off, as I am shite at languages, and yes, I agree there were only a couple), it was overly wordy, and it just didn't hold my attention. So I battled through it, but just didn't enjoy the battle.
So, this goes back in the shelf, and I will read it again one day.
And I am not sure what is was,(or wasn't), but I just didn't get on with the book. I disliked the writing style, which I found pretentious (quoting french phrases at me always pisses me off, as I am shite at languages, and yes, I agree there were only a couple), it was overly wordy, and it just didn't hold my attention. So I battled through it, but just didn't enjoy the battle.
So, this goes back in the shelf, and I will read it again one day.
February 22, 2022
The lesser known and only slightly less-satisfying prequel to Fleming's uber-classic News From Tartary. Like all of Fleming's travel books, the only thing to hate is that he wrote them all when he was in his mid-20's. More than anyone else I can think of, Peter Fleming makes me feel like my life has been a complete failure...
June 4, 2013
Humorously written, in an upper-class style without being too pompous. The two brief interviews, with Pu Yi and Chiang Kai Shek, are of historical interest, as is his description of the Japanese army slightly dissipating in Manchuria.
January 25, 2023
I greatly enjoyed this enjoyable romp. Fleming is witty, forthright, and wears his robust opinions on his sleeve. This may not be to everybody’s taste (in Moscow, he observes “grubby Jews in Rolls Royces”). And it is good journalism rather than great literature. But it is also a fascinating insight into an important time and place which few Westerners saw.
Fleming accompanied Japanese troops and their Manchukuo allies on an anti “bandit” operation, and also goes on operations with the Nationalist Chinese. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t see much action (and one senses his disappointment), but he still writes well about the experience. There are also some good photographs which I had never seen before.
His sympathies were clearly with the Chinese Nationalists and he manages to obtain an interview with Chiang Kai Shek in which he gives a much more positive assessment of the Chinese leader than most other Westerners. But he is alive to the corruption and inadequacy of the Chinese military, when he encounters it, and he is fair minded: he notes that the Japanese stabilised the currency in Manchuria, “formerly flooded with worthless paper currency by the warlords.”
Sometimes he bumps into people he knows in the unlikeliest of places, including “One Arm” Sutton, “the only Old Etonian who is a Chinese general.” As an Old Etonian himself, Fleming clearly possessed the kind of bumptious self confidence that got him into and out of some extraordinary situations. On the Trans Siberian Express he meets an earnest young Bolshevik on the way to set up a Communist Theatre Group in Mongolia, who wants to learn some English songs suitable for the stage. So Fleming teaches him the Eton Boating Song. Was this perhaps the most lasting legacy of Fleming’s expedition? It amuses him (and us) to think so.
Fleming accompanied Japanese troops and their Manchukuo allies on an anti “bandit” operation, and also goes on operations with the Nationalist Chinese. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t see much action (and one senses his disappointment), but he still writes well about the experience. There are also some good photographs which I had never seen before.
His sympathies were clearly with the Chinese Nationalists and he manages to obtain an interview with Chiang Kai Shek in which he gives a much more positive assessment of the Chinese leader than most other Westerners. But he is alive to the corruption and inadequacy of the Chinese military, when he encounters it, and he is fair minded: he notes that the Japanese stabilised the currency in Manchuria, “formerly flooded with worthless paper currency by the warlords.”
Sometimes he bumps into people he knows in the unlikeliest of places, including “One Arm” Sutton, “the only Old Etonian who is a Chinese general.” As an Old Etonian himself, Fleming clearly possessed the kind of bumptious self confidence that got him into and out of some extraordinary situations. On the Trans Siberian Express he meets an earnest young Bolshevik on the way to set up a Communist Theatre Group in Mongolia, who wants to learn some English songs suitable for the stage. So Fleming teaches him the Eton Boating Song. Was this perhaps the most lasting legacy of Fleming’s expedition? It amuses him (and us) to think so.
June 3, 2019
Such an interesting read given how much China has changed from when the author travelled there in 1933. Full of self depreciating British humor and small details of the countryside and regional Chinese life. Also very interesting to read his comments on the Japanese and how civilized they seemed in their occupation of Manchuria. All in all a fascinating peep into the past. (Purchased secondhand at Skoob Books, London.)
September 18, 2007
Well worth re-reading as the China-will-conquer-all hysteria rises to fever pitch.
July 21, 2020
I was given a copy of this book that was sold in 1983 and gave the whole book a vintage feeling. My guy friend recommended me this book and gave it to me so naturally, I read it. I have to say it isn't one of my favourite books and I don't think I will be rereading it. However, I do have to give credit to Fleming for constructing a novel that illustrates his journey through interesting lexical choices and literary devices. The metaphors, paradoxes and language used to describe Fleming's passage I believe is what makes the book entertaining to read. However, as I have said I will not be rereading "One's Company".
February 21, 2022
I've read mainly his trips in Manchuria, and indeed enjoyed his vivid descriptions of the scenes and sarcasm most of the time. However, he was not a well-prepared traveller. Therefore, most of his journeys lacked an in-depth exploration on his own, with a rather vague intention to dig any local stories behind the words of his guides.
July 16, 2020
I very much enjoy reading travel books particularly those by Peter Fleming. Although not as adventurous as the tales told in Brazillian Adventure or Tales from Tartary, this is an interesting view of China before communism.
December 11, 2017
Fleming is the consummate travel writer, able to present a series of unusual experiences as if they were commonplace whilst sketching the ordinary, everyday as if it were miraculous.
February 9, 2019
Very brave self-deprecating man. Worth comparing thhis with the reports he was filing to the Times at the same time.
April 17, 2025
The book is a look into 1930's China, with Japanese Manchuria and a small Communist controlled area. This makes it interesting. The book is however at points a bit dry. Pretty Good.
June 17, 2025
Great observations traveling from Moscow to China. The last chapters were very moving and relatable.
April 9, 2012
I had no idea that Ian Fleming had a younger brother. Peter Fleming writes of his travels to Manchuria and China in 1933 with such wit that I found myself laughing out loud at times. And the funniest passages are reserved for the Brits and other non-Chinese he meets along the way. The book is so unique that it's still in print. He runs into a young Mao, and Chiang Kai Shek, but his observation of daily life among bandits and Communists is what makes the book memorable. If you like travel, and you enjoy a PG Wodehouse sensibility, you'll love this book.
January 5, 2017
A classic travel tale, as Fleming crosses Russia and Manchuria for China in 1933. Some interesting observations in the years leading up to WWII, as well as before the communists took over China.
On a side note: I found Fleming's observations about the lost explorer Colonel Fawcett and his "strange immortality" fascinating. At that time, Fawcett had been "lost" for only 8 years, yet here we are 92 years later, with another film about Fawcett on the horizon.
On a side note: I found Fleming's observations about the lost explorer Colonel Fawcett and his "strange immortality" fascinating. At that time, Fawcett had been "lost" for only 8 years, yet here we are 92 years later, with another film about Fawcett on the horizon.
June 24, 2014
loved it. cheeky and insightful and carefully observed. and i laughed out loud.
January 4, 2017
David Shaw-Parker is a masterful narrator. This is an intriguing story and a fascinating time. I sometimes had a hard time following it. I should have had my atlas by my side.
June 2, 2024
Beautifully written - irreverent and witty. Obviously a product of its time but that’s interesting in and of itself.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews