At the center of China lies a corpse that nobody dares remove.

Passionate and provocative, Behind the Forbidden Door is both a uniquely intimate portrait of the 'liberalization' of China and a lively tour through an enigmatic and endlessly surprising land.
Tiziano Terzani was one of the first western journalists to be accredited after Deng Xiaoping opened China's doors and, taking a Chinese name and speaking the language, liver there for over four years. To break through the wall erected around foreigners in China, he sent his children to a Chinese school, travelled by train and bicycle and made friends among ordinary Chinese people.