For our November book club, we’ll be reading “Travels Through Dali with a leg of ham” in preparation for our chat with the author, WildChina founder, Mei Zhang.

Yunnan, at the southernmost tip of China, is a cradle of cultural and culinary diversity. Many people know it as the origin of Shangri-la, but it is also home to the region of Dali, a place that has become synonymous with the province. If you go to Yunnan, you must go to Dali. The region is cherished for its unique food—famed ham, mushrooms varietals, cheese-making (a rarity in China), and rare herbs; temperate climate, surrounding rivers and mountains; ethnic diversity—bordering Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar it has been a cultural blotter; and overwhelming hospitality—many a traveler has settled in Dali having fallen in love with the Old Town.

Mei returns to her childhood home and journeys through the region, collecting personal stories and rare and authentic home recipes that bring to life the history, heritage, and changing landscape of Dali.

For those based in the US:

As an exclusive offering to registrants of this event, all book purchases will be signed by Mei.

*Please forward e-book purchase confirmation, including your address information, to kendra.tombolato@wildchina.com so we know to send you an exclusive signed copy!

For those based in China:

As an exclusive offering to registrants of this event, all book purchases will come with a hand-written post card from Mei, sent from her home in California to yours in China.

*Please forward e-book purchase confirmation, including your address information, to kendra.tombolato@wildchina.com so we know to send you an exclusive hand-written post card from Mei sent from the US!

For those based outside of US and China:

As an exclusive offering to registrants of this event, all e-book purchases (hardcopies of the book are not widely available outside the US) will come with a hand-written post card from Mei, sent from her home in California to yours wherever in the world you are.

*Please forward e-book purchase confirmation, including your address information, to kendra.tombolato@wildchina.com so we know to send you an exclusive hand-written post card from Mei sent from the US!

Speaker for Travels Through Dali with a leg of ham

Mei Zhang

Mei is a native of Yunnan province in southwest China. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and worked for McKinsey & Company until she found her true passion in sustainable travel. Mei is an Aspen Institute China Fellow and currently serves as a member of Harvard Business School’s Alumni Board. While serving as a consultant to The Nature Conservancy, Mei witnessed the push and pull between economic development and conservation of both nature and culture in Yunnan.

She strongly believed that there was a for-profit solution to this – providing sophisticated interpretation of Chinese culture and nature through experiential travel. This revolutionary concept led to the creation of WildChina in 2000.