First of all, I need to clarify that the book is written in Chinese with no English or French translation. The reason to pick this book is that it's not only easier for me, a Chinese native speaker, to read of course, but also the book provides an interesting view of Africa. China plays a special role to Africa. China has helped African countries with their railway road construction and other infrastructure construction. Last year, CNY became official currency in Zimbabwe. So I believe the Chinese view of African cities is valuable. This book is written by a retired official worked for Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, who worked in Africa from 1980s. He traveled to Cameroon, Guinea, Senegal and other countries during that time and visited a lot of tribes there. The book records a lot of vivid scenes of African culture, religion, legislation and urban issues, though without much overview. The book can be mainly divided into 4 sections in terms of countries he visited: Cameroon, Guinea, Senegal and Congo (DRC). The four countries all have their own features yet with one thing in common: The conflicts modern things and traditional ones. One of the most impressive points for me in this book is the interesting combination between government and tribes in 1980s. Cameroon at that time still had lots of tribes and legislation was a compromise of modern court and traditional chiefs. Both sides can be the judge but at the same time does not have the absolute right. Though things have changed overtime, it can still impress me by these interesting outcomes of the rapid changes of African societies. It’s the same for African cities. I only knew two forms of land right before, including state-owned like China and privately-owned like most western countries. However, the system in some places of Africa is quite ambiguous. It’s may contribute to the sprawl of cities in my opinion. In conclude, urban planning should not only think about nowadays and future, but also should look at the history of the city or even the country. The history may be not directly relevant to the technical things but should be really considered. Because during the rapid development of urbanization, infrastructures may change fast but social consciousness still lags. Especially in those small cities without much development, this may be more important. And this book is a good introduction of that.