This was not Norton's first trip to China. He studied Chinese history as an undergraduate at Yale University and had visited his father, Edward M. Norton, who lived for a time in Kunming as the founding director of the country's nature conservancy program, which worked toward ­developing the first large regional ­conservation-management­ plan. His brother, Jim ­Norton, runs river trips down Chinese waterways each winter, which you'll read more about later. But what could compare to barnstorming through the country as a character out of a Maugham novel? Here's the journey Norton took from Shanghai farther into the mainland.

How much time did you spend in China? I was there about five months, from July through November of last year. We spent about six or seven weeks in Beijing and about three or four weeks in Shanghai, then the rest of the time out in northern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in that beautiful landscape you see in the film - the river valleys and limestone hills. I had been [to China] many times, but had never been to any of the big eastern cities and had not been to Guangxi. So, for the film, everywhere I went was new to me.

What was your route? Well, we went from Beijing to Shanghai to Guangxi - understand this is like flying from New York to Atlanta and then out to the Grand Canyon. I mean, these things are a long way from each other, but much as America is, they are very easily accessible.

Let's talk about Shanghai first. Tell me where you went, where you stayed, and what you saw. Try to imagine standing in the Hollywood Hills, looking out over the entire L.A. Basin and Orange County and having that whole spread have the vertical density of Midtown Manhattan. That's what Shanghai looks like. It is really staggering in size. It's somewhere north of 18 million people, and it is overwhelming in its scope. At the same time, it is very vibrant. It is strikingly modern in some ways, especially architecturally, and it's very cosmopolitan, in the sense that it has developed as the city of trade and commerce, and it has that energy. Some people say it's a Westernized energy, but I don't actually agree with that. I think it is a very Chinese energy, but it is very modern. In a lot of ways, I think calling things Western just because they are tall and glass is not right. Shanghai has very dynamic architecture, much more dynamic in some ways than what you are seeing in American cities. It is more cosmopolitan than Beijing, in the sense that you feel more of an international presence in the people. It has kind of quiet, tree-lined streets in the French Concession area, and the incredible markets that you associate with China, and big, modern downtown congestion. It kind of has it all. It has terrific food and probably the best museum in China, I think - the Shanghai Museum.