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Rob_Hugo@PortNWI am reading a book titled Colors of the Mountain that is all about the life of Chinese people during the Mao takeover of the 1940's. The book is writen by a man sho was a child during the revolution. He rites about the troubles faced by his family because they were landlords before the takeover. It is a great book... I will keep you posted on how it turns our.
Please let me know if you have read any good books.
AnonymousIf you would like to read memoirs about living through the Mao era from a female point of view, a couple of good titles are "Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China" by Jung Chang and "Red Azalea" by Anchee Min.
"Big Breasts and Wide Hips" by the acclaimed writer Mo Yan is a fictional saga detailing a single family's struggles throughout 20th century China.
"A Thousand Years of Good Prayers: Stories" is an amazing collection of short stories set in the post-Mao period by Yiyun Li, who grew up in China and studied at the Iowa Writer's Workshop.
I'm sure that Aileen can make many more good recommendations. Anyone else have additional suggestions?
AnonymousI personally loved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See. It describes a friendship between two girls (and eventually women) in the 19th century. It includes descriptions of the practice of foot binding in great detail.
Follow this link
http://www.lisasee.com/snowflower.htm
AnonymousMichael,
Try this and tell me what you think (although it is going on my "To Read" pile):
Iron and Silk by author Mark Salzman. I just finished reading another book by Mark Salzman (also which I recommend, True Notebooks). Salzman is a writer who taught English in Changsha, China, in 1982. He writes of his experiences, but from what I gather, the book is very well written, not dated, and very readable, even for teens. He taught at Hunan Medical College and had majored in Chinese literature at Yale. Supposedly, "each fascinating episode [his personal encounters] illuminates the way to a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and character." Somehow, I think it will be a good read.
Aileen Willoughby
AnonymousWild Swans is the next book I had planned on reading, so I appreciate the recommendation! Thanks!
AnonymousI love historical fiction- though normally, I read European/American history. However, it's time for a change and I have just began a book by Pearl S. Buck- Imperial Woman- the Last Empress of China. It is really fascinating. I know very little about China and this is giving me a taste of history along with a great story. I think I will continue through all of Pearl Buck's novels.
AnonymousI recently read the novel, "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" by Dae Sijie. The novel is set in the 1970's and focuses on two young men sent to re-education. They are sent to a rural village to work, and they strangely get exposed to illegal Western literature.
The novel gives an interesting glimpse of this era and the strange rules that were in place. We talked this week about the generation that missed out on an education in China, and the main characters fall into that group, but they were so hungry for formal education that any little piece of learning is eaten up by them.
AnonymousIron and Silk by author Mark Salzman, I will put it on my list. If you have any good books on more contimperary books I would love to heer about them.
I have recently read Double Luck, have you read it?
AnonymousUpdate to the book Colors of the Mountain .
There is no better topic that China during the post revolution era. The time in which Mao ruled China is very fascinating. The ability to survive and the will of humans is stronger than given credit for. In this book the ability to overcome being a former land lord is fascinating. After reading our readings and visiting China I love reading stories of people who have the will to thrive under any circumstances.
AnonymousI read the book Miranda recommended: Wild Swans. It is amazing. It is the story of 3 women (of 3 different generations) living under Communism. It starts out with the grandma who is sold as a prostitute. She hates life and escapes with her child. She marries a wealthy doctor. Her daughter, however, marries a communist who puts the party before her. She goes on a march while pregnant and has a miscarriage. She later has a daughter (the author). She grew up under perhaps the most repressive communism, and starts to doubt the system. I highly recommend this book.
AnonymousI borrowed a book entitled The Great Wall Of China, by Leonard Everett Fisher to read to my 3rd grade class. They all know I am taking this course so one day when they asked me what I was learning I asked them what they knew about China. Almost all of them knew about the Great Wall but none knew why it was built. This was a nice way to present the information about why and how it was built.
AnonymousI read John Pomfret's Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China last year and I think about it often. Pomfret's compelling story involves his 1981 experience at Nanjing University and then he follows the lives of five classmates from the 1960's to present time. Pomfret returns to China several times over the next two decades as a journalist and is an eye witness to the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising. I thoroughly enjoyed Pomfret's insider/outsider view of old and new China and following his classmate's lives was interesting. I recommend this book, even to my high school students.
AnonymousThanks for the recommendation of Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. I have gone on to recommend this book to many of my avid reader friends. I also had my book club read it, and while it was long, they thanked me afterwards, because it was so informative and eye-opening. This book is about the author's personal experiences of growing up during the Cultural Revolution, her mother's and father's lives as local officials in the early communist years and their persecution during the Cultural Revolution, and her grandmother's life as a warlord's concubine then doctor's wife. The author puts so much detail into it (over 500 pages, including lots of details of the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution) that you feel as if you've gone through each experience with her. The photos of her family were also helpful. I also showed my book club portions of the movie To Live, as it takes place in the same era. I recommend this to anyone who still has questions about the 20th century in China.
AnonymousOn Sunday, April 6, the Daily Breeze Business book review section listed three books that address the role of China in a global economy. The reviewer states the obvious; that China represents a huge market with relatively cheap sources of labor and manufacturing. One side of the argument states that it's emergence as a force in international trade serves to "flatten" the world by breaking down international barriers. The other side responds that this is a highly naive argument and contrary to the truth. There are three books recommended that examine trade with the East from these different perspectives.
1. Text "Operation China: From Strategy to Execution." by Jimmy Hexter and Jonathan Woetzel. Harvard Business School Press.
Hexter and Woetzel are partners in a management consulting firm. The emphasis of their book is on doing business with China. The popular notion that one must have a local partner or bribe a member of the Chinese government to do business is dispelled by the authors, althought they do encourage partnering with local entities. The book is described as cheerful, upbeat and with minimal focus on potential difficulties as free speech or human rights.
2. "Biullions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India are Reshaping their Futures and Yours" by Tarun Khanna. Harvard Business School Press.
Khana sees India and China as a complementary pair, with each one successful in areas in which the other may be deficient. The author suggests that viewing the two countries as one territory is not an entirely bad idea.
3. "In the Jaws of the Dragon: America's Fate in the Coming Era of Chinese Hegemony" by Eamonn Fingleton. St. Martin's Press.
Fingleton maintains we are playing right into China's long-term strategy and that the end result will impact our economy; leaving us with a long-term financial bill. He refers to the $500 billion (and growing) debt they hold over the United States and the fact that the value of our dollar has dramatically diminished. If events play out the way Fingleton expects them to, perhaps the best business advice we can offer the next generation of Americans is to become proficient in a variety of Chinese dialects.
AnonymousDouble Luck: Yes, we have a copy in the PVHS library, too.