5 comments about Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China.

1. Before leaving for my 2004-05 sojourn in China, I naturally sought to acquaint myself with the culture in which I was about to live and work. Of the various books I read (which ranged from Chinese history to essays from American expats to descriptions of "the Asian mind" as applied to Western business people), it turned out that this book was BY FAR the most helpful in my day-to-day interactions -- both social and business -- with my Chinese associates.
   
   Spanning the early 20th Century when author Chang's grandmother was given as a concubine to a warlord general, through mid-century when Chang's parents joyously risked their lives in the Communist takeover, to 1978 when Chang herself left China, WILD SWANS paints a vivid picture of the China of today. I found that the information in this book, told in first-person story form, gave me far more understanding of my Mainland Chinese colleagues than any journalistic writings ever did, or could have.
   
   Since China is already a major force in western economies (especially America's), and will only become more central to the global economy, I consider it useful to share the observation of my personal experience: Understanding the RECENT LIFE EXPERIENCES of a nation's citizens is even important than understanding its customs. The good news is that history--told well--is a fascinating read! And Jung Chang's story is hard to top.
   
   Doni Tamblyn is author of Laugh and Learn: 95 Ways to Use Humor for More Effective Teaching and Training and The Big Book of Humorous Training Games (Big Book of Business Games Series)



2. Nice review of History of China since world War II. Intersting way of telling story.



3. The story of this family is not usual. The grandmother was the mistress of a warlord, the mother was a communist revolutionist, and her daughter, the author of the book has escaped form China as a young girl. The thing I respect the most, that the author has only used personal experiences, and only written about things she has seen with her own eyes, or things which has happened with her family, and never used unchecked stories in her descriptions. She never tells a word in her story against the regime, even when she writes about the most shocking events in her family, but leave the reader to create his or her own opinion.



4. Some books are to be savored slowly and take me months to finish. Other books, like this one, are a delicious overindulgence of reading, the narrative sweep so compelling that I gobbled up all 505 in almost one fell swoop. Subtitled "Three Daughters of China", this 1991 autobiography is the story of 20th Century China itself. Here we meet three women, the grandmother and mother of the narrator, and the narrator Jung Chang herself, each experiencing the reality of China unique to her particular generation.
   
   Born in 1909, the grandmother lived with the physical pain of her childhood footbinding, was forced to become a concubine to a warlord, and suffered all the indignities shared by women of her generation. The mother was born in 1931, lived through the Japanese occupation of her Manchurian town and the war between Nationalist and Communist China. She became a true believer in Communism, and she and her husband often put the needs of the Communist party above their own. She bore five children, one of whom is the author of this book, who grew up watching her parents become victims of the Cultural Revolution and undergoing torture and imprisonment as the politics of the nation changed. Through hard work and luck and more changes in China, Jung Chang was one of the lucky ones and was able to go to a University in England in 1978.
   
   This book is more than the sum total of its parts however. It is the story of three women against the backdrop of history. I identified with each of them and was saddened and horrified at the details of their lives. In a funny way, while I was reading the book, I felt I was, myself, right there with them, going though the glories and misfortunes of China as it erupted in its dramatic changes. There was joy, there was pain, and there was avid patriotism. Especially though, there was a sense of family and honor that is very uniquely the Chinese. Sometimes I smiled but mostly I was saddened. And the fact that these stories were true made a tremendous impression upon me.
   
   I've read other books about China. If they were fiction, I could get a sense of China, but I only have a limited emotional attachment for fictional characters. I've also read books about travel, mostly written by westerners, and these books were interesting inasmuch as I could see myself as the traveler, the observer. I've also read non-fiction about footbinding which made me grit my teeth a bit but the practices didn't relate to any specific person. All of these books were good, I reviewed them and gave them good ratings, but, frankly, Wild Swans was different. Here were real people against a backdrop of history. The writing was excellent and filled with facts which gave a context to their lives. I was sorry the book ended and I wanted to read more. I wanted to know what happened to Jung Chang after 1978. Of course I went to the internet where I discovered that she has stayed in England, is married to a Brit, and has recently wrote a book with him entitled "Mao.". This is a perfect topic for her. She and her family lived through Mao's greatest glory and his greatest excesses. I even found a webcast in which she talks about the book. She's middle aged now and she has a British accent and I am ordering "Mao" from Amazon today.
   
   Read Wild Swans! You will come away with an understanding of China in a way not possible through the news stories. It's also impossible to put down. I give it one of my very highest recommendations



5. Irony, hypocrisy, suffering, famine, a multitude of tragedy, and a touch of insanity. No, it's not Desperate Housewives re-runs--it's Jung Chang's Wild Swans. The only thing missing is sex, and the reason why is of course a story in itself. If you're looking to kick-off your China reading experience with an essential novel, Wild Swans is for you. First published in Britain in 1991, the novel provides an eye-opening look at China's cultural history between 1900 and 1990 so truthful and thorough that censors have not yet approved it for publication in its original form in mainland China. That alone should make you want to pick up a copy.
   
   In seeking to ameliorate the past and to make sense of her life, Chang delves into her family history, providing a brutally honest portrait of three generations of women. What is truly amazing about Chang's family chronicles are the wealth of hardships Chinese women have had to endure.
   
   The book begins in the early 1900s, with her grandmother's (Yu Fang's) marriage at age 15 to a warlord general. She battled bound feet, loneliness, and the challenges of managing her reputation against conniving servants while isolated in a gilded prison awaiting a husband who might show up for only a few days or a week, once in six years. Once she was required to reside with the general's wife and other concubines, her and her daughter's--Bao Qin's--fates were in the hands of the first wife. Yu Fang had to struggle through the pecking order of the household's women. The details of the customs and rituals of well-to-do lives are quite interesting. Her second marriage was as the second wife of a well-regarded Manchu doctor. He re-names Bao Qin as De Hong, meaning wild swan of virtue.
   
   De Hong, Chang's mother, grew up during the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, during the 1930s and 1940s. She refused to marry a man she did not love and could not respect, so she left home to study at a teacher's college, where she developed communist sympathies. In stark contrast to the pomp and circumstance of her mother's arranged marriage, De Hong had to apply to the party for approval to marry a fellow communist in a binding that didn't even include a real ceremony and had minimal refreshments. They had no honeymoon, but returned to work. De Hong endured terrible emotional and sometimes cruel physical hardship as a result of her husband's party ideals and ambitions. Though she eventually had four children, she was tragically required to give all her time and attention to the party, which persecuted her despite her loyalty. Becoming a communist, she noted, was an "agonizing process." De Hong had little choice but to suffer in silence, as leaving the party would cause her family terrible problems and complaining would bring its own share of woe. Eventually her husband was unfairly and illogically destroyed and betrayed by the system he worked so hard to help create.
   
   Jung, born in 1952, grew up with the privileges of party officers' children. But these privileges brought with them contradictions, confusion, and emotional challenges. Jung attempts to survive, fulfill her dreams, and make sense of the destruction of the topsy-turvy world of the Cultural Revolution and still emerge with something to live for.
   When the schools are closed in 1966, Jung is sent into the countryside to learn how to be a peasant. While there, she is assigned work as a doctor and later an electrician--without any training, she was expected to learn by doing. Her first love is destroyed by revolutionary ideals. Despite her lack of formal education, Jung is accepted into university in 1973 to study the English language. Oddly, after university, students were not given degrees and were supposed to return to whatever jobs they had previously held! Her mother's guanxi helps Jung to secure a job for which she was far better suited--a teacher. As time goes on, she grows more disillusioned with the government and its leader and begins to question all that she has been taught to think all her life. After Mao's death, she enters an academic competition for which the prize is funding to study in the West. In 1978, she goes to London to get a Ph.D., where she remains teaching and writing to this day. A "wild" life, indeed.
   
   Having completed making peace with family history by writing Wild Swans, Chang's next project was of course her myth-busting biography of Mao, published in 2005.

5 comments about The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun.

1. This book isnt for you if violence makes you queasy. I thought it was unbelievable what Yun went through, and it was an interesting book. I learned much about the history of Christianity, which I new nothing about before. However, I felt the book was very repetitive, as I cannot count how many times Yun went to prison, was electrocuted with a baton, beaten senselessly, etc. I definitely believe in miracles, but everytime I turned the page there was another one.......so many that it almost seemed unbelievable and I wondered if this story was actually true.



2. This is true one of the best books I have seen in years. It inspired me to take my faith to a new level, and helped me appreciate how blessed we are with freedom in this nation.



3. The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother YunThe book was inspirational. The story of how God can work in a life which is totally sold out to knowing Him and His Word. Brother Yun's attitude toward suffering and the cost of following God is a challenge for every Christian today. Highly recommend this book.



4. Enjoyed the book. Story's are amazing. Even if you question the stories, the life lessons drawn from them are amazing.
   
   Amazing to see the story of Acts lived out today. Inspiring.



5. This is a unique, life-changing book. I found this story of a simple, humble Chinese brother and how the risen Lord appeared to them to bless, heal, save and call his family into a life of service for the Gospel and for the name of the Lord. It is much about our Lord and not so much about brother Yun, and this is one of the marks of its authenticity. I found it deeply convicting, life-changing and inspirational. It is a reminder that the call of Christ is a call to the cross, and that His ways are infinitely above ours. I also feel I got a glimpse of one of the ways God will reach what we westerners call the unreached peoples of the "10-40 window" and what our Chinese brothers and sisters call the way back to Jerusalem. Read this book, my friend, and be blessed!

5 comments about The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts.

1. Woman Warrior is one of the most gripping lyrical-memoirs I've read. Author, Maxine Kingston, is eternally haunted by the "no-name" ghost of her dead aunt, and she finds herself displaced and alienated as she attempts to put together two worlds: the old Chinese world of her past, and the new America world of her future.
   
   It is Maxine's Chinese ancestry that teaches her that girls are half-ghosts that walk a tight wire and with one wrong step will transcend into full-pledged ghosts, with all memory of their existence erased from time. Girls in the history of her Chinese culture are regarded much the way Middle Eastern women are regarded today: burdensome, and dangerous. The saying "When fishing for treasures in the flood, be careful not to pull in girls," holds a message repeated to Kingston many times over throughout her girlhood.
   
   Compounding Maxine's troubles, not only is it difficult for her to adjust to being an American type of female, which is different than a Chinese accepted female, but she carries with her the eternal displacement of her violently banished, suicide-no-name aunt whose spirit forever lingers, haunting Maxine.
   
   Alienation is also host to Maxine's reality, as she struggles to feel of value---caught as she is between what she's been brainwashed to believe gives a female value in Chinese culture, and what she is learning gives a female value in American culture. Alienation because she realizes that she is no longer authentic to the culture she comes from, just as she is not authentic to the culture she is now a part of. And she discovers that what her and her family has become, is an unintelligible patchwork, beyond definition: "No other Chinese, neither the ones in Sacramento, nor the ones in San Francisco, nor Hawaii speak like us."
   
   Kingston's resentment and further displacement and alienation comes from the many secrets about her past, about her Chinese heritage, kept from her by her elders--the only stories they tell her are the ones meant to haunt her, but even those stories are not fully explained. How is she to form an identity when she isn't aloud to put all of the pieces together, of her past and present, when she can't define her self as being a solid part of any given culture? Without proper definition of place, one merely floats along, trying to make sense of it. This is where the Woman Warrior, Fa Mu Lan, comes into play in this story.
   
   Fa Mu Lan is used as a metaphor for female choice, female purpose, female strength and power. Fa Mu Lan does not simply assume the traditional role of a Chinese female, instead she goes out into the world and she fights! Only after she fights does she return home to resume her traditional female role.
   
   I personally see this metaphor of Fa Mu Lan as Kingston's impression of having her feet in two different worlds, and how to cope accordingly. Fa Mu Lan, to me, represents the old and the new, and also she represents a force of identity that gives strength, and choice, to the traditional female role. Fa Mu Lan is a survivor of both worlds, and because she faces such danger outside of her home, the inside of her home may not be seen as dangerous in light of that outside world.
   
   Danger in Kingston's world, comes from both the inside and outside of the home--whether through ghostly memories and threats lingering in the air, or through present day pressures and dangers from a cold native-America population-- and so Fa Mu Lan serves to bring balance and strength to this two-pronged blade.



2. Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior is a powerful
   gem about the relationship between the author and her
   mother and other women in her family. It is a memoir
   but reads like fiction. I loved this book and especially
   how she utilizes symbols, particularly ghosts to represent
   people from different backgrounds, whom the author draws
   upon for wisdom, strength and remembrance.
   
   I usually have a tough time with "literary" fiction but
   the author writes in an almost conversational tone. I felt
   like I was there as the author told her story. This is
   an excellent book to read to learn about Chinese culture.



3. An excellent book, funny, insightful, poignant. Ms. Kingston brilliantly conveys how cultures can clash within the minds of those who straddle them. After reading this book I bought half a dozen copies to give to close friends.



4. This is a tremendous novel. The author threads the stories her mother told her when she was a child, through the retelling of her own life, using them to draw you into her own imagination. As she grows up, living half immersed in traditional myth and half in gritty reality, where mothers and daughters are only human, the reader grows up with her. The first person telling of her childhhood stories puts the reader directly in the shoes of a child/young adult working through the stories she has been told, using them to form her hopes and dreams and her understanding of the world.
   
   (N.B. You may not think that your childhood stories influenced the way you live, but if you think for a minute, I am certain some will come back to you and you'll realize that just the other day you did something based on or combatting that belief. Maybe you even still wish on stars?)



5. While the perspective and ideas of this novel are ones rarely seen in modern day literature, Maxine Hong Kingston fails to captivate a reader in a way that one would expect from a novel dealing with the difficulties of not only being a minority in the U.S., but for simply being female.
   
   The story starts off with the tale of Kingston's deceased aunt, who brought shame to the family and was unmentionable due to the fact that she bore an illegitimate child. As she gets into the tale and finds a parallel between herself and her aunt, both not wanting to conform to societal expectations, the story quickly changes to a story of a legendary girl trained by two old people to battle evil. The narration is filled with melodramatic elements and disorganized and often random occurences that make no sense at all, thereby losing the reader's interest early on in the book. The story then changes a few more times to different events in her family occuring in different eras, making it hard to grasp the relationship between themand her purpose for doing so. As you can see, the organization in this novel seems to be its biggest flaw. Instead of focusing on one tale and going in depth about it, the fact that Kingston changes stories so frequently and often before they are fully developed is annoying and seems to be pointless. While the stories she includes share a common theme of decpicting independent and strong women, her melodramatic and ineffective ways of narrating not only loses the reader's interest but in the process, I think even Kingston got confused about what she was trying to say!

5 comments about On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family.

1. I cannot express what wonderful storytelling of 100 years odyssey this book was. It was filled with historic detail, from China to the United States, as they referred to it as Gold Mountain. The patriach, Fong See was a merchant, and you will learn plenty of the business side of the family. He rented furniture to Hollywood studios. The many descriptive characters stories are well-tracked, and clearly identified. There is no confusion.
   
   Lisa is with interracial heritage, which makes the telling of the past more interesting as we learn that aspect of her family's life. Although a long read, it was insightful, informative, intriguing with mystery, concubines, romance, business, immigration, travel, etc. This book is an enthralling read with every chapter advancing to more.



2. I read On Gold Mountain slowly, with days between chapters to think about new ideas. On Gold Mountain was many things to me. A true story, it captures the diversity of life: hopeful and heartbreaking; success and failure; riches and poverty; love, courage and pride. In the many lives of the See family and other Chinese immigrants, opportunity, danger, effort and chance all play a role in deciding who will be rich, who will live and who will die.
   
   It was an eye-opening revelation to me of how racist our laws and immigration policies were towards the Chinese, up until our recently.
   
   It was an amazing journey into Chinese society both in America and in China.
   
   It was an uplifting and hopeful account of how, in spite of everything, Chinese immigrants were able to come to America, work, and prosper.
   
   It was a heart-breaking indictment of the treatment of the Chinese by our government and big business, particularly the railroads. The suffering and death of so many people has gone too long unnoticed in our history books.
   
   It was an amusing commentary on the foibles of human nature, and how love truly can triumph over it all, down through the generations.
   
   It was an incredibly well-researched, well-documented and remarkably frank story of one Chinese immigrant and his numerous descendants.
   
   In the developing field of social history, and using social history to illuminate a genealogy, On Gold Mountain is a seminal work, published five years prior to the ground-breaking "Bringing Your Family History to Life through social history" by Katherine Scott Sturdevant. As such, it is a remarkable example of the professional standards to which the social historian/genealogist may aspire.
   
   Although the family history is rife with bi-racial marriage, multiple wives and concubines, infidelity and divorce, Lisa See presents the story in a sympathetic and factual manner, and avoids sensationalizing her family history. It is as much about the family business of importing Asian art, furniture and folk items, and other businesses the younger generations developed, as it is about the personal history of the family.
   
   I would recommend Lisa See's book to anyone planning to write a social history; to all high school and college students in classes on U. S. Government, sociology, immigration, and capitalism. I would also recommend it to anyone who likes a good work of non-fiction about real people.



3. Genealogy buffs would do well to read this "One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of [Lisa See's] Chinese-American History" as an excellent example of how to write their own family histories. See, one-eighth Chinese, interviewed "close to one hundred people" and with help, found historical information from the late 1880s about her great-great grandfather's generation on up to her own children by perusing documents such as immigration records, photographs, letters, diaries, etc., that is, in the usual way. The result, On Gold Mountain "the Chinese name for the United States," almost 400 pages in length, is an in-depth, well-written account of the happenings in the lives of her ancestors, cousins, aunts and uncles. But anyone who knows anything about genealogy will agree that while a person's own genealogical information is, or can be, quite thrilling, another's is usually significantly less so. The main "character" of the family history, Fong See, was a polygamist. His second marriage, to a white woman (his first, unconsummated, was to a young girl in China) created the line from which the author descended. He was a merchant by trade who sold undergarments to prostitutes (during which he met his Lisa See's great-grandmother). Later, he dealt in antiques and other merchandise, creating a name for himself both in the Chinatown area of Los Angeles and in Dimtao, his home village in China, to which he provided monetary assistance. While the information on the lives of Chinese immigrants in general (including the ever-changing, often discriminatory immigration policies) and Fong See in particular, were great reading, the book was exceedingly long and overly detailed. I, for one, am not really interested in the names and occupations of Ms. See's first cousins. And less annoying but worth mentioning is the fact that the book's standard format, consistent and chronological, changes dramatically at Chapter 11. Memories: Tyrus Tells His Story reads like a taped interview might sound. In Chapter 14, Anna May Speaks (from the Grave), a film star, unrelated to the Sees except as a family friend, complains about her mistreatment by the film industry, the Americans, and the Chinese. Chapter 15, which I like to call The Improperly Edited Chapter, contains nine paragraphs beginning with a single word or short phrase (Pp 247-250), "Wives," "Children," "Grandchildren," "Business," "More business," "Business and family," "The Japanese crisis," "Partners," and "Life story." Lastly, the inclusion of a reference to California's Prop 187 (p 355) "Through Proposition 187, illegal immigrants would be barred from receiving any state funds; this meant no education, no welfare, and no medical care, except in dire emergencies," seems a bit unfair. China's policies concerning illegal immigrants are certainly much stricter than the USA's. In summary, Lisa See is a very good storyteller, has produced a great example of a family history and a tribute to her ancestors, but the audience of interest for the overly long overly detailed On Gold Mountain is likely limited to Fong Dun Shung's descendants, fans of the historical aspects of Chinese immigration to America (or their life in America) during the late 1880s and early 1900s, and genealogy buffs. And if I weren't part of the last category, I'd have either quit the book or slogged through and given it only two stars. Better: The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan, the Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan, and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.



4. The person I gave this to thought it was a very nice read and recommends it.



5. I am a new fan of Lisa See and I have to say that this is one of the best books I have ever read. It is a fascinating story. There were times I had to remind myself that this was a work of non-fiction. I only wish there were more photographs. A great read and hard to put down.

5 comments about Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter.

1. This book was beautifully written and gripping from the start. The reviewer who complained of Adeline's "whining" tone, is being unfair. I don't see her as whiny, but rather somewhat detached as she recounts the emptiness of her childhood. In fact, I want her to scream and kick and rebell, maybe even whine, yet she does none of that. Whining is even more emotion than I think she allows herself to feel. She endured a childhood with certain material wealth but vastly lacking in emotional wealth.
   Adeline takes the emotional abuse because she knows nothing else. Her father is the true villain for caring more about his trophy wife than his own family's happiness. He is oblivious to his children's emotional needs. He disappoints more than the stepmom for choosing to abandon children that he chose to bring into the world. He manipulates and plays them one against the other for his own selfish desires.
   After long periods of thinking about this book, I've come to my own understanding of why she managed to salvage a happy life out of such a miserable upbringing. It is the very belief, albeit blatently false, that her family would one day accept her, that makes her continue to push for their love and not give up. Children are frequently unable to find fault with their loved ones. It is that very "innocence" that protected her from worse harm, the knowledge that acceptance would never, ever, be forthcoming.



2. The heartbreaking story of an unwanted, abused, neglected child who never ceases to try and earn her family's affections. If you have ever experienced these feelings,no matter what your race, you will LOVE this book. It moved me to tears and I could not put it down once I started reading it.



3. ...with that whine? Self serving, whiney, horrible. I just don't get it. No comparison to anything by Frank McCort, Amy Tan or anyone like them.



4. Adeline Yen Mah, the youngest daughter of a prominent chinese businessman and his young half-chinese, half-french new wife, shows a poignant and vivid picture of life as a most unwanted Chinese daughter growing up during the cultural revolution in mid- 20th century China. Despite horrible mistreatment and abuse by her step-mother, Yen Mah slowly flourished from a sad, quiet girl to a successful physician living in the United States because of the love and encourgement of one unempowered Aunt. A heartwrenching read, this autobiography is proof that even when 'bad things happen to good people', knowing one has done the 'right thing' is priceless indeed.



5. this book is well written, and didn't take me too long to get through. mah retells her fascinating story, and includes descriptions of the events in China at that time (the Communist take-over). it is a sad story of family relations gone bad as she tries desperately for her family to come together.

5 comments about Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter.

1. I couldn't put this book down, being 1/2 chinese myself I loved the historical comments found in this book and could relate to some of the coldness shown to her by her family. Favortism runs deep in this book as it does in alot of chinese families as well as american families. I felt sad while reading this book yet her strength and determination was inspiring and so powerful throughout this whole story. A great story for all to read.



2. Chinese Cinderella is a memoir, also known as a story of bravery endurance and a strong little girl who goes by the name of Adeline. Adeline ,also known as the Chinese Cinderella, needs to be brave to survive life. she has great endurance when it comes to school. Adeline is a strong character when it comes to her family because they tease and beat her. The setting of Chinese Cinderella was obviously in china. In the middle of the book the Chinese were having a war against the French. Adeline's mother died because of her birth. As a result she was considered "bad luck". Another conflict is she has an evil step mother whom has two kids and treats them like they are the only kids in the house. Her relationship between her and her father sucks one reason is because he does not even know her own birthday.



3. My 6th grade class just finished reading this novel. The majority of us absolutely loved it. We had great discussions about how Adeline's parents never appreciated what wonderful gifts she had to offer in life. Also- we were all amazed how tragic her life was and her ability to overcome the continual abuse. The major reason why some of my classmates did not enjoy the book was because it was simply too sad. Every teacher in middle school should give their students the opportunity to read this work.



4. "My face was probably smeared with a mixture of blood, mucus and tears. I stood in front of my classmates. I felt naked and ghastly. I had been so careful to pretend that I came from a loving family."
   Chinese Cinderella is an extremely sad story written by Adeline Yen Mah. This book tells the story of Adeline, a young girl with talent who is hated by her family. It takes place in China during the 1940s when the communist are starting to take over. Adeline only has a few friends because of the hatred that is going on between her and many of her family members. Her best friend is her own aunt Baba. If you enjoy extremely depressing books then this book is for you, otherwise do not even pick up this book!!!
   
   !Warning!
   
   This book increases depression by 20% while reading!



5. "If you had not been born, mama would still be alive, she died because of you. Your bad luck," said Adeline's big sister.
   
   Adeline Yen Mah lives with her brothers and sister, her father and her step mother, Niang, and don't forget Aunt Baba. Aunt Baba is the only one that listens to Adeline. Everyone ignores her and is very mean her. They think that she is bad luck.
   
   This is my favorite book in the whole wide world. I love this book because it shows how other people are treated in other countries. When I was reading this book, I would stay up till 11:00! This book is very hard to put down. If you read about Adeline Yen Mah, be prepared to shead a tear. There are happy and funny parts, but mostly depressing parts.
   
   Chinese Cinderella is definitely five star book. I would recommend this book to ages 11 and up. This was my summer reading book and has been my favorite book since!
   
   -Olivia Liu

3 comments about Along the Roaring River: My Wild Ride from Mao to the Met.

1. Knowing little about either what it is like to grow up in China or Opera, this book was riveting for me. Tian goes in depth about both of these topics and i truly feel as if i know him and his family now! Tian's journey reminds us that no matter where in the world people come from and how foreign they may seem, we are ultimately the same and seeking the same things in life. I am motivated to learn more about opera and have plans to go to my first one at the Central City Opera in Colorado he so passionately describes! You don't have to be versed in Opera to be inspired by this book!



2. This book is a real page turner. I left family and friends in a restaurant last night so I could come home and finish it. It is so lucidly written, the story as riveting as an historical novel. Tian is a complex but guileless fellow with a giant talent driving him to expression. The supporting cast, companions on the path of his destiny, are similarly well drawn. Tian's story brings home the truth of how much conditioning we all have, politically and cognitively. And it affirms for me that the human spirit, human relationships, divine providence, and the unseen world are much more active than ourconscious thoughts and feelings in determining the outcome of events and personal transformation.



3. I believe this is the best book I have ever read! I could not get enough of Tian...
   
   This book gives China a human face. It is a beautiful story of what it was like to be in China during the Communist reign of Mao, and surviving it. It was deep, powerful, sexy, riveting, exciting and passionate.. You will not be able to put it down. I was captured by Tian's heart song. A passion and willingness to talk about China in a daring and beautiful way.
   
   Just as Quincy Jones helped bridge many African Americans to a voice in America. Tian unknowingly has given the Chinese a voice that will touch even the most unreachable hearts and leave you with a pure desire to find your own heart song and destiny.

5 comments about Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime SarajevoRevised Edition.

1. Sheesh...this is the product of a child, not the work of a Pulitzer prize winning journalist. It is an excellent diary, an excellent primary source and an excellent text for a better understanding of the Yugoslav wars. Yes...it does only tell one point of view - hers - it is her diary! Some readers are offended because of the comparison to Anne Frank; a comparison that Filipovic and others make in the book. The comparison is totally fair. Both are intelligent children caught up in situations they have no control over during wars of ethnic cleansing and extermination. It is a testament to Zlata that she can make the connection to Anne Frank...obviously the rest of the world couldn't. They (We) abandoned the Jews sixty years ago and abandoned hundreds of thousands of Croats/Bosniaks/Serbs to genocide forty years later. Zlata remembered Anne Frank's words...the world didn't.



2. I remember reading this book as a child and picked it up again as an adult. It was a quick read, but really showed how a child deals with war. It made me think of how children in Iraq are feeling right now. Very interesting.



3. To the reader who wrote comment "we all had our delusional moments when we were teenagers"...you should be ashamed of yourself. This "delusional moment" was war and struggle for survival in besieged city of Sarajevo.
   Why don't you try and write a book, and/or diary, sitting in a basement without food, water and electricity for four years. All that while granates and bombs are raining on your city. In the meantime, one by one, all of your neighbors and friends are gone six feet under...
   How about that for delusional moment...



4. Zlata's Diary is about a young girl's diary named Mimi during the war in her town of Sarajeavo. She writes of the hardships of being a war child. She tells of the changes of her world during the war such as her parents may have grown older one year but looked ten years older. She is constantly hearing of people being shot and wounded. And how might I know this? She was asked if she had a diary. And guess what she did and it was sent to be published. I think this book was over all pretty well written. I would recomend this book to you if you liked the book The Diary Of Anne Frank. So to find out what happens pick up Zlata's Diary.
   -Christine Lanier



5. Taylor (Lanier Middle School)
   
   Zlata's Dairy is the real life issue of how an eleven year old girl struggles to stay alive during a civil war in Sarajevo, (1991-93) but more importantly trying to cope with the pain friends and family leaving to escape the war. During the whole process she decides to keep a diary which then later becomes published in the years 1992 and 1993.
   
   This book tells a story of family, friendship, and most of all courage. Though a war might be going on, Zlata Filipovic still manages to go to school. Zlata lives in an average sized apartment with her mother and father.
   
   The life lesson in this book is that no matter how hard things get you will always have your family there with you. And that thing's in life will get though, but eventually they will get better. Also never dwell on the bad things, but the good.
   
   I personally do not like this book. The fact that this is a diary is one of the reasons I don't like this book, it skips around and does not tell you everything that happens.It also repeats everything, so all you are reading is what you read before.I would recamend this book to all, even though I did not like it, does'n mean you don't.

5 comments about Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China.

1. If you enjoyed Jan Wong's Red China Blues, you'll love John Pomfret's Chinese Lessons. In this must-read new book, the author chronicles his history as an insightful China-watcher and "Old China Hand," from his stint as one of the first American students to participation in the newly opened student exchange program--he became part of Nanjing University's history class of 1982--until 2005. The book is a well-written account of his own decades of observations, but they form a backdrop for the real show: the fascinating interwoven tales of how the recent, devastating past has shaped the lives of five of his Nanjing University roommates. While there is much in this book that we've all heard before, Pomfret provides a greater level of detail and more analysis in his compelling book than many other authors have. Beginning with the tragedies of the Cultural Revolution, his classmates' life stories are not just presented but analyzed from historical, political, cultural, economic, and psychological standpoints. Pomfret offers five main, personalized stories of the events between the 1970s and now--plus numerous other interesting side anecdotes--with his own perceptive observations and interpretations of what his friends' various situations reveal about the past and what they might mean for China's future.
   
   Through these five main stories, Pomfret attempts to understand the effects of the horrendous past on the present, and, more importantly, the future. As a result, this book asks the reader to consider some excellent questions. For example, how can people who have suffered so terribly put aside the past to live well in the present, and what does that present reality mean to them? What is the future of "communist capitalism"? How will the many contradictions that make up modern China be resolved? Can spirituality play a role in contemporary life? If so, what should that role be and how will it shape the country? What will happen when one-third of China's population is made up of senior citizens? How will China balance "progress" against her critical environmental problems? How will China bridge the ever-widening gap between the nouveau riche and the still desperately poor? Without a return to a moral value system, will China become not a superpower but a victim of its own corruption?
   
   Few other books can match Pomfret's presentation of these issues and many others. While the story makes a great introduction for new expats or China travelers, Pomfret still might clear up a few "China mysteries" for Old China Hands. Chinese Lessons is entertaining, thought-provoking, well-written, and hard to put down. An excellent contribution to the field of "China-experience" literature, add this one to your "must read" stack of books on Chinese life and culture.
   ******************
   Pomfret earned an M.A. at Stanford University in East Asian Studies and won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Singapore. He was a long-time reporter for the Washington Post, and served as Beijing Bureau Chief. He is currently the Los Angeles Bureau Chief. In 2003, he was awarded the Osborn Elliott Prize for Journalism (an annual award for the best coverage of Asia).



2. THe author went to a Chinese university in the early 80's, met lifelong friends, had many ah-ha experiences with the culture, and saw many changes from his first arrival to including the Tiananmen Square "incident" as the Chinese refer to it. The author was a news correspondent for several years before being deported from China for his involvement with Chinese involved in this incident. He then went back years later to again cover China as a correspondent.
   
   The best part of the book is his descriptions of keeping up with his Chinese university friends and how their lives wound through the complexity of the Chinese culture when their values had been so changed by university time experiences and the government controls at odds with their natural desires for freedom of action and thought.
   
   Very insightful and timely. The author is a very good writer with much talent.



3. One doesn't usually consider "escaping" to China. John Pomfret did. It was a means of putting maximum distance between himself and his father. He thereby became one of the first US-born students to enter China and take up university studies. Geographical distance or no, Pomfret's genes hold some coding for journalism and he dutifully and expertly recorded his encounters with schoolmates. Lodged with seven Chinese men of various backgrounds, he engaged five of them in conversations about their lives. What resulted was this compelling account of life in China under Mao and later.
   
   Fundamental to their relating their lives was the tumult created by the "Cultural Revolution" - an event that undercut any progress China might have enjoyed after the overthrow of the Nationalist regime. In the West, the enormity of the upheaval on the population of China by that ideological imposition is difficult to envision. Friends and family alike were led to denounce others. Sons betrayed fathers, mothers were led to believe their efforts at upbringing their children were falsely based and colleagues viewed each other as wrongly inspired, if not downright treasonous. Intimidation was strongly inflicted, even murder was condoned as part of the "purification" process. So caught up was the entire society by the fervour of The Great Leap Forward, that today, as Pomfret demonstrates, it seems to require an outside observer to adequately depict it. Even Chinese who managed to leave the country, granting them a fresh perspective, aren't fully detached from the events. The author notes the strong pull of China, which remains "home" to these expatriates who return if opportunity permits.
   
   To his great credit, Pomfret doesn't take a lofty view in dealing with his contacts. An astute journalist, he teases the stories of people like Big Bluffer Ye, Little Guan and others onto his pages. He's there almost entirely as an observer, introducing himself into the narrative only enough to entice the stories from his classmates. The stories are at once bleak and inspiring. One classmate learned of his parents' murder through a chance conversation. Another entered the ranks of the Red Guard, even terrorising his home village before returning to the city to become a successful businessman - collecting urine for pharmaceutical firms. A young woman, caught in the web of repression, still strives to provide a life for her child. It's a testimony to human endurance and the will to survive and succeed.
   
   Pomfret's advantage over many China observers is his living experience there as a student, and his return allowing him to recapitulate the intervening years. This dual approach provides more, and better insights, into the present culture than those who manage only one journalistic snapshot. Given that the Cultural Revolution was a social disaster of high order, why has the ruling Party not been overturned? Pomfrets intimacy with his contacts provide many answers, some of them grim, on how that retention of power has been accomplished. Big Bluffer Ye proves worthy of his name as he personally transforms a section of his city from dilapidated slum to an illuminated mall, giving not a thought to those displaced by his endeavours. He strives for success and knows how to attain it.
   
   The author's personal story is woven through his narrative with finesse - appearing more evidently in the second part of the book. He can express his own feelings without intruding on those of subjects. They are almost amazingly open to him, rendering the myth of "inscrutable Chinese" untenable. He records them without inflicting us with any more judgement than a sense of awe at how alien they sometimes seem, even after his long-term association. Even so, it's clear Pomfret's underlying resentment at being expelled from China after reporting on the Tiananmen Square debacle remains strong. He remains a North American, not a Chinese. An engaging, if disturbing, story this book is one that anybody wishing to understand the rise of China on the world stage must read. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]



4. This book made me laugh, cry and really think about how lucky we are to live in a free country. It paints an excellent picture of a terrible time in China. It provides a perspective on the Chinese educational system, the economy and the dramatic changes going on in that country. It's amazing to think that the author was so close to everything going on there and is able to tell us about it. When I was in China a few years ago, I asked about the Tianamen Square protests; all I got were closed expressions and shrugging of shoulders. No one was willing to talk about it. Now I understand what happened. For anyone interested in China, this is a must read book.



5. I got John Pomfret's "Chinese Lessons" as a Christmas gift. I could not keep my hands off it from the first moment I saw the picture on its cover. I read it day and night. I was so much intrigued by it, as the stories John Pomfret told reminded me of my childhood in Beijing and evoked my echo as an immigrant in the US.
   
   As China becomes a rising economy star in the world, there are many books about China now. But "Chinese Lesson" is the one that is based on solid life experience and true stories of the classmates, combining the author's rich knowledge of Chinese culture. For those who want to know China not only about how to hand in business cards, how to toast at a business dinner table, etc, but also truly want to understand how China becomes as of today and how the Chinese people and culture have benn evolving, this book is a good source of background information.
   
   At the age a few years younger than John Pomfret, I was raised up in Beijing, and moved to the US about 11 years ago. My personal expreience in China in some way is very similar to John's classmates. When reading his book, I just felt Little Guan, Book Idiot Zhou, Big Bluffer Ye, Old Xu, and DayBreak Song, are so real that I could match someone I know to each of them. On the other side, I also surprised and happy to know John, as an American, bridged the cultural gap so well and developed such in depth understanding to Chinese history and culture, especially considering back to the time he got into China when foreigners were viewed as monsters in most of Chinese cities.
   
   I really enjoyed reading "Chinese Lessons" and appreciate very
   much that John Pomfret has provided unique insight to China from a new angle, which very few people has the experience or the opportunity to view. I wish John Pomfret could have more outstanding works like "Chinese Lessons" in the near future.

5 comments about Return to Dragon Mountain: Memories of a Late Ming Man.

1. I bought this book on a whim, partly because of interesting reviews.
   
   But once I got it, I got hooked. It is a very readable book about a man who lived in a very different culture from our own. It is organized by theme, rather than by date. That is, it is not so much a biography as a portrait of the man and his times and the culture in which he lived. There are mini-sketches of the struggle of the upper classes to pass the scholarly tests for admission to the bureaucracy (a struggle that sometimes consumed decades); of Zhang Dai's mini-adventure with a very special tea that he discovered; the role and prevalence of prostitutes in his culture; his trips to visit natural spots, shrines, and monasteries, and much more.
   
   I tend to dip into many books, but read very few cover-to-cover. This one I'm reading cover-to-cover and almost done. So on my scale of interesting-ness it rates high; much higher than I expected when I bought the book.
   
   It is a portrait of a very privileged but also a very human person. If the idea of spending a few hours with such a person appeals to you, then I think you'll enjoy this book.
   
   And if you're like I was -- only vaguely intriged -- I'd recommend that you give it a try. Give serendipity a chance to strike. :-)



2. According to the review by the Washington Post ,"historian Zhang Dai's long life, which began in 1597 and ended around 1680, spanned the Ming Dynasty's final, turbulent decades and its overthrow by the invading Manchus. His writings were an attempt to record a lost way of life. They include a Ming dynastic history, profiles of public figures and dreamlike sketches of scenes from his youth. Spence draws on these documents, additional research by other scholars and his deep knowledge of Ming culture to portray the inner universe of a remarkably versatile and sympathetic figure.".
   
   I have read many books by Jonathan Spence.His historical works on China in particular "Treason by the Book" are excellent.Spence said he took several years to research and write this latest work of his. Unfortunately he appears to have only scratched the surface. This is not a full biography.I finished this book knowing only sketches of Zhang Dai.In that respect i was disappointed with this book which i had earlier bought with great expectations.



3. This book is an evocative depiction of Ming society in China through the eyes of contemporary historian Zhang Dai. It's not a history book or a biography, but rather a snapshot of life in the late Ming dynasty. Particularly fascinating are the details of everyday gentry life, particularly in its varied and colorful amusements and hobbies, such as staging plays, tea connoisseurship, how people celebrated holidays, music, boating, antique collecting, poetry, etc., and in the duties expected of gentry, such as studying for and passing the bureaucratic exams to hold office. Also very interesting were the descriptions of Zhang's various relations (grandfathers, uncles and cousins) who varied to extremes in character and revealed much about different expressions of human nature within the social norms of the times. I felt this book truly brought ancient China alive for the reader and that alone makes this book a worthwhile read.



4. This book is very well written and well worth reading. It depicts the life and the world of Zheng Dai, a well-educated bureaucrat (who did not go very high in the hierarchy but still managed to write the history of the Ming dynasty till its overthrow by the Manchus), but also many other interesting characters.
   An extract will show how much this book, though supposed to happen in the 17th century, is still very relevant today.
   "Within five years (...) this tea that Zhang and his uncle had named Snow Orchid had ousted its rivals from the conoisseurs' circles. But it was not long before unscrupulous businessmen began to market inferior teas under the Snow Orchid brand name, and those who drank it seemed not to know they were being gulled. A short time later, even the water source itself was lost. First, entrepreneurs from Shaoxing tried to use the water for wine making or else opened tea shops right by the spring itself. Next, a greedy local official tried to monopolize the spring's water for his own use and sealed it off for a while. But that increased the spring's reputation to such an extent that rowdy crowds began to gather at the shrine, demanding food, firewood and other handouts from the monks there and then brawling when they were refused. At last, to regain their earlier tranquility, the monks polluted their spring by filling it with manure, rotting bambo and the overflow from their own drains."
   Professor Spence is a great historian and we are all in his debt.



5. If you are a fan of the quite learned professor Jonathan Spence or deeply interested in China's late Ming era, this is a book to buy and read.
   
   Having said this, I think most readers will find Dr. Spence's story about a 17th century historian's life journey fairly obscure. Without my knowing anything prior to this book about its central figure (Zhang Dai), it was hard to get excited about this long dead scholar's scattered thoughts on his various relatives (uncles abound) and political situations of the times.