1 comments about Paint the Yellow Tiger.

1. This is a great book for an art lover to read. It is not only because the author Mr. Dong has a tremendus reputation in the watercolor world but also his beautiful art works with familiar city scenes. Reading this book makes you feel that you have been traveling with this great artist as a long time friend, bringing you into his life. from a young boy who like to paint the Yellow Tiger until he becomes a famous artist. Whether this book serve as an autobiography or a story book, the author put most of his art skills and philosophy into it. Such as, all his human figures are facing the same direction and think the same things, He always seems to put the oriental Yin-Yan rule into his painting. I also enjoy his soft color, the balance of shape and light and the composition for which he has become so famous.

No comments about The Recluse of Loyang: Shao Yung and the Moral Evolution of Early Sung Thought.

No comments about The Golden Lotus: The Life of a Bound-Feet Peasant Mother in the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

2 comments about Fun In Chinese Laundry (Lively Arts).

1. In this magisterial autobiography, Josef von Sternberg reflects about his personal career, film and its history and art.
   Von Sternberg will always be remembered for one of the most impressive movies of all times 'Der blaue Engel', but his career covers the sound and silent movie period.
   
   It is a very revealing book, not about his personal life, but about his professional viewpoints and struggles.
   
   His actor's direction was based on a penetrating insight into the real human nature. First, he considered that 'the guinea pig of the artist is his own self' and secondly, that 'the average human being lives behind an impenetrable veil and will disclose his deep emotions only in a crisis which robs him of control'.
   His professional life was an enduring fight with
   (1) the film studios and its producers. He knew their blatant commercialism: 'If a snail were to offer a contribution of value to Hollywood, it would be located instantly'.
   (2) his actors (an E. Jannings or a C. Laughton behaved like bad children on the set. A notable exception was his miraculous actress Marlene Dietrich.)
   (3) his rivals within the director's guild.
   and ultimately when the movie was produced (4) the moral establishment and its servile movie critics.
   
   Von Sternberg understood the profound impact of the film medium, which revealed 'the real world where wealth and poverty live side by side, and where cruelty and indifference can no longer be ignored.' The medium has an amoral basis: 'the strongest appeal to the masses was the simplest one: the formula always revolves around sex and its biological associate, violence. ... One bond that links all audiences is the animal in man.'
   
   He also gives us a penetrating portrait of some of the greatest masters of cinema: D.W. Griffith ('remove these 10000 horses a trifle to the right'), C. Chaplin ('the comic side of humiliation') or E. von Stroheim ('the intensity of his actor's direction').
   
   His ultimate goal was to create 'art', for 'it is easier to kill than to create.'
   The overall picture shows us von Sternberg as a noble, passionate, honest, craftful and extremely intelligent movie director.
   This autobiography is part thriller, part melo, part drama, part psychoanalysis.
   It is an essential read, not only for the film historian.



2. Full of cynical, razor-sharp and often very funny opinions. It's so one-sided, however, that I came away very curious to read what Dietrich herself thought about their relationship-- preferably in her own words.

   Sternberg was definitely quite a character, and his autobiography is vastly entertaining.

5 comments about Golden Mountain: Beyond the American Dream.

1. Irene Kai writes of her struggle to escape boundaries imposed upon her by her Chinese family while the words of her grandmother to be a dutiful daughter and wife haunt her throughout her journey. She writes of her great grandmother, her grandmother and her mother using the creative non-fiction device of imagined conversations.These conversations draw one immediately into the life of 19th and 20th century rural China, then, Hong Kong and New York. I particularly enjoy reading of overlapping time frames from the points of view of different people, and Kai does it well.
   
   A child of a loveless arranged marriage, she is unwanted, unloved and abused physically and psychologically by her mother, who is struggling to find love. Kai's background material is especially important in helping us understand her mother and to understand Kai's radical rebellion in her teen and young adult years. She sweeps us into her wild, tumultuous exploration of art and sexuality. And when the rebellion is over, she becomes the dutiful wife, driven by her husband and her desire to leave behind all of her Chinese past. In doing so, she finally realizes that she, too, is neglecting her children, just as her mother did. Slowly, slowly, as she begins to discover herself, she finds the strength to leave her lavish life style and become attentive to her children and to her own needs. She reclaims parts of her own culture and becomes whole.
   
   Especially poignant is Kai's struggle to balance her desire to always please her wounded mother with her need to protect herself and her children. The moment of courage when she looks into her mother's eyes and takes charge of her own life must ring as true for many other women as it did for me.
   
   I would love to know more about this woman. Has she continued her art? How does she feel now? When she looks back, what are her feelings? Now that she has written this fascinating autobiography, will she let us into her life again?
   
   Golden Mountain is an uplifting read.
   
   by Judith Helburn
   for StorycircleBookReviews
   www.storycirclebookreviewsorg
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



2. I loved this compelling, richly textured, vividly descriptive story. Not only was I transported into Chinese culture over four generations of the author's family, but into how family patterns and cultural mores impact us all. I was also inspired by the hope in this book. The author transcends many obstacles, including family abuse, and courageously builds a meaningful, new life.



3. I loved this book. I could not put it down. The Golden Mountain is about Irene Kai's journey to claim her power and authenticity. It's a memoir of four generations of Chinese women, but it's really "every woman's" journey. It shows her transition from Hong Kong to the U. S., and how she breaks free from the restrictions of her ethnic background in a way that her mother and grandmother could not. In America, she achieves wealth and success as an artist and businesswoman. But Kai's story of what's possible doesn't end here. She eventually leaves her business and her marriage and moves to a small town. There, she explores and heals the family patterns she realized were still influencing her, even after she thought she had broken away from them. In the process, she creates a new life and a new dream, one that takes her beyond the American dream to live her own authentic destiny.



4. I enjoyed this book enormously -- not only for what it taught me about Chinese culture -- but for what it taught me about the universality of women's experience in patriarchial cultures. As always, I am both awed and humbled by the resilience of the human spirit. Irene's story offers hope and inspiration to anyone who has ever felt trapped by circumstances.



5. Okay, may be the story is quite emotional, but it definitely did not come across that way. Lines such as "Won-hoy got married to a rich wife, and had 5 kids" goes on and on... giving the reader no motivation to continue.

No comments about Chinese Fiction Writers, 1900-1949 (Dictionary of Literary Biography).

1 comments about From the Claws of the Dragon: A Story of Deliverance from the Chinese Red Guards.

1. This is the true story of a wonderful Christian brother - Harry Lee. A man who lived in the times of the cultural revolution in China, who at one time lived quite well and had servants, but who later would lose everything that he loved including his sister and brother. And his Russian refugee sweetheart Nadia would flee the country. It is the story of a man who unjustly spent 7 years in a prison cell no wider than you could spread your arms along with three other men, who slept every night sardine style with a toilet bucket by his head. He had only a bowl of rice a day, which he would put water into to give it the illusion of fullness. When the propaganda announcements came over the loudspeaker everyday he would sing his Christian hymns under the noise so that even those who knew him wondered if he had become a communist. This is the story of man who would then spend another four years on a prison farm after being released from prison - a prison farm that killed his brother. This is the story of a man of great conviction and courage who waited his entire life for the Lord to bless him and use him.

   But the story does not end where the book ends. After graduating from seminary - dream that he waited his entire adult life to realize, he met his old sweetheart Nadia again, but she was married to another man - she had received no word from Harry and had decided to get on with her life. But as only God knows why, her husband died and after her grieving was completed she married Harry Lee. So finally, after years of waiting, he was reunited with his lost love. But alas, during one of his never-ceasing speaking engagements, Harry became ill, and he shortly thereafter passed from this life to the next.

   I will always remember Harry Lee as a softspoken gentleman who bore the marks on his body from the nightly beatings that he suffered at the hands of the communists. I will remember him as the missionary who happened to come into town when I was befriending some teenage Chinese Acrobats and that he gave me tracts to give to them. But what I remember most is that he was the epitome of what we all strive to become in our walks with the Lord. May his story richly bless you.

No comments about The Last Refugees from Shansi: In the Hands of the Chinese Boxers (An Eyewitness Account).

No comments about The Upright Brush: Yan Zhenqing's Calligraphy and Song Literati Politics.

5 comments about The Chopsticks-Fork Principle: A Memoir and Manual.

1. Rebeccasreads highly recommends THE CHOPSTICKS-FORK PRINCIPLE for anyone interested in hybrid childhoods & bicultural lifestyles.
   
   Cathy Bao Bean, an immigrant from China (circa 1950s), recounts how she figured out how to be herself while attempting to satisfy disparate cultural norms. Through her ebullient & articulate voice, we discover some slightly warped wisdom & a mess of good cheer.
   
   THE CHOPSTICKS-FORK PRINCIPLE is a memoir about how to reconcile the expectations of families & society at large, & how to raise a child in a respectful context while also choosing the "path less traveled". Race, class, & gender issues interweave seamlessly in her wry & sly narrative, all spiced with the sweet & sour, the serious & hilarious.



2. Cathy came to speak at my college class today and I have to say she is an awesome lady with great insight on life. She's also very funny. She read some exerpt from her book and it really got the class laughing. Her concept of the fork and chopstick is ingenius, I loved it. Her writing style is also very descriptive and witty. If you like to laugh, you'll love this book.

   I am very excited about reading this book. HAPPY READING!




3. This is a wonderful book, with great stories and intriguing perspectives. Anyone who is a parent would benefit from reading it. It provides an excellent window to education/learning, intergenerational harmony, and cross-cultural communication.



4. As a 60 year old who was sent to summer camp when I was 4 years old, went to public school in New York City until high school and then wound up commuting to Columbia College on the #4 bus because my parents considered me too young to live away from home; as the husband of an art collector who has never been encumbered by anyone's opinion of right or wrong; as a parent, as a son......it was pure delight to read this book.

   Yes, we've known Bennett Bean for 20 years. We have collected his work, commissioned him to make a multi-media painting for our home and we have been working with him for four years on a carpet project......we understand and celebrate his sense of joy and adventure in making art.......and we did know his wife, Cathy, but not the way we know her now.

   Cathy Bao Bean writes with style, grace, wit, relevance. I have sent her book to our children to read so they can see down the road of child-rearing. I have sent her book to friends my age so the see that they are not alone in their feelings.

   This book confirms the notion that gems exist outside the normal publishing distribution channels......and how major businesses miss great opportunities every day.

   WARNING, CAUTION: This book may cause you a problem. You will want to read it very quickly.....please do not do this. Savor it, read it very slowly.

   DOUG ANDERSON




5. Not a traditional memoir, The Chopsticks/Fork Principle is more of a love-letter to the author?s family, friends and to life in general. But it is never sentimental or maudlin. Ms. Bean has taken her Eastern heritage and blended it (not without some lumps and bumps) with her Western lifestyle, to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Her delight in what her life has brought her will sweep the reader into a special world that is, indeed, a very nice place to visit. Her wry, dry and sly humor, her sharp wit, her genuine wisdom and her slightly off-center philosophy of life and living, make this a rare treat - a truly charming book.
   Cathy Bao Bean deliberately chooses to see the best side of people and, whenever possible, events. To do this, she has allowed time to mellow hurts and humor to cushion memories.
   As someone who grew up in New York at about the same time as the author, I confess to being unaware of the discrimination against Chinese Americans, especially following World War II when many Chinese were mistaken for Japanese. Ms. Bean tells her stories with humor and subtlety, which gives them a resonance they might not have had in less skillful, or kindly, hands.
   One of the author?s childhood stories really surprised me. At about the age of ten, her parents sent her to summer camp. ... Her tales of camp were a trip down memory lane for me, and a reminder of how shared experiences - especially good ones - create bonds between people, no matter what their origins or differences.
   As a ?manual,? The Chopsticks/Fork Principle has much to teach about relationships with people, nature and community.
   If you are looking for a meaningful gift for Valentine?s Day or Mother?s Day, this is a good one!