2 comments about The Path of Flowering Thorn: The Life and Poetry of Yosa Buson.

1. In a world of high tech achievements, Buson's haiku is beyond refreshing because it is more efficient. Call it quick seeing deep..It opens the mind with a deep dimensional structure of space and time.. True poetry..simple and free connecting all points



2. beautiful translations and, as usual for Ueda, the most insightful commentary.

3 comments about Confucius (Past masters series).

1. This is a basic introduction to the thought of Confucius. It provides the historical background to the emergence of his thought, and also outlines the historical role Confucius' teaching has had in the educational and political system of China. The first value of Confucius' is ' learning' and the educated Man is the ideal product and bureaucrat- administrator in the Chinese ruling system. Education and learning are for not for isolated ivory tower reality, but must be directed to social action. The Confucian teaching is generally regarded as secular and does not invoke ordinarily the supernatural. The focus is on human relationships and considerable emphasis is given to ritual ( li). The Confucian ideal is for the person to show ' jen' which is a kind of respect and understanding of the other. The understanding ( shu) means something like putting oneself in the other's shoes and not doing to them what one would not want done to oneself. The emphasis on ' right action'in relation to others has special weight in family relations. The relation between parents and children, and between members of the family and older brother are given special emphasis. People are expected to show respect for their parents and provide for them in life, and also show respect for them when they are not in this world. The Confucian ideal became the norm for Chinese society for tens of generations and through the greatest share of Chinese history. When the Communists came to power in China they blamed the Confucian ideal for not having adjusted and trained China to be a part of the modern world. Yet in many ways Dawson makes clear the Confucian way of seeing the world remains strong in Chinese society. The strength of the Chinese family connection is evidenced throughout the large Diaspora of the Chinese.
   This is an excellent , clearly written introduction for someone like myself who knows very little about Chinese thought. The parallel to certain elements in Jewish thought ( The emphasis on learning, and on being a ' mensch' ( jen) are two apparent elements here is striking. But of course in Judaism the emphasis is on human relation to a personal God, and walking in the ways that God prescribes.
   In any case I highly recommend this small work.



2. I agree with the previous reviewer; it's a clear and concise introduction for someone who wants to get acquainted with some of the basic Confucian tenets. Too bad its o.p.



3. Excellant study of Confucius's teachings organized by topic.
   Here are the chapters: 1. Confucius, 2. Learning and teaching, 3. Ritual and music, 4. Humaneness and other virtues, 5. Gentlemen and knights, 6. Government and people, 7. A Confucian China.

No comments about Personal Matters: Women's Autobiographical Practice in Twentieth-Century China.

No comments about Son of South Mountain & Dust.

No comments about Paul C. Pitt, beloved of the Chinese (Missionary series).

No comments about Lao She, China's Master Storyteller.

1 comments about East and West: The Last Governor of Hong Kong on Power, Freedom and the Future ('East and west-chris patten zhi gang jing yan', in traditional Chinese, NOT in English).

1. A HarperCollins executive in London had judged a manuscript of East and West as `probably the best-written and most compelling book I have read by a politician since I came into publishing' --quoted in Chenoweth 2001: 283. However, after instructions from Murdoch and HarperCollins executives in New York, the book was dropped as `boring' - a judgement that was later unreservedly withdrawn by News Corporation in a legal settlement.

   In later reviews put forth by the Independent Review: A journal of political economy, Dr. Lingle states:
   "Reviewing Chris Patten's book brings me personal pleasure in several respects. For one, it pleases me to encourage readers to buy and read a book that Rupert Murdoch refused to publish. In a highly publicized affair, one of Murdoch's publishing houses pulled out of a contract for this book, shamelessly deferring to Beijing's Communist regime. Given his media ambitions for East Asia, Murdoch clearly dreaded the regime's displeasure at the publication of Patten's thoughtful words. After all, the Chinese government had denounced Patten as "a prostitute for a thousand years" and a "tango dancer" during negotiations over conditions for the return of Hong Kong to China."-- Christopher Lingle, Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney

   Below is a quick synopses of why this book was banned.

   News Corporation's relations with China:

   July 1993 -Murdoch buys majority stake in Hong Kong-based Star TV in
   apparent attempt to access Chinese market

   September 1993 -Murdoch angers China by saying satellite TV is `unambiguous
   threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere'

   October 1993 - Beijing responds by outlawing private satellite dishes

   April 1994 - Murdoch drops BBC from Star TV network covering north Asia
   and China, later admitting to biographer William Shawcross this
   was to please Beijing

   February 1995 -Murdoch sponsors trip to US by Deng Rong to promote a
   biography of her father, the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping

   August 1996 -Star TV launches new Chinese-language channel in partnership
   with Hong Kong businessmen with ties to the Chinese military

   February 1998- HarperCollins abandons plans to publish a book by Chris Patten,
   whom Murdoch attacks for angering Beijing by introducing more
   democracy while serving as Hong Kong governor during final
   years of British rule

   June 1999 -Murdoch marries Wendi Deng, Chinese-born executive at Star
   TV

   September 1999 - Murdoch criticizes the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader
   February 2001 Star TV chairman, James Murdoch, Rupert's youngest son,
   describes banned Falun Gong spiritual movement as `dangerous'
   and an `apocalyptic cult'

   September 2001 -TV officials in Beijing say they have `agreed' that News Corp and
   AOL Time Warner can broadcast directly to parts of Guangdong
   province

   Overall, during a time while US companies have been allowing the reduction of human rights and freedom of information to occur in order to take advantage of markets this book goes far in pointing out the current political structure in China and their historical constructions.

   Readers not familiar with recent developments in East Asia will find this fascinating book full of relevant insights. It also presents a principled, consistent, and compassionate argument for expanding individual freedoms. Resting his case on both individual and national interests, Patten pleads for "normalizing" relations with China, that is, for treating China the same as any other country. This implies the rejection of arguments that China's exceptional history and culture require it be treated with greater deference. Patten correctly points out that caving in to repressive regimes is a dangerous path.
   Unfortunately, Patten does nothing to dispel the enduring myth that Hong Kong is a free-market paradiseas indicated, for example, by the annual Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Economic Freedom Index and by separate surveys by the Fraser Institute and the Cato Institute, which typically identify Hong Kong as the place with the most economic freedom. Consider a few inconvenient facts. In the past year the Hong Kong government intervened in the local stock market in defense of the local currency's peg with the U.S. dollar. Moreover, upon spending $15 billion to purchase shares of local companies, the Hong Kong government became the single largest shareholder in the local market.
   The book's principal message is that the wide access to individual freedoms and an institutional framework to guarantee them lay behind Hong Kong's success. Patten did his best to ensure that the agreements he forged with the Chinese would allow this oasis of freedom to survive. His efforts earned him the wrath of the Communists and the admiration of most of the people of Hong Kong. He initiated an expansion of democratic institutions that riled the Chinese and caused cynics to describe his efforts as a "poison pill." If democracy is such a wonderful and necessary institution, why, they asked, did the British wait so long to provide it?

2 comments about Shanghai Bride: Her Tumultuous Life's Journey to the West.

1. I felt that Christina Ching wrote this book for me. She speaks to me in my mother's voice, telling me about the insurmountable obstacles she had to overcome to pave the way for me. I used to think of Chinese women of Ching's generation as old-fashioned and oppressed, but after reading her memoir, I realize what a giant leap they have made, and how much I owe them. This is a universal story of the emancipation of a group of people, in this case, Chinese women. From tiny, timid steps, Ching took bigger and bolder steps until she was unstoppable. Yet while living out her ambitions, she was also a devoted mother and wife. Her life offers many important lessons for younger women. The memoir moves at the page-turning pace of a thriller, but I can't help stopping frequently to savor the beauty of her words.
   
   Veronica Li, Washington, DC, USA



2. This magnificent memoir is the first I have read that faithfully chronicles the love story of a 20th century Chinese woman with the idea of modernity. Many writers before Mrs. Ching-Tsao have tackled the gray and dismal role of women in traditional China, the horrors of the early and mid-20th century and equal tragedy of women under the Cultural Revolution, when supposedly they "held up half the sky." This account is more nuanced, more hopeful, and much more representative of the energy, dynamism and drive not just of Chinese women but all women entranced by the jazz age and the promise of equality. Mrs. Ching-Tsao's account is wonderful for its detail and its honesty, as well as the marvelous balance of her personality, whether she is unexpectedly charmed by her father's concubine or unexpectedly loyal to a man who has used rape to force her into marriage. This is an unusual woman who falls into no easy definition or category, as wife, mother, professional woman, or lover. She is simply herself, a Chinese Colette, charming, self-willed and compassionate. The book is beautifully written and paced, although as literature it has more the quality of a very good translation than a book that is fully comfortable in the boundaries of English, but that is to be expected from an author whose first encounter with English was as a teenager in a prep school in Shanghai. In the interest of full disclosure, I have known Mrs. Ching-Tsao's sons and daughters for many years, but was in no way prepared for the richness and depth of their mother's book.
   
   Edith Terry, Hong Kong

No comments about Peranakan's Search for National Identity: Biographical Studies of Seven Indonesian Chinese.

No comments about Ding Ling and Her Mother: A Cultural Psychological Study.