I'm part-way through The Long March: the True History of China's Founding Myth, by Sun Shuyun. Previously, about the only things I really knew about the Red Army's Long March was that it was long. And it was a march. The author has deftly combined the memories of Long March veterans with her painstaking research and her personal reactions as she realizes that the darker side of this epic journey has been hidden for propaganda purposes. Very readable.
I just finished Lessons from China: America in the Hearts and Mind of the World's Most Important Rising Generation, by Amy B. Werbel, who spent a year teaching and lecturing at Chinese universities as a Fulbright scholar. Her first days in China and her first reactions were a lot like mine and, I suppose, thousands of other laowais; she has written a good chronicle of life in China. So if you're headed for a university job in China, this could be a worthwhile preview. Trigger warning: Professor Werbel is a post-modernist art expert and her world view won't be shared by everyone. If reading phrases such as "gender is a social construct" is traumatizing for you, best avoid this book.
I just finished Lessons from China: America in the Hearts and Mind of the World's Most Important Rising Generation, by Amy B. Werbel, who spent a year teaching and lecturing at Chinese universities as a Fulbright scholar. Her first days in China and her first reactions were a lot like mine and, I suppose, thousands of other laowais; she has written a good chronicle of life in China. So if you're headed for a university job in China, this could be a worthwhile preview. Trigger warning: Professor Werbel is a post-modernist art expert and her world view won't be shared by everyone. If reading phrases such as "gender is a social construct" is traumatizing for you, best avoid this book.
If you are interested in China and haven't read Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chang, -- well, get this book. Get this book!! Some friends gave it to me and I cracked it open to console and distract me on the night that I lost my election bid for school trustee. I was awake until four in the morning. Could not put it down. It's that good.
Chang and her husband recently published a sympathetic biography of the Dowager Empress Cixi. They also wrote a scathing biography of Mao. I think all three books are banned in China. It will be interesting to see if, over time, their research on Mao and Cixi overturns the verdict of history.
Chang and her husband recently published a sympathetic biography of the Dowager Empress Cixi. They also wrote a scathing biography of Mao. I think all three books are banned in China. It will be interesting to see if, over time, their research on Mao and Cixi overturns the verdict of history.
RSS Feed