Rickshaw: The Novel Lo-t'o Hsiang Tzu

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Lao She must be rolling over in his grave! The exploiting class is back with a vengeance

Lao She's attack on individualism

The nobility of losers

common people's struggle

Worst book ever!

Rickshaw: The Novel Lo-t'o Hsiang Tzu
She Lao
Manufacturer: University of Hawaii Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0824806557

Customer Reviews:

Lao She must be rolling over in his grave! The exploiting class is back with a vengeance.......2007-05-02

(This book is also known as Camel Xiangzi and Rickshaw Boy, and has had different translators. I read the version translated by Shi Xiaoqing and illustrated by Gu Bingxin that I bought in China. ISBN 7-119-00512)

This is the great classic novel of exploitation in Old China, before the 1949 Revolution. It's also anti-individualist. It's the early 1930s and Xiangzi arrives alone in Beiping (Beijing) with dreams of making a living as a rickshaw puller. He is a loner who constantly struggles against forces beyond his control. On more than one occasion his rickshaw is destroyed and each time he tries to bounce back. Class struggle is woven throughout the tapestry of this story.

I read this after Nawal El Saadawi's Woman at Point Zero. So what really caught my attention was the character, Joy, who enters in the last third of Camel Xiangzi. I decided to use both of these novels in my thesis on women forced into prostitution. Joy is sold to an army officer by her lazy greedy father. Joy learns that temporary "marriages" are the MO of her officer "husband." Each time he is transferred he just buys a new wife, because it's cheaper than hiring housekeepers and prostitutes, and he leaves them with the bills.

When Joy returns home she's damaged goods and her father forces her to prostitute in order to support his drinking habit and her two younger brothers. Her life becomes hell on earth. I don't really want to spoil the ending. Let me just say that Chinese novels rarely have happy endings.

In his 1954 afterword Lao She reflects back on how much China has evolved since those dark days and how "Today, nineteen years later, the working people have become masters of their own destiny." Tragically more than half a century later, while China has the fastest growing economy in the world, many of its citizens, especially girls, are much worse off. The great exploitation novel of 21st century China would be called SWEATSHOP GIRL or HOSTAGE HOOKER. The protagonist would be a teenage girl from one of the inner provinces like Sichuan or Hunan. She would be forced to leave school and migrate to a city like Guangzhou. She would lie about her age to obtain a job in a sweatshop working around the clock, for pennies an hour, to support herself and send money home. Another worse, but unfortunately very common scenario (in Russia as well), she would be abducted walking home from school by a pimp from organized crime. When her parents try to find her the police sit back and do nothing because they are working with organized crime. A search engine turned up numerous articles about this. China is also the only country where more females than males commit suicide. Its one-child policy has led to a birth ratio of 119 males to 100 females. Rather than leading to a greater appreciation of women, who "hold up half of the sky," it has fueled a higher demand for trafficking in women.

I am reading Will the Boat Sink the Water: The Life of China's Peasants by Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao. It was written in the last few year by a husband and wife who are journalists from Anhui Province. The suffering of China's billion peasants seems even worse than in Lao She's day. I also recommend The Garlic Ballads, a novel by Mo Yan.

Lao She's attack on individualism.......2005-11-30

Rickshaw: The Novel Lo-t'o Hsiang Tzu, a 1936 novel penned by Chinese author Lao She, depicts the struggle of the unskilled, lower class worker in early 20th century China with painstaking accuracy. The story is a commentary on the corruption of Chinese society and its impact on the people, but it develops to reveal an additional message: Individualism and selfish ambition lead to downfall, failure, and misery. Hsiang Tzu is the victim of his times and circumstances, but not completely; he is also his own worst enemy. What begins as a sympathetic tale of the rickshaw puller's plight gradually turns into a moralist's warning of the catastrophe spawned by individualism and the danger of a society which promotes it.

The old rickshaw man, Hsiao Ma's grandfather, sums up Lao She's point the most succinctly: "any poor guy who thinks he can succeed by himself will find it harder than going to heaven. How far can one man hop? [A grasshopper] can go a long way in one hop by itself. Let a small boy grab it and tie a thread around it and it can't go anywhere. But if it joins up with a whole lot of other grasshoppers in a horde and they all move together, whew!"
According to Lao She, in a society that promotes and necessitates individualism, people will never be able to truly succeed. When people serve only themselves, corruption and deceit flourish, which in turn promotes individualism, which then begins the cycle anew.

Rickshaw is a condemnation of Lao She's corrupt China and the selfish people that it produced. However, it also serves as a vivid and historically accurate account of the hardships faced by the lowly rickshaw puller. This book will not tell you, it will SHOW you how an honest and upright man can be beaten down into the most degenerate of scumbags.

Highly recommended.

The nobility of losers.......2005-03-26

I had read, before starting this novel, that Lao She was influenced by Dickens. Perhaps he was, but this novel is not as much reminiscent of Dickens as of Zola at his bleakest, or of Frank Norris' McTeague.

Just like McTeague (Norris' San Francisco unlicensed dentist), Hsiang Tzu is an inarticulate man.

The greatness of Lao She or Frank Norris' writing is that they allow us to get inside men who are so out of touch with their own feelings. Not mockingly or judging them in any way. Just deeeeeply.

It is difficult to be a man. One would almost think it has become more so, as men now are expected to be strong but caring too. But exceptional novels like Rickshaw or McTeague show that even in previous societies, with different challenges, men were already ravaged by inner contradictions.

Of course, the description of early 20th century Peking is fascinating, as are the omens of revolution.

But what made the book a special experience for me is the psychological accuracy.

common people's struggle.......2003-11-20

This book absolutely deserves it's honor to be a Chinese classic. Yes, this book is a required text by many asian study courses, but there is a significant, and a great reason for it. Lectures only talk about the lives of the emperors and the lord of the dynasties. They lived wealthy lives, but what about the common people? even though lectures normally don't discuss the lives of the working people, that doesn't mean they aren't important.

Rickshaw brings the hardships of the labors to life through a somewhat humorous and satire tone. It's is worth reading, both for a class or not. The main character Hsiang Tzu will take your emotion on to a roller coaster ride!

Worst book ever!.......2002-11-21

Don't ever read this book or take Chinese History where you will be forced to read this book. I can't tell Hsiang Tzu from Sang Wu.

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Chinese Men are fine by Kingston
Excellent storyteller
A fascinating jumble of memoir, fable, and reporting
An Experience To Remember...........
Must Read for all serious readers

China Men
Maxine Hong Kingston
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679723285
Release Date: 1989-04-23

Book Description

The author chronicles the lives of three generations of Chinese men in America, woven from memory, myth and fact. Here's a storyteller's tale of what they endured in a strange new land.

Customer Reviews:

Chinese Men are fine by Kingston.......2006-11-22

China Men, written as a male companion piece to her female-centered The Woman Warrior, focuses on the Chinese men of Maxine Hong Kingston's family. This book takes what critics said about Kingston being a man-hating nut in The Woman Warrior and sublimates it; now she can simply be accused of being a white-hating nut.

The immigration process was very tough for the men in Kingston's family. Because they were foreigners that spoke little to no English, they were forced into low-paying, labor-intensive field work. The Chinese immigrants would often be called "chinamen." What Kingston has very subtly done with the word is turned it into a positive. The title of the book is "China Men," not "Chinamen." When whites in the book use the word, it's derogatory; Kingston uses it differently - with respect. With what her relatives have been through, it's easy to understand why Kingston tends to hate white Californians.

China Men is heavily mixed with amazing fantasy and heart-breaking reality. Kingston has grown as a writer since The Woman Warrior and anyone interested in a fascinating read on Chinese immigration should pick this one up.

Excellent storyteller.......2005-07-31

I loved this book, and I love how the author writes. She tells her stories not in a typical narrative, factual, journalistic way, but in a stylized, "storylike" way (does that make sense?!). All of the stories focused on the different men in her family, especially her father. They all center on the Chinese man's experience in America, from the railroad days onward, and tells of their struggles, triumphs and failures. As a whole the book is about how these experiences shaped the men in her family. She intersperses a few legends here and there, just like she does in Woman Warrior. I enjoy how she takes her family history and literally turns it into a work of art. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

A fascinating jumble of memoir, fable, and reporting.......2003-02-17

In China Men, Kingston took me on a ride all over the literary landscape. In general, I thought her book was an interesting tossed salad of memoir, fable, reporting, and poetry. As a reader, it reminded me of a scrapbook of family stories, newspaper articles, heritage legends -- all assembled in one place.

Interestingly, Kingston begins the book with two distinctive chapters. Unlike the rest of the book, these two chapters are relatively homogenous, sticking with one form, voice, structure and tone throughout. The first chapter is the fable of the Land of Women. I didn?t understand this chapter until the last sentences, when it seemed as though Kingston was saying that coming to North America emasculated the Chinese men who made the journey to the Gold Mountain.

If Kingston?s main theme is that the journey to North America emasculated the Chinese Men, then from a reader?s perspective I?m not sure if the book delivers on this promise. To put a fable with a very obvious moral at the beginning of the book seems to me to set up a contract with the reader about the subject or theme of the book. Although, Kingston explores many different aspects of the Chinese experience in North America, and even starts to explore the ways that China Men were oppressed, I?m not sure she completely proves her case in my mind. I could be wrong, however.

Interestingly, the second chapter of the book is another short one, this time a nearly pure piece of memoir. Alone, this chapter seems to set up the author?s own relationship with Chinese men. By mistaking another man for her father, she seems to be saying from the beginning of the book that from her perspective Chinese men are nearly interchangeable. But interestingly, she isn?t the only one who makes the mistake. All the children in that scene mistake the strange man for their father. I like this chapter placed here because it contrasts nicely with the fable/story in the first chapter. The first chapter is told at a distance by a storyteller/narrator. The second chapter is told first person from our main narrator?s voice.

Kingston returns to this theme several more times in the book. On page 217, she remarks that one of her Uncles looks just like her father. Interestingly, Uncle Bun is also completely forgotten, erased from her sister?s memory only a few years after he leaves. Kingston often hints at how distant and interchangeable the China Men were to her and to the women of her family. At other times she explores her narrator?s perceptions that China Men have no heart, no emotions.

One of Kingston?s greatest strengths, in my opinion, is her ability to weave in all sorts of other stories into the narrative of her story -- presenting a mosaic of memoirs, possibilities, facts, essays, fables, legends, ghost stories, scenes and reporting -- that all add up to a complete picture of the lives of the China Men who came to the United States. On page 49, she starts one version of a trip to the US with, ?I think this is the journey you don?t tell me:? She then recounts the tale of the father?s arrival in the US as a stowaway. But like The French Lieutenant?s Woman, she (Kingston) also gives us another, more ordinary version of the father?s emigration. I don?t know which one is ?real? and which one is imagined and, frankly, I don?t care. The fact that some Chinese used each of these methods is credible enough to keep my disbelief suspended and keep me in the story.

An Experience To Remember..................2002-11-09

The China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston was a very interesting book. It contains stories of Chinese men traveling to America in the 1800's and working on the transcontinental railroads, in Sierra Nevada. The author shares a lot of details in the stories about her family traveling to America. She retold the story from a male's perspective of what hardships they've been through to get to America, in search for the Golden Mountains. A rich country that they about which is full of riches. As they reach to America what they thought was the Golden Mountains was just a land of hard labor and low paying jobs. Some of them regretted coming to America, but they couldn't go back to their country because they had no money.
Some part of the story made me feel like I could relate my family to the characters that Kingston has written about. My family immigrated to the United States in 1984. Like the characters in Kingston's book they heard about the Golden Mountains that's why they came to America. All they found was low paying jobs which are similar to the characters in Kingston's book. Is this really what they thought of as the Golden Mountains? It was for sure not what they had thought of. Like many Chinese family my parents thought that the Golden Mountain was really a place to find gold, but all they found was their own blood, sweat, and tears that they shed of all the hard work that they did.
This book is also very educating because in one of the chapters, Kingston listed a list of laws that were set against Chinese in the 1800's. It gives the reader more information of what the Chinese immigrants had went through to come to America and to work for the country. Overall, this book is very good and very detailed. I strongly recommended this book, if you're interested in learning more about the experiences of Chinese men traveling to America and their stories. This is also one of the best book that I've read.

Must Read for all serious readers.......2002-06-03

This is an amazing book, wrought with heartwrenching love and pain over the wiping out of Chinese Americans in American history. I disagree with people who say it can be confusing for a non-Chinese reader, because it is certainly accessible. The plot is made up of several stories from different eras of history, along with beautifully narrated myths that are symbolic of America's inhospitability. It made me reaccess my understanding of an America that is not covered in textbooks and really to see how it feels to not feel at home in one's own country.

Shantung Compound: The Story of Men and Women Under Pressure

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Shantung Compound
A Kinder, Gentler "Lord of the Flies"
A Probe to Your Faith
Survival under stress
Best sociology lesson ever written

Shantung Compound: The Story of Men and Women Under Pressure
Langdon Gilkey
Manufacturer: HarperOne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060631120

Book Description

This vivid diary of life in a Japanese internment camp during World War II examines the moral challenges encountered in conditions of confinement and deprivation.

Customer Reviews:

Shantung Compound.......2007-04-09

This book is a classic on people who were interned in China during WWII. I have used it in connection with the book I wrote, "Called to China: Attie Bostick's Life & Missionary Letters from China: 1900-1943," since Attie was interned in this camp near Weishien. This book provides a vivid description of the conditions there.

-Rebekah (Becky) E. AdamsCalled to China:Attie Bostick's Life & Missionary Letters From China: 1900-1943

A Kinder, Gentler "Lord of the Flies" .......2006-11-27

"For even saintly folk will act like sinners, Unless they have their customary dinners."

That's the theme of "Shantung Compound." It's the best sociology laboratory one can imagine. Take a diverse group of 1,500 Brits and Americans, shut them up in close quarters for two and one-half years in an internment camp, feed them barely enough to survive, let them rule themselves, and see what happens. That's what happened to the foreigners in the Japanese-controlled parts of China in World War II.

The situation at the internment camp in Shantung starts hopefully as the foreign internees elect a government, set up hospitals and kitchens, allocate space (9 feet by 4 and one-half feet per person), and establish a thriving black market. After that things go downhill. Some people won't work; others steal; and the community can't find any way to impose its will on the offenders. Missionaries comprise a large number of the internees but they are as lazy, morally obtuse, and uncooperative as many of the less savory members of the group. The most interesting and divisive moral issue comes up when the Americans internees receive food packages from the Red Cross. Should they share with the British or not? Another good story concerns the sex lives of the teenagers in the camp which became, to put it mildly, scandalous.

The author is a theologian and looks at both the moral and material issues. The book is not all bleak. The moral lapses and disputes of the internees do not destroy the community -- although one suspects than another year of internment would have seen that happen. One of the positive notes of the book is the character of Eric Liddell, the Olympic champion runner portrayed in "Chariot of the Gods" -- who is one of the few human beings in the book to come through as wholesomely good. (The author changes the names of all the internees mentions in the book but Liddell is easy to identify.) "Shantung Compound" is a classic of its kind and is perhaps the best book I have read on the behavior of human beings under stress.

Smallchief

A Probe to Your Faith.......2004-10-23

This book left me speechless and introspectively questioning the Christian faith I espouse. In Shantung Compound Gilkey, through his experience in the internment camp, stops the "program" of our spiritual doings and forces us to examine the conscience of our spirituality. His book has molded together spirituality, philosophy, psychology, and sociology--all of this together into a powerful delivery that demands a reconstitution of true religion in the hearts of seekers and believers alike. Even now I grapple for words to describe the book because it's just that powerful. Every Christian thinker must have this book as well as those who question Christianity. If anything it should restore faith in faith.

Survival under stress.......2001-12-02

Gilkey's academic liberalism is tested by the reality of the stress he observes as a mid-20's, very involved leader under prison conditions. His insights in the complex areas of law, food distribution, justice, work (his insight into lazy workers is very good), equality, theology, among other topics makes this book required reading for all managers, supervisors, teachers, religious leaders and lawyers. His associations with gifted intellects as well as self serving persons during his incarceration allowed him to validate his presuppositions. This is one of the most insightful books I've read in a long time. I now know why he is such an highly respected, revered teacher, mentor and theologian. His insight into the original sin of mankind is worth the price of the book! This book is truly a blessing.

Best sociology lesson ever written.......2001-11-13

This book should be required reading for every college student to better understand human nature and how people function when building a functional micro society from scratch.

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The "Shanghai Station" saga unfolds, interweaves with "Cafe on the Nile"
Strong, But Some Lost Steam
A disappointing sequel to "Shanghai Station"
China Star
An exotic, sexy adventure tale

China Star
Bartle Bull
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0786719230

Book Description

From Paris to Shanghai, romance and intrigue come together.

Customer Reviews:

The "Shanghai Station" saga unfolds, interweaves with "Cafe on the Nile".......2007-01-26

I first came to the British adventure novelist Bartle Bull through his African trilogy ("The White Rhino Hotel," "The Cafe on the Nile," and "The Devil's Oasis"). Bull wrote of a fading vision of the European playground in northern Africa - a paean to the romantic life of his father and so many other Brits with restless souls. These novels had a formula that could be summed up as high adventure, glorious sex, and dastardly murder . . . basically an 'R' rated "Indiana Jones" set of thrills and chills.

And they were great.

With "Shanghai Station," Bull sent his focus to the East - Russia and China - and the story became a bit darker. Alexander "Sasha" Karlov is the shining son of an aristocratic White Russian family fleeing the chaos of the Bolshevik Revolution. Their only destination is the teeming seaport of Shanghai, as colorful a locale as any writer could hope for. This story gave Bull the opportunity for more high adventure, glorious sex, and dastardly murder. But all of this was tempered in part by the rage of his villain, Victor Polyak, a Bolshevik Commissar and flat-out stone cold murderer. Polyak kills Sasha's parents and kidnaps and rapes his twin sister, Katia. In a classic "there-will-be-a-sequel" ending, a bitter fight between Karlov and Polyak ends with Karlov wounded but convinced that Polyak must be dead because all that is left of him is his severed hand.

Of course, Polyak is not dead, but only more lethal - now armed with an evil set of hooks where his hand used to be. In "China Star," Polyak tries to track down Karlov and exact his revenge. But Karlov is a beloved figure with friends everywhere, including the highest tiers of the criminal element in Shanghai. Polyak first tries to get Karlov in Paris, but fails and must watch as Karlov reunites with his twin sister, Katia, now a Cheka assassin and mother to Polyak's son Leon. (Leon, natch, is being held hostage in the finest Bolshevik tradition.)

In a plot that whisks from Paris to Cairo to Ceylon to Shanghai, Karlov, Katia, and their friends and lovers face death and triumph at every turn. Fortunes are made and lost, friendships forged, and lives snuffed out on almost every page - that is, when Bull isn't offering delightful passages detailing the exotic scenery or stirring bouts of sexual adventure. Perhaps most enjoyably, Karlov finds time to make a quick but lasting friendship with Bull's most enjoyable literary creation, the Goan dwarf entreprenuer, Olivio Fonseca Alevedo, who is just starting up the infamous Cafe on the Nile.

Bull offers up thrills and chills galore, including some of the most exotic death scenes and love scenes imaginable. Pure, glorious pulp entertainment of the highest order, "China Star" cannot be described as great fiction by any means, but a fantastic guilty pleasure. The only reason it does not get five stars is that there are a couple of incidents that are so dependent on coincidence that disbelief cannot be sustained. But this can be forgiven in pulp fiction, and Bull brings the goods in such enjoyable, intelligent prose that you really don't mind all that much.

Strong, But Some Lost Steam.......2007-01-06

China Star, the admirable sequel to Bartle Bull's adventure/romance Shanghai Station, appears to fall victim to an age-old curse: Trying to follow up an absolutely astounding book by penning out a longer, more expansive follow-up. With this minor error, Bull has made the supremely readable adventures of Count Karlov somewhat secondary to Bull's desire to explain - in detail - every natural and developmental aspect in the history of Ceylon, where a good portion of China Star takes place.

That said, China Star is never drudging or dull. Even at its most anthropological and ornithological, Bull's ability to make characters and locales come alive far outshines even the best mass-market fiction authors. One can feel the conflicted motivations of Bull's ever-increasing cast of characters (Alexander Karlov harassed once again by the nefarious Cheka Agent Viktor Polyak, and a motley band of other Communist agents), although Polyak, the bloodthirsty Commissar from Shanghai Station, still comes off as a bit two-dimensional. Thankfully, Bull has remedied this by providing an engaging cast of secondary and tertiary characters.

Make no mistake, even though Bull seems to enjoy turning portions of China Star into travel guides, his work still stands out as exemplary among modern writers. Those who found Shanghai Station to their liking will certainly find China Star to be a proud continuation of the Karlov adventures.

A disappointing sequel to "Shanghai Station".......2006-11-18

Bartle Bull wrote a fascinating historical novel set in post-Bolshevik Revolution Shanghai. Chronicling the adventures of the fictional aristocratic Karlovs, the evil Cheka agent Viktor Polyak, the Chinese strongman Hak Lee and other colorful characters, "Shanghai Station" was a winner because of deft dialog, reasonable plotting and strong historical elements.

"China Star" has the emphasis on history, but lacks the other two elements. The plot is implausible. In "Shanghai Station" Alex Karlov's mother is murdered and his sister kidnapped from the Trans-Siberian Express by Cheka monster Victor Polyak. "China Star" is continuation of Alexander's hunt for his sister and his mission to kill Polyak.

It is unbelievable. Polyak keeps trying to kill Alexander and Alexander keeps escaping. Polyak is a master murderer of everyone else except Alex. It's like those old Western movies where the bad guys seem to have two shots in their six-shooters and the good guys have thirty.

Worse yet, Bull layers on a romance that seems to be a replay of "Lady Chatterley's Lover". The innumberable sex scenes seem as if they were written by a fifteen year old assembling scraps of locker room sex lore.

To bridge the vast gaps in his plot, Bull has Alex meet one character after another whom Alex just happens to find a critical use for. As a social exploiter, Alex is top-tier. But all these fortuitous meetings fail to overcome the improbabilities of the plot.

On ther whole, Bull should have either been content with his acheivement in authoring "Shanghai Station" - or should have waited until he actually had a plot for "China Star," which is, in my opinion, an embarassment to him.

Jerry

China Star.......2006-11-10

This is a great read full of fascinating historical facts. China Star would make a great Merchant Ivory film. In fact, they should have made this book into a film instead of White Countess.

I have read all of Bartle Bull's books and highly recommend them for those that love the exotic locales of the Middle East, Africa and Asia in the first half of the 20th century. He is a master story teller with a great sense of humour and a brilliant grasp of historical facts.

An exotic, sexy adventure tale .......2006-09-02

Bartle Bull writes exotic adventure tales, five of them to date: an African trilogy and now two novels about the adventures of young Alexander Karlov, a White Russian nobleman, footloose after the fall of Russia to the Bolsheviks. All the books are worth reading as exemplars of intelligent adventure novels.

"China Star" is a tale of Karlov's search for his lost twin sister, and the efforts of a savage and repulsive Bolshevik to effect his assassination through various nefarious means. The story begins in Paris, and then continues on a long steamer ride through Egypt, Sri Lanka, and back to Karlov's home in Shanghai. Bull gets high marks for atmosphere, research, and accuracy in the exotic places and scenes he describes. In this book, for example, we get interesting descriptions of the cotton market in Egypt, tea growing in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and the White Russian community in Paris in 1922.

I don't give this novel top rating because it is too long and contrived. In the course of the novel, the repulsive Bolshevik makes innumerable attempts to kill young Alexander -- far too many for plausibility. It would have been better to have cut the number of action scenes down to two or three. Furthermore, the author spends too much time in scenes in which Alexander demonstrates his prowess in bed. Alexander's impressive skills with women could be demonstrated adequately in fewer words and lesser numbers of bedtime jousts. One has the feeling that the author felt compelled to write a novel of over 400 pages and padded it. It would have been a better story if cut to 250 or 300 pages -- and nothing of importance would have been omitted.

So, read Bull and enjoy the descriptions of strange lands and exotic people, but be prepared to be irritated at the slow pace of the story.

Smallchief

Chinese Femininities/Chinese Masculinities: A Reader (Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes)

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Chinese Femininities/Chinese Masculinities: A Reader (Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes)

Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520221168

Book Description

The past two centuries have witnessed tremendous upheavals in every aspect of Chinese culture and society. At the level of everyday life, some of the most remarkable transformations have occurred in the realm of gender. Chinese Femininities/Chinese Masculinities is a mix of illuminating historical and ethnographic studies of gender from the 1700s to the present.
The essays in this highly creative collection are organized in pairs that alternate in focus between femininity and masculinity, between subjects traditionally associated with feminism (such as family life) and those rarely considered from a gendered point of view (like banditry). The chapters provide a wealth of interesting detail on such varied topics as court cases involving widows and homosexuals; ideal spouses of early-twentieth-century radicals; changing images of prostitutes; the masculinity of qigong masters; sexuality in the era of reform; and the eroticization of minorities. While most of the essays were specifically written for this volume, a few are reprinted as a testament to their enduring value.
Exploring the central role of gender as an organizing principle of Chinese social life, Chinese Femininities/ Chinese Masculinities is an innovative reader that will spark new debate in a wide range of disciplines.

Fatal Depth: Deep Sea Diving, China Fever, and the Wreck of the Andrea Doria

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Great book...
A magazine article on steroids
Great reference book for technical wreck divers
A Good Read
Accurate but disappointing

Fatal Depth: Deep Sea Diving, China Fever, and the Wreck of the Andrea Doria
Joe Haberstroh
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1585744573

Book Description

The gripping true story of treasure hunting and terrible tragedy encountered by divers exploring the world's most dangerous sunken shipwreck.

Customer Reviews:

Great book..........2007-02-08

I'm an avid reader of anything related to scuba diving and freediving. This book filled my expectations. However, I also read The Last Attempt by Carlos serra and found it even more appealing and gripping than this one. I highly recommend both of them but The Last Attempt was a really nice surprise.

It's about the story of a female freediving champion who died during her last attempt to set a new world record held by her husband, a legend in the sport, but after her death, and even though everyting pointed towards him, and despite heavy scrutiny by the media, no one could establish what actually happened. I was astonished when i read it. Incredible story, so between The Last Attempt and Fatal Depth, i found myself delighted with a lot of good reading.

A magazine article on steroids .......2006-05-07

Fatal Depth offers a neutral report of several accidents, starting with the collision that sunk the Andrea Doria and then moving on to recount mishaps involving deep water scuba diving by recreational divers who want to explore the wreck and bring back artifacts. Some would call deep water diving of this type "extreme" diving (230 feet deep), though aficionados call it technical diving. The reporting of the mishaps themselves is brief since they often occurred while the diver was out of sight of others, but this is supplemented by substantial background information about the diver.

Haberstroh, by trade a reporter and not a diver, has written a book that looks at some of the non-technical issues, such as the boat captain's responsibility to assure the competence of divers who have the requisite certifications or who are accompanied by a reputable instructor. Typical of a reporter writing a story, he presents the issues but does not provide his own editorial opinion.

The failure to report the outcome of the lawsuit that is discussed in the book is annoying, but an online search revealed that the plaintiff lost the case (at least at the trial level) by summary judgment. Whether the case has been appealed is not readily ascertainable by an online search.

While a quick read, it does not compare favorably with Shadow Divers or The Last Dive, both of which are gripping. For someone interested in this genre, it offers enough new information to make it worth reading, and in that case, Fatal Depth would be a good book to borrow from a local library.

Great reference book for technical wreck divers.......2005-08-19

Great book. Lots of accident information as well as the diving history of the wreck. A must have for your reference library. Learn from the mistakes of others.

A Good Read.......2005-03-04

I enjoyed reading this book...for someone that does not dive it certainly is an eye-opener as to how many ways you can get in trouble quick at extreme depths.

Accurate but disappointing.......2005-03-02

I had just finished Shadow Divers when I jumped into Fatal Depth. That's a shame because Shadow Divers so overwhelms FD that a completely unbiased review may not have been possible.

Haberstroh knits together the string of fatal dive incidents using the state of mind of dive boat captain Dan Crowell as the unifying thread. This attempt, though, turns up so little that the incidents really have to stand alone. As such, they seem like little more than incident investigations with perhaps a bit of background color for each of the victims. The author seems to have had no particular agenda and draws no conclusions. Even the status of a lawsuit described in the book's closing chapters is left unresolved.

If you want a STORY, ready Shadow Divers. If you want research material on deep diving fatalities or just cannot get enough of the genre then by all means pick up Fatal Depth.

Homoerotic Sensibilities in Late Imperial China (Routledgecurzon/Asian Studies Association of Australia East)

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Homoerotic Sensibilities in Late Imperial China (Routledgecurzon/Asian Studies Association of Australia East)
Wu Cuncun
Manufacturer: RoutledgeCurzon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0415334748

Book Description

Homoerotic Sensibilities in Late Imperial China is the richest exploration to date of late imperial Chinese literati interest in male-love. Employing primary sources such as miscellanies (including diaries and letters), poetry, fiction and "flower guides", the author argues that male homoeroticism played a central role in cultural life of late imperial Chinese literati elites. Countering recent arguments that homosexuality was marginalized and disparaged during this period, this book also seeks to trace the relationship of homoeroticism to status and power, arguing that existing paradigms for the study of sexuality, centered on identity and behavior, must be extended and placed within the larger context of a sexual culture. Only with this shift in methodological focus is it possible to accurately account for the distinctive character of homoerotic sensibilities in late imperial China.

In addition to historical analysis the book also develops the concept of "sensibilities" as a method for interpreting the complex range of homoerotic texts produced in late imperial China, recognizing a need to think about sexuality not only in terms of behavior and identity but also in terms of culture: not necessarily national culture, but particular cultures in which practices and identities are given meaning and evaluated. Such an approach, employing a combination of historical and textual strategies, allows us to account for the rise in homoeroticism in late Qing China as a significant and far reaching sensibility (feng) that in turn acted upon the wider cultural landscape.

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sweet childhood stories
Loved Little Pear books when I was growing up!
A wonderful book!

Little Pear and His Friends
Eleanor Frances Lattimore
Manufacturer: Harcourt Young Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0152054847

Book Description

Little Pear is a young boy who lives in a small village in China. Although his story takes place long ago, Little Pear is much like any little boy today--always on the lookout for excitement and adventure!

Wherever Little Pear goes, there is fun to be had. His friends love to join his adventures--especially his best friend, Big Head.

Accompany Little Pear as he goes ice fishing, masquerades as a beggar boy, finds a tiger in his house, and--best of all--gets a brand-new little brother!

Customer Reviews:

sweet childhood stories.......2006-07-03

These little pear stories are just good clean fun. Not many books are written like this one these days.

Little Pear is a young chineese boy. In this chapter book he has many adventures. In these adventures he learns newthings such as ice fishing and baby sitting.

Loved Little Pear books when I was growing up!.......2006-06-09

I am so glad to find these books again. I used to check them out at our local library and they looked pretty old back then (I am almost 37!). I cannot wait to share them with my little girl, I hope she enjoys them as much as I did.

A wonderful book!.......2006-03-14

The Little Pear stories are fabulous. My four year old daughter loves them and we read them over and over. They are perfect for this age and older.

Little Pear (Odyssey Classics (Odyssey Classics))

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My kids liked this more than I did...
A wonderful book!
A wonderful Book
Filled with kites, boats, candies and mischief.

Little Pear (Odyssey Classics (Odyssey Classics))
Eleanor Frances Lattimore
Manufacturer: Odyssey Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0152055029

Book Description

Little Pear is a young boy who lives in a small village in China. Although his story takes place long ago, he is much like any little boy today--always on the lookout for excitement and adventure!

Little Pear is just looking for fun, but he has a knack for finding trouble without even trying! Join him as he stows away to the fair in a wheelbarrow full of vegetables, nearly flies away on a kite, has a mishap with a firecracker, and is rescued from the river by a houseboat family.

Customer Reviews:

My kids liked this more than I did..........2007-03-31

I thought this was a cute book but not particularly noteworthy. I purchased it because it was on the Sonlight reading list and our library didn't carry it. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't go out of my way to purchase it. Little Pear is a cute character and the simple back and white drawings scattered throughout focused my 5 and 7 year old's attention. Each story was short too, which made it a nice book for both levels. I liked this book, I just didn't love it.

A wonderful book!.......2006-03-14

The Little Pear stories are fabulous. My four year old loves them and we read them over and over.

A wonderful Book.......2001-03-28

Little Pear was always in mischief. He was also a kind boy. The pictures are exciting and Little Pear only had a little pony tail. On Chinese New Year, Little Pear's father bought some kites and gave to him and his youngest sister. She had a butterfly kite and Little Pear had a goldfish kite. Her sister flew her kite so high that she lost it and Little Pear almost lost his as well.So he and his sister played with little pear's kite. When they went home it was supper time of fried cornmeal, bean sprouts and hot tea. After that they got ready to sleep.

Filled with kites, boats, candies and mischief........1997-07-09

A wonderfully universal story of a 5-year old chinese boy interested in 5-year-old adventures. Lattimore has a simple style that appeals to the young mind. It's not too scary and not too silly.

Men and Gods in Mongolia (Mystic Traveller Series)

Average customer rating:

interesting mongolia adventure account

Men and Gods in Mongolia (Mystic Traveller Series)
Henning Haslund
Manufacturer: Adventures Unlimited Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0932813151

Customer Reviews:

interesting mongolia adventure account.......2000-12-07

I stumbled across this book around a year ago and found it to be an excellent account of adventure in old Mongolia. It is always a pleasure to read accounts from Asia that do not have a Buddhist slant to it, but a neutral stance observing the customs of this area. I enjoyed his tales from the monasteries and his encounters with Oracles and Spirit Mediums. Haslund provides great color and textures to his account of one of the great Asian expeditions of all time.

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