Book Description

This book is primarily a biography of Sun Zi, but it also incorporates the spirit and main contents of "Art of War" by Sun Zi to help readers grasp the arcane truth and strategies covered in this great military classic. It is a must reading for those interested in the life and work of Sun Zi and the essence of his immortal work. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent piece of Literature
Absolutely absorbing! Liu Binyan is showing why he is seen as China's most influential investigative reporter. The book reads like a novel. It takes the reader inside the soul of the ordinary Chinese people. Page after page is filled with images of tremendous dignity and courage in the face of a strangulating system. Characters come alive like the young woman, Zhang Zhixin, who realized that Mao's policies had failed and said so. For this she was condemmed to death by firing squad. But in order to prevent her from having the last word the State cut her larynx. Curt Vonnegut's answer to what it is in the German character that allowed such atrocities to happen in WW2 echoes repeatedly "obedience". Obeying laws that are not in the common good. The spirit of the Chinese people rises high above and will not be quieted by violence. "We will all repent in this generation not only for the hateful words and deeds of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people." Martin Luther King ... Read more

Reviews (1)

nice story, too redundant
Although I enjoyed reading this book, it seemed to be redundant and unorganized. It's a really nice a compelling story. The live of Ms. Chong's grandmother is interesting and not uncommon for the time and the place. The problem is the book's structure. There are bits and pieces of the story scattered all over. If you are interested in the chinese-american (US/Canada) culture, this is a good book to read. On the other hand, if what you want is a coherent, well structured book, this book is not going to cut it. The pictures are a nice touch:) ... Read more

Reviews (9)

purple prose, weak melodrama
Whats annoying is that the author passes this all off as autobigraphical and historically true, when it is NOT. YH was/is from a very elite background, and like other expats making bucks off of US readers in search of melodramas of oppressed Chinese, this works poorly as history or politics. MOreover, the prose is labored and purple, though this might be the translation's fault.

How do you fit so much pain into beautiful words?
It is true that this autobiography is bleak. It is dark, but it is a reflection of the poverty and oppression experienced by the peasant class in China, now and all during the rule of the Communist regime. How Hong Ying is able to evoke absolute beauty from this seemingly unending ugliness is beyond me. But she expertly does just that. Without thought or pretense, Hong Ying's writing sings immaculately from the page. Amazing prose. This book's importance lies in that it is the story of someone from the peasant class, and since it is always good to hear all different perspectives of the same or similar events in order to get a good all around picture of the times, Hong Ying's book is a must read. In commenting on the book to a friend, I said that perhaps Hong Ying and her family's saving grace was that they were already at the bottom of the totem pole. Because of this they didn't have to experience the worst of what the Cultural Revolution had to offer eventhough it touched their lives daily. The peasant class of China is what Mao Zedong strived to make all the people of China in the name of proletarianism. The fact that Hong Ying and her family were already of this class meant that many of the dynamics of the time that were sweeping through all classes above them settled into their class as normalcy somewhat. It's like a line from Joan Chen's movie "Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl;" at one point when Xiu Xiu is questioning where she is being sent, she is told that it doesn't matter because it's the same everywhere; a simple statement but poignant in just how dead on right it is. Therefore, you must appreciate even moreso when we are allowed to read of these events by all those who were a part of them be it peasant or merchant. If it's done well, it is the most captivating of things to read because it means they made it out and are able to share it with us now. Before, any scraps of paper containing this type of writing would have been confiscated and burned, a black mark put in your file, or perhaps you'd be arrested. Hong Ying has done a brilliant job telling of her coming into womanhood in those times and of the exuberant curiosity she had about her family and herself, always having been treated as the outsider.

Agonising
I cannot say that I enjoyed reading this book ... it was too raw to bring pleasure. But it did keep me captivated until the end. I felt that I wanted to reach out to Hong Ying and comfort her in some way as she lived through such excruciating poverty and endured the even greater agony of not feeling loved. I hope that she has found love and is at peace now. I also wonder about the fate of her family. Did they ever find release from such grinding poverty?

Hong Ying obviously has a great talent and I look forward to reading more of her writings.

I had no problem putting it down
The non linar approach kept me thinking there would be some big supprizing reward at the end of the book. To my disappointment there was no such revolation. Not an awfully written story but certinally no prize winner in my book!

A Letter to the Author: .. Touches my heart deeply..
Dear Hong Ying

Thank you so much for sending me your book. I was totally gripped by your narrative and when I finished it I found myself weeping uncontrollably. There is so much in your story which strikes my raw emotion and which touches my heart deeply.This is not just because I feel instinctively tuned into the underworld you depicted so vividly due to similar experiences in my life in Chongqing. More importantly, it embodies almost exactly the literary project which has long been fermenting in my mind. I have always longed to read something or even write something which could show that big words such as freedom, democracy and human rights are not just some high-sounding principles; that they affect millions of ordinary people's lives in many concrete ways.

In my discipline of political science, the rise of East Asia in the 1980s spawned a huge industry of academic research on the relathionship between political system and economic development. For quite a while, Western scholars who were critical of their own democratic system joined the chorus of East Asian dictators such as Suharto, Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Mahathir (of Malaysia) to defend the "necessity" of authoritarianism for the sake of economic development and political stability. I think your book would be an ideal antidote to this typical "arm-chair" scholarship devoid of any sense of reality. To me, your book serves as a powerful warning that development without democracy simply

creates another privileged class standing above the law and everyone else. I am often angered and depressed by the world I live in. It seems to me so many human injustices stem ultimately from the fact that too many human beings are greedy and cruel. ... Read more

Book Description

The most feared man in China, Dai Li, was chief of Chiang Kai-shek's secret service during World War II. This sweeping biography of "China's Himmler," based on recently opened intelligence archives, traces Dai's rise from obscurity as a rural hooligan and Green Gang blood-brother to commander of the paramilitary units of the Blue Shirts and of the dreaded Military Statistics Bureau: the world's largest spy and counterespionage organization of its time.

In addition to exposing the inner workings of the secret police, whose death squads, kidnappings, torture, and omnipresent surveillance terrorized critics of the Nationalist regime, Dai Li's personal story opens a unique window on the clandestine history of China's Republican period. This study uncovers the origins of the Cold War in the interactions of Chinese and American special services operatives who cooperated with Dai Li in the resistance to the Japanese invasion in the 1930s and who laid the groundwork for an ongoing alliance against the Communists during the revolution that followed in the 1940s. Frederic Wakeman Jr. illustrates how the anti-Communist activities Dai Li led altered the balance of power within the Chinese Communist Party, setting the stage for Mao Zedong's rise to supremacy. He reveals a complex and remarkable personality that masked a dark presence in modern China--one that still pervades the secret services on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Wakeman masterfully illuminates a previously little-understood world as he discloses the details of Chinese secret service trade-craft. Anyone interested in the development of modern espionage will be intrigued by Spymaster, which spells out in detail the ways in which the Chinese used their own traditional methods, in addition to adapting foreign ways, to create a modern intelligence service. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Poorly Written, but Fact Filled
Lowell Dittmer was also my professor. The only thing saving his dense lectures is the fact that he actually gets some information out. The book is strikingly similar because of Dittmer's convoluted sentences, overused abbreviations, and lack of real flow... Despite this, the text covers a great deal of information for those intensely interested in this area of study. If you can get through the book, you might learn a lot. And no, I'm not bitter, I got a good grade in the class :)

Poorly Written, but Fact Filled
Lowell Dittmer is also my professor. The only thing saving his dense lectures is the fact that he actually gets some information out. The book is strikingly similar because of Dittmer's convoluted sentences, overused abbreviations, and lack of real flow (in addition to the previous review's comments). Despite this, the text covers a great deal of information for those intensely interested in this area of study. If you can get through the book, you might learn a lot.

Fine study of Liu Shaoqi and his fall.
In this book, Lowell Dittmer illuminates how Liu's beliefs on Communism differed from Mao's, and how radical Mao was.

Secondly, he explains the process of mass criticism in Cultural Revolution China, and moves towards a theory of mass criticism.

This book is very good. However, it has a few flaws. Dittmer isn't an extremely good writer, though he makes his points clearly. Also, he creates graphs of the frequency of mass criticism from which very little can be read, and then proceeds to draw odd conclusions from them. He also makes pointless diagrams, the content of which is rather obvious, and then develops strange terminology out of them, such as assigning people letters based on their function in mass criticism. Despite these idiosyncracies, this is a fine book. ... Read more

Book Description

The first biography of an amazing modern master whose architectural vision and political skill have shaped our environment. Michael Cannell reveals here the history and personality behind the enigmatic Pei, our most famous living architect. 90 black-and-white photographs. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Wonderful Tale
A brilliant and well-thought out look at one of this centuries most prolific architects. All of the stories behind his greatest achievements are here, including the scandal the erupted around the building of the Louvre pyramid. Pei is shown to be an practical innovator with his own particular philosophy; his elegant lines and deceptively simple ideas set him apart from the complicated ideology of the Bauhaus movement and architects like Le Corbusier. A very good read. ... Read more

Book Description

David Goodman reaches beyond China's spectacular economic success of recent years to understand the sources of Deng's political power. This is a balanced evaluation of the career of one of the century's great political survivors. ... Read more

Book Description

A biography of the young Chinese-American figure skater who won national and world championships in 1996 and a silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics. ... Read more

Book Description

Julia Duan’s story recalls missionary biographies of an earlier age.Here is an intriguing story of a courageous woman who dared to stand up for Christ in Marxist China and the God who was her strength through it all. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A truely beautiful account.
The courage of this beautiful lady to even publish such a book is fantastic. Her portrayal of that very difficult time in Chinese history without rancor, but with great forgiveness and love, is very encouraging for Christians everywhere. I only wish I could speak to her personally.

A unique perspective on China during this century.
Ms. Duan's life and book are a testimony to the incredible uphevals that have occured in China during this century. From the perspective of a Chinese Christian, Ms. Duan has written a book that integrates her culture and her faith. This book captures the life of a unique woman who has lived a humble life and provides the reader with a window into Chinese life. Definitely a book both to inspire and inform.

A wonderful story of a faith journey in difficult situations
This book is most inspiring to those of us who live in a world where we are free to believe and worship as we wish. Julia Duan endured hardships most cannot understand by exhibiting a strong faith through recalling hymns and scripture memorized years in the past. She can inspire us all. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Bullet-Proof Buddhists: The Real Deal
Frank Chin's collection of essays is magnificent. The book is a course in itself on the authenticity of the Chinese-American experience in American culture. Chin's ideas are well researched, even scholarly in origin, but they are presented in ways that are eminently accessible. Each of the essays is provocative of the reader's thinking. I loved the essay on "Lowe Hoy & the 3 Legged Toad", for its exposition of strategy in Chinese social experience, and for its use of authentic Cantonese colloquialisms in his interviewees' speech.

A book I can personally relate too
Excellent book! Some events bring me back to my childhood years growing up in the Bay area.

A Pleasure To Read
I love the essays of Frank Chin. I just wished that the editor would put in "Racist Love" in this anthology. Anyway, this book is a treat because you'll have a commentary of Sun Tzu's ART OF WAR. Over and over again I've heard Chin mention how well ART OF WAR reflects Asian thinking. Well, it's now available to you guys, written by Frank Chin himself!

Yes
This book is a work of art. I loved every page of it. Thank you Mr. Chin

Frank Chin combs the landscape of Chinese American culture
There is no question that when it comes to specific, focused cultural criticism, Frank Chin has the task nailed down. I don't know the time frame spanned by these essays, but in terms of content they cover all the bases. Any student of Asian-American history and culture can profit from Chin's sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes frightfully serious analysis of several aspects of the Asian-American experience. Chin deals with immigration/migration; gang subcultures; folk history and mythology; and others. But the thing that makes this book so impressive, beyond its coverage, is Chin's writing style -- fast and loose, comfortable and razor-sharp. The jacket describes him as a "literary gangster" -- never have I heard a more apt description of an author. He wrangles words from the oral histories he obtains and makes them work for him. But he is a respectful gangster -- the subjects of his interviews seem open, warm to him and to his neverending questions. The text can get heavy at times, but this is a function of the content it taps. A very, very powerful book. ... Read more