Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, Third Edition

Book Description

The new 3rd edition of Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica is designed to give practitioners the information they need to practice Chinese herbal medicine with greater understanding and confidence. It provides a wealth of new information -- more than twice the content of the previous edition -- and practical insight into more than 530 of the most commonly used herbs in the Chinese pharmacopoeia.

Drawing from a wide range of sources, both classical and modern, this edition provides unparalleled perspective and detail that goes far beyond what is available elsewhere to the Western practitioner.

Herbs are grouped in chapters by function, with expanded summaries and tables for contrast and comparison. Each herb is identified by its pharmaceutical, pinyin, botanical, and family names, as well as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and English common names.

Key characteristics are provided at the beginning of each entry, along with dosage, properties, channels entered, and relevant cautions and contraindications. This provides a quick overview of essential information.

Actions and indications are integrated with important combinations that illustrate the range of an herb's functions, with references to appropriate formulas. This presents a more three-dimensional picture of how each herb is actually used.

Expanded commentary offers in-depth analysis and places each herb in its clinical context through rich historical references. The mechanisms of action underlying important combinations, and comparisons with similar herbs, provide a broader context for understanding how the herb can be used with optimal effect.

A section devoted to nomenclature and preparation describes the most important methods of processing and preparing each herb, and the advantages of each method. It also provides information about other commonly-used names and historical background.

Safety is an important focus of this edition, with an emphasis on proper herb identification. Issues concerning standardized products, desirable qualities, variants, and adulterants are explained for each herb. There is also extensive information on toxicity, as well as chemical constituents.

The utility of this book is enhanced by its wide range of appendices, among which are color photographs comparing the standard and adulterant forms of over 20 common herbs; tables of herbs that are indicated for specific pathologies of the five yin organs; and extensive cross references of the herbs by taxonomy, pinyin, pharmaceutical name, and other East Asian languages. There are also comprehensive indices of both herbs and formulas, as well as a general index.

Customer Reviews:

Chinese Herbal Medicine.......2007-09-12

This is by far the best Chinese Herbal Medicine referral book I have come across in my studies.

Daunting at first, but then easier to come to terms with later.......2007-05-29

Well, what can you say about this book? This is a hefty, giant book, and could certainly induce some kind of cerbral damage if dropped out of a third story window. :) No, in all seriousness, this is a great, concise book, and as the title of this review implies, it becomes more manageable after you get used to it. Used solely by itself, it will probably not help the student of Chinese herbology to ace any exams, but used in accordance with other study techniques, it will furter deepen and reinforce the studying of the herbs.

The Internet is a nice source of Information, too.......2007-04-23

Well,

Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences (ICMS), with the generous support from the Macao SAR Government and University of Macau, was founded in 2002.

Dan Bensky is a graduate of the Macau Institute of Chinese Medicine (Oriental Medicine Diploma, 1975)

Exactly what I wanted.......2007-03-09

My book arrived sooner than expected and in perfect shape. Thank you!

Essential Reference Material.......2007-03-08

Bensky's herbal reference texts are industry standards. Buy this book or risk ridicule.

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts

Average customer rating:

Brilliant!
Prepare for the unexpected.
Interesting motive, fails to deliver
Interesting Perspective Rarely Seen
who's talking now

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
Maxine Hong Kingston
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Ceremony: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
No-No Boy
Beloved
China Men
The House on Mango Street

ASIN: 0679721886
Release Date: 1989-04-23

Amazon.com

The Woman Warrior is a pungent, bitter, but beautifully written memoir of growing up Chinese American in Stockton, California. Maxine Hong Kingston (China Men) distills the dire lessons of her mother's mesmerizing "talk-story" tales of a China where girls are worthless, tradition is exalted and only a strong, wily woman can scratch her way upward. The author's America is a landscape of confounding white "ghosts"--the policeman ghost, the social worker ghost--with equally rigid, but very different rules. Like the woman warrior of the title, Kingston carries the crimes against her family carved into her back by her parents in testimony to and defiance of the pain.

Book Description

A Chinese American woman tells of the Chinese myths, family stories and events of her California childhood that have shaped her identity.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant!.......2007-08-25

An excellent book, funny, insightful, poignant. Ms. Kingston brilliantly conveys how cultures can clash within the minds of those who straddle them. After reading this book I bought half a dozen copies to give to close friends.

Prepare for the unexpected........2007-03-22

This is a tremendous novel. The author threads the stories her mother told her when she was a child, through the retelling of her own life, using them to draw you into her own imagination. As she grows up, living half immersed in traditional myth and half in gritty reality, where mothers and daughters are only human, the reader grows up with her. The first person telling of her childhhood stories puts the reader directly in the shoes of a child/young adult working through the stories she has been told, using them to form her hopes and dreams and her understanding of the world.

(N.B. You may not think that your childhood stories influenced the way you live, but if you think for a minute, I am certain some will come back to you and you'll realize that just the other day you did something based on or combatting that belief. Maybe you even still wish on stars?)

Interesting motive, fails to deliver.......2007-01-12

While the perspective and ideas of this novel are ones rarely seen in modern day literature, Maxine Hong Kingston fails to captivate a reader in a way that one would expect from a novel dealing with the difficulties of not only being a minority in the U.S., but for simply being female.

The story starts off with the tale of Kingston's deceased aunt, who brought shame to the family and was unmentionable due to the fact that she bore an illegitimate child. As she gets into the tale and finds a parallel between herself and her aunt, both not wanting to conform to societal expectations, the story quickly changes to a story of a legendary girl trained by two old people to battle evil. The narration is filled with melodramatic elements and disorganized and often random occurences that make no sense at all, thereby losing the reader's interest early on in the book. The story then changes a few more times to different events in her family occuring in different eras, making it hard to grasp the relationship between themand her purpose for doing so. As you can see, the organization in this novel seems to be its biggest flaw. Instead of focusing on one tale and going in depth about it, the fact that Kingston changes stories so frequently and often before they are fully developed is annoying and seems to be pointless. While the stories she includes share a common theme of decpicting independent and strong women, her melodramatic and ineffective ways of narrating not only loses the reader's interest but in the process, I think even Kingston got confused about what she was trying to say!

Interesting Perspective Rarely Seen.......2007-01-12

Kingston combines the use of allegory, fantasy, and real life elements of her childhood to explore the social status of Chinese American women from the 1940s to the present in The Woman Warrior. While at first all of her stories may seem random, they all connect to Kingston's point of view as to how not just being a minority but also being a female made life difficult for her in both cultures. Her interwoven stories were so fascinating, as she brilliantly compares what she truly wants and what society is willing to allow her to do. It is crucial that the reader pay close attention to when her stories shift. My one problem with her plot organization is that she focuses on one story, and then suddenly shifts to another story. I couldn't understand until I was at the middle of the plot to comprehend each story's purpose in the bigger picture. But once the reader succeeds in getting over that one flaw, the rest is amazing. Kingston develops a unique style all on her own as she somehow connects the fantastical parts of her dreams to what she is forced to experience in everyday reality. In the backdrop of her personal experience, Kingston describes America's problems with racism and sexism different women in her lives are hurt by this. Kingston needed to maintain her flow; but the intriguing connections involving fantasy and reality work effectively to enhance her purpose.

who's talking now.......2007-01-11

This book tries to do too much! and doesn't succeed.

Even though this book had a good story over all, the confusing narration completely distracts from the intended message.

The entire story is in first person, no matter who is talking. This gets very confusing when the story suddenly shifts to another woman's story and you still think you are reading about the previous person. Suddenly you are reading and you think that the same character has somehow appeared on the other side of the world having no idea how she got there.

You will end up spending the whole book just trying to figure out who is speaking that you will miss most of what the book tries to say.

This is supposed to show the reality of what it is like to be a chinese woman but this is too hard to see when everything else is in the way.

This book does do some things well like its clever incorporation of irony in the narrator's retelling of a story that she has been forbidden to tell. It also incorporates superstitious elements such as her mother's battle with ghosts while at college and the enticing tale of the woman warrior. There is more irony seen here when most women in the story are seen as being weak, yet the woman warrior is strong and represents all the women with its title.

China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise

Average customer rating:

China's fragility lies elsewhere
Understanding China
Notes by an insider
China at Times Its Own Worst Enemy
Easily 5 Stars!

China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise
Susan L. Shirk
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195306090

Book Description

Once a sleeping giant, China today is the world's fastest growing economy--the leading manufacturer of cell phones, laptop computers, and digital cameras--a dramatic turn-around that alarms many Westerners. But in China: The Fragile Superpower, Susan L. Shirk opens up the black box of Chinese politics and finds that the real danger lies elsewhere--not in China's astonishing growth, but in the deep insecurity of its leaders. China's leaders face a troubling paradox: the more developed and prosperous the country becomes, the more insecure and threatened they feel. Shirk, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for China, knows many of today's Chinese rulers personally and has studied them for three decades. She offers invaluable insight into how they think--and what they fear. In this revealing book, readers see the world through the eyes of men like President Hu Jintao and former President Jiang Zemin. We discover a fragile communist regime desperate to survive in a society turned upside down by miraculous economic growth and a stunning new openness to the greater world. Indeed, ever since the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and the fall of communism in the Soviet Union, Chinese leaders have been haunted by the fear that their days in power are numbered. Theirs is a regime afraid of its own citizens, and this fear motivates many of their decisions when dealing with the U.S. and other foreign nations. In particular, the fervent nationalism of the Chinese people, combined with their passionate resentment of Japan and attachment to Taiwan, have made relations with these two regions a minefield. It is here, Shirk concludes, in the tangled interactions between Japan, Taiwan, China, and the United States, that the greatest danger lies. Shirk argues that rising powers such as China tend to provoke wars in large part because other countries mishandle them. Unless we understand China's brittle internal politics and the fears that motivate its leaders, we face the very real possibility of avoidable conflict with China. This book provides that understanding.

Customer Reviews:

China's fragility lies elsewhere.......2007-09-09

Honestly, China - Fragile Superpower caught my attention as well as curiosity. How fragile is China? This is my very first question before reading the book. The poor rural peasants, increasing laid-off workers, the rise of civil and democratic consciousness among Chinese citizens, the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)...? I have thought about various reasons for a fragile China.

Unexpectedly, a "fragile China" is not the comment or viewpoint from the west, but from the Chinese president Hu Jintao, "although China looks like a powerhouse from the outside, to its leaders it looks fragile, poor and overwhelmed by internal problems". Indeed, everyone knows that the Chinese leaders are facing numerous internal problems, apart from dealing with poor peasants and laid-off workers, environmental degradation, the Chinese product safety, the gap between the rich and the poor as well as the income gap between coastal and inland are also the imminent challenges to the rise of China.

Susan L. Shirk is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in managing US-China relations. She has another perspective towards a "fragile China" - the rise of internet and mass media. The whole threatening mechanism begins with the young "netizens". The "netizens" search the foreign website in getting the uncensored international news and post it to the local forums. Other "netizens" start to discuss the issue and post some radical responses like protesting the Japanese prime minister's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine. Shirk also studies the similar cases such as the US bombardment on Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999, the clash of aircraft between China and the US near South China Sea in 2001 and the provocative issue such as Taiwan. Since the Chinese leaders seek to get the collective consensus (to avoid personal responsibility) before formally reacting to international crisis, their replies always come late. In the meantime, the Chinese leaders cannot control the spreading news, especially those from the internet. In order to remain the legitimacy of the government, the Chinese leaders are forced to address according to the public opinion. This is the reason why China reacts toughly towards Japan, the United States and Taiwan even though the Chinese leaders treasure the economic interdependences between China, Japan and the United States as well as the positive image of mainland China among Taiwanese.

Besides, by interviewing some Chinese military generals, Shirk finds that the Chinese leaders have compromised to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) for regime security. Some PLA generals heavily criticized Jiang Zemin's leadership in dealing with foreign countries. For example, Jiang is regarded as too pro-American, too soft on Japan while too optimistic towards the unification of Taiwan. To pacify the discontents among the PLA generals, Jiang enlarged the PLA's budget with an increase of double digit percentage annually. Not surprisingly, the west believes that the rise of Chinese military power is a potential threat to the Asia-Pacific region, not because of the modernization of the PLA, but for the growing influence of the Chinese military generals who are not accountable to the civilian government.

Therefore, according to Shirk, China is a fragile superpower because there are too many constrains on the Chinese leaders in making both their domestic and foreign policy. Even worse, as Shirk writes, "The CCP's ability to control the information that reaches the public is declining at the same time as the country's military capabilities are improving. And these two trends combine dangerously to intensify the pressure to use force to defend China's honor".

Though Shirk develops a model in explaining the dilemmas of the Chinese leaders in facing the demands of public opinion and the belligerence of military generals, it seems that the role of the internet in China is a bit exaggerated. In fact, many foreign websites are blocked in China. Even though there are limited occasional cases which the "netizens" posted uncensored news on local website, these news were removed within hours. There is a doubt whether a concrete public opinion can be formed within a few hours via internet. Shirk also admits that the huge Chinese demonstration against the US for the bombardment of Belgrade in 1999 and the clash of Chinese and American aircrafts in 2001 were acquiesced if not encouraged by the Chinese government. The Chinese government kept the demonstrations under control in order to get better bargaining position over the US. However, Shirk should also take into account that there was a call up of anti-Japanese demonstration in April 2005 on the internet for the Japanese prime minister Kozumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine. But this time, the Chinese government firmly prohibited the demonstration since the previous anti-Japanese demonstrations went radically by attacking the Japanese stores. Also, the Chinese leaders want to send a signal to Japan that China is willing to restore their bilateral relations. The point here is that no demonstration can be appeared without the consent of the Chinese government, no matter the demonstration is called up through the internet or not. Besides, Shirk believes that the CCP will stand firm towards Japan, Taiwan and the US because the Qing and the Kuomintang government lost their regime for failing to expel foreign aggressions. It is indeed too early to justify whether the ordinary Chinese will overthrow the CCP only because of its soft stance towards Japan, Taiwan and the US, given that the situation is not the same for the CCP now when compare the previous regimes.

China is a fragile rising power, but its fragility lies on the peasants who have no land to farm and the laid-off workers who have no social security net to rely on rather than the public opinion on the internet.

Understanding China.......2007-08-02

Few fields of academic endeavor are as determinedly pc as the study of communist China. China academics and intelligence analysts over the years have strived with some success to portray the communist regime in a more benign light than probably is warranted.

Fortunately Susan Shirk''s book--the best work yet to appear on contemporary China-- provides a balanced and thoughtful perspective on the contradictory impulses driving Chinese leadership behavior.As Shirk ably documents, pressures of rapid economic transformatiion, fraying political controls and rabid nationalist sentiment pose difficult challenges for the regime, increasing the potential for conflict with the United States. Shirk pleads for a U.S. China policy based on a better understanding of these constraints, both to lower the risk of war and to improve prospects of Sino-U,S, collaboration on issues of global concern.

This is a perfectly good argument as far as it goes and is relevant not just to China. Russia --economically emergent and increasingly nationalistic-- represents a comparable problem for U.S. policy.The U.S. penchant for Russia-bashing needlessly provokes Russian leaders and publics, heightening East-West tensions and clouding the outlook for peace and security in Europe.

Perfect understanding, of course is not a sure-fire recipe for conflict- avoidance. Washington can "lavish respect on China's leaders" (in the author's words) but there is a host of contentious issues on which it must pursue its own priorities: trade imbalances, contaminated food exports, software piracy, China's military build-up, Taiwan security, massive Chinese espionage operations in the United States, human rights violations and more. Hostilities with China, while obviously not desirable , could break out nonetheless. Following Shirk's line of analysis, should China emerge the clear loser, the regime would suffer loss of legitimacy and possibly collapse altogether. Whether anything better would emerge in its place, though, is an open question.

Notes by an insider.......2007-07-22

The main point about this book is that it's by someone who personally participated in many of the events that she describes. Many of her sources are Chinese with whom she interacted personally, as opposed to books by other Westerneres, although she does mention these, specifically Minxin Pei's Trapped Transition. She has a very readable style. People may differ with her conclusions but she came to them through her own experience.

China at Times Its Own Worst Enemy.......2007-07-09

Susan Shirk gives her readers some useful tools to better assess the future behavior of a fast-resurging China after being "humiliated" for a century and a half (pp. 153 - 55, 185 - 87). Shirk clearly explains that Chinese communist power has two faces. China wants to be seen as behaving responsibly to foster economic growth and social stability (pp. 105 - 139). Shirk correctly states that actions rather than words will make it more credible. Establishing this reputation requires China to accommodate its neighbors, to be a team player in multinational organizations, and to use economic ties to make friends (pp. 109, 199, 223, 257 - 61).

In case of a major crisis, especially one involving Taiwan, Japan or the United States, China could show its other face by acting irresponsibly due to the absence of effective checks and balances of the Chinese system. Party leaders could recklessly play the nationalistic card again as they did with Taiwan in 1996 or with Japan in 2005 if they need to look strong domestically with other leaders, the mass public, and the military (pp. 10 -12, 43, 63, 69, 77, 139, 151, 173, 179 - 80, 186 - 90, 197, 205, 219).

The Communist Party has bet on jingoism since the 1990s because communism in China is a dying ideology in which almost no Chinese believes (pp. 11, 63 - 64, 145, 148, 164 - 70, 186). The Party implausibly claims that ordinary Chinese are unworthy of Western democracy because their country, unlike India, does not have religion to manage them responsibly (p. 53). Chinese leaders know that Chinese nationalists can turn against the Party if they appear too weak to deal with foreign pressures (pp. 61, 66, 173, 180).

Economic interdependence has had a somewhat moderating effect on the relationship of China with the outside world, including Taiwan, Japan, and the U.S. (pp. 24, 96, 145 - 46, 190, 195, 233, 241, 247). Due to their fear of widespread instability and their lack of political legitimacy, Party leaders, however, have not displayed much courage in taking unpopular measures such as enforcing intellectual property rights or stopping currency manipulation in trading abroad (pp. 26 - 27, 53 - 54, 60, 73 - 74). Chinese leaders are well aware that the increased protectionism in the U.S. against the fast-growing trade deficit with China and the rampant piracy of U.S. products in China are not politically sustainable, especially in case of a majority change in Washington in 2009 (pp. 25 - 26, 248). At the same time, Shirk correctly points out that the ongoing fiscal profligacy of the U.S. is weakening the country at the profit of China (pp. 26, 249).

Of all China's challenges, the need for "social stability" overrules all other considerations, even it means sacrificing long-term diplomatic objectives for short-term domestic political gains (pp. 38, 52 - 54, 109, 148, 183 - 87, 197, 224, 234, 254 - 55). For the Chinese communist leaders and their families, losing power could result in the loss of their possessions or even their death (pp. 7 - 9). To keep its authoritarian grip on power, the Communist Party has articulated a three-pronged policy (p. 39):

1) Avoid public leadership splits

Shirk gives a useful overview of the "selectorate," the group of Party members who have the power to choose the leaders, and the modus operandi of the Party (pp. 39 - 52). The Communist Party is not known for its openness in framing domestic and foreign policies (pp. 43 - 44). Patronage is essential for keeping the Party in power, which feeds an endemic corruption from which many communist bigwigs enrich themselves at the expense of ordinary Chinese (pp. 60, 68 - 69). Party leaders learn from the Tiananmen fiasco that destabilizing internal dissent can undermine the Party's grip on power (pp. 48, 53, 162). Keeping elite contests for power hidden from the public is increasingly difficult as the audience-driven media are testing the limits on what can be reported (pp. 39, 50, 52, 55, 78, 183). Although China is a still a long way from having free mass media, resourceful Chinese increasingly give the Communist Party a hard time for censoring "undesirable news (pp. 82 - 83)."

2) Prevent large-scale social unrest

Shirk demonstrates with conviction that Communist China's obsession with internal stability paradoxically makes the Party very sensitive to public opinion due to the lack of any democratic institution to allow ordinary Chinese to express themselves peacefully (pp. 52 - 53, 66). Shirk overviews with mastery the multiple possible threats to one-party-rule and which means the Party uses to either neutralize or reduce these threats (pp. 52 - 69). Paradoxically, the more developed and rich China becomes, the more insecure and threatened Communist Party leaders feel (p. 5).

3) Keep the People's Liberation Army on the side of the Party

Unlike their predecessors, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, Communist Party leaders Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao are less politically secure and have a greater need to keep the military satisfied to safeguard them from domestic rebellion (pp. 46, 73, 77, 158 - 60, 202). Communist Party leaders seem to have a harder time saying no to the military demands for weaponry buildups and aggressive policies (pp. 70, 75 - 76, 222 - 23). The senior leadership of the PLA uses the Taiwan issue as the paramount factor for getting more "toys" approved (p. 74). By covering foreign policy, audience-driven media are making it harder for Communist Party leaders not to treat foreign policy as domestic politics (pp. 78 - 104, 140 - 254). Furthermore, history is not on the side of China because rising powers are likely to provoke war (pp. 4, 9 - 10, 210 - 11, 219, 243 - 45, 261 - 69). All of these factors undermine the credibility of the "peaceful rise" that Jintao - Wen Jiabao have promoted since 2002 (pp. 108 - 09, 252).

To summarize, China's behavior cannot be correctly understood without a proper grasp of the tectonic forces that have molded the country's history, geography, and culture.

Easily 5 Stars!.......2007-07-05

It's a beautifully written book by Ms. Susan Shirk. Her credentials as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State during the Clinton administration responsible for relations with China speak for themselves. Her understanding of the interrelation between domestic and international principles is well highlighted.

This book captures the fickleness of the Chinese government in their need to suppress public distraught, and how their desire to raise nationalist views has been counterproductive to their international mission of keeping foreign partners from viewing them as a dangerously rising power.

She gives you the facts of China's past and current state of development and reviews the United States' and other countries' positions on the rising power, and allows you to determine for yourself whether China will be a real danger or a humble superpower willing to lend a hand for the betterment of the international sector.

This is an absolutely wonderful book that simply has to be read more than once.

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Average customer rating:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies

ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression

Average customer rating:

stretched out magazine article, but some excellent information
Good for Chinese to understand American policy
serious food for thought
Concise Analysis of China's Future Direction
An extremely rationalized opinion without substance

The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression
James Mann
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670038253
Release Date: 2007-02-15

Book Description

From The New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Vulcans, an exploration of Chinese authoritarianism and Western capitalism

In The China Fantasy, bestselling author James Mann examines the evolution of American policy toward China and asks, Does it make sense? What are our ideas and hidden assumptions about China? In this vigorous look at ChinaÂ's political evolution and its future, Mann explores two scenarios popular among the policy elite. The Soothing Scenario contends that the successful spread of capitalism will gradually bring about a development of democratic institutions, free elections, independent judiciary, and a progressive human rights policy. In the Upheaval Scenario, the contradictions in Chinese society between rich and poor, between cities and the countryside, and between the openness of the economy and the unyielding Leninist system will eventually lead to a revolution, chaos, or collapse.

Against this backdrop, Mann poses a third scenario and asks, What will happen if Chinese capitalism continues to evolve and expand but the government fails to liberalize? What then and why should this third scenario matter to Americans? Mann explores this alternate possibility andÂ—in this must-read book for anyone interested in international politicsÂ—offers a startling vision of our future with China that will have a profound impact for decades to come.

Customer Reviews:

stretched out magazine article, but some excellent information.......2007-09-04

I have read over a dozen books on China recently, and Mann goes into detail on one important aspect that no one else mentions: how our own government officials are being bought out and corrupted by China. He names names and dollar figures on the many American political leaders who have left office and gone directly onto the payroll of China as 'consultants' paid to use their US govt contacts to made introductions. No wonder our government is unwilling to take action re China's hold on our Treasury Bills and economy as a strategic threat or do something about all their predatory economic practices. For example, their economic miracle is based on undercutting the prices of their competition - but China has falsely set their currency exchange rate below actual market values. We complain and do nothing. Why? Could it be because every China expert in the State department retires and becomes a consultant in the pay of China? Some famous names who now work for China as 'consultants' - Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Clinton's national security advisor Sandy Berger, William Cohen (Clinton's defense secretary), Republican Carla Hills (the US Trade Rep), REpublican Brent Snowcroft (national security advisor to Bush senior).

Other than this very interesting insight, I found Mann is a lazy researcher and this books largely reads like a padded magazine article. He tends to make assertions without going into the facts in enough detail to make them persuasive -even when he is correct. For example, he mentions China's harmful role in international politics, but doesn't give the actual stories - that they are the suppliers of missile technology to Iran for example, and are aggressively pursuing oil stakes in the Middle East by arming every despotic regime that more responsible nations are shunning.

If the thesis of China becoming neither democractic nor falling apart interests you, there is a highly intelligent in-depth analysis called China's Trapped Transition. The Limits of Developmental Autocracy.

Good for Chinese to understand American policy.......2007-09-04

I like reading articles of James Mann at Los Angeles Times, and this book gives me more understanding of American policy towards China.

Recently, the mayor of Pasadena, California used almost exact words as James quoted in his book to respond to the criticism by the human rights groups for his invitation of Beijing "Olympic float" in Rose Parade 2008.

I wish that Mr. Mann could have also commented on a new wave of movement in China of denouncing Chinese communist party which was trigured by an article in Epoch Times, "Nine Commentaries on Communist Party".
This book is high recommended.

serious food for thought.......2007-08-25

Mann's worry of an enduring repressive Chinese Communist Party leadership is well supported by his arguments and analysis. It is a must read for anybody with serious long-term interest in China.

My quibble is Mann's simplistic usage of the term democracy. I wish James had dived deeper into what he exactly means by "a democratic China". Even if China were embracing democracy today, it is a *tremendous* challenge to implement a democracy at China's scale and under the current somewhat fervent social conditions.

Concise Analysis of China's Future Direction.......2007-08-05

Author James Mann served as Bureau Chief for the LA Times in Beijing, China from 1984-87. With the China Olympics coming, this book is a timely, concise (112 pages), anlaysis of why we should beware the myth that commerce will eventually lead to political change and democracy in China from one who has lived there. Mann (The Rise of the Vulcans) has hit another homerun!

An extremely rationalized opinion without substance.......2007-06-23

This book begins by stating:

"This is not a book about China itself. It is about the China I have encountered outside of China."

And it delivers just that: after rationalizing "the views of China that prevail in Washington and the other leading capitals of Europe and Asia and in corporate headquarters around the globe" in just 144 pages, we are told that the single most important thing that Western decision-makers should do is push for democracy in China.

Indeed, you get the impression that the author cannot bear for China not to have an American-style democracy for a single day.

Is there anything new in his message? Absolutely not because every American knows that democracy is the most wonderful ideal for mankind.

But should we abandon other forms of engagement with China and simply tell the Chinese leadership, every time we meet them, that they should implement democracy immediately? Absolutely not because it is simply a recipe for disaster not only for the Chinese themselves but also for the world.

Read Roger Osborne's book Civilization: A New History of the Western World, you will understand why "the fundamental western belief that there are rational ways of organising the world which will bring benefit to all has been at the root of every human-made catastrophe that has overtaken us; yet many of us still believe that we have a bounden duty to bring our simplistic, universalizing, 'progressive' systems of government, economics, education, policing, judiciary and morals to every part of every society on the planet. The uncomfortable truth we need to face is that this belief is as dangerous to humanity as military conquest."

So, The China Fantasy is a cheap book offering a cheap message.

To begin to develop a sense of how we might move forward together with China, I recommend Will Hutton's The Writing on the Wall, which will give you a lot of useful background knowledge on both China and America. But above all, it demonstrates why a bilateral approach is so crucial to our policies toward China.

Encountering the Chinese: A Guide for Americans (The Interact Series)

Average customer rating:

Changing China
Very helpful but some things have changed...
Encountering the Chinese : A guide for Americans
This book is worth the encounter
an experience leading to a Must read and better understandin

Encountering the Chinese: A Guide for Americans (The Interact Series)
Hu Wenzhong , and Cornelius Lee Grove
Manufacturer: Intercultural Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Turning Bricks into Jade: Critical Incidents for Mutual Understanding among Chinese and Americans
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Chinese Business Etiquette: A Guide to Protocol, Manners, and Culture in the People's Republic of China (A Revised and Updated Edition of "Dealing with the Chinese")

ASIN: 1877864587

Customer Reviews:

Changing China.......2007-07-30

The book is good and is full of factual info but its quickly becoming outdated when dealing with the younger Chinese people.

Very helpful but some things have changed... .......2006-07-30

Having just taught in two major Chinese universities, I found this book very helpful. But based on my conversations with numbers of students (at undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate level), in today's competitive China some things appear to have changed. E.g. granted the diversity of a vast country like China, in those cities that have been more impacted by Western consumer culture there is much more individualism especially among youth. At the more prestiguous universities intense competition means that fewer students are as willing to assist their colleagues as their more traditional counerparts might have once been. Highly recommended (even for tourists) but do be aware of the increasing impact of Western culture.

Encountering the Chinese : A guide for Americans.......2006-03-24

I found this book interesting however, if you plan to just visit China and not live there it is probably not that helpful. If you are an American and do plan to live there for some period of time it would probably be quite helpful.

This book is worth the encounter.......2005-10-11

This book is primarily directed at Americans involved with China but much of what it refers to is also valid for other English speaking westerners. In fact, it is the best book I have read in terms of explaining Chinese culture as x, y, z. It is said that everything you hear about China is true, but not necessarily where you are. This book includes valuable information that is true in most locations in China, not only the coastal cities, nor just Beijing, nor only in academic circles. The book is broken into two sections. The first half of the book contains general culture information about Chinese people which should be applicable to Chinese in general, no matter where they live in the world. The second half contains information specific to Mainland China and situations you may find yourself in there.

A poignant example would be the fact that when Chinese people are visiting you and decide it is time to leave they do just that, leave. There is no extended time of talk after an initial, "I need to go soon," rather they just stand up and say goodbye. This surprised me the first time it happened with some students but I quickly became used to it. I have read other books which recommend against reading books like this because they will only cause more harm than good. However, almost everything in this book was relevant to my time in China and if I had read it before I went my learning curve would have been shallower.

I would hope that they will come out with a third edition of this valuable book. A few items are dated and China is changing so rapidly that some details are sure to be very different in the future.

an experience leading to a Must read and better understandin.......2005-04-13

I have just finished the book, twice; Encountering the Chinese; A Guide for Americans. by Hu Wenzhong & Cornelius L. Grove.

This is a great book for help in making cross cultural or intercultural communication between Chinese and Americans more rewarding while trying to avoid abrasiveness regarding deep fundamental differences.

Before reading this book I did not know that Chinese culture is one of collectivism, I had thought that everyone is individulistic in the world, I had never known anything different. It was hard for me to understand Chinese life until I got some help from these two authors. It explained many of my questions and concerns for why Chinese do some of the things they do and act in such ways in response to things I do. Why i was treated the way I was, for the way I acted, which I had no idea, was only a response of a disliking of my fundamental character and individualistic personality, one of American born and raised in the Heartland U.S.A..

It showed me the reason, for alot of my confusion and why I received the response I did for my actions.

I acted like an individual and showed anger, which I read to the Chinese are two of the worst ways to act. This difference in fundamentals between myself and the Chinese culture may have led to the misunderstanding and consequential accusations, and or just the overall way of bringing anxiety and frustrations to the surface in my life here in China.

I recommend this book to anyone who would like to know the difference between collectivism and individualism, the predominate theory or doctrines of China & The United States, for better relations between these two ways of thinking for more harmony on both sides for neither one is right or wrong for without education the other has no idea of the inherited fundamental differences each have.

It has helped me see the Chinese way of thinking and acting in response to my way of thinking and acting in my daily life, something that rarely do Americans need to or have to think about. I will forever before instinctly acting on my own individualistically trained nature to see how such acts would be seen from the perspective of one of collectivistic. Like I would never complain aloud in anger about poor pay, nor openly criticize a Chinese person, nor think only of the betterment of myself in matters of personal likes and dislikes. I would also refrain from wearing expensive, name brand, clothing while in the presence of less educated and fashion sensitive people who may feel I am just a selfish American taking advantage of being able to travel the world freely as I my country has given to its citizens. The sometimes I really feel that it is not about cultural differences but something we all have subltely within us, something very known which we all can recognize; jealousy, envy, concite, revenge, hate, and many others that if one is not careful, and educated can appear very similiar to the other as a possible excuse as to say that we have named it a fundamental difference in cultural perspective one of the friction between individualism and collectivism.

>> also if you don't have an idea yet why this book is so important>> a letter to a friend, referring this book and what I had learned from it>

Dear Professor xxxx,

I am not quite sure how to thank you and Prof.xxxx, except to acquire the utmost from this gracious learning opportunity.

Before receiving your email, I had just finished one of the required readings, Encountering the Chinese; A Guide for Americans. By Hu & Grove

How true it really is, I am probably not the first nor the last to say that, but wow I was both amazed and glad that I had read it, to confirm what I had questioned repeatedly and already dealt with and deal with every day. True to it that Americans are fundamentally individualistic, I at least understand that as I was raised by my hard working, blue collar, U.S. Veteran and father, to be self sufficient and self promoting in work and daily affairs, that my survival muchly depended on myself, and that to act in way to promote myself and my priorities is what will make success for myself and family. To depend on another was and is looked down upon, as an American, as one needs to become a compitant providor both to society and his/her family. Such a phrase for this I remember being told as I was growing up, "you need to make a life for yourself, no one else is going to do it for you."

On the other hand, or at the other end of the "continuum," the orientation of the Chinese, collectivism.
Like I had said before, my wife is Chinese, though we are both young and she is somewhat even younger then myself, I have indeed and will continue to make observations on this fundamental orientation in the difference between individualism and collectivism, which if not observed and prepared for will indeed as I have experienced many times, surely cause faux pas, conflicts, and downright hard to explain your way out of -misunderstandings, for it is hard to teach that we both are right from our own orientation, though each of us find from our own conditioning and orientation that the other is wrong. In the moment of such misunderstanding it is not common and hard to say, "ohh, our conflict is one which stems from fundamental differences," instead it is best to be informed beforehand, to be eguipped, and that is exactly why I feel that this course and this book of which is a required text, is of very high importance and benfit.

I am indebt to you for allowing me to expand my knowledge, not only academically but also the practical knowledge that will allow for me to put into practice, at once within my immediate family and that of my surroundings.

Thanks,
-An American Citizen (born & raised on U.S. soil)
-Married interculturally w/ a Chinese Citizen born and raised in one of the two systems one country,-HK
-living with an all Chinese Family, except myself

A Comprehensive Handbook for Traditional Chinese Medicine Facial Rejuvenation

Average customer rating:

Not for the general public
an okay book
good to the point info...
A great book full of practical wisdom~!!
The Most Authoritative Text On Facial Rejuvenation Ever!

A Comprehensive Handbook for Traditional Chinese Medicine Facial Rejuvenation
Ping Zhang
Manufacturer: Nefeli Corp.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Acupuncture & Acupressure | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1599756668

Product Description

This comprehensive handbook for Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) facial rejuvenation covers the complete guide of acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, acupressure, Chinese food therapy, Qi Gong exercises as well as other modalities including Gua Sha, Moxa, and Jade Stick massage techniques for facial rejuvenation concerns such as wrinkles and sagging of the face, facial discoloration and age spots, dark eye circles and eye bags.

Customer Reviews:

Not for the general public.......2007-09-08

I found this book disappointing, for reasons I will explain below. The first thing I wanted to note, however, is that this book is not designed for the general public. Unless you have a background in Chinese medicine (particularly herbal and acupuncture interventions), this book will be confusing and quite possibly frustrating.

As an acupuncturist, I found this book to be broad in scope but light on details. It certainly is not the "bible of excellence" as one reviewer noted, although I do not doubt that the author is well-versed in her field. As with many expert practitioners, it is often difficult for them to translate their knowledge in a way that less expert individuals can make sense of it. The author assumes that the reader has a great deal of knowledge in the areas of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, as well as a basic understanding of cosmetology. That is a big assumption. Nowadays, one would also need to be knowledgeable about quality assurance management in order to assess adulteration concerns for any herbal products coming from China. At our clinic, we only use Chinese herbal products made by US companies that have gone through our quality control audit, which is quite time consuming. While herbal products from China may be superior, I do not have the expertise or time to evaluate them.

Pragmatically, I question some of the statments the author makes. For example, I do not think one should broadly suggest doing gua sha or cupping on the face, as the author suggests, unless the practitioner is well trained in those modalities. My concerns about bruising increases when gua sha and cupping are done together with facial acupuncture, as outlined in some protocols. Bruising on the face makes most patients unhappy, which is why I tend to use microcurrent for facial points. Not surprisingly, patients paying out-of-pocket for facial rejuvenation are particularly unforgiving.

I also question whether it is possible to integrate facial rejuvenation into a general acupuncture practice, particularly if one is going to use the procedure the author outlines in Chapter 29. A practitioner in my area told me recently that she was ending the facial rejuvenation part of her practice because she can make more money doing general acupuncture in 45 minutes than she can spending 2 hours doing facial rejuvenation. She also mentioned that continually dealing with her patients' vanity and unrealistic expectations was wearying. To balance this, one of my patients who is an aesthetician and does facial rejuvenation at a local spa does very well and enjoys her work, but then she isn't expected to use exotic herbal masks, gua sha, cupping, acupuncture, facial massage, dietary interventions, and Qi Gong exercises with her clients - nor is she the owner of the spa.

In summary, my assessment is that this book would be a great supplement to any coursework taken with Ms. (Dr?) Zhang, or perhaps as an adjunct to her DVD. I do not feel that the book can be used as a "comprehensive" stand-alone text, however, unless you are already experienced in TCM facial rejuvenation. For myself, coursework taken with Virgina Doran and Mary Elizabeth Wakefield were very helpful in this regard.

an okay book.......2007-08-03

But...it was difficult to reference the point locations, this is a good book for a practitioner, but for a student, I had to use it along-side a chart...

good to the point info..........2007-06-27

This book is useful with specific protocols for certain conditions. But it lacks breadth and does not cover a whole lot. 4 stars because info on facial acu is hard to find.

A great book full of practical wisdom~!!.......2007-04-07

A great book full of practical wisdom, and a strange subject... So, what is a " Facial Rejuvenation" anyway? According to Ping Zhang, it is defined as "a heritage of Traditional Chinese Medicine in its field". As a Korea Oriental Medical Doctor with more than seven years experience, I looked at this book with interest.
I recommend this book. Read it, and then go make a difference for someone.

The Most Authoritative Text On Facial Rejuvenation Ever!.......2006-12-04

This is the most authoritative and comprehensive text on the market for TCM facial rejuvenation. If a practitioner is serious about practicing in this field, this is the book to own. It is laid out clearly, and rich in ideas and different modalities to choose from. I have searched for a text like this for years, and now I have found it! I consider it to be my bible of excellence in this field. I have also purchased Ping Zhang's DVD on facial rejuvenation and I am equally impressed. Her expertise in this area makes both her book and DVD decisively the most invaluable tools to own in your practice.

Chinese America: The Untold Story of America's Oldest New Community

Average customer rating:

Very revealing book
Worth reading
Really bad
Extraordinary History of the Immigrant Experience

Chinese America: The Untold Story of America's Oldest New Community
Peter Kwong , and Dusanka Miscevic
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Chinese in America: A Narrative History
The New Chinatown: Revised Edition
Chinese Americans and Their Immigrant Parents: Conflict, Identity, and Values
Sons of the Yellow Emperor: A History of the Chinese Diaspora (Kodansha Globe)
Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to the Present

ASIN: 1595581197

Book Description

A magisterial history of the Chinese experience in America, hailed by Howard Zinn as "a wonderful book" that "fills an enormous gap in our history."

Described by the Washington Post Book World upon its initial release as "shocking, depressing but ultimately uplifting," Chinese America is award-winning author Peter Kwong and Dusanka Miscevic's definitive portrait of one of the oldest immigrant groups and fastest-growing communities in the United States.

Drawing on years of original research and firsthand reporting across the United States and Asia, it charts 150 years of American history from the Chinese frontiersmen of the Wild West to the high-tech transnationals of today's booming Chinese American "ethnoburbs." Kwong and Miscevic apply new thinking to an immigrant story too often told as a simple tale of triumph over adversity.

This paradigm-shifting book gives us an entirely original and fresh examination of the new immigrant communities that are transforming present-day America. Chinese America offers a new picture of America's development and the complex connections between immigration, globalization, and foreign policy that exist within our history. Twenty-seven b/w photographs.

Customer Reviews:

Very revealing book.......2007-05-22

This is a very revealing book that really focuses on how Chinese Americans have interacted with mainstream American society, and it also sheds light on class struggles within the Chinese American community itself.

Worth reading.......2006-04-05

"Chinese America" is a fabulous book chronicling a misunderstood ethnic group. Today's stereotype is that all Chinese Americans are wealthy overachievers. This book debunks that myth and is very good at explaining how it came about as a result of only professionals being admitted to the U.S. at a certain point and most of those professionals being the creme of the crop from Taiwan. This contrasts with the early immigration which came largely from the Hong Kong region and consisted of rural people so discriminated against that 60 percent of Chinese in New York City in the 1920s were engaged in the hand laundry business, not by choice but because of discrimination.
This is not an America-bashing book, not at all. It only retells a complex story that today is not widely understood.

Really bad.......2006-01-01

OK, Anna May Wong didn't get the part in The Good Earth which went to a European about 70 years ago. Get over it; most of us have! Typical academic whine in which everything is wrong and nothing is right with America. No credit is given for repealing racist laws, expanding tolerance and opportunity. Authors think the Weathermen and Bobby Seale had something important to say. Omits many interesting and most positive aspects of the Chinese immigrant saga in America.

Extraordinary History of the Immigrant Experience.......2005-11-29

Every so often a history writer gets it right. This is just such a book...what extraordinary riches about the Chinese experience
such as the contrast between Uptown and Downtown Chinese, the building of Chinatowns throughout the United States, the contributions of Chinese doctors to the expansion of the West, the terrible experience of the Exclusion Act, the inroads into Hollywood. Consider that the idea of California as the vegetable capital of the United States was the result of innovative Chinese farmers who understood how to use water and irrigation techniques in the West. (They also used new water techniques to mine gold in the hills, creating "Chinese walls" of stones that can still be located in the Gold Country.) Never boring, this is a wonderful book for a gift. Highly recommended.

Chinese Women in the Imperial Past: New Perspectives (Sinica Leidensia, V. 44)

Average customer rating:

Chinese Women in the Imperial Past: New Perspectives (Sinica Leidensia, V. 44)

Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 9004110658

The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture, Third Edition

Average customer rating:

The right place to begin
The Garden as the Source of History and Philosophy
It takes me back to my hometown
Acutely Perceptive, Informative, Profound

The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture, Third Edition
Maggie Keswick , and Alison Hardie
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Gardens in China
Chinese Houses: The Architectural Heritage Of A Nation
The Chinese Garden (Images of Asia)
Chinese Architecture: A Pictorial History (Dover Books on Architecture)
The Garden Plants of China

ASIN: 0674010868

Book Description

Dense with winding paths, dominated by huge rock piles and buildings squeezed into small spaces, the characteristic Chinese garden is, for many foreigners, so unlike anything else as to be incomprehensible. Only on closer acquaintance does it offer up its mysteries; and such is the achievement of Maggie Keswick's celebrated classic that it affords us--adventurers, armchair travelers, and garden buffs alike--the intimate pleasures of the Chinese garden.

In these richly illustrated pages, Chinese gardens unfold as cosmic diagrams, revealing a profound and ancient view of the world and of humanity's place in it. First sensuous impressions give way to more cerebral delights, and forms conjure unending, increasingly esoteric and mystical layers of meaning for the initiate. Keswick conducts us through the art and architecture, the principles and techniques of Chinese gardens, showing us their long history as the background for a civilization--the settings for China's great poets and painters, the scenes of ribald parties and peaceful contemplation, political intrigues and family festivals.

Updated and expanded in this third edition, with an introduction by Alison Hardie, many new illustrations, and an updated list of gardens in China accessible to visitors, Keswick's engaging work remains unparalleled as an introduction to the Chinese garden.

Customer Reviews:

The right place to begin .......2007-01-13

I've been a garden designer in Portland Oregon for twenty years and have spent over a year in China visiting gardens . This book is a very good place to begin if you want to understand , on a basic level, Chinese gardens . It is however, not the place to stop if you really seek to understand them . To do that you have to try to understand the culture and times which produced them. Fruitful Sites by Craig Clunas is the best work which I have found so far as it analyzes the gardens at Suzhou over the course of several dynasties. Chinese Classical Gardens of Suzhou (Hardcover)
by Tun-Chen Liu, Joseph C. Wang is also a very good book . It is a critique of most of the principal gardens in Suzhou and it punctures the illusion the every Chinese garden is equally great and every feature wonderful. And if you are actually going to travel to China to see gardens you really should read both of Peter Valders books . They will help you understand Chinese plants and to find gardens in many Chinese cities. I don't always agree with Valder's assessments . He is quite restrained at times . And if you are planning to travel to Suzhou consider visiting Tongli as well. I also consider the gardens of The Slender West Lake in Yangzhou and other gardens there to be equal to many of the gardens in Suzhou. And if you are going to go to China I recommend you start reading The Orientalist online and purchase Beijing by Peter Neville Hadley so that you will not be shocked when you travel China . It is by no means an easy process if you want to travel beyond some air-con rip-off tour.

The Garden as the Source of History and Philosophy.......2005-04-27

While the attitudes and examples of Japanese gardens abound in books and in cities around the world, very little has been written or photographs of the unique concepts found in the Chinese gardens. Maggie Keswick repairs that paucity of information with this very beautifully designed, photographed and written monograph on the spirit of the subtle beauties that abound in the Chinese garden.

Keswick offers an in depth analysis of the history of gardens in China and even if the reader is not an avid horticulturist, just the amount of information about China alone is reason to read this book carefully. But in addition to the history and the architectural elements of these gardens here considered, there are many graceful photographs and accompanying illustrations that keep pace with the narrative while providing an encouragement to return to the book purely for the art of it.

Keswick has found the middle ground in creating a volume about the elements of the Chinese garden and a volume that stands strongly as simply an art book. Highly recommended for repeated readings. Grady Harp, April 05

It takes me back to my hometown.......2004-02-17

How great Chinese garden are!From north to south ,east to west,royal to normal,fancy to simple,you could see all of the best gardens in China.Especially two cities that must visit:Beijing,my hometown,and Suzhou,a wonderful small town built beside the river.The spirits of Chinese gardens were focused on how to combine nature and humanity together.The gardens in Suzhou absolutely rendered an ideal level without artificial fixing,you might called it "Eastern Venice".On the oher hand,Beijing seems much more luxurious since it used to be the capital of China for 5 dynasties.The best known garden named Summer Palace ,which settled in Western part of Beijing,belong to the royal family. A fire desaster ruined most valuable garden named Yuan Ming Yuan,if it still being there,Yuan Ming YUan might be the most gorgeous garden in the world.However we pitifully left a waste garden,morely a Country's shame.You luckily better read this book before you visit China. < >is a helpful tourguide take you a preview.

Acutely Perceptive, Informative, Profound.......2003-05-05

A superb study that is as engrossing as it is elegantly written and lavishly illustrated, and a sensitive inquiry into the aesthetics, the history and the philosophy that underpin an ancient and majestic civilization's view of mankinds's place within the cosmos. Both unique and profound. An essential work.

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