China through books

[Lotus Eater]

Back home I read several books related to China (Wild Swans, Red Dust, Red China Blues etc plus general travel books).

Reading books in China gives a whole different perspective. Just finished Wang Ying's The Child Bride, Jane Hutcheon's From Rice to Riches, Linda Laube's Bound for Vietnam (via boats and trains through China) and am about to start on the Journey to the West series. I also have Ch'ien Chung-Shu's Fortress Besieged, and a book of Chinese poetry and art to follow on with.

What books have read read here, that have given you better insight into the country, people , culture, and maybe teaching?

[Steiner]

Wow, you've read a lot. I can't handle so much China all the time, so a lot of my reading is stuff like Mark Twain--just for relaxation, to get away from China for a while.

I've read Red Dust, too. The Private Life of Chairman Mao offers a lot of good perspective. I'm on page 2 of Wild Swans right now. I've just finished a book on the history of Christianity in China. Then there's the Tao Te Ching/ Dao De Jing, which gives some insight into the culture but not as much as you'd think. The Tao Te Ching was more relevant to Taiwan, but even there the Daoism barely resembles anything in Lao Zi's writing. If it didn't carry the same name you'd never connect the two (at least not by simple observation of the religious practices). I've read the Analects of Confucius, but it's been a while and I don't remember too much from them, but they provide a lot of insight, too. They would've provided a whole lot more insight if we were teaching here before 1949. I've also read the Dhammapada but remember less of it than I do the Analects.

I've also found the Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary to be very helpful.

Oh, I almost forgot--Peter Hessler's River Town. I really enjoyed it and it's quite pertinent for teachers as he was a teacher himself. I'll read it again when I get a chance.

[beerdang]

Lin Yu Tang did an excellent job in probing into chinese minds and lives with his book, "My Country and My People", written in english and published in 1937.
I found it is such a hard read even after translated into chinese. I can't stop the urge to post this long review from Amazon.

"This book made headlines in America when it came out in the 1930's. For perhaps the first time a Chinese wrote a book in English about China and the Chinese, and the sympathetic reaction of many Americans to China's plight in the struggle against Japan made this book a bestseller. I still think it is a good book. It sets out in language that is still easy to read the Chinese mind, their history, philosophy, characteristics, etc. A good deal of the descriptions are the author's own opinions, inevitably, but it is a testament to the author's brilliant mind and perceptive eyes that much of the book is still valid today. Indeed, now that war, revolution, and communism are things of the past, the Chinese are reverting more and more to their old ways, both good and bad, and their old ways are what this book is about.

Pearl Buck, the first American woman to win the Nobel Literature Prize, was the one who persuaded Lin to write this book. Her faith in him is fully justified. Few indeed were native sons of China who were immersed in both Chinese and Western cultures. And Lin was one.

Given my interest in both Lin Yutang and JRR Tolkien, I cannot resist a comparison. There is no evidence that Lin and Tolkien knew each other, although both were philologists (linguists interested in the historical origins of words) living in the same period.

Their specialties were quite different, however. Tolkien was an expert in Old English, and was comfortable in many northern European languages, both old and modern. (He could even read Finnish!) Lin's expertise was in Chinese literature from the classical period, and what made him unique at the time was his almost native fluency in English (as well as in German, plus a couple of modern European languages).

They were born three years apart (Tolkien in 1892, Lin in 1895) and they died exactly three years apart, at the same age (81).

Tolkien was a distinguished Oxford professor. Lin held few positions in universities. But Tolkien's education did not go beyond the bachelor's degree. Lin had an MA (from Harvard) and a PhD (from Leipzig, in Germany).

Tolkien's scholarly output was very small, but of a high quality. Lin had no scholarly output in the technical, academic sense. His scholarship and intelligence were reflected in the highly-regarded Chinese-English bilingual dictionaries he produced, his prodigious translations of Chinese literature, and in the brilliant essays he penned in Chinese. As I'm fluent in Chinese (my own native language), I find his essays very enjoyable, very humorous - more so than his English books.

Tolkien is immortalized by his novels, which have a worldwide appeal. Lin also wrote novels - of an utterly forgettable quality as far as I'm concerned. He's remembered for his non-fictional writings such as this book. Shortly before he died Lin was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. (I would give it to him if it were up to me.)

Both lived through the Second World War in relative safety, Tolkien in England, Lin in America. Tolkien had proved his bravery in WWI, while Lin's life in pre-1937 China was also perilous due to the Japanese marauders. Both were outsiders in different ways. Tolkien was a Roman Catholic living in Protestant England who had been born in South Africa, and whose last name didn't sound quite English (it's German). Lin was a Chinaman in America, at a time when being a Chinaman was almost like being a Martian.

Tolkien was a practising papist all his life. Lin was at first a Christian, but he later renounced his religion and became what he called a "pagan" most of his life - and then apparently converted back to Christianity in old age. Most of his writings are a-religious, if not anti-religious, having been written in his middle years. Tolkien had little to say about his own religion - and his novels are almost "pagan" - but he seemed to have believed in the "truth" of mythology. (Fools, if you ask me.)

Tolkien was a good friend of C. S. Lewis, the Irish writer. Lin was a good friend of Pearl Buck, the American Nobel laureate. Lewis wrote a glowing review of the Lord of the Rings, while Buck wrote a foreword to this book and did much more to help Lin publish his other books. But neither friendship stood the test of time, apparently.

Coincidentally, both men were social and political conservatives. One preferred Old Britain, and the other Old China, to their modern versions, and technology and "progress" as we know it meant nothing to them. Interestingly, they both loathed communism. They were also devoted pipe smokers. One can well imagine these two gentlemen having a good time sharing their views on these things in a smoky, book-lined study late into the night, speaking their oddly old-fashioned English (perhaps mixing some German into it as well). But as brilliant philologists, they would only talk past each other without a single word being understood! Oh, if only they knew each other!

Tolkien's fame is assured, mainly by his epic fairy tales. Lin will only be remembered by those few people in the West who take an interest in China's cultural heritage. But even now there are still not many Chinese who can write, in good English, about China and the Chinese people from such a literate perspective (in the best true sense of "literate"). His insights are sometimes historical, at other times anthropological and sociological, but always and everywhere personal. He eschews abstract, finely spun theories; he sticks to China's facts, history, insights gleaned from classical literature, and his own keen anecdotal eyes. This book is thus eminently practical. It is not entirely timeless, but neither is it out of date. Given the rising importance of China in world affairs, Lin's books are as urgently needed today as they were more than 60 years ago when they made it to the top of New York Times bestsellers list while China struggled to survive. "

[Raoul Duke]

Let me first second Beerdang's endorsement of My Country and My People. An excellent, insightful, and revelatory book despite no apparent resembance whatsoever to Lord of the Rings

(Interesting to note that Lin YuTang was somewhat remembered in the old Second City TV show; the name was given to Dave Thomas's character portraying a hapless Asian actor who had to play EVERY "Asian" role (and never anything else), ranging from kamikaze pilots to coolies to Indian swamis to Fu Manchu types...)

I was also much taken with The Private Life of Chairman Mao- indispensible reading if you can find it.

Other books I recommend, and that are easily available in Chinese bookstores, include Riding The Iron Rooster by Paul Theroux, a now-classic about a train trip through 1970s China, and Pu Yi's autobiography From Emperor to Citizen which forms much of the basis of the film The Last Emperor. Pu Yi's book has plot twists that are easily visible from the orbit of Neptune (turns out that warlords, Japs, and Guomindang are all bad, while Red Commies are good) it's still a fascinating insight into the period from the last gasps of the Great Qing to the Cultural Revolution.

On a more practical note, let me endorse Fred Schneiter's Getting Along With The Chinese (For Fun and Profit).Useful, informative, and funny, and especially good if you plan to try and do some business here.

[Steiner]

I've got Lin Yutang's "With Love and Irony" waiting under my coffee table for me.

So "Riding the Iron Rooster" is worth reading, then? I read "Kingdom by the Sea: A Journey around the Coast of Great Britain" and thought Theroux was crap. Nothing but a big whiner. I was pretty angry at him for wasting my time, heaved the book against the wall in anger when I was done. I kept thinking "Theroux is famous and everyone talks about how great he is, so the book must get better in a little bit." It never got better, and now I've got no desire to read anything of his again. But, Raoul, if you recommend it....

[Raoul Duke]

I liked it, Stein. Admittedly, I read it a long time ago, back when I had none of the contempt-breeding familiarity with modern China I have today. Unsure how I'd react today.

A train trip through a still-unopened China...a story pretty hard for anyone to mess up too badly, IMHO....

[Roger]

- Suzie Wong (that Hong Kong tart that later ended up
as the demure wife of an Englishman);
- A Many-Spelndoured Thing by Han Suyin; I had a private exchange of views with the authroess (in French!) and
thought her cool at that time; have revised my opinion on her in the meantime;
- CHINA BRIDE: Read it too, but found it overdone on the sinophilitic side.
- Seven Years in Tibet/H. Harrer; English translation;
a very good read (and it will ensure that the CHinese disapprove of you!); some focus on Harrer's perceived Nazism; he was a nominal member of the Party but not a practising worshipper!
- Marco Paolo's Travels in Cathay, or something similar,
in German, translation from the French original and on loan from the GOETHE INSTITUT in Hong Kong (returned a long time ago); MP didn't mention noodles anywhere...
- Younghusband's account of his invasion of Tibet in 1904; interesting read for anti-imperalists of every shadow - it clearly refutes the notion of Chinese "sovereignty" over Tibet in the 19th and 20ieth centuries! (Book was on loan from HK library);
- History of Hong Kong; good overview;
- Watching the Dragon (Carol: found it in your freezer yet?), a young British English teacher couple's journal from 1983 to 1984; so much has NOT changed for us!
- Wild Swans: Enough said!

Many other works I have on my bookshelves are more technical, such as on "interculturalness", language, history.

[Lotus Eater]

I thought Theroux was totally pompous and a real pain in Ride the Iron Rooster - swore I would never read another book of his. Pompous, ethno-centric and expected special treatment because he was a western writer. If he could write well, maybe he could be forgiven, but I don't think he even writes well.

[Steiner]

It sounds like he is exactly the same as in "Kingdom by the Sea," then. Maybe when I go back to the States I'll get it out of the library and give it about 25 pages to see if I can stand it.

[con's fly is open]

I am disappointed that you have all chosen to overlook what is clearly China's fictional masterpiece:
The Five Chinese Brothers. A brilliant allegory of the Opium Wars, FCB blends the greatest works of Doestoyevsky: Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov; yet renders it ineffibly Chinese.
The first brother, the embodiment of the endless bounty of this ancient land, swallows the very sea to collect "fish" to pay the exborbitant, strangling tribute to the British Empire. The mischeivous boy, symbolizing the opiated victims of European traders, is martyred, and foreign oppression ensues, dramatized as a death sentence.
The second brother has been the focus of much dispute: do those legs that grow and grow refer to China's vast population, as Pearl S. Buck maintained, or to the Great Wall, shielding from intruders and inspiring centruies of humble peasants?
Imagery flashes with multiple meanings that bring a dazzled tear to the eye: the neck stronger than steel; holding your breath indefinitely while being baked in a pie, infinitely more eloquent than the vulgar Americanism "Just say no to drugs"; and the heart-wrenching ending, which I won't give away to those who have yet to read this treasure.
Of interesting note: historians have unearthed more complete manuscripts, in which the local magistrate defends the incompetence of mistaking four different imposters for the defendent with the earliest documented use of the saying "hey, they all look alike to me."

[Roger]

I also highly enjoyed Edgar Snow's "Red Moon over China" (correct title?) There were two books by E. Snow, both written about the China from the 1930's to 1940's, with lots of details of the lives of peasants.

Andre Malraux "Condition Humaine" made a big impression on me, though today I would read it more critically.

[Raoul Duke]

Lotus said:

I thought Theroux was...(snip)...Pompous, ethno-centric and expected special treatment because he was a western writer. If he could write well, maybe he could be forgiven, but I don't think he even writes well.

Hell, I thought this was good writing.

Roger, I know a Red STAR Over China...good book, too. Makes you wonder how things ever deteriorated to where they are today.

[Ruth]

McClure: The China Years. Sorry, I forget the author and I left the book at home in Canada. Robert McClure was the son of a doctor and missionary and was raised in China. He, like his father, became a doctor and was commited to serving the Chinese people. Here during the turbulent years of the 30's and 40's. His China experiences make mine seem like a walk in the park. No internet link to the outside world, or Raoul's to hang out in. I learned a lot about the history of the country at that time, from the trenches. No mention of airplane glue, though...