China: A Macro History Review

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China: A Macro History ReviewRay Huang's "China: A Macro History" kept me up for a few nights in a row. Dr. Huang posed an extremely ambitious goal to explain fundamental differences of Western and Chinese civilizations, and to explore trends of Chinese government, military, cultural and religious institutions as they develop from legendary to modern times. The book is organized in chapters, each covering roughly a time span of the major dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. Concentration is more on trends (thus the title word "macro") then on events, more on developments of concepts rather then careers. People and events are represented inasmuch as they represent the underlining trend. As such every dynasty rise and eventual fall is represented, with credits due to each for the developments of Chinese nation. The institution of monarchy is a fascinating blend of ritual, unreal and fantastic, and idealistic, with an impressive organizational achievement in management of the country with the base of millions of agrarian households.
The only grievance I have with the book is that understandably enough Dr. Huang had to skip over a lot of material (or he would risk leaving us with yet another "The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire"); however in doing so he is rarely consistent, e.g. not explaining the elemental precepts of Confucianism, organization of Chinese army and bureaucracy; and fundamental principles behind state examinations. All those, however, can be gotten from other sources, and as such will tempt the reader to explore more.China: A Macro History Overview

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The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West Review

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The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West Review....[As] one who has participated in an aspect of this research-the
extent to which at least some of the later Xinjiang mummies may have
been Northeast Iranians (Saka, et al.), who subsequently had an impact
on both China and Japan-I can attest that Mair and Mallory have
critically assessed every possible explanation before concluding that
the great bulk of this Europoid population, esepcially in the later
period, were in all probability Tocharian speakers of one sort or
another (the earliest Europoids in the region may have been archaic
Iranians, an idea recently suggested by my colleague Dr. Elizabeth
J. W. Barber). Moreover, the textile evidence, intensely researched
by Dr. Barber (see her widely-praised book THE MUMMIES OF URUMCHI,
W.W. Norton & Co., 1999), reinforces the conclusion that the
Europoids who settled in the Tarim Basin in the latter part 2nd
millennium, B.C.E., shared a common origin with a variety of Western
Indo-European speakers, including the Celts, whose textiles were
preserved in the salt-filled graves at Hallstatt (ca. 1300-400
B.C.E.). This, of course, also points squarely in the direction of the
Tocharians, who, despite the fact that they were the easternmost of
the attested ancient Indo-European speakers, shared a great many
specific linguistic features in common with the Western group,
especially the Celts. (Incidently,...the pointed "witches
hat" is in fact deeply embedded in the ancient Brythonic-and,
by extension, Celtic-culture and predates the 17th century Puritan
image...by at least two millennia.) Yes, the great majority
of the current population of the Tarim is Uyghur-speaking, that is, of
Altaic origin, and yes, there are some physical similarities between
some of the current inhabitants of the region and the tall, blue-eyed
people whose mummified remains have become so controversial. But that
is to be expected whenever a new population intrudes into a
region-and we know beyond a reasonable doubt that the intrusion of
the "Turkic" speaking Uyghurs into Xinjiang occurred in the
9th and 10th centuries B.C.E, over a millennium after the arrival of
the Iranian- (or perhaps Tocharian-) speaking Europoids. To cite a
parallel situation, the vast majority of modern Mexicans speak
Spanish, a tongue introduced by a conquering culture some five
centuries ago. Physically, however, most Mexicans, including those
with little or no "Indio" cultural heritage, still reflect
their Native American ancestry, though with a fair amount of
"Europoid" admixture, especially among the ruling elite. In
short, THE TARIM MUMMIES should be required reading for anyone
seriously concerned with trans-Eurasian cultural connections in the
course of the last six thousand years.The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West Overview

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Transformative Journeys: Travel and Culture in Song China Review

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Transformative Journeys: Travel and Culture in Song China ReviewThis excellent book covers every imaginable aspect of travel in Song China (960-1279). Its only problem is the inevitable one that we have little evidence other than the records of highly literate officials. Few others were writing back then. The book therefore covers, especially, poetry and officialdom. To make up for it, Song writers were often compulsive beyond belief. One of the lead characters in this book, Lu You, boasted of having written more than eleven thousand poems. (He kept count.) Many of them concern travel. Therefore, many poems appear in this book, and they are usually beautiful and very ably translated. An interesting point is that most of the star characters here were leading moral philosophers as well as poets, and their views transformed a good deal of Chinese culture; it is therefore of some special interest to see what they made of endless travel to various new or different official posts--or to exile, since their outspoken and high-minded views were not popular with certain emperors.
Otherwise, the book covers everything you might want to know about Song travel. Means of travel included boats, sedan chairs, foot, horses, donkeys--the donkey being a symbol of humility. Inns could be private or public, luxurious or filthy and lice-infested. Safety could be compromised by bandits, storms, and wild beasts--one scholar awoke to find a tiger prowling around the flimsy hut he was inhabiting. (I know how it feels. I've had hippos and hyenas right outside the tent in Africa.) Compensations included rounds of parties for every leavetaking and returning--those Chinese poets drank a lot. There is surely exaggeration going on, but having been to countless Chinese parties, I can testify that they are not necessarily the height of sobriety. I wonder how the officials ever got any work done.
This is a wonderful book that throws a great deal of light on a previously understudied part of Chinese history. It is light on high theory, but all the better for that. It reflects life, and also the values of the scholars in question.Transformative Journeys: Travel and Culture in Song China Overview

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The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up Review

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The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up ReviewThis collection of short stories is easy to read and never boring. It gives the reader a picture of life in China that is very different from the propaganda we get from the governments in China and in the United States. If anyone wants to know about a culture or a country, observing the bottom of society is much more enlightening and accurate than looking at the society from the top. I suspect that most of us, in China and the rest of the world, are much closer to the bottom of our societies than we are to the leaders of those societies. I thank the author for braving the wrath of his government to show us a glimpse of real life in the real China. It makes me think that the more different we appear to be, the more we are all the same.The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up Overview

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Namoluk Beyond The Reef: The Transformation Of A Micronesian Community (Westview Case Studies in Anthropology) Review

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Namoluk Beyond The Reef: The Transformation Of A Micronesian Community (Westview Case Studies in Anthropology) Review"Namoluk Beyond the Reef" is not only a valuable contribution to Oceanian ethnography, but it is also a valuable addition to the literature on immigration to the US and ethnicity. We are in the midst of a national debate on immigration policy and anyone interested in that debate would benefit from reading these very human stories of those who have come here legally from one small island in the Pacific to make their life in America -- with the opportunities and hardships that entails.
Mac Marshall recounts tales of emigration from Namoluk, an atoll in the Caroline Islands, to nearby atolls and high islands, to Guam, Hawaii, and the mainland US over a period of more than thirty years. Namolukese have throughout maintained their ties to their island of origin while adapting to a modern way of life. Their experiences have been varied. Some have been successful, and others not so as they have made their way in a rapidly changing world -- and sometimes found themselves victims of the exploitation that we may have thought was reserved for illegal immigrants.
The book was published in 2006 but only becomes more relevant as the debate over immigration intensifies. Includes maps, tables and photos.
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