China: A Macro History Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy China: A Macro History? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on China: A Macro History. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

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

Want to learn more information about China: A Macro History?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

Transformative Journeys: Travel and Culture in Song China Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Transformative Journeys: Travel and Culture in Song China? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Transformative Journeys: Travel and Culture in Song China. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

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

Want to learn more information about Transformative Journeys: Travel and Culture in Song China?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...

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

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

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

Want to learn more information about The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China from the Bottom Up?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Read More...