Wang Books

I can hardly say this is not a good book. Actually I have used this book in my modern China course and my students love it! However, I gradually found its problems: the book is based on the interviews Professor Seybolt gave to Wang Fucheng, an illiterate village leader and CCP party member about his life experience over the years. I understand the reason why an illiterate farmer Wang Fucheng was chosen was becuase the author wants to avoid the overconcentration on the social elite's response to China's social upheaval, as many works tend to do. However, the price the author pays is that the narrator in this book basically lacks a critical and analytical ability to explain the rural life after 1949. During the Great Leap Forward, he simply let villagers grow turnip so they escaped famine; during the cultural revolution, he soon restored his leardership after several struggle sessions; In the "Criticize Lin Biao and criticize Confucius Campaign", Wang went as far as to think that Confucius was a big landlord in a nearby village! after the Cultural Revolution, he loves Deng's reform policy...It seems that Wang Fucheng so easily survived all turmoils and he never questions anything but just happily adapts himself to any situation and felt complacent---this reminds people of Zhang Yimou's To Live---yes just live on without reflection.

The author's limitation of access to true feeling of the people is obvious---as a party member and rural cadre, Wang Fucheng would never tell an American interviewer his suspision of Mao or distaste of the government, even if there is any. He must use self-censorship to ensure that whatever he tells an American is politically correct. Thus, what he tells in the book might all be true, but not all truths have been told. The question of authenticity should be considered when reading this type of books that are based on interviews between Americans and Chinese citizens who know too well what they can say while what not!

A much better work about rural Chinese feelings is "Chen Village under Mao and Deng", I think. Only in the latter can you find the diverse and rich inner world of Chinese peasants. They are not just "living" in a rosy picture but also think, criticize, hate and doubt...

Considering the two greatest events in human history, so far, are the great ice melts of 13-11,000 BCE and Hiroshima/Nagasaki, it is perhaps the ultimate in narcissism or denial to not address the threat and trauma underwhich the human race has been living since August 1945 and the threat of global extinction of all life and civilization as we know it. If one is to discuss Trauma Culture and the Politics of Terror--remember the image of the "mushroom cloud" spilling off the lips of politicians after 9/11--then one should find reference to it in the index of this book and in its content. In a superficial list, I count 58 films that directly or indirectly allude to the BOMB. In all fairness, perhaps Kaplan has reserved the threat of the nuclear annihilation topic for a future publication. What she does discuss at length is the "Jewish" Holocaust, which may be important to her as a Jewish person, but it pales against the threat that looms and permeates all levels of life and politics on this planet. Kaplan is altogether too well-informed to be unaware of this issue in the very terms she discusses in this book. Remote and cultural trauma are themes of leading edge concern; therefore, her book is valuable. As far as it goes, it does make an important contribution to the discussion, but one awaits an equally dispassionate and focused treatment on film, film noir, on Womand in the Dunes, Black Rain by Teshigara Hiroshi (1964); Black Rain by Ibuse Masuji (1969); the late Kurosawa's Rapsody in August and his Rashomon; or the Children of Hiroshima (Genbako no ko), Never Forget the Children of Nagasaki by Tasaka Tomotaka, or the 9 hour trilogy by Kobayashi Masaki, to say nothing of Godzilla, On the Beach, Dr. Strangelove, Fail Safe, and of course Walt Disney's Our Freind the Atom, the archetypal example of denial and dissociation exceeded only by the Bush administrations label of "Junk Science" for global warming. I look forward to E. Ann Kaplan's next book.

I saw the title and even though i have no idea what the book is about i was hoping i could learn Tai-Chi or some other martial art from it. I thought, perhaps, it would reveal the souther-style long fist praying mantis Shaolin kung fu I am trying to master. As it turned out it just gave me a headache.

The book is a very nice looking heafty paperback which provides both the English and Chinese characters for the Ling Shu and Su Wen. Very few translations provide for the work being translated in addition to the translation so this book has great value for that simple fact to the intermediate scholar not fluent with reading Chinese characters. I would like to give my thanks to Mr. Liansheng Wu and his son Mr. Qi Wu for taking on the vastly difficult task of translation. That being said I would now like to point out where there is room for improvement.

The reader fluent in English may be constantly frustrated by the poor grammar and bewildered by the esoteric words chosen for translation such as "dross" chosen to describe the function of the Large Intestine. It looks a lot like someone sitting down with an English dictionary and finding what appear to be equivalent meanings instead of someone truly familiar with the English language and common terminology (I know this issue may never be resolved until standard nomenclature is ratified for TCM. Excuse me if you use the word "dross" often then this book is for you). The author's make use of brackets [albeit not the typical square bracket] far less liberally than Unschuld to denote the addition of information not originally found in the translated text which I like because it allows you to make your own inferences. However, the information within the brackets, which is occasionally needed to illucidate passages, serve only to give pinyinized Chinese terms which must then have their meanings looked up elsewhere and rarely add to the understanding of the passage translated. Finally, there are numerous misspellings, combined with odd word choices, and bizarre grammar making the reader work far harder to understand the translation than is necessary. I only recommend this book if it is your intent to learn the Chinese better and want to go to the effort of translating the text yourself with some guidance. That said, I have found useful passages even within this poor translation which provide deep reflection on the origin of this profound medicine.

I never got the book. It is a good thing I emailed and requested it wasn't sent because I was pretty much forgotten about. The book was out of stock, but no one thought to mention that to me, even though I paid. To their credit however, after contacting them I got a full refund that I received promptly

The text is poorly written and hard to understand. The solution manual is even worse!! The authors do not explain which equations they're using or where the numbers are coming from.

Hi everyone, I just got my exam score emailed to me from Physical Chemistry (the one with some calculus involved). Guess what? I got a 96%. The class average was 45%. The professor told me my exam had the highest score ever in this class.

I found that all the test had were problems from the book. I remember procrastinating and not getting any studying done. So the night before the exam, I just memorized all the solutions, and I got a 96%.

The professor told me to get an A in the class, all I need to do is get above a D on the next 2 exams. Man, what a relief. My friends envy me, my professor worships me, and I owe it all to this solutions manual.

I was at first skeptical about its price, but it was worth so much more. Can you put a price on getting an A? Can you? Can you really? Its going to be alot more than $120, which was how much I paid for the well-needed solutions manual.

I just hope too many students don't get the manual, because then professors might figure out that there is a solutions manual (my professor has NO IDEA THIS BOOK HAS A SOLUTIONS MANUAL!).

So if you do end up getting the manual, just use it for yourself, don't even show your friends or bring it to class. Just use it on your own, memorize the solutions, get your A+ in the class, tell all your friends and your professor that you just studied VERY HARD, and leave it at that.

The less the number of people that know about this solutions manual, the better. Also, since this was my first time using amazon.com, make sure that when you add the item to your card, the description should say "SOLUTIONS MANUAL." I bought it from the collectible section, and in the description it said that it was the "complete solutions manual."

Good luck in mastering physical chemistry;I won't need luck, I got the solutions manual!

When I received it, OH MY GOD, it had DETAILED ANSWERS to every single problem in the book. Whats more, my physical chemistry course had questions from the book on its test, and all I did was memorize the solutions and got an A+. I can't believe it!

I even corrected my professor on a few problems; my professor didn't even know there was a solutions manual and I wasn't about to tell him there was.

All in all, I just wanted to post my awesome experience. It was a great help. Just like in Physics, Chemistry, or biology, a solutions manual can only augment your skills. Plus it wasn't too long, about 100 pages.

Also, the other reviewer who said the solutions manual was bad must've bought another edition (older one), because the solutions manual I received had ALL THE SOLUTIONS to ALL THE PROBLEMS in COMPLETELY WORKED OUT form.

Hello mates,

I don't write any reviews, but when I got my first physical chemistry test back to day, I just had to write this out. THIS BOOK WAS IN THE COLLECTIBLE SECTION OF THE NEW AND USED SECTION. All my test had were questions from the book, and some that were very much like the book (only changed numbers). I procrastinated to study as usual, and all I did was study the solutions manual, and I was the ONLY STUDENT TO GET AN A+. THE ONLY ONE IN THE CLASS. My professor asked me to become a tutor, and now I'm getting paid.

All in all, physical chemistry is tough, BUT you WILL GET AN A with the solutions manual! You have my word, and my experience to prove it.

This is a typical example of a completely rewritten "revisionist" type of history that totally disregards the main sweep of what really happened. The author deals with a lot of side issues that may be true but disregards and plays down the real heroes, trying to make new heroes. A typical example of a politically correct type of history that brings in every possible ethnic group and yet ignores the main driving forces. It also is very, very boring and I had to skim a lot just to keep going. Yes, this is very sad to find a contemporary history professor teaching this kind of thing in a University. This is what is in vogue and yet shows the real state of what contemporary historians are trying to do. Try reading "1776" by David McCullough for riveting, page-turning, well-documented history, writing that you can hardly put down. Much of the actual letters are included. That's what interested me in trying Countryman's book but how disappointing and pathetic is Countryman compared to McCullough!

I found this book to be horrible. It puzzles me how this book could be a product of a professor of history. His chief failings are as follows: (1) He fails to use footnotes. I find this to be inexcusable for a serious scholar. He wrote a number of things, for example, that I found to be unbelievable, but because of his failure to provide proper citations, I was unable to follow up and double check him on his work. Just one example: he wrote on page 22 that "50 percent of eighteenth-century New England brides .. were pregnant at their wedding[.]" This is not something that could be known without extensive research. I'm not aware of any statistical surveys or census information that could verify such a claim. I don't think this kind of information would be found in church marriage records. Did someone do an exhaustive study of personal diaries and make a statistical inference? Academic protocol demands a proper citation, and he provided none. (2) His organization was lacking. This is a time period in which I have recently completed a number of readings, and yet I, at times, had a difficult time following where he was going, or ultimately what point he was trying to make. At least I understood many of the specifics of events he alluded to, but a reader unfamiliar with the events would be lost. In my opinion, he lumped too many things together, causing the reader to feel at various times like he was jumping all around chronologically and geographically and, at times, topically. (3) I think the title of the book is misleading. It is less a history and more an essay on how the author views the interplay between the political events of the day and the social dimensions. Many of his points were lost on me. For example, he develops the idea that early Americans lived in a violent world. Well, so? Who didn't know this? Violence pervades most of history. If I were his editor, I would have tried to get the author to focus more on what he was trying to do with this book. Did he want the book to be a history book, a social essay, or what? Anyone wanting to gain a fundamental history of the time period would be well advised to avoid this book. Finally, I hate to be so negative for there is some good content, but I would only read this book if you are already well read on this time period and have nothing better to do, or if you are a professional academician with interest in this field. And for those of you who teach a history course on the American Revolution, please don't inflict this book on your students. For those who do not fall into those two categories above and you would like to read good history on the American Revolution, I recommend the following: for the period up to and including 1776, Merrill Jensen's "The Founding of a Nation," for the time period of the Articles of Confederation, Merrill Jensen's "The New Nation," and for the Constitutional Convention, Forrest McDonald's "Novus Ordo Seclorum" and Catherine Drinker Bowen's "Miracle at Philadelphia." I am not well read enough on the war itself to make a good recommendation.

The American Revolution as a large mob. I've never thought of it that way before. Though, as Countryman argues, very convincingly, that mob was highly organized and had the cause and will to fight their British cousins. Countryman provides a very good argument that the founding fathers were simply using the mobs of urban and rural areas to create a new nation. Now while this is not his entire thesis it proves to be interesting.

The author also makes sure to point out the current political, economic and social climate during the period after the French and Indian/Seven Years' War. I found the social elements to be the most intriguing as Countryman tells the story Americans came to despise any form of British culture or entertainment, especially the theater. Which makes a great deal of sense since the greatest playwright of all time was English.

In general, Countryman provides a great overview as to the causes, military campaigns and aftermath of the American Revolution. There are indeed no footnotes; however this should not trouble the reader as this is a short abstract overview of the entire American Revolution. If one is looking for footnotes and citations be prepared to tackle the much larger work (I recommend Middlekauff's excellent "The Glorious Cause").

Ultimately, the American Revolution is nicely summed up by John Adams when he stated that: One-third was for it, one-third was against and one-third didn't care either way.

I was looking for a compact and conscise book on early American History as an outsider with an interest and relatives in America, without any advice. I browsed many reviews on amazon and went into bookstores in the US.

Partly, I got what I wanted, the book is non-technical, can be read without wide background knowledge. However, it is utterly boring, and not very well edited: the obsession to keep a chronological order makes understanding less than more easy.

The books arguments are not convincing for me. First of all, the author makes no reference on the methodology he chooses his arguments, sources, an underlying theory behind his convictions, and even in such a genereal interest book it worths mentioning in a preface or at least in footnote. The book makes some sweeping claims on a probably vulgarized Marxist social theory with materialistic economic forced at work behind the Framers, but probably it is just some unreflected common sense with a bias. The forces at work are not convincing, the argument for a European reader is one of the we-saw-many-such-narratives.

The book tries to follow the trend and include all people, regardless of race, origin, gender, etc in the great story, however, it is just misguided political correctness, in fact I did not learn anything about the Indians, black people or women in the examined period.

The highest point in the essay is the emphasised problem of the breaking up of the British identity in the ex-colonies and the different social and institutional forms of the would be United States before the federation. This is very valuable and interesting, again, not very deep: I just grasped the significance and the excitement but I did not get a credible narrative. I do not understand how the British identity vanished and the Amercian emerged. Coming from a country with over a 1000 years of recorded history, continous identity crisis and reading the book in the year of the European Convent that drafted our constitution I am very sensitive to this issue and find Countryman's account very shallow.

There is one invaluable part in the book that made it a good deal for me: the bibliographical notes that give a very brief, again chronological overview of the history of American history-writing. It will help me choosing another one to better understand the American Revolution.

Contrary to Mr Randolph's and Marina's opinions, I found this book to be well-written and very readable - and I'm in fact reading it for my first course in the history of the Revolution, although it wasn't recommended by the lecturer!

Certainly the book doesn't contain as much new research as some scholars would expect, and is instead a synthesis of previous work on different aspects of the period (as Countryman's Acknowledgements and Bibliographical Essay suggest). That includes his own research on New York that won the Bancroft Prize in 1982.

If you're uncomfortable with the lack of footnotes, Countryman isn't the only one to do this. John Fairbank did the same with some of his books on China (but of course you'll reply that Fairbank was a giant in his field). In any case, most of Countryman's facts can be verified by referring to earlier works in this field. His assertion about pre-marital pregnancies was borrowed from Robert Gross' "The Minutemen and their world", where the proper statistics are included in detail.

If you find jumps in chronology and unconventional details distracting, that would rule out much of the fine historical writing of the last 40 years, wouldn't it? Countryman was aiming for a thematic, rather than purely narrative, history of the Revolution, and military history was secondary to his argument - hence the sparse attention paid to it. Personally, I'm glad I got this book as it's a lively and stimulating read for anyone new to the subject - unless you love reading footnotes, that is.

It only takes an hour or so to read this 105-page book. I read the entire thing while riding an exercise at the gym this afternoon. One of my sons has a Chinese American girl friend so this book subject naturally caught my attention.
The book is full of helpful advice for anyone interested in dating Asians--although with most Asians two dates is a serious relationship. Most Asians also won't put up with a person who is also dating another Asian. They forgive the unfaithful prospect for a date with another non-Asian, but one date with another Asian is the kiss of death for their relationship.
The author defines the six basic types of Asians Americans are likely to come in contact with. They range from Type 1 who would never leave their homeland to Type 6 who are "mixed" Asians that are of mixed race and are the most likely that Americans will meet and will be comfortable with.
The author also defines the eight most likely types of Americans who will date and marry Asians.
The book is in many ways lists of facts about Asians. When an American marries an Asian he or she is also marrying the Asian's family. Asian families are much closer and important than the relationships that many Americans have with their relatives. Wang conveniently lists typical traits shared by many different nationalities that Westerners group together as "Asians." She also lists common "likes" and "dislikes" shared by most Asians and their all-powerful families.
In some ways her chapters are almost like outlines for the material covered. "Some of the Fine Asian Traits: Things Asians Are Good At: Things Asians Suck At: Ways to Impress Asians: Taboos: Where To Meet Asians: Some Cultural Things to Get Used To: What Asians Desire: How Asians Think Vs. What Americans Think Of Relationships: Do Your Homework: Stereotypes" are the main chapter headings. Each chapter has lots of sub-chapters. That outline design makes it easy to quickly find desired items within the book.
Over all much of the information seems common sense and is something that everyone in the world would share. However, there are lots of things that most Asians don't share with Americans. They hate loafers and stupidity for example. No matter what country they come from they are hard workers, disciplined, worship higher education as the means to advance, and are very family oriented. Since they work so hard, they expect their prospective husbands or wives to also be equally hard working and interested in the same long-term goals. They also expect their prospective mates to be willing to integrate into their extended families. In many cases, they may want to return to their home countries because they miss their own families. Most Asians believe in the "American Dream" that hard work and sacrifice will result in success.
They have found it to be an obtainable fact of life.
Mixed in with this basic summary of Asian Culture are helpful little hints about how to impress your Asian friends. They are not all just common sense and some are very obvious like practicing good manners. She also gives tips about where to meet Asians. For instance, a single American parent with children would be likely to find an unescorted Asian in the same situation visiting a zoo. It's one of the places that is both fun for children and adults and is at the same time highly educational. She gives many locations were they are likely to find lonely Asians by themselves such as reading in the library or spending the day reading at a comfortable coffee shop. Notice how important reading and learning is in every situation.
The term Asian is actually a westerner's term and what we call Asians represent a vast number of different nations and different cultures. They are not all exactly alike and in many cases they resent being lumped together or mistaken for a citizen of the wrong nation. There are also major cultural and language differences. For instance there is no Asian word for `Romantic."
This is a quick, useful overview of cultural difference between Asians and Americans. Anyone interesting in dating Asians will find it helpful even if it is only an introduction to the subject.

I find it appalling in the 20th century there are book still writting about racial generalization. Shame on Tania Wang for belittling her own culture. I tried to give it no stars as one is far too generous.

...are a traditional Chinese symbol of marital fidelity, companionship and true love, so the cover is meaningful. Get the book, study and learn. (From Old Asia Hand, in and out of Asia for over 40 years with many wonderful relationships to show for it).

Only a stupid Asian woman would write something stupid like this. Thank you for making all Asian women sexual fantasies for all the losers out there. Dumb Head!

I have this book and I like it. As one reviewer had mentioned, some of the advice is universal, but there is also some cultural differences that I did not know. For instance. the significance of the number 4. It's bad luck to use it, and some buildings don't have a 4 or 14th floor button similar to the 13th floor in the west. Apparently the number 4 in some languages sounds similar to death. On the other hand my girlfriend has threatened to kill me a number of times without ever giving me the dreaded "4".

It is touching to know that Asian immigrants want to assimilate in America and be treated equally as Americans as stated in Chapter 10. This is great, because we cannot have too many good Americans.

--And sure, there's some stuff that's not so politically correct, but it's tongue in cheek and nothing to take seriously. I appreciate Ms. Wang's sense of humour, while at the same time stating that Asians suck at humour!

There's more fun throughout, though it's true this volume may be a bit brief. So I hope to see more books by this author.

I had to use this book for a college course in East Asian Studies. I have to say this is not a very enjoyable book to read, especially for writing a research paper. The author tends to ramble, jumping from topic to topic within sentences, and uses inflated language, which is often unnecessary and makes you doze off in minutes.

For my paper, I ended up looking into other books which helped me greatly. Do not read the first review for this book - it's most likely a professor who uses this book in one of his courses. Believe me, "lost in translation" is just skimming the surface when speaking about this book. Hope that helps.

I think the idea's of Wang Hui's book and his arguments are rather fascinating, but the translation was bogged down with run on sentences. The beginning part is basically a summary, and for all intents and purposes could be thrown out, since Wang Hui's own words are there for all to see. The last section of the book was the best, since, to me it seemed more relevant than the rest. I read this book last summer, along with several other books concerning the same subject material, and I don't think Wang Hui is the best, but he is not the worst either, but most of the problems with this book are due to the translation. Next time, use shorter sentences please!

Most Western perspectives on China fall into two (equally wrong)camps: the celebrations of the emergence of a new economic superpower reminiscent of William Gibson on 1980s Japan or the typical right-wing paranoia of China as the new enemy. Western discourse on China's politicshas been narrowly defined by ingrained images of 1989, some dissident bloggers, and Falun Gong. Discourse on economy has equally been restricted, becoming mostly a numbers game for the foreign investor, with Chicken Littles such as Gordon Chang warning of collapse. Rarely do we consider the real interests of regular Chinese. It's anyone's guess as to what the aspirations were of the man standing in front of the tank in Tiananmen, but most assume he was fighting for "reform" against the monolithic power of the party-state. To Americans, that reform can only mean one thing. But rather than assume this man risked his life for the freedom to eat Big Macs, why not hear from one of the actual participants and find out what "reform" means in China?

Wang Hui teaches at Tsinghua Univ. and is editor of the monthly journal "Dushu". He has become the unofficial leader of an intellectual circle his critics labeled the "New Left" (perjorative in associating Wang with Maoism). In this collection of his landmark essays on contemporary China, Wang exposes the domination of neoliberal and Fukuyama end of history ideologies and assumptions upon China's internal discourse. According to Wang, post-Mao China has seen many problems, but these aren't exclusively the problems of a state hindering the forward march of market reforms. Rather, they are the product of these so-called reforms. The neoliberals in China are not working against, but working within the party structure, becoming a new exploitative class and capitalizing on privatization through avenues legal and illegal. Human rights abuses in China are not only the oppression of dissidents, but the regular people just trying to survive in the jungle of market fundamentalism. While some have taken notice to labor issues, few have done it justice. Social discontent seems unlikely to spark revolution anytime soon, but the plight of workers and peasants deserves more attention. Wang looks at these problems emerging as a result of Dengism. Wang Hui is one of those few who have examined this story forgotten in the new economic superpower-new enemy debates in America. Wang argues that this discontent is struggling to articulate some sort of agenda and it made such an attempt in 1989, with the results of the crackdown being a renewed determination by the Dengists not simply to permit, but force capitalism on China with the use of state violence. On this, China's neoliberals are silent.

Wang Hui offers a radical third view on China from the perspective of an insider. In writing, he indicts both a party that has failed to live up to its own ideals of social justice and equality and the so-called critics of the party who benefit from its domestic gunboat capitalism. Wang reminds us that the students, as well as other less visible social groups, didn't just sing the Beatles in '89 (with some in the world hoping they'd take the lyrics of "Revolution" to heart and embrace the post-revolution McWorld), they also sang the Internationale. Those interested in such interpretations of contemporary China may also enjoy Streetlife China by Michael Dutton.

Few Chinese political writings translate well into English. Despite the best efforts of the traslator and editor, I was disappointed with this volume. It was turgid reading at best. The only redeeming feature about this volume is its price, especially for a hardcover. But then one buys a book for the ideas not just because it's cheap.

Show, don't tell. That's what I learned in my undergraduate fiction writing class. And I'm sure that Melville learned it, too. Coxe and Chapman weren't as attentive, I'm afraid.

The play spells out the "clunky"--read: metaphysical--conflicts in the plot, and even dramatizes secret meeting between Billy and Vere. The main thrust of the story is that we don't get to see that! The only thing it moved was my bowels. I wonder why it hasn't been performed in 30 years...

For and excellent dramatic adaptation, see Britten's opera. It at least preserves the mystery and the psychology of Melville's masterpiece.

Rarely does the world of fiction translate to theatre as cleanly and powerfully as this. Poet Louis Coxe and Robert Chapman have done a masterful job of bringing Herman Melville's somewhat clunky morality tale to life in this play. A must read for anyone who enjoys Melville or good, moving theatre.

I read this book as a summer assignment for my English Honors class. I could not believe how terrible it was! I could not even follow it when I read it out loud. The only thing that got me through it was Cliffs Notes. Sure this book has a lot of good morals (that I only discovered through Cliffs Notes) but overall, it was wretched!

This book is well written and serves as a good primer for those interested in learning more about the history of China and the life and work of Zhou Enlai. That said, Han Suyin's work is at times whimsical in its description of the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party. One gets the idea that she was commissioned by the party to produce it: Not a word is written on Zhou Enlai's involvement in the swift and widespread brutality visited by Mao upon millions of his detractors and alleged detractors.

Han Suyin writes an amazingly detailed account of one of the greatest statesmen of the twentieth century. Her prose is fluent and engaging, and the questions which she raises throughout the biography help the reader to grasp a fuller picture of the secretive man whose powerful politics saved China from Western military aggression. For those who are unfamiliar with the history of modern China, Ms. Han patiently describes the events which surrounded and preceded Premier Zhou. She painstakingly describes the politics of those who affected him, and she demonstrates how Zhou led the founding of the world's most populous nation.

Outside of the American media's depictions of Chinese human rights violations and inflitration, few Americans are familiar with matters relating to China. Here is a factual inside account of modern China shown with both its strengths and foibles. Ms. Han writes from her personal interviews with Premier Zhou and his colleagues, and she presents a full picture of both his accomplishments and mistakes. She is careful not to err on the side of exaggeration, though it is apparent that she, like most Chinese in China, revere their nation's former Premier. Americans, especially those who wish to understand the history between China and the U.S., should find this book interesting.

This is one of the few books available in English about Zhou Enlai, one of the most fascinating and least understood political figures in modern Chinese history.

Unfortunately, author Han Suyin and editor Paul De Angelis fail to bring to life this enigmatic figure who was in many ways responsible for guiding a broken China out of the ashes of Civil War and steering her away from the ill-planned social and economic policies of Mao Zedong.

Han comes from the propaganda school of China writing. In the 60s and 70s she penned forgettable books on the successes of Chinese Communism and the predicted triumph that never happened.

Blame it on the political climate of the day, but unfortunately many of the writing skills and editorial standards learned at that time are still present in the biography of Zhou Enlai. Legitimate interviews and quotes are seldom cited or even identified, while liberal doses of hearsay and legend (especially from the Long March period) are treated as fact. The story of the young man who rose through the ranks of the CCP hierarchy to become the No. 2 man to Mao all too often reads like a rather lengthy party biography with a few doses of insider gossip thrown in for good measure.

More importantly, readers seldom get a chance to see the man behind the public image. The all-important early years are treated as a series of dates and accomplishments in the expatriate CCP cell in France, and his childhood is barely mentioned at all.

His story begs more personal details and impressions from the people who knew him, but Han sticks mainly to the official version of Zhou and the party line on the political struggles of the time. It's a pity, because Han interviewed on several occaisions Zhou's widow and could have used her memories to paint an interesting, behind-the-scenes picture of this powerful figure. For instance, in the Long March period Zhou emerges as a man skilled in the art of compromise - what made him this way? The author either failed to ask the right questions or chose not to include them in this biography.

Other problems include a stiff writing style, a poor story structure, a mediocre translation and editing effort, and an irritating and often incorrect mix of Romanization systems used to spell out Chinese names.

The editor and publisher deserve some of the blame for not developing the idea with the author. They also deserve criticism for accepting and printing a manuscript that clearly needed some major changes.

It didn't have to be this way. "Wild Swans" is proof that great biographical works can be produced by Chinese writers in English. Too bad the people behind Zhou Enlai's only readily available profile in English did not see "Wild Swans" as an inspiration.