Chinese Books

The designs are just what I was looking for. The stencils are a heavy plastic; very high quality. I want to see more by this author. I hope there is a volume II. I have found a new hobby!!

There are three sheets of heavy white plastic with 6 stencil designs.

One sheet contains a single design - a Chinese dragon. Another sheet contains two circular motifs. The third sheet contains a fish, a dragonfly and a flower motif. All are beautiful. I agree with the other reviewer - we need a Volume II! I want many more of these designs.

great high-quality pre-cut stencils - would love to see more - perhaps a volume II.

these are easy to use and high quality! would love to see a volume 2 also.

A superb guide to the intricacies of the Chinese economy. I highly recommend it to students, professionals, policy makers, and academics looking to better understand the underlying themes and trends of the world's fastest growing economy.

Erik Lundh,
Washington, DC

China's economic development since 1978 has baffled and surprised the world. Other developing economies may regard China with envy but if they are contemplating copying China's model of development, help is at hand. They just need to read Naughton's book.

China's three decade of economic development has been called many things, such as groping stones while crossing the river, three steps forward and two back, bird cage economics, transition from command to market, amazing, miraculous and more. The author has organized the historical date in a way easy to comprehend and coupled with explanations that are lucid and easy to follow.

Textbook conjures up the image of a big snore, but not this one. This one will become essential reference book dogeared by frequent use.

An excellent book which is rare for being highly readable, insightful, and well supported. Those who know China will find specific information and analysis which explains why the country operates in the way that it does. Those who don't know China will learn about the country without the confusion that results from the writings of casual observers.

The only specific weakness in the book is Dr. Naughton's assessment of modern industrial policy, which is incomplete and off-track. That aspect is simply an omission and does little to detract from the overall value of his work.

Barry Naughton has written a masterful book. It is comprehensive, accessible and rigorous. Researchers, upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, who want to understand the key economic issues faced by China, will all appreciate this volumn. I am using it in my Master courses!

Jiin-ming Fahn, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan

I teach Chinese. I have chosen these books as text books for my students after making research in text books for teaching Chinese abroad. My students are from different age groups. Some are young, others adults. They are mainly from American families. I love these text books. The tapes are a plus in helping students pronounce Chinese words correctly after each lesson. They are very necessary. My students enjoy my lessons and they don't feel so difficult in learning Chinese with the text books. I recommend these text books to anyone who wants to learn Chinese seriously but in a fun way.

We have all 3 books plus the tapes, and we really like them. Book one mainly focusses on teaching the sounds of Chinese, plus the 4 basic tones, so there are not many Chinese characters, and it mainly uses Pinyin romanization. Book two introduces the Chinese chracters, but uses Pinyin for the reading selections. Book three switches to using Chinese characters for the readind exercises, and has more complicated sentences. The books are colourful, well illustrated, and feature sentences that our 3 children actually might want to say! The tapes are great since the female teacher says the sentences (giving me an adult woman to copy), and then her student repeats the sentences and words, giving our kids a "kid voice" to copy. We have other books and tapes, but these are far and above the rest in terms of our enjoyment!

We like it however it was a bit too fast for us. A lot packed in one book. We are absolute beginners so Wendy Lin's books was a bit more realistic for us. It may be more helpful for those who already speak Chinese at home with their parents and their parents can help them. Otherwise it was a bit over our heads.
The books are in color. The tapes are all in Chinese except for some instructions. So you basically have to have the book in front of you to practice and learn.
I like the sentences and phrases. They are all relevant to most children. THe tone exercises are helpful to learn pinyin.
Basic listen and copy.
Somehow I have missplaced the first book and now need to purchase that one separately which I don't think you can.
Nice if they had a workbook or teacher's manual with it.

These books and tapes are well put together, the books are colourful and the text is well put together. My daughters have learned a great deal, and this item makes a valuable teaching tool. These books and tapes are great.

This collection of book/tape is the best instructional I have yet to try. I have tried 5 others and discovered that this one is more "complete". I would recommend to others. However, for improvement, the vocabulary section needs to be translated into english on tape also. The conversation is realistic, lively, useful and general sufficiently to cover a wide range of activities in our daily life which really what I was looking for.

I had to buy this book for a Chinese class I took last fall, and it's a perfect byline for an immersion course. When all you're allowed to speak is Chinese, you're in good hands with this one. I didn't get a tape with it (they shipped off a bunch with no tapes), I can now speak a nice annoying amount of Chinese. If you want to learn, get it. If you're not sure yet, hold off.

This is a marvellous book for anyone studying the Chinese language. I wish there were more language books like this one. The style is organised, tidy and undaunting and I found the accompanying tapes particularly invaluable. The text similar to "Japanese for Busy People" with more depth. I truly recommend it.

Excellent book to use if beginning your study of Chinese. It was recomended to me after 5 months of learning Chinese in China, and I wish I would have bought it earlier. It has Chinese Charactors for Your Tutor, English for your understanding, and Pin ying for your pronunciation. Excellent style of learning. Tapes are very useful also.

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.

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

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.

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.

This book discusses Chinese food like no other cookbook. There are chapters on texture, flavor and how to cook food to preserve the characteristic flavors or how to alter them to create something unlike the original ingredients. It is not just a collection of recipes but another way of looking at food. Learn how to appreciate chinese food with this book and you will either eat at the best chinese restaurants or you will cook it yourself

This cookbook,written by the wife and daughter of Lin Yutang,is simply the very best chinese cookbook ever written. It explaines what a chinese gastronome is looking for in terms of tastes, presentation and style and then gives an example recipe. Any one of the recipies is worth the price of the book. If you're having Chinese people over for dinner this is the book to use.There is a more recent edition titled "The Art of Chinese Cooking" that is currently being remaindered.
I've worked as a cook, I've cooked from many cookbooks and this is my all time favorite.

Only the facts that a seasoned Chinese cook who lives amongst the Han Chinese for decades will have an insight into these subtle notions of enhancing Chinese foods. Few or none of the other so-called Chinese cookery books in the West have any of these well-known ideas of flavoring - facts known to those in the Far East of course - and few bother to print stories on these facts.

By far this is the most Chinese of all of the books I have on Chinese cooking. After returning home from living in China for several years, I know that Chinese cooking takes skill and practice and is not just a matter of measuring ingredients. In many ways it is about choices that can only be made with knowledge of Chinese culture. I feel that this book addresses many of the issues that are required for successful Chinese cooking. The author made no compromises, which is refreshing!

this was a really good book. It gave herbal remedies for illnesses, and also gave the symptoms for those illnesses. This book acted as two books; it gave info on illnesses, AND the herbal formulas to correct those illnesses. my only problem with this book is that in the index, it gives an illness, and then says: see so and so. This is good, but then it gives you a page number. You turn to that page, and there is no info on the illness there, except a little thing saying, illness-see another illness. while this is a little annoying, you have to put up with it, because this book is worth it. Great job!

I borrowed this book from the library and liked it so much that I'm planning to buy it for myself. This book is very well-written. The author wrote this book in a very easy to understand manner (in the layperson's language) so as not to do "analysis paralysis". Usually authors like to use fancy words and write out alot of unnecessary words to pad the pages, but this book was not that type of work, making it easier for me to read and enjoy. From reading this book, I was able to understand and learn not just how to make Chinese herbal medicine, but I received a lesson on the history and background of Chinese medicine as well. The author also gave 10 suggestions to improve one's health. Of course, the main juice of this book are the recipes for healing different types of illnesses, and these illnesses were sorted alphabetically so you can find them easily like a dictionary. I seriously recommend this book to those people who are learning about Chinese herbal medicine or who would like to have some Chinese herbal medicine formulas handy like a cookbook. Save money and get the paperback version instead.

Hey! This was a great book. Not only because it gives lots of chinese herbal cures to the ilnesses talked about in it, but because it gives symptoms for all those diseases. This book was a relly good guide to staying aware of health. I had never even considered Chinese herbs as effective medicine before i red this book, but now i know better. good job Richard.

this book is great and should be read by all who want an alternative to Western Medicine!

Being a retired boxer/kickboxer and now in my 40's, I was looking for ways of keeping fit internally and seeking relief from the numerous aches and pains aquired while participating in extreame sports for so many years. This book not only provides many remedies for sports injuries, but for ailments of all kinds. I especially like the way he translates the chinese herbs into botanical language as many of the herbs can be found in our own health food stores.
The only slight complaint is that he doesn't say much about our own american ginseng as it is highly valued by the chinese.
Otherwise I find it to be highly informative for both the novice and advanced student of the ways of herbal healing.
Deep bow.

China has seen many social, political and economic changes over the centuries, yet surprisingly, has managed to preserve excellent examples of changing architectural home styles throughout these years, as Chinese Houses: The Architectural Heritage Of A Nation presents. Packed with color photos of both interior and exterior décor, Chinese Houses also presents an in-depth survey of the rituals, culture, ornamentation influences, and floor plans of homes across China, from urban to rural dwellings. If it's a strong in-depth history of Chinese home architecture which is desired, look no further than the gorgeous Chinese Houses: it's much more than the coffee table picturebook it appears a first glance.

I can't imagine there being a better book out there on Chinese houses as this book has history and expert photographs. What's more it also has well-drawn sections and plans. Most books on this subject will use old diagrams or ancient drawings that are a hassle to decipher. Here the diagrams are purpose-drawn, clean, and add a great deal to the understanding. About a third is dedicated to a general history of the form, construction methods, social life, and geographical variety; and about two-thirds to about 8 pages each on specific houses. Just enough info on each.

The one gripe I would have is that, in the part of the book where he gives a general introduction of the elements and history of Chinese houses, he uses photos from the twenty or so houses that he discusses individually. It would have given a bit more breadth (and reduced a bit of redundancy later on) if he had used that opportunity for photos of houses that were not given an individual focus.

The amount of detail and research that's in this book is astounding. This is not another coffee table picture book. Its filled with beautiful pictures, and an equal amount of readable, scholarly writing about a culture thats slowly getting lost to the west.

Get it!

This book exceeded my expectations. It has informative text and abundant photographs including many vintage images. For anyone interested in Chinese architecture, this is the book for you.

This is a "sleeper" of a Chinese cookbook!

It is well written; it reads as if a special friend is talking with you as you go, making these recipes easy to follow.

The list of ingredients for most recipes are available at most grocery stores; if you want to make egg rolls, just get the wrappers from an Asian grocery store.

I was sold on this book when I saw 3 different diagrams for folding egg rolls, and 17 different recipes for congee- a thick rice based soup, with different tidbits added for taste and contrast.

The Chinese techniques needed to make these taste authentic are different than Western cooking techniques, and are clearly explained. You don't even need a wok or new gadgets to cook these meals.

This is for kosher meals; you might never realize this were it not in the title, as there are plenty of recipes with chicken, beef, lamb and vegetarian recipes too.

If you want a great Chinese cookbook, and you enjoy pork and other non kosher fillings, just substitute these as your imagination allows.

An authentic touch is the use of the "real" Chinese names for the recipes, and the author even has them written in Chinese characters!

While I am fond of cookbooks with pictures, it is not a drawback to this book, as seeing the colorful combinations of vegetables, and tasting the mix of textures and spices are the delight of a Chinese meal. Just picture how your Chinese food has looked tasty at restaurants...no fancy food styling needed here!

This is one of the best written, and easiest to follow Chinese cook books out there!

This is an excellent book for would-be chinese cooks, even if they are not strictly kosher, or if they have other requirements (vegetarain, for instance) in that it gives more general principles and advice which are applicable to a broader picture, rather than just specific recipes to follow. And it's pleasant to read.

The stories and information about the repcies are all engaging. The recipes are wonderfully flavorful! My favorites are the Spring chicken packages and the Peking Duck. Would recommend this to the Kosher and non-Kosher.

I started leafing through this book at a friend's house and before I put it down had written down the ISBN number to get myself a copy. Not just a compendium of recipes, the book explains techniques and general background concepts in a way that those with little experience will appreciate, while presenting a large and interesting variety of dishes to please the more experienced Chinese food maven. Even vegetarians should be satisfied with the selection of vegetable and noodle based dishes provided here. Meeting the requirements of Kosher preparation has not limited the author at all in her culinary creativity.

If you collect Chinese labels this is a must have book.

Chinese label art has long been outstanding, so it's surprising that few coverages of Chinese ad art have revealed its history before. CHINESE LABEL ART 1900-1976 provides a fine survey of packaging and labels from the period, pairing stunning images from around China to beyond its borders into Hong Kong and Macau. From tea and medicines to foods, cigarettes, firecrackers and religious items, over 400 color images pair with an authoritative discussion of history and art from Andy Cahan, who has been collecting Chinese ephemera for most of his life.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

In this fantastic work (in all meanings of the word), Cahan opens a door to an utterly unique aesthetic - one most of us have only caught a glimpse of when we set off firecrackers as a child, or wandered through an Asian Food Market - a world of lurid colors and incredibly ornate designs, populated with dragons, temples, bearded Mandarins, strange winged creatures, and smiling sages. An initial epiphany during a celebration of lunar new year in New York's Chinatown when he was an infant led Andrew Cahan into a collecting odyssey - into old shops and factories in the backstreets of the "Chinatowns" of U.S. cities to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taipei. This beautifully printed book is a distillation of the fabulous collection of graphic art Cahan accumulated in his lifetime of collecting. Cahan's insightful commentary on the art illuminates the use of colors, symbols, and designs, as the art evolved in response to religious, political, and cultural influences from both within and outside of the region.
I would like to second the previous reviewer's perceptive and enthusiastic endorsement of this book! The Graphic Arts of China is a delightful and beautiful work of art in itself. Here's an opportunity to learn all about an utterly exotic and previously unexplored cultural phenomenon, while experiencing a vision of a fantastic world, reminiscent of the imaginary China of Ernest Bramah's Kai Lung books. Highly recommended!

Sometimes the best way to understand a culture is to take a deep look at it through a keyhole: the home cooking of French housewives, appreciation for American R&B records in the rural villages of Africa, the flourishing of Yiddish newspapers on the Lower East Side of New York City.

Now Andrew Cahan opens a window to understanding Chinese culture through an unexpected route: the vivid, fantastic, charming, and surprisingly hip label art that appeared on packaging for fireworks, cigarettes, and other consumer products in the early-to-mid 20th Century.

Most of this book, as it should be, is pictures, and what glorious pictures they are! The smiling face of Buddha unexpectedly adorns a pack of firecrackers; an entrancing image of a deer with a pine shoot in its mouth stands before a snowy mountain on a fabric label; one of dozens of happy infant boys raises his hands on a label for "The Baby" cigarettes. Along the way, Cahan offers fascinating insights on the changing social dynamics in China during that tumultuous century, examining gender issues (without getting tedious) and the ways the rise of Communism altered community values (without getting polemical). Along the way, he tells his own story of being a young suburban Jewish kid who was seduced by these brightly colored curiosa on visits to New York's Chinatown. His writing style is warm, elegant, and full of affection for his subject.

For people who collect this stuff, this book is a must-buy. But if I was a young rock star shopping for a killer-hip design for my next CD cover, I'd get a million ideas browsing through this marvelous book.