Chinese Books

Only a sha-kuwa who doesn't know his Chinese food here in Asia doesn't know who Pei Mei is. She is a quick-wokin' jive-talkin' hot mama in the Chinese culinary world. She is the Julia Child of dumplings and roast duck. She has spanned 3 generations teaching the Chinese here in Southeast Asia (with her syndicated cooking show) the ways of the cooking mastah! Well, sad to say, the only available book here is a single edition... you should offer all of her books where she covers all teh Chinese regions from Xiamen to Szechuan to Canton...

Consider this a must-have reference for Chinese cooking. Not only did my mother buy it at her mother-in-law's recommendation thirty years ago, but now both my sister and I have our own copies. You'd think we'd know how to cook this stuff just by hanging around the kitchen - well, that's easier said than done. This is a perfect first book for both Chinese and non-Chinese chefs (or those just trying to make dinner, like me.) Bon Appetit!

Peter Valder first became interested in GARDENS IN CHINA, from learning about famous planthunters in the 19th and early 20th centuries. His first trip, in 1980, was only as one of a small group visiting cultivars of camellia reticulata in Kunming and a famous plant collecting site, at Emei Shan. He went back to China 14 years later, on a photograph trip of wisterias.

At that point he realized three important things. First, he had a basically correct understanding of Chinese gardens, from the famous willow-pattern porcelain. The Thomas Turner design, from 1779, showed the Chinese garden as it tended to be, with water; trellis work; rocks; fancifully-shaped plants, such as the weeping willow; and buildings.

What the author went on to learn was that what was in Chinese gardens was based on specific Chinese beliefs. Two main sources for these beliefs were Daoism and Buddhism. Daoists believed in people and world as one, particularly through nature. But nature didn't have to look like nature. The Chinese didn't have the Native American respect for keeping the landscape and nature as close to how they were naturally. The Chinese in fact had no problem changing watercourses, making hills and lakes, and putting in buildings, as focal points, memorials and scenic viewpoints.

The ancient Chinese believed immortal beings flew about on the backs of cranes. These immortals supposedly lived on the islands of Fangzhang, Penglai and Yingzhou, in the eastern sea off the coast of Shandong. So islands were made in lakes, in the hopes of getting immortals to land there.

Likewise, Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West, supposedly lived in the Kunlun mountains. Whoever ate peaches from her beautiful orchards there lived forever. So Chinese gardens often had fake mountains.

Mountains were also among the places where the immortals lived. They were important in Daoism and Buddhism too. Daoists worshipped five mountains, as standing at the corners and center of the Chinese world. Buddhists worshipped heavenly and sacred peaks, which they called, respectively, Mounts Sumeru and Potalaka.

These fake mountains often had caves in them. This was because a beloved Chinese scholar, Tao Yuanming, was famous for telling a story about a fisherman who walked through a cave, into a utopian world. Caves could also be homes for the immortals. So caves became common in Chinese gardens.

Likewise, plants and trees were often chosen for definite reasons. One was because of what they called to mind from Chinese art, everyday life, and literature. So Chinese horse chestnut, ginkgo, juniper, pine, and thuja became traditional garden trees. Bamboo, chrysanthemum, cymbidium, marvel of peru, pine, plum, and yucca became traditional garden plants. Citrus, figs, large-flowered gardenias, and jasminum sambac became traditional potted plants.

Second, how the Chinese traditionally designed their gardens ended up, later, as common parts of Western gardening. They actually had among our earliest rock, topiary and water gardens. A brownish-yellow limestone, known as huangshi, was especially popular. Its veining called to mind the brushwork of classical Chinese paintings. The Chinese often put, among living bamboos, such unusual garden stones as fossilized tree trunks, stalactites, stalagmites, and standing pieces of fossilized wood. They often trained such vines as wisteria to grow around and over the hardened wood.

The Chinese started up training plant growth, known as topiary, much earlier than Western gardeners. They trained shrubs to grow, over a wire framework, into the shapes of birds, bridges, dolphins, dragons, fans, fishes, flower baskets, houses and square-sailed boats. They even shaped human figures, with added-on china or wooden feet, hands and heads.

In their water gardens, the Chinese often went in for what's known as landboats. Landboats, as well as Chinese dwarfed trees, were part of what later came to be known in English as potted scenery. For landboats were actually very small, but complete and detailed, landscapes left floating in garden pools.

Thirdly, Western gardening actually returned the favor. So there were long-lasting influences on Chinese gardening, especially from the United States. Chinese gardeners took up such American plants as African marigolds; cymbidium, most often as orchids; 4 o'clocks; ipomoea quamoclit; red salvias; and yucca gloriosa. In addition, devout Buddhists took to magnolia grandiflora. Its flowers were so like those of their sacred lotus.

Any reader who has followed Peter Valder's photography and writing career won't be let down. The organization is attention-keeping, the photography gorgeous, the writing clear. His book fits perfectly in between the earlier THE CHINESE GARDEN by Joseph Cho Wang and the most recent THE CHINESE GARDEN by Maggie Keswick.

Peter Valder has now established himself as one of the world's major horticultural writers with his "Gardens in China" the new companion volume to his wonderful, award winning, "Garden Plants of China". This book looks at over 200 gardens that the author has visited over a period of twenty years. It is a richly descriptive work both historically and geographically and is extremely readable, to the point that it is almost impossible to put down. The photography once again is simply stunning. Besides the famous classical gardens of Suzhou Valder gives a fascinating overview of temple courtyards , parks, cemeteries, botanical gardens and arboreta(many established since the cultural revolution) in every corner of this vast country. If you are contemplating a visit to China there could be no better preparation than reading Valder's "Gardens in China". If you are not going to China then travel there vicariously via this magnificent book. A must for every serious garden lovers bookshelf.

Did you ever wonder what it would've been like if Jim Morrison of the Doors had been born during the Tang Dynasty? Me neither, but Li He comes pretty close. His poems are dark and moody, charged with a disturbing blend of eros and thanatos, fixated on wine and beautiful singing girls (and courtesans, and palace attendants, and...), barbed with bitter sharp social satire, with all of this expressed in the weird, esoteric language of Taoist alchemy and the more colorful, bizarre elements of Chinese mythology and folklore. The latter helps explain the extensive annotation necessary to catch on to what he's getting at--Li He was hard to follow even in his own time by his fellow scholars and literati, so if they needed commentary you better believe we do a millennium later. This and the way his poems stick out uncomfortably like a sore thumb in the milder overall context of Tang poetry, even flying in the face of what was accepted poetic taste at times, may help explain why these strangely gleaming gems of jade have rested in relative obscurity until this century. Now times have finally caught up with Li He's eccentric genius, and J.D. Frodsham has done an excellent job of making this available in English with superb erudition and a surefire literary sense. This is an excellent book that should definitely appeal to anyone interested in Chinese literature.

J. D. Frodsham is Reader in Chinese at the Australian National University, and this is a scholarly edition with an extremely interesting and informative Introduction, and with extensively annotated translations of 242 of Li He's [Li Ho's] poems. The book also includes a Finding List, a Bibliography (with sinographs) of the 'Major Extant Chinese and Japanese Editions,' an additional Bibliography of 'Sources' and 'Books and Articles on Li He,' and is rounded out with a very full and detailed Index.

Frodsham tells us that Li He, who died when he was twenty-six after failing the Imperial examinations which would have qualified him for an official appointment in China's ruling bureaucracy, "was a man ravaged by sickness and disappointment. He seems to have suffered a severe illness - perhaps a nervous breakdown - consequent upon his failure to attain his degree" (p.xxii).

His poems are highly allusive - hence the need for extensive annotations - and have a grim and haunted quality. Here is the central stanza of his 'Song of the Old Jade-hunter' (with my obliques added to indicate line breaks) - a powerfully moving poem about the men who lived in hunger and extreme poverty, and who risked their lives, hanging from cliffs over raging torrents, to collect the precious substance that would later be carved into expensive art objects for the delectation of Chinese connoisseurs:

"On rainy nights, on the ridge of a hill, / He sups on hazel nuts, / Like the blood that wells from the cuckoo's maw / Are the old man's tears. / The waters of Indigo river are gorged / With human lives; / After a thousand years the dead / Still loathe these torrents" (p.79).

Frodsham's translations, though not quite in the class of a Burton Watson or A. C. Graham, read on the whole rather well, and do serve to suggest something of the power and feeling of the originals. But to be fully appreciated they need to be read along with his annotations.

Li He offers us a vision of ancient China, and of life, that is very different to the gentler and more restrained one we are accustomed to, and one that is possibly truer. His poems have a very special and unforgettable atmosphere. And so far as I know, Frodsham's is the only full-length book in English devoted to his work. As such it becomes something to be very grateful for, and a book that should be read by anyone who is interested in extending their understanding of Chinese poetry by exploring in depth a unique and wholly unforgettable figure.

This is one of the best books to describe your dreams and explain their meanings. Very easy to understand. It has eased a lot of concerns.

My sister gave me a copy of this book several years ago because I have complained so often about my bizarre and vivid dreams. A week after I received the book, I had an unusual dream that my next door neighbor was in my house while I was sleeping. The dream seemed so real that I wasn't sure if it actually happened, or if I dreamed it! The next morning I looked up "neighbor" in the Gong Hee Fot Choy Book of Dreams. It stated that a dream about a neighbor indicated that the dreamer would soon receive flowers. I thought that was ridiculous, as I was not in a relationship at that time, and there was no reason for me to receive flowers. But later that day when I arrived at my office, there were a dozen red roses on my desk. I couldn't make out the name on the card, but after a little investigating with the florist, I discovered that they had been sent by a fan of a reality show that I was on the year before. Wow! I love this book and sleep with it next to my bed!

This text by Robert Delfs was originally published in 1974, with newer printings at least in the 80's (I have the 10th printing from 1983) wiith some color photographs. This speaks quite well for the demand and authenticity of this text.

I am not Chinese, and can appreciate that the author learned Chinese and has lived and cooked in Taipei, China and later around Asia for some 30+ years, codifying the different variations of a dish into a one representative set of ingredients, with precise instructions on the techniques of cooking. He instructs how to properly chop up a chicken to maximize it's taste in a recipe, and gives numerous helpful pointers througout the book. Which cooking oil is the best (and the worst), hints on cooking certain peppers, how much water to add to make rice- it really depends on the length of the grains-all pointers that many native Chinese cooks know, but are rarely put into English language cookbooks.

This has been the classic text for many years, before Fuchsia Dunlop published her "Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking". Her much newer book has some colorful photos and more recipes.

While Dunlop's may be better suited for a beginner to Szechuan cooking, expecially since hers is readily available at bookstores, I would have both books, and do have both upon my shelf, to appreciate the finer points of each scholar-cook's viewpoint.

I'm sorry to see this book out of print. It is my "bible", and I have given it for many gifts. The most straightforward and understandable Chinese cookbook I have ever used. The dishes are definitely NOT run-of-the-mill in results, but the preparation is simple and quick. Everyone who wants to make truly authentic Szechuan food must have it.

A lot of books of poems are full of just funny poems, or only serious poems, but this book has a great mix of both! I can find poems for all my feelings here!

This book of poems, with their multi-cultural insight, was a wonderful read. Janet Wong showed me through her poetry, of what life was like growing up Chinese-Korean in an American society. I never had a chance to see what life was like for that section of society. I have known Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Brazilians, African-Americans, and Indians, but each culture is different. I enjoy seeing the differences and appreciating the insights of different people.
Most of the poems are short, yet so much is conveyed in those few lines. Poems like, A Belated Birthday, shows a depth of sadness, as only three lines are used. Other poems are fun and show a sense of humor; Speak Up is one such poem. It is written in a conversation format and made me want to read it with another person.
I am not one to normally read poetry, but this book is one I will read again.

A very revealing look at conventional medicine as opposed to homeopathic etc. Very good reading for any one with an ailment or dealing with anothers ailment!

Excellent book if you are dealing with health issues or would just like to improve your health and diet. Gives great info. on how disease thrives in acidic environments and how to help maintain the alkalinity your body needs.

This is an easy to read with information and instructions on use, appearance, when to plant, and how to plant Chinese greens, beans, melons, cabbages, herbs, peas, and even water plants.

If you're interested in growing Chinese vegetables, this is a great one for the library. Also includes English and Chinese names, planting table, and instructions for container gardening.

This book is filled with useful information. Search for the author and notice that it is now available in a 1984 Garden Way edition.

In the highly competitive appliance industry, Haier has had remarkable results over the past 20 years starting from the position of a small and almost bankrupt firm.

To achieve these results, Haier has successfully employed a mixture of leading edge manufacturing and management schools any Western company would be proud of and combined them with a set of "Confucian" and other deeply rooted values unique to Chinese culture.

The story of Haier is well presented and easy as well as compelling to read. It should be required reading for any student of management. Unlike many difficult books to follow dealing with improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma, the authors of The Haier Way do an outstanding job discussing all of the factors including the "invisible" cultural evolution that have allowed this company to become a leading world brand with over US $8 billion in revenues. This is all the more remarkable given the capital market limitations faced by Chinese companies.

As an appliance industry executive that was sent to China to help teach the Chinese how to manufacture high-quality goods, I have now learned a great deal from Haier and the Chinese authors of this book.

Charles L. Green

In the highly competitive appliance industry, Haier has had remarkable results over the past 20 years starting from the position of a small and almost bankrupt firm.

To achieve these results, Haier has successfully employed a mixture of leading edge manufacturing and management schools any Western company would be proud of and combined them with a set of "Confucian" and other deeply rooted values unique to Chinese culture.

The story of Haier is well presented and easy as well as compelling to read. It should be required reading for any student of management. Unlike many difficult books to follow dealing with improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma, the authors of The Haier Way do an outstanding job discussing all of the factors including the "invisible" cultural evolution that have allowed this company to become a leading world brand with over US $8 billion in revenues. This is all the more remarkable given the capital market limitations faced by Chinese companies.

As an appliance industry executive who was sent to China to help teach the Chinese how to manufacture high-quality goods, I have now learned a great deal from Haier and the Chinese authors of this book.

Charles L. Green

I found the story to be much more than friendship, the illustrations were just spectacular as my little nieces and I delighted in all the hidden objects in all the scenes. Brian Lies is masterful as he intertwines his story with his artwork. Brilliant!

This story of friendship speaks to all of us, child and parent alike. Here are two critters who are wonderful friends but opposite personalities. Hamlet, the pig, is the daredevil -- completely fearless and he doesn't seem to learn from experience. Then, there's Quince, the porcupine, who serves as both a friend and a very cautious parental type, who wants only for Hamlet to look for nice, quiet, safe activities. Of course, Quince is always there, ready to pick up the pieces and provide comfort after the inevitable disaster.

The illustrations are both intricate and delightful. It takes a kid to notice many of the details. The first time we read the book my daughter said, "Look, Mom, the shopkeeper has to stand on phone books to see over the counter."