China Books

Very good story. Makes you taste and feel and see China, both rural and urban. I will share both Flinchbaugh's books with a Chinese couple who while they lived in China had NO knowledge that the Christian church in China is persecuted. It was not until they left China that they discovered the truth.

Mei Lin has finally been released from prison, but life isn't the same after all she's been through. When she is invited to help in an orphanage for the summer, she can't pass up the chance that God has given her even if it means returning to Shangai so soon after her captivity. During Mei Lin's time away, it's her fiancé who ends up in more danger than he thought possible.

The sequel to Daughter of China, Across The China Sky stands on it's own with a gripping tale of religious persecution in China. C. Hope Flinchbaugh is a powerful storyteller and tackles this sensitive subject with grace and compassion. She doesn't stop with persecution, though. She also handles infertility, cults and orphans. The multiple story lines work together to bring the reader to his knees for any who might suffer through any of these situations.

At times heart-warming and at others heart-wrenching, readers will get a first-hand look at the lives of Christians in China. Flinchbaugh has done her homework. The characters are richly developed and the story deeply touching.

Readers who have an interest in other cultures will find Across The China Sky refreshing. As Americans, it's hard to keep our freedom in perspective. Every once in a while a powerful story like this one begs to be read as a reminder of the liberties we enjoy while others around the world suffer.

As I was reading, I truly felt like I was in China, suffering alongside Flinchbaugh's characters. Every once in a while I would need to pause to wipe the tears from my eyes. The powerful story is backed up at the end of the novel by a real-life update from an interview the author did while visiting China.

Based on true events, the author gives you insight into the Chinese Cult, 'Eastern Lightening'. It's a disturbing story, but one we need to be aware of. At the end of this book, the author provides an excellent outline for dealing with this cult. Sometimes in America, we feel all safe and cozy. This book was an eye opener of how Christians in China are being persecuted today.

In this sequel to her novel, Daughter of China (Christy-award finalist), author C. Hope Flinchbaugh takes readers on another journey into the struggles of the underground Christian church in China.

The main character, Mei Lin, returns home to her rural village after months of difficulty imprisoned in Shanghai. Yet her time at home on her father's farm is brief, and she soon says good-bye to her family and fiancé Liko so she can accept an opportunity to teach at a Christian-run orphanage in Shanghai.

While she's gone, Liko responds to an invitation to further his Christian education at the Haggai Institute in Singapore. He discovers too late that a religious cult masterminded this scheme to kidnap the best and brightest pastors of China.

Based on a true story, Flinchbaugh's poignant portrayal of persecuted Christians opened my eyes to a new area of the world. As the daughter of a missionary to the Chinese, this author has a calling to enlighten the world about the Christian movement in China.

This novel is so gripping, I couldn't put it down. Like never before, I'm praying for the heroic courage of my brothers and sisters in China.

--Christian Women Online Book Buzz

If you want to read a cozy book, this one isn't for you. The second book in a series, Across the China Sky divulges information that just now is hitting the front pages of American newspapers (Washington Post, for example, just ran a front-page story on the neglected Chinese orphans.) This book is gripping from the first chapter. The author's account makes you wonder if she lived it through it herself. Anybody would benefit from reading this - from the account of the childrens' plights to the wicked cultic schemes - it is truly a book that won't leave you the same person you were when you started out. As American businesses move toward China, we must also be aware of the other facets that make up this complex country. Human rights violations should not be ignored for the sake of lining a few billionaires' pockets, and with the Olympics coming up in 2008, this is the perfect time to be aware of what's going on in China and do something about it. Kudos to C. Hope Flinchbaugh for taking a stand and telling these stories. It's a book I couldn't get enough of and sad to see end. The acounts of the mental and physical torture are brutal, so be forewarned, this is not a comfortable story. But it will be time well-spent.

Publisher's Weekly completely missed the point of the book in their "review". And as far as their confusion over narrative, I can only wonder if that reviewer had had one too many. And disappointing, this book is not.

Like sipping a fine wine, you can't jump into this book expecting it to come out the way you would like it. Hold on for the ride and judge for yourself.

A newly married couple set off to follow the trail of Marco Polo. Along the way they visit places described by Marco Polo, as well as places Marco Polo never got to, such as the Hunza Valley.
In lands of foreign languages, the Shors encounter a variety of people from kings, queens and Shahs, to
villagers, guides and yak pullers.
After meeting in China where they both worked and lived, Jean Bowie and Franc Shor were married, although Jean wouldn't have know otherwise as the service was in Chinese. The Shors, both seasoned travelers, soon are honeymooning across parts of China. While on their honeymoon Jean, an ardent follower of Marco Polo, is reminded of his explorations.
After Franc is willing to make the trek, the couple start leaping the hurdles. They overcome numerous obstacles, impossible with todays traveling systems and security. While preparing to leave and traveling through Europe, Franc adopted a necessary maxim, " After we leave here we won't get anything good to eat." This he would recite anytime they both dined at a restaurant with appealing delicacies. " He says it in New York before we leave for Paris, and in Paris before Rome, and in Rome before Cairo." Mrs. Shor says, " The grass is always dead on the other side of the street."
After all preparations are finished, so they think, the Shors set off on an eight month exploration through the Middle East, following Marco Polo's footsteps and just like him, trying to make it to China.

I'd recommend this book for children or at least middle school. Written about tracing the steps of Marco Polo, the best part was the end where they slide with their yaks into the valley of the Hunzas in Northern Pakistan. The Hunzas are people who love in a mountain suntrap, with no written language, lots of apricot oil and no cancer. Fascinating. I'm sorry the authoress didn't write more books.

Just after WW II when the world's inhabitants were still resting from their efforts and the Chinese Civil War was in a lull and westerners, especially Americans were welcome almost anywhere, a couple set out to see the remote areas of High Asia where few westerners had ever gone. They managed to travel in a time of relative safety compared with now.
I remember the days of hippies in the sixties riding local buses across Turkey, Iran snd Afghanistan on their way from Europe to Nepal. And the rivalry between the US and USSR for influence with the Afghan government and people. We and the USSR were competing with aid projects including modern mapping, road building, dams and other infrstrucure projects. There were even guidebooks detailing routes to and ancient monuments at Herat, Balkh, Kandahar, and elsewhere.
Whst makes these remarka relevent today was the relative safety of travel on the besten paths in the fifties and sixties.Then the world's interest in the "Roof of Asia" was inspired by the msny articles in the National Geographic in the forties and fifties. I followed the adventures of Franc and Jean and was saddened by their subsequent splittng up. I had even hoped to go there some day, especially to Tibet, but by the time I graduated from university, the Chinese Reds had long since closed the area east of the Wakhan to westerners. I had eagerly read Lowell Thomas's Tibet articles in the SEP as well.
I first read those articles in "real time" as a young lad in the forties and have retained an interest in the area ever since. I was never fortunate enough to travel to high Asia on mapping expeditions when the Army Map Service was working in Iran. I came to work at AMS too late to go to the field. In a few years oue field men had either been expelled or finished the work in most of the countries involved.
This book is not a scientific study but an impressionistic account of one couple's journey during a window of opportunity which will never come again, at least in the relative safety of the late forties.
The book is based on the articles that originally appeared in the Geographic magazine.

Wonderful travel book about a very volatile part of the world. Franc and Jean Schor travel through China after WWII on their honeymoon when Jean gets the idea to follow the route of Marco Polo after reading his account. After much planning with the National Geographic and cajoling of governments to issue the necessary visas they embark on an adventurous trip through much of South West Asia.

The more interesting accounts are of their meeting and befriending the Shah of Iran. They come to spend quite some time with him and his family. He even flies them himself in his converted B-17 over the "hot Desert" of Iran. They come away seeing the Shah as an enlightened leader who will modernize the country. Just to show you what a small world it is they meet Chief Justice William O'Douglas, at a dinner party in Iran. He seems to have spent allot of his spare time exploring in that part of the world as a hobby. At the dinner party he says, "I would much rather set precedent than follow precedent." In Afghanistan they get to meet King Mohammed Zahir, (who is 93 and presently in exile in Italy), by using a letter of introduction given them from the Shah of Iran. King Zahir grants them permission to travel through the Wakhan corridor, a very dangerous desolate area bordering China. They are the first "westerners" to travel this part of Afghanistan and write about it since the 19th century. The descriptions of abject poverty and their dealings with "duplicitous" Afghans still rings true today by all accounts we see in the news.

This is an enjoyable book describing the people and treacherous terrain of South West Asia. Franc and Jean Schor become intrepid world travelers who did many stories for National Geographic. As a retired Army officer and student of political philosophy I reccomend the book highly.

Written by a woman who was not a professional explorer, but rather an individual with a keen sense of adventure, and history. A modest and beautifully written work that flows so easily that it can be enjoyed in just a few sittings. It takes place in the period just after WWII before the world was over-run with cell phones, satellite photos and email. A true aventure from a simpler time...

Minnie Vautrin died at 55, by her own hands. Today we would call it post traumatic stress syndrome. Sometimes people have seen too much and given too much and they can't carry it all. Today Minnie Vautrin is remembered for the hope in Nanking she gave when all seemed lost before world war II as the Japanese invaded China.

Imagine being a simple school teacher from the Mid West, sent as a missionary to China to teach. Suddenly your school becomes a haven for 10,000 women who seek shelter against the invading Japanese Army. Vautrin could not even finish a meal or sleep a night without going out to fight off Japanese soldiers intent on hauling off Chinese girls from the international compound that had been declared a safe haven. She was slapped and pistol whipped. She was threatened repeatedly. She went without sleep. She went repeatedly to the Japenese authorities to protest. She even grabbed girls from the clutches of soldiers.

In the broader story, twenty four foreigners, including a Nazi German named John Rabe, saved 200 hundred thousand Chinese from extermination in a 3.8 km square safety zone in Nanking. The foreigners could have walked away. Instead they broke up rape attemtps, were pistol wiped, beaten, threatened at gun point. Unfortunately another 300,000 Chinese were killed, and at least 20,000 were raped, including grandmothers of 80 and girls as young as nine.

American missionaries in China have a mixed record. Those who stayed and saved the Chinese at Nanking have earned a special place in China's history. This book explains this history. If you want to understand China, this is worth reading.

With Iris Chang's Rape of Nanking, this book is essential reading for those who would like to know about the Chinese Holocaust: many millions of Chinese murdered by the Japanese during the Second World War.

Minnie Vautrin was a lady with compassion. She devoted her life in bringing education to Chinese women and girls in 1920s to 30s. She was well remembered not only by the people of Nanking but also by all Chinese people. During the Rape of Nanking committed by the invading of Japansese military in 1937, she risked her life in protecting over ten thousand women and girls in her campus. This book showed her courage. It was a remarkable story of the female over the male, the weak over the strong, the peace over violence. However, over the past sixty years, not many Americans know of this woman of humanity and internationalism. In 2001, I had the good fortune to attend her memorial at Shephard, Michigan with a small group of friends and her relatives. I delivered a brief paper on behalf of the citizens of Nanking for their respect and love to her. Dr Bates, another international team members son of 1937 delivered the grave site prayer.
As Americans, you should not miss this woman of the greatest generation. In December 13 2002, a statue will be set up in Naking to honor this American to China.
In 2004, Missouri House, City of St Louis and City of Overland made Proclamation on her birthday as Ginling Forever, Minnie Vautrin Day. In 2005, Illinois Governor honored her on her birthday and called for citizens of Illinois to follow her example. In September 27 2006, California Congressman Mike Honda introduced her on the floor for a Celebration Resolution - a significant gift for her 120 years birthday!
In 2003, with a group of friends, we set up Friends of Minnie Vautrin Scholarship Project to raise funds to honor her and her mission of Chinese women education in her Ginling College through United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia. [...]

I first heard of the Rape of Nanking back in the year 1998 when I came across Iris Chang's _Rape of Nanking_ Since then I have read every book that I came across on the subject. Dr. Hu's book tells us of Minnie Vautrin an extraordinary woman who spent most of her life in China trying to help the Chinese people through education in religion. The book goes on to tell how Miss Vautrin risked her life day after day protecting thousands of Chinese women who seeked sanctuary at Miss Vautrin's college, Ginling.
Dr. Hu does a wonderful job giving the reader a backdrop of information, so the reader knows Japan and China's relationship with each other and the circumstances that led up to the Rape of Nanking. Dr. Hu also gives very detailed information in a short section about the history of American missionaries going to China. Wonderful book and an extraordinary woman.

Author Hua-ling Hu presents the deeply moving biography of an American educator/missionary who remained in Nanking to help thousands of women and children facing death. I could not set down the book until I finished it, then I started again in order to gain a keen appreciation for the thorough historical scholarship using sources that have not been available until Hu brought them to our eyes. This book should be read by historians, by missionaries, by anyone interested in fascinating biographies -- it is a compelling story with exceptional historical scholarship as the backdrop.

Osprey books are the greatest, though they're a bit pricey. The color plates are magnificent. (Incidentally, the cover shown here on Amazon isn't the actual cover of the book. The spelling of "Volunteers'" has been cleaned up, and the actual painting shows the collision of Parker Dupouy's Tomahawk with the Ki-43 Hayabusa flown by Lieutenant Okuyuma of the Japanese army 64th Sentai.) In this case, they're supplemented by many black-white photographs, most of them taken by the late R.T. Smith, including some never published before.

Here's a first rate addition to the literature on the original Flying Tigers.

It's exactly what the title promises, a thorough treatise on AVG colors and markings. Surprising how much these varied. As such, it's an excellent reference for those who like to know what those historic planes looked like. Note that this volume is listed in the Osprey Ace series, probably due to its picturing many of the a/c flown by ace pilots. Incidentally, the profile art is among Osprey's best, showing camo colors in scale effect (not full strength as in paint color chips) with realistic rendering of wear and tear on those well-used planes.

The text on such a subject could be dull. Not this one.

The author's long standing association with AVG veterans not only led to his expertise on the subject, it yielded many anecdotes and observations. These warm the text with the human element as well as adding bits of history.

Even tho' AVG history in general could be over-exposed, I'd expect that the freshness of the original material in this work will surely add up to heightened appreciation for this justly famous and prideful group.

The Osprey website says another volume on AVG Aces is in the works.

American Volunteer Group Colours and Markings
Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #41 © 2001
By Terrill Clements


This may become a continuing refrain - "just what we need, another book on ..."

It's my hope that, in each case where that question comes to mind, I'll also be able to provide they answer, "Hell YES we need this book!" I'm pleased to say that this book on the often-covered American Volunteer Group - the AVG - is needed, welcome and very well done. And I say this as one who's got at least a dozen good books on the AVG, from biographies by Scott and Boyington to the recent and superb "Sharks over China."

I'm glad to be able to report that, once again, I'm finding that a new book - new to me, anyway, though it was first published in 2001 - that explores new aspects of even an often-explored subject is well worth having. In this case, author Terrill Clements interviewed several surviving Flying Tigers, and in the process, brought new insights into this well-reviewed topic. For me, this was a page-turner, with new insights into a well-traveled story, and lots of useful-to-modelers photos, drawings and pilot commentary.

Most students of things military will recognize the AVG - a group of three squadrons of mercenary pilots in the employ of the Nationalist Chinese government. Always under-strength and under-manned, these brave soldiers of fortune - themselves often cast-offs from the pre-war US Army Air Corps and the US Naval Air Service - blazed a trail of glory across the skies of Southeast Asia for barely six months. From their first combat on December 10, 1941 until July 4, 1942 when the AVG was disbanded and reconstituted as the 23rd Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Force's China Air Task Force, the AVG destroyed nearly 300 Japanese combat planes in the air and on the ground, losing just 20 pilots and perhaps 35 or 40 aircraft in the process.

Not surprisingly, the AVG - the Flying Tigers - have been covered widely, in everything from a piss-poor John Wayne wartime propaganda movie to a series of books, articles, seminars and websites. Did we need another book? Surprisingly - especially if you're a modeler or you want to know more about the people who made up the AVG - the answer is a resounding YES!

The book is a godsend to modelers like me who have a "thing" for the American Volunteer Group - for instance, it has a dozen-page chapter that probes almost excessively (if "excessive probing" into AVG markings is possible) into the color schemes and markings of the group's 99 remarkably historical Tomahawk fighters. Not only are very specific details of even the smallest markings spelled out, but in many cases the author is able to say who painted on those markings - when - and where he bought the paint! In focusing on the people who painted and serviced and flew these Tomahawk fighters, the author swings back to further coverage on the markings: asking - then answering - specific questions such as "who created the various versions of the shark-mouth," for instance, and "how the squadron and personal markings evolved over time." For "marking nuts" (and who, among those who model the Flying Tigers, isn't something of a "marking nut" at heart?) this book is a "must" for your hobby bookshelf.

A personal aside about my fascination for the AVG's Hawk Model 81 Tomahawk - the primary mount of the AVG, which also flew a few USAAF hand-me-down P-40Es late in the Group's abbreviated lifespan - this AVG Tomahawk is a beaut! Not exactly a P-40, the AVG Tomahawk was built to a British Lend Lease contract as an offshoot of their Tomahawk Mk. II. These aircraft were then passed on, again through Lend Lease, to Nationalist China to help in their ongoing war against Imperial Japan. Other Tomahawks from the same production run were Lend-Leased to the Soviet Union, and amazingly - since the fall of the Soviet Union - a few of these Tomahawks have recently been discovered and are currently being restored to flight status or for museum displays.

The aircraft from this particular production batch is really an amalgam of the P-40B and P-40C, with features from both aircraft. However, when taken into the USAAF at the time the AVG disbanded, the plane was referred to "officially" as a P-40C. No matter what it's designation, to my eye the AVG Tomahawk is not only the most elegant and attractive P-40, but also the most deadly-looking.

Sure, later models of this Curtiss fighter had more powerful armament - six wing-mounted .50 caliber Browning heavy machine guns as opposed to the Tomahawk's two nose-mounted .50s and four wing-mounted .30 caliber Brownings - and these later models also had the ability to carry and drop bombs. They also had heavier armor and better gunsights - and very likely improved self-sealing fuel tanks, too. No question that the D and E models (the Kittyhawks) and the later F-model through N-model Warhawks were, in most cases, technically more capable warplanes. But the Tomahawk looks deadlier (at least to me), and because it wasn't weighted down with heavier armament and extra armor, it may well have been a bit more maneuverable - that judgment is really up to the pilots who flew both in combat, and this book didn't address that issue.

Speaking of judgment, one AVG pilot - a former US Navy F4F-3 Wildcat pilot - felt that the Tomahawk's firepower was superior to the Wildcat's. No question that four .50s had a more potent punch than two .50s and four .30s - but against lightly-built, unarmored Japanese aircraft, the higher volume of bullets from those six guns (and the .30s' inherently higher rate of fire) proved decisive in those brief on-target instances in combat.

Confirming this, one of the Japanese Imperial Army Air Force's leading surviving aces - quoted in the book from a recent TV documentary - referred to gunfire from the Tomahawks as a "rain of bullets" that never seemed to stop. He should know - hit by two .30 rounds from an AVG Tomahawk, he barely survived. Hospitalized for months, he didn't return to combat until long after the AVG had become the 23rd Group of the U.S. Army Air Force's China Air Task Force - and long after the fast-shooting "transition-era" Tomahawk had been replaced by later-model P-40 Kittyhawks with their harder-hitting but slower-shooting six .50 caliber machine gun battery.

Part of my preference for the Tomahawk - and therefore part of my interest in the AVG - is my fascination with what I call "transitional-era" aircraft. The P-35 and P-36 were the US Army Air Corps' first all-metal monoplane fighters with retractable landing gear, enclosed cockpits and heavier armament than the two rifle-caliber machine guns that had been common in all air forces from 1916 to roughly 1936. The early P-40s - the Tomahawks - were little more than re-engined P-36s, and were still what I consider "transitional" fighters. They didn't carry or drop bombs, they still had a mixed armament that included light rifle-caliber machine guns, and their radios sucked on toast.

However, the more robust P-40E had completed the transition. With heavy armor, decent radios, six .50 caliber heavy machine guns and the ability to drop bombs, the P-40E was fully the conceptual equal of the second-generation monoplane fighters such as the P-39 Airacobra (which some might consider a "transitional-era fighter, too" - that's open to debate, at the very least) and the early Allison-engined P-51 Mustangs. They were also the equal to other "evolved" planes that started out as transitional-era fighters, including the cannon-armed Hurricanes and the Daimler-Benz DB-601-powered Bf-109 E fighters. While these later P-40s might be better fighter aircraft - hell, they WERE better fighter aircraft - they had lost some of the distinction I think all those first-generation "modern" monoplane fighters shared.

When it comes to modeling, I prefer the transitional era fighters (this also applies to the jet era - I really like those first-generation jets, as well as those awkward hybrids like the Ryan Fireball) - and because I find the Tomahawk the most elegant of the breed, I'm particularly pleased with this book. For the Tomahawk modeler who likes the AVG, this book is sensational!

Along with this superb narrative are fifteen pages of color plates - including 1941-1942 color photos - and dozens of contemporary B&W photos. The photos are interspersed throughout the book, and accompany a narrative that focuses on the personalities - the pilots and ground crewmen - who made up the Flying Tigers, as well as their oft-reported combat operations.

While the book focuses more on markings than on aerial combat, it does note that in exchange for the loss from all causes of 20 combat pilots, the AVG racked up a confirmed kill rate of 296 Japanese aircraft, including many victories over Ki-43 Oscars (the equal, in speed and maneuverability, to the better-known Zero) flown by some of the premier fighter jocks of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. To all causes, the AVG lost about 70 of their 99 original Tomahawks - though more were lost to training accidents than to combat, and most combat losses were either planes bombed on the ground or shot-up Tomahawks that brought their pilots home before being turned into spare-parts bins.

At a time when the Japanese were clearing the sky of Allied planes over Hawaii, the Philippines, Java, Singapore and Western Australia, the relative handful of AVG Tomahawks - and an even smaller contingent of RAF Buffalos and Hurricanes - stood up to the largest aerial armadas to be seen in the Pacific before the start of the great Carrier battles of 1944, and gave better than they got. Much better!

In many cases during the defense of Rangoon, a dozen or so AVG Tomahawks and another dozen RAF fighters - including the often-maligned Buffalos - would rise to fight air fleets of 150, 200 or more Japanese fighters and bombers. While the Allies were too few in number to inflict losses sufficient to deter the Japanese - who seemed to have a near-endless supply of replacements - these AVG and RAF forces inflicted damage all out of proportion to their numbers, and lived to fight another day. And another day. And yet another day - in the case of the AVG, for six long months.

Even if you cut their victory numbers in half - an unjustified move, in my opinion, since so many AVG kills were confirmed by wreckage that fell in Allied territory or into occupied China were loyal partisans eagerly confirmed the victories - the AVG scored in combat at a trade-off rate that wasn't matched by the Allies until Hellcats and Corsairs took to the skies in overwhelming numbers more than two years later. With vastly superior numbers - and vastly superior combat planes - it's relatively easy to rack up impressive victory totals. When outnumbered 10-to-1 - or even 20-to-1 - while flying against combat-tested veterans ... when flying planes the world considers obsolescent, if not down-right obsolete - survival alone is remarkable. But to score a 5-to-1 victory margin over a confident and skilled enemy at the peak of his strength and power is all but unbelievable.

But, in the case of the AVG, the unbelievable was all in a day's work.

This detailed, superbly-illustrated 96-page book is pure Osprey, which in this case is a good thing - Osprey has a strong track-record of producing books that add real value to both the amateur historian and the avid modeler. Since I have a particular affinity for modeling early-model P-40s, this book has proven especially interesting and useful - but anybody with an interest in the Flying Tigers or in modeling the Tomahawk will find real value in this book.

I am a AVG fan from Taiwan, the Republic of China!! The history of the American Volunteer Group showed us the friendship between our two nations. The Cutriss P-40B(C)/Hawk-81A Tomahawk and P-40E Kittyhawk were really beautiful!! I can tell you the P-40s flown by AVG were the most colorful aircrafts in the history of the Republic of China Air Force. I decide to translate this book into Chinese for AVG fans in Taiwan!!

Here's a first rate addition to the literature on the original Flying Tigers.

It's exactly what the title promises, a thorough treatise on AVG colors and markings. Surprising how much these varied. As such, it's an excellent reference for those who like to know what those historic planes looked like. Note that this volume is listed in the Osprey Ace series, probably due to its picturing many of the a/c flown by ace pilots. Incidentally, the profile art is among Osprey's best, showing camo colors in scale effect (not full strength as in paint color chips) with realistic rendering of wear and tear on those well-used planes.

The text on such a subject could be dull. Not this one.

The author's long standing association with AVG veterans not only led to his expertise on the subject, it yielded many anecdotes and observations. These warm the text with the human element as well as adding bits of history.

Even tho' AVG history in general could be over-exposed, I'd expect that the freshness of the original material in this work will surely add up to heightened appreciation for this justly famous and prideful group.

The Osprey website says another volume on AVG Aces is in the works.

I am charmed by Apologies Forthcoming but haven't been able to put my finger on precisely why. Xujun Eberlein writes with quiet intimacy. The stories are like listening to a really interesting person at a social gathering... someone uninhibited, unafraid to admit earthy things to a stranger.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1SU7O646M4RZF

To read award- winning writer Xujun (pronounced "shoe"-"June") Eberlein's collection of short fiction compiled in her Apologies Forthcoming is to be wrapped up in the lives of an array of individuals who participated in China's Cultural Revolution that began in the summer of 1966 and terminated with Mao Zedong's death in 1976.

The Cultural Revolution emanated when, with the assistance of the masses, Mao succeeded in destroying the state apparatus, thus piloting the country into bedlam and disorder. There wasn't anyone in China who was not involved in one way or another by the Cultural Revolution and this included students from middle school through university who became the Red Guards. It was also an era where books were destroyed or seized, libraries were shut down and it was impossible to pursue higher university learning until a decade later. As we read in the anthology, there was also a program set up where young people from the cities who were called "inserts" were sent to the country- side to help the farmers and be re-educated by the poor peasants.

Eberlein, through her collection of intimate snapshots, provides us with a thought-provoking experience, a sudden immersion into a world that as Eberlein describes in one of her interviews, "an all people movement." She goes on to state that "there was often no clear divide between the victims and victimizers, and people took turns in both positions."

One of Eberlein's greatest strengths is her careful attention to her characters that are stylistically strong and totally convincing as she astutely uses them to explore human conduct during an era of which most of us have very little understanding. In addition, what I found most fascinating about these stories is that each unfolds like a brainteaser challenging us to figure out what the author wishes to convey, particularly that most of the tales resonate with subtleties and nuances.

This is quite apparent when we read Disciple of the Masses where Eberlein narrates the story of how a well- intentioned girl takes food away from hungry farmers. In Second Encounter we read about two idealistic young boys who attempt to shoot one another only to meet up many years later and wonder what was really their motive and in Men Don't Apologize we have a tale of a former Red Guard who cannot bring himself to apologize to his victim. Feathers is a very sensitive and sad tale about a the loss of a young girl's sister and how the family copes with tragedy wherein the girl's grandmother is not told about the death of her grandchild.

Xujun Eberlein grew up in Chongqing (also known as Chungking), China and moved to the U.S.A with her American husband in 1988. She earned a Ph.D from MIT and prior to becoming a writer she worked for a high tech company. As a writer she has won several literary awards and her stories and essays have been published in the USA, Canada, England, Kenya and Hong Kong in magazines as AGNI, Walrus, PRISM International, StoryQuarterly, Stand and Kwani. Apologies Forthcoming was the winner of the 2007 Tartt Fiction Award and recently the Massachusetts Cultural Council awarded her with an artist fellowship in fiction/creative nonfiction.

Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor Bookpleasures

Through a collection of stories, Xujun Eberlein weaves poignant tales with the common thread being China's Cultural Revolution. Eberlein's stories reveal the impact of the revolution on the individual and how it shaped the decisions and actions both during and well after the revolution. Through the intimacy of her writing, it is apparent that Eberlein has a powerful understanding of the revolution, the people who experienced it, and their stories. It is with this knowledge that she shapes often unforgettable tales that reveal the personal turmoil, familial conflict, and societal indifference of a nation of people caught in the revolution and its aftermath.

The tones of the stories range from intense passion to distant indifference. This disparity seems to work well with the characters as it clearly shows the impact of the atrocities that occurred during the revolution. The passion is evident in Shanzi, a young city insert sent into the country, in "Disciple of the Masses." Cloaked in the naive passion of the cause, she seems often unaware of the direness of her situation.

Indifference proves shocking in "Watch the Thrill," as Eberlein tells the story of two young boys in the midst of national turmoil. Within the limitations of the Cultural Revolution, the boys find themselves bored and looking for excitement. A horrific event occurs before their eyes. What is shocking is not so much the event itself (as it appears to be a common occurrence during the revolution), but the shear indifference of one of the boys to the pain of a young man from their neighborhood who is headed for his death.

Eberlein reveals the challenges of relationships during era of the Cultural Revolution in the connecting tales, "Pivot Point" and "The Randomness of Love." By tracing the evolving relationship of a young educated woman and her married lover, Eberlein reveals the difficulty of making connections and maintaining them. Although this situation is common, what is riveting is the the path that Eberlein takes the young woman on; a path that will ultimately lead to either hope or utter despair.

The remaining tales feature young people figuring out who they are, families torn apart, friendships tested, and loyalties betrayed all occurring within the constraints of a pivotal time in China's history. With each story, Eberlein pulls in the reader with her honest narratives, strong characterizations, and simple and casual language.

As a regular reader of world and multicultural literature, I felt that Eberlein's writing style was rather unique in that she was able to capture the indifference and the passion weaved within her stories with a rather simple and honest style. Often it is easy to get caught up in the language and neglect the authenticity of the story. Clearly, no apologies are needed as Eberlein delivers an influential and unforgettable collection of tales.

In Aplogies Forthcoming, Xujun Eberlein describes a world where intelligent women have such limited choices that they consider suicide, children are sent from their homes to labor in far away fields, and men do not apologize for destroying each others property and dreams. Set during and after China's Cultural Revolution, this well written collection of eight stories tells tales of individual hardship: Sail, whose older sister dies serving in the Red Guard; Ou Homg, whose father is accused of being a "capitalist roader" and publicly humiliated; Wang Qiang, who tries and fails to bring his brother back to his home from the countryside; and others, whose stories are no less compelling. Despite hard times, the characters search for love and fulfillment, and each story presents not only a unique view into the character's world, but a very human portrait of the people inhabiting the pages.

The Taiwanese is once a part of Japanese,but now we are the Taiwanese,uneaqual to China. China is not eaqual to Japan,so how could China be eaqual to Taiwan? To say Taiwanese = Chinese is just China's excuse to occupy Taiwan,for China feel well-developed Taiwan is a BIG FAT SHEEP for them to eat.

Actually,I can say Chinese know nothing about Taiwanese traits and personailty. China would never be willing to understand it and communicate with us Taiwan,for Chinese is very self-focus arrogant people. So,to be nearset neighbor with China is the sadest fate for Taiwan. The book revealed the differences of Taiwanese and Chinese,focus on what is the life-experiecnce(historical)reasons of forming the "Taiwanese" identity. Readers can sense the logic a little from this book.

I think it's a good book.It gave us(chinese,especially taiwanese) a lot of infromation about the history of taiwan,and the relationship between the japan and taiwan(china).It let us know more,it make us understand more.

A great book drawing on postcolonial and postmodern thought that analyzes Japanese colonial rhetoric about Taiwan as well as different stages of Taiwanese identity-formation under colonization. Includes an analysis of Japanese representations of aborigines, a group that is often glossed over or ignored in books on Taiwan.

This is a detailed account of the Taiwanese response to colonization under the Japanese. Liu adroitly illustrates the monumental changes afoot in Taiwan of the early 20th Century and builds a strong case to support the idea of a Taiwanese identity seperate from China. Liu follows the steps colonialization drive that can later be seen in the Chinese colonization under the KMT. At times the language bogs down in anthropological terms of art, but is no less a valueable addition to the pool of information available on Taiwan.

This study is an excellent examination of Japanese colonialism in Taiwan and its consequences for the contemporary formation of national identity. Through examining not only the particular circumstances of Japan in Taiwan but also the nature of colonialism in general, Ching shows how colonialism is a social transformation which produces people of mixed identities. He draws upon "The Orphan of Asia" by Wu Zhuo-Liu as an example of this understanding. Ching also sets forth an interesting critique of postmodernism's hesitancy to draw judgments across cultural boundaries. The "miracle" of postwar Japan, essentially an almost immediate turn from complete external orientation to complete internal orientation and subjectivity, was made possible by the United States' appropriation of Japan's colonies and Japan's immediate alliance with the U.S. in the Cold War. Because of these factors, Japan never had to go through the harsh but important process of decolonization, and Ching shows how this failure affects the identity crisis of Taiwan today. Ultimately the book is oriented around "the politics of identity formation" in which Taiwan must come to hold a national identity which embraces the diversity of elements (Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, aboriginal, etc.) that have formed the ontology of Taiwan through history.

Belmonte's book should be require reading for all Anthropology students as well as those interested in Naples life, before graduating college. As an ethnography, Belmonte writes an excellent detail account of life in poor Naples. He makes you "see" Naples through the eyes of the people in his book and not by those glossy travel brochures.

I have this book in a socialsience method class, and for that i am realy glad! This book is writen with such understanding, and such respect. He could have choosen an easy way and just written what he saw and assume about all he doesn't see or know. Like about the family he get's to know, he even mentions it himself, that he could have just assumed that all familys in Naples in this area and in other poor areas, are the same, and that the family structure and habits and behaviours are the same, but he doesn't, he tells you all he sees, and all he gets to know, and he tells you what he doesn't know, he uses other peoples work and what they have found to compleet his own. I undrestand why we have it on the book list!! cause it is so valid, he has done an amazing job. Also this book is so well writen that it's almost like a novel, i sometimes caught myself in forgetting that this has happend, its none fiction. This book is really worth a read! it's worth both your time and money... and the thoughts you might sit with after wards! Kudos To You MR. Belmonte, this is one WELL writen book, with insight, understading and truth.

Belmontes field study of Urban poor of Naples Italy makes great reading. Belmonte writes as a chemist would, capturing the kind of graphic detail that puts you right at the head of a Neapolitan famly's table at Sunday dinner. Watch that knife! Belmonte's Naples is filled with unforgettable people in an unforgettable place.

Thomas Belmonte brings the reader into the book. He doesn't simply write a sob story about those in Naples, yet he writes about the bare-truth and amazingly highlights the implications for the poverty. A must read for anyone who needs an understanding of unfair world systems.

Thomas was my cousin. He was always an amazing person to be around. He died a few years ago from a disease called AIDS. He was a very brave man. He was not a man dying with AIDS, he was a man living with AIDS. Throughout his lifetime, Tommy was a very devoted man. He was a caring generous person. He is greatly missed.

What can I say? Just when the world seemed too complicated, too unfair, and too harsh to bear... along came Charlie. I have been infected with the spirit and perseverence of this wise and glorious Hong Kong Cockatoo.

Readers will find themselves seeing Charlie everywhere they look. I often find myself in new situations where there doesn't seem to be a reasonable way out. Often, when faced with these dilemmas, I ask myself, "What would Charlie do?" Sacriledge say you? I think not. If the lord's glorious message cannot be found in our multicolored and multicultured fine feathered friend, then where can it be found? Amen.

Again, without the inspiration of Charlie and all he has taught me about friendship and seeing the world for what it truly is: a world of beauty, adventure, and peace; I don't know where I'd be today.

Thank you Charlie. I shall always think first before eating another deep-fried breaded chicken sandwich. I will even pause and remember the sacrifice of the muppet before putting on my warm fleece. I will not cast away these materialistic things however. I know that you will want the world to continue as it is. For in trying to change the world to fit your own view, there is only disappointment.

Thank you Charlie, for helping me see the world for what it is, so that I may walk upon this earth without unrealistic expectations or harsh judgements.

You go bird. Do that thing you do.

If you love companion parrots, especially cockatoos, you will probably appreciate this book. I found the book was more about the life of the Topping family, though, which I also happened to find fun and interesting to read about. The book is fast-paced and upbeat as it delivers funny snippets from the author's life with her "baby boy" - any cockatoo owner can easy relate. However, I would have enjoyed more real stories about Charlie rather than the focus on sensationalistic "one-liners" from Charlie. The last chapter takes a dramatic turn and left me sobbing - I don't think the tone or abruptness of the ending added anything to the book and is definitely not for the faint of heart. Overall, though, the book is well worth the read. It left me wishing I had known Charlie, as well as his family.

I fell in love with the beautiful bird, and I admire the way story is presented. It is funny, it is personable and written with a great talent. Audrey Topping helps one to appreciate the wonderful world of birds and animals.

"Charlie's World" is very well written book. I was reminded of the time when Audrey was ten years old, and came to the house with two crows on her shoulders. Both crows were talkers. Audrey is an exceptionally good writer, and the book is a MUST for all. I had to read it in One sitting.

I love this enchanting memoir of a brilliant and irreverent cockatoo who adopts a family of 7 humans and then guides, instructs, and scolds them, while roving the world with them. It is hilarous, tender, wise, and all true. This isn't just a pet book. This book is rich with cultural history, psychological nuance, and drama. It's a book that readers in virtually every culture can relate to. I couldn't put it down.

This is by far my favorite Chinese cookbook. The directions are so easy and straightfoward, and all of the dishes I've made are truly scrumptious. My kids love it, too, although they always want me to make things spicier. I highly recommend this book, you won't need any other Chinese cookbook.

I've been a hobby Chinese cook for about 10 years, since I found this book for $1 on a table along NYC's Broadway on the Upper West Side. Its perfectly adapted recipes for the American kitchen are true to the original intent, and you will be able to create great meals at home with little trouble to replace that cold take-out.

Lest it sound that it's not for the serious chef, the instructions provide lots of interesting details about the true Chinese recipes and ingredients. If you live in a city or town that gives you access to the true ingredients (as I do), then you can also play authentic Chinese cook for your family or friends.

All-in-all, one of the most used cookbooks in our house, where we have well over 100, and my wife is a professional chef!

I was looking for a really good Char Shue (Chinese Bar-B-Q Pork) recipe since having this delicous treat at Chef Chew's restaurant in CA. For years, nothing came close to what I had that day. Then I found this book by Chef Chew and I wouldn't part with it for anything! It's well written and it's got some of the best authentic chinese cuisine in it *YUM!*

You won't be disappointed!

There were so many Chinese cookbooks available so I had to try something different to pick one. So I looked inside the cover and picked out the best looking Chef I could find.

That may sound wierd, but the quality of food I cooked was amazing. Chef Chu takes traditional Chinese cooking to the next level with his unique touches that can't be found in any other cookbook out there. Chef Chu not only covers how to cook great Chinese, but how to make the dishes look like artwork.

If you are serious about cooking Chinese food, this is THE book to get.

This is a very good food textbook, simple, clear, easy, no gimmicky or outrageous and so-called innovative modern Chinese nouvelle cuisine, such as those made up in "Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine." The other one that I found as authentic as it is "Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook" by Ellen Schrecker and her husband. Only the latter is so authentically Chinese that you may have to reduce certain fat from the ingrdients by using leaner stuff.

This is an exceptional book about what China was like as it emerged from the insanity of the Cultural Revolution. Fox Butterfield tells a compelling story about a China looking at the abyss. He helps you appreciate how amazing China's economic growth has been given where she was in 1980. His insight into the massive disillusionment that was born out of the Cultural Revolution also helps one understand why there are so many "quality" problems with food and products today.

Fox Butterfield has an exceptional eye for the little details that give you a sense of what is important to Chinese people in the 1980s. As you read his book, you not only learn about Chinese history, you also learn about Chinese cultural values. If you want to understand China today, you must read China: Alive in the Bitter Sea. It will move you, it will sadden you and it will teach you. What it won't do is bore you.

I agree with the other reviewers of this book: I just couldn't put it down. But what is REALLY interesting is that Mr Butterfield's college-age Canadian/Chinese assistant, Jan Wong, wrote her own book about ten years later in which she also shared her perspective on the years covered in this book AND covers "what happened next" (after Butterfield left) ... both books complement each other and are great reads!

Around twenty-three years old, and therefore completely out of date, 'China: Alive in the Bitter Sea' is nevertheless an amazing read and it is invaluable as an historical document. It's not China today; it's China yesterday. It's a great book to read in order to understand China's more recent modern history, as it affected those Chinese who make China today.

Everyone who wants to really understand modern China should read this book. The author captured the political turmoil and tragedy of culture revolution, and the everyday Chinese life with many captivating human stories from all walks of Chinese society. The book was published in 1982. I wish the author could go back to China and write an update book on the changes in the last twenty years.

I also suggest reading Ayn Rand's Anthem together with this book

The magnitude of suffering that the Chinese have endured this century is truly inconceivable. This book helps one to relate to it through the stories of those Chinese that Mr. Butterfield was able to talk to, not too long after the Cultural Revolution ended. It really makes one think: How does such a period of mass cultural insanity happen? Is it just a result of economics and youthful demographics? Could it happen anywhere? Was it no different than the nazis or the Khmer Rouge or the Inquisition? Are we even in such a period now, and dont know it? Mr. Butterfield does a valuable service in preserving this record of human suffering and endurance.