China Books

Drawing upon their rather impressive expertise, Robert Cribb (Senior Fellow, Australian National University, Canberra) and Audrey Kahin (Managing Editor of Southeast Asia publications at Cornell and editor of the journal "Indonesia" from 1978 to 1995), provide students and non-specialist general readers alike with a comprehensive compilation of people, places and events in the social, political, religious, and economic history of the tropical archipelago that is Indonesia (Asia's third largest country in both population and geography). Now in an updated second edition, Historical Dictionary Of Indonesia pre-sents its wealth of in-depth researched information in easy-to-look-up alphabetical entries, from "adat" (indigenous customary laws) to "Zeven Provincien, mutiny of the" referring to the ill-fated 1933 protest aboard the Dutch naval vessel De Zeven Provincien. Supplements include several maps, lists of common acronyms for easy reference, appendices that list governors and rulers, electoral performance of the parties from 1945 to 1999, and much more. An all-around excellent, easy to use general reference.

First of all, many thanks to Scarecrow Press for its Asian Historical Dictionary series. These are fantastic references.

This volume is now eclipsed by the new edition. Haven't yet seen the new edition, but I anticpate many updated and new entries since the 1990-92 work done on this still-useful resource.

This is not to say this book is perfect. For a country as abbrevation- and acronym-dependent as Indonesia is, this abbreviation/acronym list is woefully inadequate. This being said, a comprehensive abbreviation/acronym listing is not practicable as acronym dictionaries available in Indonesia are themselves hundreds of pages long. What is needed is a much more in depth compilation, edited for use primarily by foreign students and scholars.

The map section is also disappointing. For a reference costing as much as this does, the maps should be full-color glossies, better annotated, and more detailed. The best solution would be fold-out maps to best show the detail that is needed to complement such a fine reference.

The dictionary portion is excellent, very well cross-referenced, with thorough entries for each item. The numerous appendices are also superb, with leadership and governmental ministers listings for the colonial period as well as the post-revolution period.

The true gem of this dictionary is the 118-page bibliography, listing other references and bibliographies, works sorted by discipline and subject, as well as important periodicals and journals.

This has been and will continue to be an indispensable part of my Southeast Asia/Indonesia collection. Although overtaken by the new edition, this is an unparalleled reference, an essential tool for the Indonesia student and scholar.

I've recently become fascinated with dinnerware from the mid-twentieth centurty and have collected many individual pieces manufactured by Homer Laughlin. This book allowed me to identify the patterns and shapes of these pieces, as well as the dates they were manufactured.

This is a comprehensive and necessary resource for those interested in learning about this major American china manufacturer. It only adds to my appreciation of HL's vast array of products over the decades, and makes my own small collection all the more valuable to me.

There seems to be a shortage of photography books on Hong Kong, but this book more than does the job. The book not only captures Hong Kong's many great skyscrapers and other buildings, but also features the quaint corners of day-to-day Hong Kong life. Occasionally the descriptions of the pictures were not as specific or helpful as I would have liked (perhaps the editor was not certain of the name or location of every building pictured). But in regards to the photographs themselves, they are of high quality, from a variety of photographers, and do a good job of portraying every side of the city.

The book also features an introduction with a surprisingly thorough history of the island.

Sections are:
I Hong Kong Island
a. Central District
b. Views from Victoria Peak
c. Aberdeen
d. Victoria Harbour
II Kowloon and the New Territories
III Temples
a. Wong Tsai Sin Temple, Kowloon
b. Po Lin Lantau
IV The Urban Beehive

Do note that having been printed in 1998, this book misses a few of Hong Kong's newest architectural additions. But I definitely would recommend for anyone in love with Hong Kong, China, big-city life, skyscrapers, or architecture in general.

Is a great book and there a lot of wonderful picture. I love it

The collaborative effort of Hong Kong Film Archive programmer Law Kar and film and modern history scholar Frank Bren, Hong Kong Cinema: A Cross-cultural View, traces the history of Hong Kong's film arts from the "Western shadow plays" of the late 1890s, to the boom of the 1930s, to Hong Kong's title of the "Hollywood of China" that has eclipsed the moviemaking prominence of Shanghai since the 1940s, a preeminence that continues to this day. Hong Kong Cinema explores major developments in the Hong King film making industry, including the changing role of women and the influx of both Eastern and Western influences. A highly readible account, Hong Kong Cinema is as enjoyable for the non-specialized general reader as it is for those in the film industry looking to flesh out their knowledge of the Hong Kong film industry.

I read this book with great relish as it provides such a fascinating account of the evolution of Hong Kong cinema. The authors and editors are evidently experts in the subject, and they really leaves no stone unturned.

This book has superb reference value and is very readable, too.

From book's back cover:

"In October 1969, journalist Anthony Grey emerged from twenty-six months of captivity in Peking. Confined in a tiny room plastered with Maoist slogans, his lonely fight against despair and isolation is a vivid illustrations of the harrowing plight that every hostage must face up to..."

In October 1969, journalist Anthony Grey emerged from twenty-six months of captivity in Peking. Confined in a tiny room plastered with Maost slogans, his lonely fight against despair and isolation is a vivid illustration of the harrowing plight that every hostage must face up to...

Anthony Grey is now the bestselling author of the novels Saigon and Peking. This is his own true story, written immediately after that nightmare ordeal.
--- from books back cover

A great novel! Searingly honest and direct, it is obviously written from first hand experience of travel throughout Asia - variously bruising, exhilarating, shocking and funny. It is testimony to the capacity of humans to construct disaster and tragedy out of the times that should be the best of our lives. It contains scenes and events that will raise themselves again in your mind long after you have read the book. And it is not just an entertaining and evocative read. It is the perfect companion for travel around Asia, particularly to Taiwan. It evokes the experience of wandering through exotic locations, with every day full of unforeseen happenings, often taxing but always vivid. It tells you the things that the travel guides won't or can't. It will whet your appetite for travel and for living to the max while you travel.

The Hotel Travel is a breakthrough novel by Tony Akbar which heralds a new generation of travel writing. This concept of this Travel Novel is characterised by its raw personal passion. On one hand the book is a collection of grunge travellers tales. Irvine Welsh with a backpack if you like. The settings are the streets, markets, hostels and guest houses, bars and nightclubs in the congested, enervating cities of Calcutta, Taipei and Saigon and the places in between. The characters that inhabit these places are restless souls travelling through the backwaters and backstreets of Asia without a forward ticket or a particular destination. Their attitude is ambivalent and their humour black. Each of the stories describes one of their adventures. The suite of stories are linked by the journeys of Sean Dinan, a disillusioned journalist. I loved the intensity and brutal honesty of this great book.

Okay, I won't hide the fact from you that May Tang is my grandma. So naturally I'm biased. She's an amazing lady who has lived a life almost as remarkable as her father about whom this book is about.

Read it.

The House Of Chung is an engaging novel that portrays China's transition from an absolute monarchy to a Communist state as reflecting in the travails of one Shanghai family. The eventful first seventy years of the are made intelligible as we see the fall of the Imperial Manchu Dynasty, the Chinese Revolution of 1911, the Warlord's Interlude, the Japanese Invasion, World War II, and the Communist occupation of Shanghai, and throughout this era of turmoil, the strength of family and individual faith remain a constant within the swirling maelstroms of political and social change. May Tang is a superb writer with a gifted ability to totally engage the reader's rapt attention from first page to last.

Ms. Lowry-Poole has created a gorgeous depiction of an ancient tale that captures the depth of the culture from whence it comes. It's pretty to look at and a nice read.

I thought the artwork was fabulous, and the story is a very nice old folktale, but the artwork in it is absolutely wonderful.This is my christmas present to my friends.

It's up to you if you want to get a picture of the struggles of Hudson Taylor on several fronts. He had to hear from God himself to endure the pressures of his calling. "Back to Jersusalem" is a movement that has it's roots in Hudson's ministry.

An adventure story about an early unconventional missionary!!This is a great read aloud book for older elementary age children and up. Although the setting is middle 1800s, the lessons are timeless. A great way to teach your children the difficulties faced by early missionaries, (5 1/2 dangerous months at sea just to get to China) and their complete reliance upon God to surmount seemingly impossible challenges. Although Taylor's faith is great, even he is surprised by the continual rescues and provisions that are clearly God orchestrated. My children thought it started slowly, but got more exciting when he finally reached China! Even adults will enjoy listening. I highly recommend it.

A Fabulous book. I totally enjoyed the intense depth of this book. Initially, I was a bit taken aback by the sexual preverseness of one the characters but it was very well handled without being too graphic and matched the painful confusion of the novel's political setting and characters' personal conflicts. The author's style of writing was easy to read, very realistic yet, almost poetic and at the same time ... taking you on an emotional sweeping journey with the characters and through the recent political transitions of Hong Kong.
A Great style of writing not easily found in much of today's fiction; this should have been on the Best seller's list.
Looking forward to more of the same intensity and depth from this author. A must Read!

Bought this book solely by the recommendation on the jacket cover based on the quote from the UK Guardian "The best thing to come out of Australia since Peter Carey". Another positive statement on the inside cover, from the Who Weekly, "...combines emotional power with assured artistic polish", that clinched my decision to buy the book. Interested in other cultures, I had no idea, *not* a clue ... about the deeply disturbing subject matter of this book. A word to this wise, there are a few explicit disturbing descriptions of s*x*al perversion. Frankly, I would not have read this book had I known. Nothing in the title or cover descriptions (inside or outside) leads one to suspect. While I give it 5 stars for drama, suspense, characterization, artisic and creative writing, the author's extraordinairy ability to write about deep psychological problems ... still, I feel I was tricked into reading the book. However, as a reviewer, to new readers, I am upfront about its contents. Oddly enough, I do highly recommend this book,if one does not mind reading about this topic.

Rachel Gallagher and Anne-Louise Buchanan, two very different personalities who were born and raised in Brisbane, Australia, become best friends as they share similar artistic careers at a fashion magazine. They escape their mundane existence in Brisaben, to explore artistic career options in London, UK. Each gets odd jobs, one in a women's clothing store; the other as a waitress. They dreams of making it big in the world as famous artists. Oddly enough for one of these two, the dream comes true. The author alternates the stories and lives of each main character in subsequent chapters. We are first introduced to Martin James Bannister, a handsome stock broker and trader in Hong Kong. We learn of his career climb after graduating from the London School of Economics. He kept his social background suitably vague so that although he was from a working class background, no one knew or suspected. The author reveals and explores different psycholiogcal aspects of the main characters by reviewing how they were raised and the impact of key familial relationships on their personalities. This clever writing device gives the unsuspecting reader clues to future problems, however innocent the early life experiences sound, they carry the seeds of destruction ... in the future. The book is riveting and eerie ... the bonds of friendship link these two friends and pull them down deeper and deepr into a whirling abysss of unusual life experiences of chaotic and destructive proportions. Only in later chapters does the reader connect early developmental experiences and family relationships that lead to personality and behavioral patterns. These culminate into major problems that are woven as the main themes of this book. These three lives are trapped because of their past ... not by lies ... but somehow their life experiences and personalities interlink and hook in the most twisted ways ... unimaginable except by the author. Uniquely interesting book. Erika Borsos (erikab93)