China Books

This is a book that has been in my mind since the first time I read it over 30 years ago. I have been trying to find a copy of for my own. I read it for the first time in grammer school. I have always felt sorry for the little girl in it. It always made me feel bad that all she felt she had in the world of any value was that plate. And I loved how proud she was of it.

This is a wonderful book for the casual and serious collector of Blue Willow. The graphics are clear and the number of manufacturer marks listed makes for easy referencing.

I was very glad to find this book. It has help me in so many way about buying and selling of plates. I was surpise ot find out how much some of the plates I had purchased were worth. I recommend this book very highly, the graphics are clear and colorful.

I felt strongly enough about this book to go out of my way to write a review (!). I learned a lot about how the Chinese government deals with the Church. I would love to meet Pastor Lamb someday.

In 1996, a friend loaned me their copy of Bold as a Lamb just one month prior to our trip to China. This book gave me a stronger understanding of the real presecution that takes place everyday in this fallen world that desperately needs Jesus Christ. This book recounts the story of one Christian man's life within the wallls of China. How he spent over 20 years of his life in prison because of his faith in Jesus Christ. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone Christian or not. Also, to those who teach High School or College students this would be an excellent book for classroom reading and discusion. While in China, I personally met Pastor Samual Lamb and worshiped with his home church.

Whether or not you are a Christian, this book will touch your soul. Samuel Lamb spent over 20 years in Chinese prisons for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a Christian, it has challenged me in my walk with Christ.

"Bold Plum" is a unique contribution to an understanding of Chinese
Communist organization, methods and policies during the "Anti-Japanese
War" years 1939-1945. As a retired Chinese-language-trained Foreign
Service Officer, I particularly value first-person accounts of
experiences in China that are written objectively. Hsiao-li Lindsay tells
of her experiences living in Communist-controlled villages
dispassionately - a rare virtue when too many first-person accounts are written
with "an agenda". While her husband, Lord Michael Lindsay,
was working with the Communists to improve their radio communications
in the struggle against the Japanese occupiers, Hsiao-li
observed the daily life of the villages in which they lived.
"Bold Plum" is not only a unique contribution to the literature for the
specialist, it is also fascinating for the general reader. (In 1955 Lord Lindsay published
"China and the Cold War" (Michael Lindsay: Melbourne Univ. Press),
a dissection of the increasingly irrational aspects of Chinese Communist
policies after the end of World War II).

The book is a first hand history of the war against the Japanese by Mao Tse Tung and the Chinese during WWII. It was fascinating, could not put it down. Imagine being a young newly wed walking many miles, enduring attacks and hardships, giving birth and suffering hunger in a distant place. Very unique story.

The wartime China from 1937-1949 has not been sufficiently discussed in both the academic and popular realms. Bold Plum provides an alternative narrative from the official history-- one that is told by a Chinese woman whose lived an extraordinaray life during the time -- that will surely deepen our understanding of the rising power of the Communist China in rural northern China in the 1940s.

It is my fortune to come across the publication of Bold Plum; it has given me so much information about the wartime China. I bought a copy of it and coudln't put it down. The story is a personal account of the argubly most important time of modern China, a nation was transforming into a socialist state. I highly recommand it to all students and reserachers of the history of (modern) China.

Look elsewhere for a better price. $47???? Way too high.

I accidentally ran across this book in the "new arrivals" section of a university library last night, and stayed up until 2 A.M. reading it. It contains the life story of the neglected Tibetan master Dolpopa, a subsequent account of the ill-fated legacy of his teachings, and two brief treatises by The Omniscient himself. I am not a specialist in Buddhism, and in fact had never even heard of Dolpopa 24 hours ago, but now I will never forget him.

Cyrus Stearns has obviously put an impressive amount of research into this volume without ever sliding over into pedantry. His concern is to tell the story of a simple and profound idea as it unveils itself in the spirtual and geographic vastness of 14th century Tibet. The central issue of Zhentong is explained clearly and memorably, and in such a way as to make it relevant for Western philosophers as well. Lucid works of this kind do far more for a true East-West dialogue than any amount of "multicultural" preaching. All who read this book with an open mind will be moved to cure their ignorance of the history of Buddhism.

I feel as though a new portion of the human past has been opened up for me by Stearns' work. It deserves to be read by anyone with even a trace of interest in world religions, world history, or the past and future of metaphysics in all traditions.

Cyrus Stearns ably introduces us here to the life, times, and teachings of Dolpopa, the great yogin and contemporary of Longchenpa. At the heart of this text are translations from Dolpopa's writings, which reveal an enormous and pure heart, a precise understanding and a very firm conviction born of real experience. On the matter of Madhyamika philosophy, Dolpopa gets the last word (in my opinion).

Dolpopa believed his teachings to have come to him from the holy kingdom of Shambhala; in a visionary way, he had travelled there himself. When the great Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche drew inspiration from and a spiritual connection to this kingdom, he (explicitly or not) invoked Dolpopa's precedent. This is a great book for Shambhala people, also, because like Trungpa Rinpoche, Dolpopa was a founder of a school of Vajrayana Buddhism. Where do tantric traditions come from?

I'm personally mistrustful of the dialectic and mechanical dialectical thinking. I fell I've found a comerad and inspiration in Dolpopa, who effectively declares: I am no dialectician and no pedant, I am a yogin and I am for real. Dolpopa is interested in praxis and in reality. (Trungpa Rinpoche, too.)

My hope: Dolpopa's legacy, the Jonang Lineage, will flourish, and that you will find a certain Something in the pages of this sublime book. May it be so!

This book is an absolute must for serious Buddhist students. Jamgon Kongtrul's "Shes Terzod" (of which this is a translation in part) is a classic, and this is a surprisingly easy read. The translator is thorough and careful, and graciously provided the commentary he received in the annoted section. The notes could almost be published as a separate work.

Beginning students are confused by the differences between Tantric practice and the well-known monastic tradition of Buddhism. This book puts it all together and explains in detail how both are practiced simultaneously.

The bibliography to the book alone is a treasure map of resources for new students, and no one who has received any wang or any vow in Buddhism should be without such a careful explanation of the meaning of vows as this.

For very advanced students, Jamgon Kongtrul put no sect of Buddhism above another, and studied all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism thoroughly. Consequently this is an excellent guide for students of different schools to clearly understand philosophical commonalities & differences, breaking down biases and misunderstandings. This is especially valuable in his description of the differences between the Nyingma and Sarma, in his even-handed, thorough description of Highest Yoga Tantra, and Maha, Anu and Ati Yoga Tantra. A truly invaluable work.

If you are interested in Buddhist vows, this is an excellent book. Also see "Perfect Conduct."

This book is the most comprehensive account of how to live one's life in a Buddhist manner. END

I was excited to find a copy of Hibbard's The Bund in the Shanghai Museum gift shop. It's about time we had a good history of these beautiful, architectural masterpieces!

When people arrive in Shanghai, one of the first places on their sight-seeing list is usually the "Bund." As people wander down this fabled road, enjoying the architecture and scenery, few know the names of these lovely facades or the often interesting history behind them. And even many of us who live here have had to stop and ponder, what exactly is a "bund"?

"Bund" is not a German word, as is often thought, but is of Hindustani origin. The word means an artificial causeway or embankment. Shanghai's bund began its development in the 1850s. By the 1860s, Shanghai actually had four bunds. These four roads, or "Wai Tan" ("outer shore" in Chinese), demarcated the sides of the British settlement--which served as the center of foreign life in the city. Now days the city is down to only one "Bund" road, which was officially named Zhongshan Road Number One (east) in 1945.

This legendary causeway has been one of the city's most modern areas for much of its recent history, showcasing the latest architectural designs and taking tourists who were expecting charming pagodas by surprise. The Bund's builders have traditionally competed to dazzle onlookers by erecting the most progressive and impressive designs.

In more recent times, the area has faced major challenges as developers have sought to restore the area to its former glory--or dare I suggest surpass! Concerns have surfaced and debates have been fueled over historical conservation and restoration of the Bund. Many people ponder the riverside's future, as would-be developers attempt to surmount the difficulties of finding money and support as they seek to restore and preserve this prestigious set of addresses.

Get the inside scoop on all 29 Bund establishments in local tour director Peter Hibbard's new book The Bund. Within its pages, Hibbard provides a well-researched history and timeline of the Bund's development and each of its buildings. The book includes many featured essays, old documents, and letters written about the Wai Tan. The numerous photos and fun old maps complete Hibbard's well done attempt to bring the Bund's story to life. Truly hard core Bund fans can keep current by visiting Hibbard's Bund website, gingergriffin.com

At the book's end, readers can supplement their Bund knowledge with a helpful directory of the buildings and their occupants, including phone numbers. The finale also features a chart of the buildings' occupants, then and now, a walking tour complete with maps, and an index.

The book is a must if you find yourself playing tour guide to out-of-town visitors who you want to impress with insider knowledge, or if you are simply interested in this fascinating area of the city. It should also please architecture buffs.

A must have guide if going to Shanghai. Read it before going, take it with you, then read it again. Made the City come alive with its history.

The Bund - Shanghai's famous half-mile avenue along the Huangpu River - contains a line of fabulous monumental structures from Shanghai's dazzling colonial life of the 1920s and '30s. Despite the Western styles of architecture, the Bund is very much a part of China's history, with all that is good and bad.

Peter Hibbard's book tells the richly populated story of the Bund's development from the late 1800s, when Shanghai was the West's gateway into China near the mouth of the Yangtze River. Capital investment flooded into the area (much as it is doing today). The merchant banking and trading houses went up in grand style - neo-Gothic, classic European, Art Deco - using enormous quantities of often expensive materials from China, Europe and America. And a wildly extravagant social life blossomed, with balls, festivals and big-name entertainers from the West. Though the Chinese, from professionals to day laborers, found thousands of jobs there, under the earlier international treaties they had no legal authority.

Hibbard notes the ill-use and neglect of many of the buildings after the Japanese occupation, the post-war Communist takeover and the flight of the Westerners. While most of the structures have been renovated - some beautifully - and are partially occupied by banks, stylish restaurants and fashion houses, their future is uncertain, he says. The Bund, with its grand buildings and its setting along the river, waits for Shanghai to make it part of its future as well as its tumultuous past.

Hibbard is perhaps the leading authority on the Bund. He has stocked his book with the people, the plans and the external events that shaped its development. The text is wonderfully written and the pages are illustrated with hundreds of historical photos, drawings and poster art and with photographs of the present day. It's a guidebook and history as well as a book of stories to treasure.

This book tells you everything about Hong Kong butterflies. The photos / illustration plates add live to this wonderful book. The information is so comprehensive and useful. As an enthusiast of butterfly, I highly recommend this book (THE BIBLE OF HONG KONG BUTTERFLIES) to everyone.

The most comprehensive, informative and wonderful book about butterflies of Hong Kong I have ever seen. It covers all the details you would like to know about Hong Kong butterflies. I recommend this book to those who like to explore the nature.

Although this is an expensive book, it simply is the best and most definitive work on butterflies of the region. The standard of presentation is excellent. Descriptions are clear and very informative, with plenty of in text illustrations showing identification characters allowing similar species to be identified - particularly useful for the Hesperiidae. Many species are give full ecological write ups, some reared for the first time. Also included in the core text are photographs of many species taken "in the field" (mostly of good to excellent quality). Short chapters also outline Hong Kong's natural environment. The plates (in two sections: adults and immature stages) are absolutely top quality and show dorsal and ventral wing surfaces, male, female and seasonal forms at life size; the immature plates comprise photos of each stage, where known. A few negatives - local distribution data is already out of date and must be regarded as historical (a sad reflection of Hong Kong's general apathy to its natural resources); the list of contacts is also out of date!

Thoroughly recommended (I'm still saving up for my copy!), a wonderful addition to any butterfly bibliophile's portfolio and a must buy option for anyone interested in the butterflies of South-east and East Asia.

I used C is for China in my second grade class. We appreciated the authentic photography and interesting details. We also enjoyed talking about the text coming from a Chinese perspective. We really enjoyed the information about dragons and the abacus. A must have for a teaching unit about China.

I really like this book. It is a great introduction to China for young people written by a Chinese author. She wrote it very responsiblity and provides a general insight into her culture. I want to read other books by the author.

I really enjoyed reading this book and looking at the photos that accompany each letter of the alphabet. The author also did the photos and what makes this book stand out among the other Chinese ABC books is that the photos are not the glossy touristy looking photos of wealthy families and places like the Imperial or Summer palace. But instead the photos of China's people doing their day to day things. The author states that the photos where taken in Guangxi, Yunnan & Shanxi. He wanted to show that the Chinese People are hard working, they have a strong commitment to their families, religion, history, customs both modern and traditional and their hope for the future. Each photo has on the right side of the page the Chinese character for the photo each letter represents. I would have like to have seen translation on how to correctly say each word. Other than that small thing I think this is a terrific book to have in your home library or for those of you who have children from Guangxi, Ynnan or Shanxi.

Here are the letters and what each represents:
A - Abacus
B - Bicycle
C - China & it's rivers
D - Dragon
E - Excercise
F - Fengzheng ( A popular flying kite)
G - Garden
H - Herbal Medicine
I - Incense
J - Jade
K - Kitchen
L - Lanterns
M - Markets
N - Noodles
O - Old (the older generation)
P - Picture
Q - Qingming Festival
R - Remminbi - Chinese Currency
S - Singing
T - Tiaoqi ( Chinese Checkers )
U - Uniform
V - Vegetables
W - Wenzi ( Chinese Writing )
X - Xiao ( A Musical instrument from ancient times )
Z - Zen ( Major Religion commonly known as Chan )

I love this novel. It's a panorama of life in China as seen by an American missionary from 1906 until the 1950s. The author was the son of a China missionary and most of the events in the book are historical -- althought the main character, Treadup, is fictional -- a composite of sorts for all the missionaries in China. "The Call" achieves a feeling of absolute authenticity.

This is a long exhaustive book. The first hundred pages or so are devoted in Treadup's early life in upstate New York and the reader may be forgiven if he is impatient with the plodding pace. The story picks up when Treadup gets to China as it details his adventures, doubts, and misteps, all worked into the political and social framework of the time. Treadup's journeys -- both physical and spiritual -- are long and arduous and ultimately this is a sad book.

Missionaries are out of fashion these days, but their cause -- the spread of Western civilization -- is still alive. If he lived today, Treadup would not be a missionary, but rather an activist for Tibetan independence, a friend of Bono, a board member of Amnesty International, and a tireless crusader against gender inequality. Will today's secular "missionaries" succeed where Treadup failed?

I don't know of any other novel that probes more deeply and seriously into the life, times, and mind of a China missionary. We live intimately with Treadup and when his life is over, we wonder, as he did, whether it was all worth it.

This long novel (700 pages) is a fictional biography of a missionary in China. David Treadup is a composite fictional character based on six actual missionaries to China (one of them being Hersey's own father). Told like a real biography and including mainly diary entries, but also comprising excerpts from letters, newspapers, staff minutes, and other biographical tools, Hersey traces the life of his main character from troubled days at Syracuse University (he almost flunks out until given a second chance after which he changes his major to science, which becomes very useful to him in China), to his Call to the ministry after a revival meeting, to his experiences in China. The book is not only an excellent account of Treadup's life in a strange land whose people he comes to love, but also a history of China itself during the first half of the twentieth century. It's easy to get so wrapped up in Treadup's life and experiences that you forget you're reading a novel (it's one of the few novels I've read that has a "Notes" section appended to it). Hersey's use of diary entries makes for an excellent approach: we experience Treadup's personal responses to things more directly and honestly that way. The book is both powerful and inspiring, and is definitely worth checking out.

"...Yes, there on the embankment outside the compound I had a small boy feeling. Chores were over. Only now, aged 65, do I realize how sweet the chores had always been. Inside the barn, inside the compound wall, I had been free -- busy, orderly, useful. Released, I felt at loose ends. A great deal had happened to me in Yin Xin camp, and now all I could feel was a paradox: the loss of the freedom of confinement." p.698

When I first picked up The Call, I fully expected a well-crafted, rich historiography of China; a novel concentrating on the time period at the turn of the 19th century, through five decades of foreign influence & interaction that finally shaped the terms on which the Communist Revolution was founded. What I did not expect, and was pleasantly surprised to find, was the philosophical depth of Hersey's characters; they were vehicles of an evolution of human thought. Hersey explores both the spiritual and the applied philanthropy of Christianity. Spiritually, the main character David Treadup was a General of the Lord whose application was saving souls: an idyllic gift between humans. Hersey questioned the application, and uncovered its shallow areas. The dilemma of belief without evidence. In response, the character of Treadup tried to justify Christianity with evidence; he used science lectures as his conveyance. There was terrific interest on behalf of the Chinese. Treadup felt that by awakening the Chinese to the laws of science, he was awakening them the laws of the Lord. His fantastic success with the lectures brought on self-doubt. He questioned purpose. Was he a science professor or a missionary? Science ceased to be an acceptable role for him to wear if that wasn't what he was about... there was no connection between his lectures and spiritual redemption. He questioned what he was actually bringing the Chinese, science or religion,... but most importantly he questioned what he wanted to bring.

As the novel develops, Treadup gains experience and insight, he shifts his focus from science lectures to a literary campaign. With fantastic energy and zeal, he rolls up sleeves and takes on the task of teaching the peasantry to read and write. All over the countryside he sets up local schools. After the literary campaign Treadup introduces agricultural reform. He continues to answer the noble call, but by serving functional needs he is moving further, and further away from addressing spiritual ones. As he was with the science lectures, Treadup is again plagued with doubt. He is not saving souls, and in fact is questioning the legitimacy of his religious calling when so many greater needs stand out.

It is not until Treadup is a Japanese POW that he begins to answer the questions that have plagued him for years. In the prison camp he belongs to a group. The camp depends on him like it depends on all the individuals that make up the whole, the goal is survival. Treadup doesn't have to identify need, need has identified him. From his fellow prisoners he hears the Call, and realizes his original draw to Christianity was not religion, or saving souls, but being needed and employing his extraordinary ability to successfully meet that need.

In my opinion, this is the first book on "R.S. Prussia" to buy, and surely indispensable for collectors of any stripe! I was amazed when I discovered that a book such as this existed; that anyone would spend the hundreds of hours it would take to do the research and work out the system. Among the many remarkable things in this book on identifying the "R.S. Prussia" porcelain made in the Schlegelmilch factories in Germany/Poland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, here are three to whet your appetite: (1)the author has worked out a reference system for reading the many many different marks found on the porcelain, which system, if studied carefully, can often produce rare information such as exactly which factory a piece came from and therefore the period in which it was made. (2)the book shows the collector that one mark (say the "Classic" or "Red Mark") may say no more about the age or quality of a piece than another (say the "Steeple") mark. And (3)Capers provides a wonderful history of the Schlegelmilch families and their products, much of the information obtained during on-site European visits by Mr. Capers and his wife.

Some day, one hopes, Prussia collectors generally will use this information and this marking system. The enhancement to collecting "R.S. Prussia" will be immeasurable.

Knowing Ron personally we are aware of the time and energy involved in writing this book - it is truly a labor of love and encompasses a history very dear to his heart - agreeing with the two people who already reviewed the book there is not much more we can add but to say it is a must book for all Prussia collectors - we have referred to it many times in our travels searching for prussia and trying to authenticate different marks.

I am thrilled to be able to review this valuable book! I owe the recognition of several of my best pieces to R.H. Capers and his "labor of love" that is refered to as "Capers' Notes on the Marks of Prussia." R.H. Capers is an avid Prussia collector, and fluent in German. Consequently, we as readers are refreshingly saturated with the "facts versus the fiction" surrounding the history of Prussian China and the marks that represent the manufacturers of this wonderful porcelain we adore. The reading is easy, the text is colorful, and the marks are divided in catagories made up by the manufacturers themselves. Capers deviates from the common and often vague names for Prussian marks, and creates a "Prussian Logo Code System" to aid in identifing the countless marks made for this beautiful china. Each mark is cleverly coded and photographed in color. Capers also includes a color photograph of the piece the mark came from. Capers reveals the authentic marks first, and then provides the reader with a section of fake or "counterfeit" marks found on reproduction pieces. Capers goes the extra mile to provide extensive family trees, birth and death certificates, and photographs of the Schlegelmilch Families who are responsible for producing and selling this lovely porcelain. There are also photographs of the factories themselves. "Capers' Notes on the Marks of Prussia" is an invaluable tool for any serious collector, appaiser or dealer who is conscientious about purchasing authentic Prussia. This book is truly an asset to any porcelain collector's reference bookshelf.