China Books

Subtle, beautiful, honest glimpse of the most massive public energy project ever undertaken. Linda Butler captures the life and death of the people, commnunities, and cities that were sacrificed for this energy project.

If America is "addicted to oil" then China is addicted to electricity. In the past 3 years China has approved and is building more new coal fired power plants than the entire United States fleet. You would think that this massive hydroelectric project at Three Gorges Dam would appease China's hunger for new energy, but the reality is it's just a drop in the bucket.

This book does a wonderful job reflecting on what we loose when society progresses.

As a person with a long-standing involvement in both photography and the professional evaluation of major energy projects in many countries (including hydro) I really appreciated the true value of this wonderful book.

To begin with, many not involved in this kind of work may not appreciate how politically sensitive it is. It took a great deal of courage and savvy for Ms. Butler to create the relationships and the entrees needed to make and exit the country with all those wonderful photographs and interview materials. This is no small feat in its own right. It speaks highly of her and also says alot about the growing openness of China.

Turning to the content, the quality of the photographs - in purely photographic terms - is superb. Lest we forget the power of black and white and the time-tested virtues of powerful composition, lighting and choice of subject matter, this is the place to recall them. Most of these pictures are not merely records - they are good photographs.

The captions and the text are very well done. This book is not a one-sided tirade against dam development. Rather, it is a sensitive, obviously well-informed and balanced perspective on the costs and benefits of these undertakings - both at an individual and more aggregate societal level. It is very clear from this book that there are winners and losers, progress and losses, and the actual long-term net result remains to play-out. This is reality.

There are important lessons of experience to be learned from this text. Let us not forget the scale of this enterprise. China committed something like six billions dollars to resettlement alone for over one million affected people. That a certain percentage of this money got misdirected through corruption and poor implementation is not surprising, and to the Chinese themselves - not acceptable - people are going to jail for their misdeeds. Ms. Butler faces these issues head-on and in a balanced manner. It becomes clear from reading this text that no matter how well-designed a project may be, the quality of the implementation arrangements and the structures in place for assuring their proper functioning are truly critical.

Finally, returning to the book as a production in its own right, the quality of the layout and printing are superb. Very highly recommended.

This amazing book by Linda Butler is a beautiful and heartbreaking look at the Three Gorges Dam project in China and the changing landscape because of it. The images are incredible and the text is haunting. The photographs are wonderfully reproduced and she has a great eye for capturing the subtle silence and the small nuances of the people and the landscape. Her vivid images document a changing China in a very intimate way. This text is a true photographic and historical treat!

Usually I buy an anthology just for one or two stories by my favourite authors. I picked this one up for the Nalo Hopkinson story, 'Shift,' which turned out to be about Ariel & Caliban from The Tempest, but I was pleasantly surprised to find several other stories I liked. Neil Gaiman's story is good, of course, and is a tribute to Ray Bradbury, about a gathering of the seasons. Michael Swanwick has two stories in this Year's Best, and both turn out to be really short; 'Five British Dinosaurs' and 'Cecil Rhodes in Hell' are both funny, but in different ways. 'The Pagodas of Ciboure' I had read in some other anthology a long time ago, and liked. What city dweller knew slugs could be so fearsome? I was a little disappointed in the Ellen Klages story, since I was hoping for a lot from it, but Naomi Kritzer's 'Comrade Grandmother' made up for it. It's a terrific story about Baba Yaga's participation in World War II. And of course there's an Ursula K Le Guin story too. All in all, a great anthology.

Once again, it's time for the annual Year's Best Fantasy volume, edited by David G. Hartwell. This year's version, volume 3, has even more goodness than last year's version did. Twenty-nine stories in all, ranging from short 3-page stories to 40 page ones, by some of the biggest names in the field. This is the perfect sampler to see what's going on in the Fantasy world, to see who the up-and-comers are, and get a taste of what they're offering. On the strength of some of the stories in this volume, I'm definitely going to check out a couple that I've never tried before.

I'd say that this volume is better than last year's edition, just because there weren't any stories that I didn't like. There were some that were weaker than others, of course, but no real clunkers in the bunch. It has fantasy for every taste, from urban fantasy to other worlds, if you've got a taste for the stuff, this book will satiate it. I will, of course, include a list of the stories at the end of the review so you can check them out and see if there are any authors that you particularly like.

I love the short fiction format, especially when it's done well. There are some standout entries in this year's edition, capped off with a short little piece by Michael Swanwick called "Five British Dinosaurs." This one is extremely short, but a lot is carried in a small package. It's about the discovery of dinosaur bones in Great Britain in the 19th century, along with the discovery that there are some living specimens hanging around in the British aristocracy. This story is hilarious and I found myself laughing throughout it's brief span. The thought of a walking dinosaur speaking in proper British English, disputing the reconstruction of the bones of his ancestors, is priceless. Swanwick gives the dinosaurs a lot of personality, along with a lot of arrogance. "Things were definitely better run in the Mesozoic?But mammals knew their place then." Swanwick has the honour of being the only person with two stories included, but they are both very short and so I figure Hartwell decided that he could afford the space.

Another standout is Steve Popkes and his story, " A Fable of Saviour & Reptile." This is a re-telling of the Jesus story, from the point of view of a talking turtle that befriends Jesus when he's young. The turtle is suitably haughty, given his long life span and his infinite patience (given the fact that it takes him a long time to get anywhere). It's an interesting take on the whole Messiah story, but if you can get past the irreligious tone of the story, it is very heartwarming. Hartwell warns in his prologue to it "Do note the word 'fable' in the title." While it gives an alternate view of Jesus and his life (including filling in the missing thirty or so years that the Bible doesn't include), it is very respectful the idea behind the story. The turtle is characterized wonderfully, and Jesus is too if you can get past the fact that he does drink when he's younger (getting a little drunk with the turtle) and he has a wife and son. It's a story about the power of myth and how humans can attach meaning to anything if it will help them get through life and possibly throw off the yoke of oppression. There are some very touching moments and conversations between the two of them, especially when the turtle comforts Jesus in his cell right before he's crucified. This is probably the best story in the book, and I am definitely going to track down some more by this guy.

Other particularly good stories are Kage Baker's "Her Father's Eyes" (a tale of a young girl and the boy she meets and befriends on a plane), Neil Gaiman's "October in the Chair" (a typical Gaiman tale about stories and the people who tell them, this time a group of god-like beings), and "A Prayer for Captain LaHire" by Patrice E. Sarath (a story of three knights who followed Joan of Arc until she burned, and the horror that they discover a fourth disciple has unleashed). Finally, there is P.D. Cacek's "A Book, by its Cover." This is a wonderful little tale about a Jewish boy in the aftermath of Kristallnacht in Berlin, and the bookshop owner who he believes is doing evil things afterward. It's has a wonderful message about books and the effects that they can have on a person.

If there are any weaknesses in the book, they are purely my personal feeling. I'm not a big fan of Tanith Lee, though I know that she is very popular. Thus, her story "Persian Eyes" didn't do a whole lot for me. In it, a Roman noble family is destroyed by the work of a slave girl and her magic eyes. It was more interesting to me than her entry in last year's book, but not by much. Also, "The Pagodas of Ciboure" just dragged on a little too long for my tastes. In it, a sick boy is healed by some French fairy creatures called "pagodas," though he has to save them from an onslaught of slugs first. It's cute, and it's well-told, but it's just too long.

That being said, I did enjoy even those stories. This is just a top-notch collection of short fantasy. Hartwell has done it again, pulling together a varied group of stories that can't help but satisfy. If you're a fantasy fan and like the short fiction genre, this is definitely the book for you. Hartwell has another winner, and I can't wait for next year's edition.

David Roy

Most of the anthologies I've read in the genre of Fantasy/Scifi and horror are mixed bags of personal likes and dislikes of the editors...some of which are a bit too gory, too 'realistic' or just have what I'd like to call 'fantasy around the edges'. This series is really 'the best'...not the usual commercially bland mixes (see, Bob Silverberg's Legends), but a good mix of quirky, new authors as well as some well known names (Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee) with a nice blend of both light hearted and serious fantastic tales. Standouts would be: Gene Wolfe's From the Cradle, Naomi Kritzer's Comrade Grandmother, and Michael Swanwick's Five British Dinosaurs.

There are no real faults with this book. The Introduction is interesting. An essential book for those seriously interested in the Daoist Perspective.

In my opinion, this document is of equal standing with the Chuang-Tzu and the Lieh-Tzu in importance, and as a compilation of thought, in a way more important as these documents as an overview of Taoist thought.

Having read a more obscure translation earler, I found this translation to be delightfully accessible and clear. There are excellent notes, summaries, explanations, and histories to compliment the document. I wish they had been present in the earlier translation I had dug up.

After reading the Tao Te Ching, read this before moving on to the Chuang-Tzu, Lieh-Tzu, or any other Taoist document. It's worth it - and in the spirit of Lao-Tzu, not too long or wordy.

Besides the Yuan Dao's enormous historical and philosophical value, the introduction to the Yuan Dao is the most important introduction to taoist thought that has been written in many years. It clearly defines the essential differences between the way Taoist and Western philosophies think.

Basically the book is just what it claims to be: a history of Zen Buddhism in China (it says "India" because it discusses the precursors to Zen in the Mahayana tradition and yoga). It is perfect for students interested in the topic.

I've heard from a few people (and the preface of the book admits it as well) that this book is somewhat dated because scholarship in this field has ballooned in the past decade or two. However, there is no equivalent introduction to all of Zen history. Thus, if you plan to study Zen history in depth, this is still the best place to start and you can move on to more recent books covering more specific movements and time periods. On the other hand, if you're not going to study in depth, then the new developments are not so radical as to render this unhelpful. Within ten years a better, up to date history of Zen is bound to come out. If you can wait...

On the other hand, I believe that a background in Chinese religion would be helpful, since Dumoulin really doesn't provide the background that a student needs in that area. But he does refer to them--Taoism and other strands of Chinese Buddhism--enough that perhaps he ought to have given a bit of introduction to them. He does give an interesting coverage of Neo-Confucianism, although not in much depth and only discussing their relationship to Zen. I was glad I had some familiarity with Taoism, but I found myself wishing I'd had more familiarity with Chinese Buddhism.

For that reason, if you are a beginning student, I'd strongly recommend some other books first.

If you're new to Zen, start with "An Introduction to Zen Buddhism" by D. T. Suzuki.

If you don't know much about Taoism, I recommend Livia Kohn's "Daoism and Chinese Culture."

If you don't know much about Chinese Buddhism, I recommend "Buddhism in China" by Kenneth Ch'en.

I think, at that point, if you want to get into the history of Zen Buddhism in greater depth, then you'll be ready to get a lot out of Dumoulin's fine book.

Of course, if the history of Zen really is the ONLY thing you're interested in, not how it interacted with Taoism or other kinds of Chinese Buddhism, then go ahead and just jump straight into this one.

Zen Buddhism: A History India And China is a new edition of volume 1 of the classic two- volume history by Heinrich Dumoulin (1905-1995), one of the world's most renowned Zen scholars. Covering the emergence of Zen through India and China, the new edition also includes additional notes by James W. Heisig of the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture; a new introduction by John R. McRae of Indiana University exploring recent developments in the study of Zen; and the complete original text. An excellent, thoroughly researched, in-depth history especially recommended for advanced students and scholars of Buddhism and religious history.

A detailed survey that begins in India with the historic Buddha, Sakyamuni, and finishes with the decline of Zen in China. The amount of detail would be overwhelming if Dumoulin hadn't digested it so well and hadn't written so well. Packed no only with historical events and persons, there are many observations and insights that reveal not only how Zen developed but the extent of diversity and challenges within it.

There were some highlights for me: the roots of Zen in yoga (hence the emphasis on the lotus pose for zazen), the importance of the Mahayana sutras with all the work to translate them into Chinese, the interplay of Buddhism with Taoism in China that led to Zen, the persecution of Buddhism in China that only Zen and Pure Land survived, and the settling down into the methods of regular zazen and koan practice. The differing views on enlightenment and other key Buddhist concepts as well as on meditation practice reveals that Zen was ever exploratory and many things to many of its masters and those who followed them.

Remarkably NeoConfucianism eventually gathered strength so as to be able to successfully challenge Zen for the Chinese heart. This volume closes with Chinese Zen in a decline from which it never recovered. Dumoulin explains how NeoConfucianist scholars were able to weaken the hold of Zen upon the Chinese such that Zen only was able to progress outside of China. Thar Zen later prospered in Japan did not lead to its rehabiilation within China so one is left wondering if Japanese Zen largely succeeded due to not facing a NeoConfucian challenge within Japan: all the more reason to read carefully Dumoulin's history of why Zen declined in China. I find it impossible to wonder if Japanese Zen, however much it flourished there, did so to some extent by avoiding the challenges that Zen faced in China. Any such questions may be answered by a careful reading of both this Volume 1 and the companion but consensus seem less to be found than a struggle by many that shaped the tradition without bringing it closure.

Zen Buddhism, Volume 2: A History (Japan) (Treasures of the World's Religions)

Zen's Chinese Heritage - The masters and their teachings, by Andrew Ferguson, is a long awaited reference for those wishing to appreciate the origins of the Zen tradition. As a long time practioner of Zen, the many illustrious and noteworthy ancestors of my tradition, have often been nothing more than a confusing collection of names, difficult to pronounce and even more difficult to appreciate as once real and living men and women. Andrew Ferguson's painstaking efforts at bringing to life these practioners of old, and providing us with history and anecdotes from their allusive lives, has enlivened my practice and given new meaning to the many wonderful and amazing persons I encounter in my koan study. This book is a wonderful guide and reference, especially with its accompanying lineage chart, for anyone who is either a practioner of this wonderful tradition or is solely interested in furthering their appreciation for the history of Zen.

I took months to read this book and only ever reached the stage of being an open-mouthed, lightning-struck bystander. Such a treasure is not often found in one life. I congratulate the authors on feeding us such juicy and tangy fruit.

I read this book back when I was living in a monastery. I found it to be extraordinary, the other monk that I was living with at the time was also amazed that such a book had been written and he was the one that order one for the monks and one for the nuns.

The book goes through the very beginnings of Chan (Chinese word for Zen) up through the "Golden Age" and beyond. I found very intriguing particularly to see that at one point in the Chan history that there was this point when so many enlightened masters had arose at once. Probably something we may never see again. You will find all Five Schools in here plus other schools that were not so prominent but had an impact as well.

Definitely a book worthy of your dollar.

I first heard about this calendar on one of my many yahoo groups, someone had posted that this calendar had wonderful photos and I couldn't agree more! This calendar features 1 province each month and has a small black outline of China and shows where the province is in China. There is 1 large photo and then each day has it's own small photo. The photos where captured by Dennis Cox and each month has a write up of that province by Lisa See who does a wonderful job. The provinces featured are: Zhejiang, Anhui, Hebei & Shangdong,Guangxi, Shanghai, Yunnan, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Shaanxi & Shanxi and Xinjiang.

It is my hope that in the following years the calendar has each of the provinces in China. If you use a felt tip marker for marking things on the calendar you should be able to cut out the photos and use them for your child's lifebook or to make an ABC China book. There are many beautiful photos it maybe hard to choose which photos to use.

These photos will leave you in awe. I have done many trips to China and Dennis Cox captures the feeling with a superb sense and awareness of the Chinese culture.

This brilliant text provides a "fly-on-the-wall" view of what it must be like to work in a TCM clinic overseas. From the History through diagnosis and treatment options it presents an accurate and concise account of patient care and the Shen of healing. This is a professional text, written in clear clinical shorthand and a must for your library.

Buy this book, if for no other reason that the treatment protocol for "Flu Like Symptoms" (#5). You will use that methodology to help people from now on.

The Churchill Livingstone edition is bound more stoutly than most Chinese texts, but will require loving preservation - because it WILL be used - if it is to last you a lifetime!

This text really exposes you to a variety of difficult cases from China. It shows you the true power of acupuncture as a form a medicine with its ability to heal patients that are often in critical condition. Not only does it give you the point selections that were used to treat the patients, it also gives you the reasoning behind the selection and sometimes the needling techniques that were used. I highly recommend it because for me, it filled in a lot of missing pieces of the clinical puzzle, especially in the area of why certain points are chosen and how they should be needled in order to get the desired effect.

Greg O'Leary has assembled as fine a collection of essays on the current direction of labour markets and industrial relations in China as has been written. The scholarship is cutting edge. O'Leary himself contributes a masterly introduction.

Greg O'Leary has assembled an excellent array of contributions for those interested in contemporary Chinese economy and labor relations. The book combines first-rate academic research and analysis, and covers a broad range of issues with a consistently high quality. The editor provides insightful commentaries in his own chapters, which rank among the best scholarship on China that this reviewer has read.

This collection of poems piques the reader's senses and maintains interest throughout. The narrative with compelling characterizations keeps the reader moving along and even identifying with the mysterious Chinese aunt and her family in the United States. It is one of those rare books of poetry which you want to read to the very end without putting it down, and yet to enjoy stopping and mulling over individual poems. The encounters between Buddhist, Christian, and Confucian elements lend universal significance. This is the best poetry on today's literary scene.

This book is the winner of the May Swenson Poetry Award for 2000. While not a narrative poem, the story of the author's aunt that married a "Chinaman" and left her family only to return when she was dying, is as close as one can get. The poems tell of the author's need for connections and a sense of family and humanity that are inspiring and eternal. The bridge over all that divides us is, after all, built on hope and caring and sharing. A Marvelous collection.

"If at first you don't succeed , try, try again" is an old adage we frequently laugh at, but in Will's case, it lead to success. Will, a long-distance runner from Britain, wanted to be the first person to run the length of the Great Wall of China. It took him several years, but he finally accomplished this, but not without encountering serious illness, traveling through areas closed to foreigners and winding up in jail (which he subsequently broke out of) and eventual deportation from China. This is a good read about a heartwarming experiernce, espescially about hardships some people must go through to reach their dreams. The hardbound copy, which I don't think is available in the United States, contains some photos (Chinese authorities confiscated most of his film); the paperback book does not. Will has a strong interest in the Great Wall, and since he moved to Beijing permanently, spends many weekends camping out on the Wall. This has lead to another book on the Great Wall, this one on camping out on it. That book should be out in the fall of 1998. I first met Will in the fall of 1994 when I moved to Beijing to work as a copy editor for China Daily; Will already was working there. But even if Will weren't a friend, I would still recommend this book for anyone with a spirit of adventure or who just wants to share in this marvelous, inspirational adventure.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. He has a great writing style and his accomplishment was remarkable. His courage and persistance is amazing.

As an aside, I met William in China and spent a few days walking with him on the "wild wall". It is just as amazing as he details in his book. He is a very nice chap and is now quite an authority on the Great Wall of China. I hope he continues to write!