Edward S. Hume, M.D., J.D.: Chinadopt
What do I do
while I am waiting?
Updated 10/6/96
From: Kathy Gryta
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 1996 11:11 AM
To: KBWEN@aol.com
Subject: Learning Chinese language
Hi, Kathy. Have you seen this page??
http://www.indiana.edu/~chasso/auchinese.html
[WWW Audio Tutorial of Basic Chinese]
It doesn't yet have "I love you" but I did e-mail
the page's author and suggest a Parenting category including that
-maybe he'll put it in a week or so. It does have a lot of other
basic stuff, tho', and it's fun to learn while we wait....
>From:
>Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996 14:49:10 -0500
To:
>Subject: Re: good books?
>Reply-To: Jbgeo@aol.com
>Hi Debbie
>"Wild Swans" is an absolute must, if you are looking for books on China. I'm sorry I forgot the name of the author; but it is a very wellknown book.
"Wild Swans" is by Jung Chang, published by
Doubleday (paperback,1992) and Simon & Schuster (hardcover,
1991). This has a lot of information (in biographical format) on
the way things used to be in China. Many things have changed
since the times portrayed in the book, but it's excellent
background. I read it in one day...couldn't put it down.
From: Swellking@aol.com[SMTP:Swellking@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 5:22 PM
Subject: Re: Books about China
I am Sarah King, and my husband, Bruce, and I are waiting for our dossier to be completed -- almost done! I am reading an EXCELLENT book about China called "China Wakes" by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl Wudunn.
They are both journalists for the New York Times and lived in Beijing for a few years and traveled all over the country. They won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of Tiananmen Square. They are married, she is Chinese-American, which gave her much opportunity to lend in and see things that others could not.
They do a masterful job at identifying political, cultural and
social issues -- at grasping at the enigma and contradiction at
every turn. Very readable.
From: Jenny Bowen[SMTP:altamura@netvoyage.net]
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 6:56 PM
To: Swellking@aol.com
Subject: Re: Books about China
I absolutely second your vote for CHINA WAKES. Having cleaned
out several libraries and countless bookstores for China-related
material, I found this book to be the most readable and telling
by far about China today. I think to start with WILD SWANS and
then to read CHINA WAKES (which picks up almost where SWANS
leaves off) gives you a great sense of the incredible changes in
that culture through the entire twentieth century.
From: Marianne & Tim
Horchler[SMTP:jive@localnet.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 9:49 PM
Subject: re: good books?
I am reading an book that I haven't seen mentioned yet. It is "The Early Arrival of Dreams" by Rosemary Mahoney. This is an account of the author's one year (1987-88) as an English teacher in China (Hangzhou University). She describes student life, her encounters with various Chinese (teachers, people on the street etc) and chinese culture as she saw it.Very interesting.
Check your local library for books on China. I was surprised at the selection. There are many historical and travel books of course but I found those dealing with everyday life the most fascinating. Our library also offers a variety of VIDEOS and I highly recommend the series
"The Heart of the Dragon": 12 non-fiction videos each dealing with an aspect of Chinese culture. The ones I found most interesting are "Mediating" (a young couple is having problems after the birth of their child - a girl), "Marrying" and "Living".
I also just saw "A Great Wall", a light comedy about a Chinese American family who goes back to Beijing to visit their Chinese relatives.
Marianne
From: Debbie Moors[SMTP:moors@wsu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, February 29, 1996 5:38 PM
Subject: Books to read #2 (long)
Hi all --
I posted some earlier responses to a query for books on China.
I've added to that list and the revised list appears below. I
also did a search of *Book Stacks* a WWW book store, and added
some that sounded interesting to me (they listed 922, so I didn't
have time to list all of them). Info on Book Stacks is at the end
of the list...
Hope some of you find this helpful...
_A Cultural Exchange: American and Chinese Weddings, A High
Tea and Linen Shower for Miss Mary Lynn_, Robbie De Vries
_A Daughter of Han: The Autobiography of a Chinese Working
Woman_, Ida Pruitt
_A Mother's Ordeal: One woman's fight against China's one child
policy_, by Steven Mosher
_A Place Called Chinese America_, Diane Mei Lin Mark, Ginger Chih
_About Chinese Women_, Julia Kristeva
_Artists and Traditions: Uses of the Past in Chinese Culture_,
Murck
_Baba: A Return to China on My Father's Shoulders_, Belle Yang
(Fiction?)
_Best Chinese Stories: 1949 - 1989_, Chinese Literature Press,
Beijing
_Best Loved Chinese Proverbs_, Theodora Lau
_Blood Red Sunset: A Memoir of the Chinese Cultural Revolution_,
by Ma Bo and Howard Goldblatt
_Born of the Same Roots: Stories of Modern Chinese Women_,edited
by Vivian Ling Hsu
_Broken Earth: The Rural Chinese_ by Steven Mosher
_Caught in a Tornado: A Chinese American Woman Survives the
Cultural Revolution_, by James R. Ross
_Chasing the Dragon_, by Jackie Pullinger
_China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power_, by
Kristof, Wudunn and ed. by Walther
_Chinese Americans Struggle for Equality_, Franklin Ng
_Chinese Artistic Kites_, Kuiming Ha, Yigi Ha, Xu Wang,
_Chinese at a Glance: Phrase Book and Dictionary for Travellers_,
I Chuan Chen, Scott Seligman
_Chinese Awakenings: Life Stories from the Unofficial China_,
James and Ann Tyson
_Chinese Beliefs and Superstitions_, Evelyn Lip
_Chinese Customs_, Henry Dore
_Chinese Women: Past and Present_, Esther S. Lee Yao
_Culture Shock: China_, by Kevin Sinclair
_Doing Business with the Chinese: A Handbook for Executives_,
Paul Leppert
_Dragon Kites and Dragonflies: A Collection of Chinese Nursery
Rhymes_, Demi
_Encountering the Chinese: A Guide for Americans_, Hu Wenzhong
and Cornelius Grove
_Fifth Chinese Daughter_ (a biography), by Jade Snow Wong and
Kathryn Uhl (Ilt)
_Fun With Chinese Festivals_, Ta Peng
_Journey into China_, National Geographic
_Journey to Gold Mountain: The Chinese in 19th c. America_,
Ronald Takaki
_Karakoram Highway: The High Road to China, A China Survival
Kit_, Lonely Planet, by John King
_Katherine_ (fiction), by Anchee Min
_Legacies of Childhood: Growing Up Chinese in a Time of Crisis_,
Jon L. Saari (Audio)
_On Gold Mountain_, by Lisa See
_Personal Voices: Chinese Women in the 1980s_, Emily Honig, Gail
Hershatter
_Red Azalea_, Anchee Min
_Red Eggs and Dragon Boats: Celebrating Chinese Festivals_, Carol
Stepanchuk
_Spring Moon_, by Betty Bao Lord
_The Adjustment Experience of Chinese Immigrant Children in New
York City_, Betty Lee Sung
_The Attic: Memoirs of A Chinese Landlord's Son_,Guanlong Cao
_The Chinese American Experience: Coming to America_, Dana
Ying-Hui Wu, Jeffery Dao-Sheng Tung
_The Early Arrival of Dreams_, by Rosemary Mahoney
_The Hundred Secret Senses_, by Amy Tan (Fiction)
_The New Emperors: China in the Era of Mao and Deng_, by Harrison
Salisbury
_The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese American: From Number Two Son
to Rock'n'Roll_, Ben Fong-Torres
_The Spirit of Chinese Character: Gifts From the Heart_, Barbara
Aria, Russell Eng Gon
_The Woman Warrior_, by Maxine Hing Kingston
_To See Ourselves: Comparing Traditional Chinese and American
Cultural Values_ ($50) Zhongdang Pan, Steven H. Chaffee, Godwin
C. Chu, Yanan Ju
_Tracing It Home: A Chinese Journey_, Lynn Pan
_Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China_, by Jung Chang
Almost all of these books are available to order from Book Stacks
on the WWW; I've ordered several times and they are easy to work
with. You don't have to send your credit card number over the
internet and they had 922 books that came up when I searched for
the word *CHINESE*!. You can search by title, author or subject
-- their URL is:
http://melville.books.com/scripts/main.exe
Debbie
================================
Deborah Moors
moors@wsu.edu
================================
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From: Donna Sanford
Sent: Sunday, March 24, 1996 11:25 PM
Subject: Chinese movies
Being fairly new to the list I realize it's possible I could be repeating information already shared. If that's the case, please forgive me, but I wanted to share my favorite Chinese movies with you. Could be especially helpful for the before-mentioned type-A personalities who need to stay busy.
Not only are they good movies, but they also let you experience a lot of China --- culture and scenery and customs, both new and ancient. These are all Chinese-language films with English subtitles. And some have the added bonus of having lots of Chinese children in them!
Raise the Red Lantern
Ju Dou
The Story of Qiu Ju
Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker
Shanghai Triad
To Live
There is a wonderful scene in Ju Dou where they hold a party to celebrate the arrival of a new baby. A large "ring" of bread is baked, and elaborately decorated. The child is passed through the bread ring in what seems to be a ceremony for good luck. If anyone knows anything more about this ceremony, I would love to learn more.
There are two other movies I didn't like, but friends did: Chunking Express and Farewell my Concubine.
DonnaS
(34 years old, single, working with China's Children, home
study next week.)
From: ZapGirls@aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 25, 1996 3:18 PM
To: lawoodfo@smartdocs.com
Subject: Re: Chinese movies
You might want to add the following to your Chinese Movie list:
Eat Drink Man Woman
The Wedding Banquet.
The Blue Kite
All on video. Alexis
From: Marianne & Tim
Horchler[SMTP:jive@localnet.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 9:49 PM
Subject: re: good books?
Our library also offers a variety of VIDEOS and I highly recommend the series
"The Heart of the Dragon":
12 non-fiction videos each dealing with an aspect of Chinese culture. The ones I found most interesting are "Mediating" (a young couple is having problems after the birth of their child - a girl), "Marrying" and "Living".
I also just saw
"A Great Wall",
a light comedy about a Chinese American family who goes back to Beijing to visit their Chinese relatives.
Marianne
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