2 comments about The Chinese Looking Glass.

1. This is an excellent book for the person wanting to understand Chinese culture from an internal point of view. It helps explain why China's expirement with democracy didn't work and the country's attitude towards western culture. Although some of the information is outdated, it uses several thousand years of history to back up the author's assumption about Chinese attitudes and mores, including such controversial subjects as the Vietnam War and Japanese culture's debt to China. It covers such varied subjects as food, religion (or the lack of), clothing and technology and above all Chinese ideas about these subjects and the world around them.



2. I've been reading and rereading this book for thirty-five years. China from a personal yet objective point of view (British journalist married into an old Chinese family), this is quite simply the best introduction to the subject I know anything about. It is beautifully written, interesting and exciting from beginning to end, and certainly one of the most memorable books on China you will ever read. If you are only going to read one book on Chinese culture and civilization, this is the book to read. But, believe me, you will not want to stop with "The Chinese Looking Glass." Read Bloodsworth's book and you will be hooked on the subject for many years to come.

4 comments about China: the Silk Routes.

1. Two great virtues make this an excellent guide indeed. First, it is a really useful planner in that it contains sufficient details for you to map your routes, pick your transports, accomodation, eating places, etc. Alongside are also well written sections on the history and other aspects that an inquiring traveller demands and appreciates. Both the traveller/writer and the publisher are to be heartily congratulated



2. Last fall, I traveled on the Silk Road, from Uzbekistan through Western China to Xian, with two companions. This was far and away the best travel guide we used. Not only did it guide us to the best accomodations available in out of the way places, but it also gave us excellent practical information wherever we were. Because we did not speak the local language, we relied on this excellent book to give us interesting background and historical info. When communications were all but impossible, I would open the book and point to the relevant phrases written in Chinese characters, and we were able to get what we needed! This book is worth its weight in gold for anyone traveling independently in this part of the world.



3. We spent two months in NW China this summer and used this book so much that we threw away my other guide book (It is a very lonely one now). We finally left China: the Silk Routes with another traveller in Xiahi as we left the Silk Route regions. It is simply the best guide book for the Silk Road available, listing locations and towns that are not yet covered in other books, plus great essays on historical areas and the sites. It also has a handy index (with Chinese characters) of food, phrases, and other useful words to ease communications.



4. One nice thing I can say about this guidebook is that the glossary in the back, as well as the micro maps provided of various regions, were extremely useful and tailored specifically for tourists ignorant of Chinese culture such as myself.
   The two biggest problems are that it is outdated and that the information and coverage is inadequate. If you use this guide alone for Beijing, as we foolishly did, you'll be missing out a lot. Even in Eastern Turkistan (Xinjiang) a tremendous number of historical sites were left out in Kashgar and Yerken. If you're just interested in trekking and adventure traveling and the history and culture isn't that important, then you can go ahead with this book and the Lonely Planet guide to Central Asia. However, if that's your attitude you're really missing out on a lot and it's not worth all that money to come to this distant corner of the Earth.
   For East Turkistan, the small section in the Lonely Planet Central Asia guide was much more useful for purely practical information (such as hotels and restaurants) than the considerably larger section in this book.

No comments about Hong Kong Complete Residents' Guide.

No comments about 108 Movements of the Shaolin Wooden-Men Hall #1.

1 comments about Wonderful Xinjiang (Cultural China, Man and the Land).

1. Interesting photographs and nice text, but nowhere is there a map of the areas photographed and usually there is no reference to the location of the photos within the province of Xinjiang. Somewhat disappointing in that respect, but it might be more meaningful to people who have traveled in that area.

No comments about My Nestorian Adventure in China (Gorgias Reprint).

No comments about Everest (The Mountaineers Anthology Series).

2 comments about Two Years in the Melting Pot.

1. Are you interested to know how a Chinese person experienced cultural shock in the US ? Then this book is a MUST. No book that I have read about the Chinese (and I have read many indeed) has touched me as profoundly as this precious glimpse into the personal feelings (rarely shared with Westerners) experienced by a gentle Chinese man during his two year stay in the Chicago area during the early 1980s. His English is excellant and his literary style very expressive and easy to read. His honesty and humor can not fail to touch the soul of the reader. I am deeply grateful to Mr. Liu for sharing his thoughts and experiences with us.



2. As of you always heard people saying America is the melting pot, or a salad bowl, well this book tells the story of a Chinese man learn what it is to be and how hard it is to adapted to another culture. As the heart broken story start with him leaving his home of his family and children are waiting for him when he get back from his educational journey. Nearing half of his life away, he have leave home many times some times even long and much more dangerous then this journey to America but everyone still strong, but the story, the author have his way of describing the sadness of leaving his home and his family.
   Liu Zongren shown a lot of honesty in himself with other, and also the humor of how the author describe the ways that he adapted to the American ways with his many questions of the cultures he barely know and soon be leaving again. As the author dealing with cultures shock you will be drawn into the book and soon you will feel that you are dealing with the culture shock with the author also, the writing of Liu is very strong and it will attract you to the book as you read along.

1 comments about China: Kingdom of the Dragon (The Wanderer).

1. I purchased this book as a gift for a friend that will be my traveling companion to China in the spring. Phenomenial photography! This is an exquisite "coffee table" pictorial guide of China protraying the vast county in its diversity and the book intensified our excitement for our upcoming trip.

No comments about Under the Ancestors' Shadow: Kinship, Personality, and Social Mobility in China. A reissue with a new chapter (1967).