No comments about Blue Guide China, Second Edition (Blue Guides).

No comments about ACROSS CHINA ON FOOT.

5 comments about The House of Exile (Travel Library).

1. Having lived in China and Taiwan for over 5 years, I truly enjoyed this insight into Chinese life in the 1920's! The author does a wonderful job of pulling the reader into the historical events. I am very interested to know what happened to the author, her daughter and her husband.



2. Nora Waln was my history teacher at Tientsin Grammar School mid-l930's. An American teaching English history. Would like to know what happened to her. I remember she left our school to marry.



3. A friend loaned this to me after I raved about "WildSwans", which I got from Amazon auction. The style is not warmlybiographical, but the author gives an amazing picture of life in China from 1927 to 1933. I too would love to know what happened to her and her family. Anyone who enjoyed this should certainly read "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang. Both contain information about China which was a complete revelation for me.



4. Nora Waln was an American Quaker. She married George Edward Osland-Hill, an officer in the English Foreign Service, whom she called "Ted." Ted had one daughter by his first wife, Marie Osland-Hill Wade. In 1934 Ted retired from the English Foreign Service and went to Germany to study classical music. Nora reluctly followed. During this time his daughter was in Switzerland going to school. They were in Germany until late 1938. While there, Nora wrote Reaching for the Stars - her observations of the German people, Hitler and life during the rise of Nazism.
   
   During the war, she lived in London where her home served as a temporary half-way house for children the underground smuggled out of Germany, Norway and Czechoslovika. After the war she went back to Germany as a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly. In 1946 she did a speaking tour to 60 cities in the US and Canada to raise money for relief efforts and encourage members of her sority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, to make layettes she promised for the babies of Norway. These parents did not even have newspaper to cloth their children.
   
   I learned of Nora Waln when I was a child because Kappas gathered around a ping pong table in my mother's basement to sew nightgowns, booties, hats, blankets and other items for these layettes. 5,000 layettes (each layette made up of 70 items) were delivered to Norway the following year.
   
   If you liked House of Exile, you may want to try Reaching for the Stars. It is out of print. I got a used copy through Amazon.



5. I first read this book when only 13 years old. It belonged to my mother, who said it was the most important book I would ever read. It enthralled me when I was young, and I have since re-read it at least five times. I have just decided to read it again since talking about it with friends to whom I recommended it. This book broadened my horizons tremendously, and I have had a love for the Far East all my life and a desire to spend time there because of this book. I loved the descriptions of everyday life in China and the way the countryside and people were depicted was entrancing to me. I was fortunate to be able to live part of my adult life in the Orient, and it was everything I hoped it would be - and for the most part - without the political upheaval evident in The House of Exile.

5 comments about Trespassers on the Roof of the World.

1. Although extraordinary geography was the best natural defense the Tibetans had against foreign invaders, it can also be the sole reason that lures many a traveler, visitor, and tourists to Tibet to date. Of course, religion, spirituality, culture, art, and life on the high altitudes in the most extreme of climates are other reasons for venturing into this land. In Hopkirk's book, trespassing by foreigners, especially Europeans, was an extension of the Great Game, the struggle between Britain and Russia for expansionism in Central Asia. Military supremacy, a face-to-face encounter with the Dalai Lama, or recognition by the Royal Geographical Society and other prestigious societies at the time was the prize for people from different walks of life--missionaries, soldiers, geographers, naturalists---to venture into this forbidden land. Alas, no matter how well-guarded the country, especially Lhasa, was, the Tibetans' defense was no match to the military might of the British. China proved to be a formidable occupier as soon as the British lost their firm hold on Tibet during World War II. An American pilot was the first intruder from the air---by accident. Nonetheless, relentless trespassing by foreigners was the inevitable truth that many Tibetans must have found hard to swallow.
   
   The book is a masterpiece of historical writing. Starting with Tibet's stupendous geography, the book segues on the origin of Tibetan Buddhism. Eventually the reader is initiated to the challenging craft of punditry, the only way the outside world could glean some scientific information on this forbidden land. If Hopkirk intended to instill wonder and suspense on the reader as he narrates a series of close calls by pundits and disguised explorers from being caught and daring-do attempts by intruders in order to be recognized as the first outsider to set foot on this forbidden land, he has succeeded. With exquisite writing style and a penchant for vivid description of people, places, and events, the book is a highly engaging read. Those who risked their lives and their families to venture into a forbidden land can be easily blamed for folly, but Hopkirk brings out the humanity in them. Every adventure is told so well that can make good reading anywhere and anytime. History reading can't get to be more fun that this!



2. An extensive review of the many attempts to gain access to the hidden city of Tibet. Well done, authoritative, exciting events in the time line of the many documented attempts to gain a look into the mysterious city that has been protected from outsiders for centuries. The reasons from military desires to the hope of finding hidden gold deposits are some of the many exploits of carefully planned adventures presented by Peter Hopkirk. They will keep your interest from beginning to end, guaranteed.



3. Hopkirk stays on top of the world with this book!
   
   Learn about the "real" Tibet[before China invaded]...



4. When it comes to delineating the history of Central Asia and environs, few writers can touch the craftsmanship of author Peter Hopkirk. In his hands, what could easily be boring history, becomes, instead, vibrant excitement. As in his other books, Hopkirk makes these mysterious and fabled lands come alive. In this book he describes the many attempts by adventurers from the outside world to penetrate remote Tibet and its almost-mystical capital, Lhasa. Chapter by chapter Hopkirk ticks off the sagas of these opportunists, some seeking fortune and fame, some on their majesty's (or tsar's) service. In the contest between Tibet versus the world, Tibet scores early and frequently, thus keeping the others out. But eventually, overpowered by modern weaponry, the outsiders win. It's tempting to cast this in terms of good-guys versus bad-guys. But it's not that easy, as the reader will see. What IS easy is declaring this book a fantastic and exciting history of a mysterious land that just wanted to be left alone.



5. Peter Hopkirk is a child of the British Empire, having been to many places where generally only mad dogs and English men dare venture; among other exploits he was a soldier with the late and largely unlamented Idi Amin. As a historian he has made a name for himself as a very capable chronicler of the Great Game in Asia in the 1900s. This is his book about the Western Drang nach Osten, the quest of European, an American, and Japanese explorers to investigate Tibet and its secrets.
   
   Tibet was a backwards and forbidden kingdom ruled my monks under the Dalai Lama; with China, Russia and the British in India keen to encroach on Tibet, the Tibetans were at least equally determined to keep foreigners out; officials who let foreigners get past them on their mad quests for Lhasa were at times decapitated on orders from on high. Hopkirk recounts the stories of the various Englishmen, Indians, the American and others who were intent to be the first to make it to Tibet and sometimes Lhasa, who did so in disguise, in an airplane, behind rifles the Tibetans couldn't match and more (I am frugal with details lest I spoil the stories.) I highly recommend them.

No comments about Memoirs of a mountaineer: Helvellyn to Himalaya and Lhasa, the holy city.

No comments about China.

5 comments about The Monk from Brooklyn: An American at the Shaolin Temple.

1. Antonio Graceffo deserves nothing but kudos for the risks he took leaving his corporate job and New York to spend more time on an adventurous journey for additional perspective with his journalistic eye, the creative craftmanship of his writing, and his backpack. The verdict on his voyage based on the insights derived from his narratives and his publications should give one brief pause before the resounding yes to purchasing his books.



2. From a personal perspective i found this book informative, humourous, energetic, and at times addictive.
   
   A great story of one mans experiences of living at the shaolin temple, and left me curios to know where he went after arriving in Hong Kong.
   
   Will be looking out for Antonios next book



3. I'm not a boxer or Kung Fu expert, but I do enjoy travel stories, so I read this book hoping to get a little insight into what the Shaolin temple was really like. Antonio doesn't hold back with what he writes about. It is the brutal honest truth of one man's experience in a place not too many foreigners have visited. Perhaps if more people wrote about Asia in this manner, people wouldn't have a preconceived view of what the place was really like.
   
   An interesting, informative and very funny book. You don't have to be a monk or kung fu fighter to get something out of this.



4. Its my understanding that this book came to be from a series of articles that the author did and it certainly feels like one long article. In fact if one does a web search, you will find those articles online.
   
   To be fair, this is a very addictive book and I wanted so much to like it. It is an interesting story and the author does come across as being charismatic, worldly and interesting. I did enjoy his insightful comments about Kung Fu. As I also study the martial arts and live in Brooklyn, I thought there was a lot for me to like but in the end I found it to be a very disappointing.
   
   This book is incredibly repetitive. For example you are constantly reminded that the author feels that rural Chinese are filthy, backwards and self-centered people. That Chinese Kung Fu for the most part is so stuck in its past and glory that it cannot feasibly compete against many of the today's mix martial artists. That daily communication with rural Chinese is repetitive and frustrating and is indicative of their mental capabilities. While I have no problem with someone who tells it like it is after several times it starts to sound like constant complaining.
   
   One of the most frustrating issues with this book is that you never really know who the author is nor his background. On my copy there is no brief biography on the author. It is left up to the reader to piece this together which I found frustrating. For example, you start to get hints that he has served in the arm forces and since he likes to talk about his favorite Navy watch cap, one can only assume he was in the Navy. Nope, turns out he was in Army. Part of the problem is that the format of this book is that of journal which explains why it is so repetitive. It's almost as though you found this diary on the street and are left to fill in the blanks on who this person is.
   
   Ultimately I have to say that I found the ending disappointing and sad not because of what ultimately happened to Antonio but rather because the book ended as abruptly as it started. Again this is because you are reading someone's journal. Certainly the message here is that training at the Shaolin Temple should not be idealized because ultimately you are dealing with a system that is so corrupt, unsanitary, backward and so full of conflicts and paradoxes that it will wear down the most well-educated, open minded and well-traveled Westerner. I give kudos to Antonio for taking on this challenge but I can't say that the story telling was all that great for me to recommend it.



5. Graceffo has his moments, but this book reads like a prolonged griping session. The excerpts I had previously read in martial arts magazines suggested that this would be a wry perspective on the Shaolin experience, but reading the book is tough going. Graceffo finds most of the Chinese people he deals with annoying, and seems to resent their presence. This is somewhat odd since he chose to go there, and it is their country, after all. I would also have expected that his time in Taiwan would have prepared him for some of the attitudes he encountered on the mainland.
   He chose to live in the school with the students, but then proceeded to detail the experience as an imposition. Of course two alternatives existed: leave, or at least move to some alternative housing. Traveling there without adequate cash reserves seems to have occasioned most of his misery and insecurity, but it was not as if he didn't have the resources. This failure to plan colors much of his perspective for the rest of the book. Some travel writers do a much better job of adapting to circumstances, so much of this reads like an extended experience of culture shock.
   Not to dispute the author's experiences. I am sure they all happened, but I am not sure the students and many of the people he dealt with deserved some of the criticism they came under here.
   If you are interested in kungfu, you won't find much here, aside from the author teaching his own brand of Brooklyn 'kungfu'. He was apparently not much impressed with techniques he saw there, and frequently made the observation that the kungfu practiced there wouldn't stand up in a street fight.
   Other reviewers have stated that this would have been better suited to appear as a magazine article, and I would agree with that. Even as an article, the gist of this work would probably turn off most readers, except for convicted Sinophobes.
   One would do better, I think, to read Matthew Polley's "American Shaolin", which does not gloss over the discomforts of life in China or shaolin training, but shows that Polley genuinely seems to have made an effort to bridge the cultural gap, rather than retreating into a fortress mentality.
   I suppose that goes to say that both books are more about culture shock and how one deals with it, as opposed to being about the martial arts.
   The other aspect of this book that is somewhat disagreeable is that the author often seems to be touting himself as superior to the Chinese, based upon his income, education, or worldliness. But I often felt as if the author was injecting that persona also to show his readers what a great guy he is. This self-promotion seemed very out-of-place to me, but maybe not to most readers.
   Still, parts of this book are very amusing and interesting, so it certainly rates a look.

No comments about Khon Muang: People and Principles of North Thailand (Beautiful & Educational Books on the Peoples of South China).

No comments about Insideout Hong Kong City Guide (Insideout City Guide: Hong Kong).

1 comments about Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure.

1. Compiled and organized by Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure is a stunning artbook quality collection of sculptures, illuminated pages, pigment on cotton artworks, and more -- all skillfully crafted across centuries of Himalayan history. Full-color photography and an extensive, scholarly text filled the pages of Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure with history, anecdotes, and insights to create a seminal and impressive work which is very highly recommended for Art History collections and enthusiasts.