5 comments about Mr. Ding's Chicken Feet: On a Slow Boat from Shanghai to Texas.

1. In Mr Ding's Chicken Feet, the author, Gillian Kendall, comes across at first as maybe a little naive and unwary. She is a risk-taker. Her apparent lack of serious doubt about the whole enterprise, her trust in her fellow human beings not to harm her and her faith that it would all work out made me a little nervous on her behalf. But she is vindicated by the experience and it is her empathy and geniality that are the keys to her success. Observing Kendall's openness to life and her willingness to reach out across cultures became one of the pleasures of reading the book. A cynical reader such as I am found it instructive to watch her interest in humanity unfold and be repaid.
   
   Her story really takes off once the ship leaves shore. Then it leaves behind any experience I and probably most readers have had. Shipboard life with a completely male crew who mostly speak very fractured English seems so weird and challenging that you half expect the book to be a story of failure -- perhaps noble failure but depressing nonetheless. So it's very satisfying that she actually makes a difference to the sailors' English and lives. She is inventive in her methods and determined to give her employers their money's worth and thereby wins the crew's respect and affection.
   
   Kendall can write -- just see her description of the terrible storm at sea. It had me rigid with tension. Shades of Conrad in Typhoon. She has a distinctive and likable tone of voice. The book tells an optimistic story in an unpretentious way and gives you faith in the power of empathic teachers (and English!).



2. Ji Lians book very good. Makes me laugh. Have to laugh and wake up husband to read good part. I like this book. I like especially page where I am mention. I am Li. I am beautiful asian/american. Not Chinese. I too, don't like chicken feet.



3. Everyone loves an adventure (or at least reading of one) and most of us will never take a boat from China to America. Envious of this one, I curled up by my fireplace and read Mr. Ding's Chicken Feet with a taste for the fascinating journey of a Caucasian woman on a boat full of Asian men. I was not disappointed.
   
   The author sets sail on an ocean of cultural difference and wins over the hearts of the crew - a rough and salty bunch who sit spellbound by her in English class.
   
   Because of the obvious vast expanse of ocean to cross, you know that the author is going to have to face a few things she has probably never had to before, and deal with them. There is, after all, no escape on a small boat in the middle of the ocean.
   
   Kendall reveals the color of the crew over the course of the journey as if she were polishing up tarnished brass. It was great fun to read about the men as they blossom at the hand of their teacher...though the revelations were not one-sided.
   
   Not surprisingly, I felt the poignancy at the sight of land, which meant having to say goodbye.
   
   Kendall writes with an unpretentious clarity, humor and heart. I definitely recommend it.



4. I spent the academic year of 1999/2000 teaching English in Shenzhen. I spoke no Chinese, at the time, and had no formal teaching experience. So I could definitely relate to Gillian's frustrations, culture shock, and malentendus. It's 1991 and Gillian is a grad student in Galveston, TX. The semester is coming to a close and she spies an ad on the bulletin board for an ESL teacher aboard a ship sailing from Shanghai to Galveston. After a hard sell Gillian manages to land the job aboard the all male ship. The company flies her to Shanghai where she boards the ship. The reader witnesses her feelings about being the only woman on the ship; loneliness and some sexual harassment egged on by the only other American on board. She experiences a Sapphic awakening as she realizes in her state of isolation that she doesn't have any romantic feelings for her boyfriend. She manages to break through the cultural, gender, and language barriers to form some attachments to her students and especially Mr. Ding, the cook. The book is riddled with faux pas but the funniest part, I would say, is when she saves Mr. Ding by hurling the violent Panamanian vendor into the Canal.



5. Savoured the book from start to finish. It took me 2 weeks to read the last 20 pages because I did not want it to end. I am looking forward to reading the next Gillian adventure.

No comments about 'Why Don't You Fly?' Back Door to Beijing - by Bicycle.

2 comments about The Crippled Tree (China : Autobiography, History, Book 1).

1. All the masses of people who loved "Wild Swans" will love this one too. It gives a slightly different perspective on the same situation. Gives less recent history, but more information on colonial exploitation in pre-communist times than Wild Swans does. This author has written a few other books too.



2. Very good reading for those who love history which is told in a simple way, thrue a live story of an Europen - China couple and their children at the beginning of the 20th century ; and for those, who are always seeking the real truth and are never satisfied with just one point of view.

No comments about Insight Pocket Guide Tibet: Lhasa-Kathmandu (Insight Pocket Guide Tibet).

No comments about Central China.

1 comments about San Francisco, Chinatown: A Walking Tour.

1. As a professional tour director and author I'm always on the lookout for good reference books to popular cities for my tours. I am often asked to do walking tours of the Chinatown area in San Francisco and this guide is the one I refer to. It is also useful in understanding other Chinatowns in North America. It's laid out and written very well. I hope she does an updated version in 2002 or 2003.

2 comments about THE LADY AND THE TIGER: A memoir of Taiwan, the Republic of China.

1. "The view was wondrous. High mountains rose straight up before me, and as I watched, a flock of white birds...winged their way together across the face of the nearest mountain. It was a Chinese painting in motion."
   
   Not everything was idyllic during Pat Linder's years in Taiwan. For this savvy, globe-hopping Admiral's wife, her husband's posting to Taiwan in 1977 proved not to be for the faint of heart. Earthquakes, political upheaval and the language barrier made for a bumpy ride indeed. There are undercurrents of trouble throughout, from the mysterious phone call advising her to unpack before she ever leaves the U.S., to the daunting number of armed guards around their Taiwan residence, to a rare eye disease that increasingly obscures her vision. And she is scathing in her comments about the cruel practice of foot-binding, designed to keep women from running away from their husbands.
   
   Yet the memoir also contains moments of sheer hilarity, as when Pat makes her first attempt at using chopsticks at an official function, or when - desperate to get her air conditioning fixed - Pat speaks into one of the bugged ceiling fans in her home.
   
   Readers will be amazed to learn how, in 1933, the most valuable pieces from a Beijing art museum were packed into crates and then carried on the backs of peasants for 16 years, lest Japanese or Communist Chinese forces find and destroy them.
   
   When the U.S. government breaks off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1978, Pat's sympathies are obviously with the Taiwanese people, whom she has come to admire and love.
   
   Since the Admiral shared only unclassified information with his wife, readers will get little in-depth discussion of actual political events. But Pat writes with warmth, humor and passion that is quite engaging.



2. The first chapter just jumps right into the dangers and emotions that author Patricia Linder found herself in during a little remembered part of our foreign policy. Her experiences living in Taiwan during a time when the United States was pulling its protection and official recognition to build relations with communist China, is one full of emotion. Her first person account of that period of history is very well told in her newest book "The Lady And The Tiger."
   
   Linder does a masterpiece of reporting from her own heart and soul. She sounds like someone who not only was there physically, but was fully aware of all the political and social issues that surrounded what was happening. She has an intelligent grasp of what happened and why. She writes with great passion and skill to weave the facts and emotions together to give the story lots of energy and movement. This book, at times, reads almost like an action novel. You will get hooked from page one and will have a hard time putting down the book.
   
   She faces riots, mobs and angry people all with great courage. She has to deal with tapped phones, and armed guards that she cannot fully trust and even rooms in her own residence that are bugged with listening devices. The events and culture that she found in Taiwan are not what this wife of a Rear Admiral was expecting. This was a tour of duty that was going to really test her soul!
   
   Great book to read! It has the MWSA's TOP BOOK RATING - FIVE STARS!
   
   MWSA's 2006 Silver Medal Award for Memoirs

No comments about The Chinese Festive Board (Oxford in Asia Paperbacks Series).

No comments about The Great Empire of China and Marco Polo in World History (In World History).

1 comments about Spirit of China 2008 Wall Calendar.

1. I am a student of Chinese painting and calligraphy. I gave this to my Chinese teacher and he loves it. The images are so gorgeous, they have inspired some of my own paintings. The images are not actual, but are manipulated into form by layering photographs. I call it artistic license and the results are magnigicant.