Product Description
Centering on five life stories by Chinese women activistsborn just after the turn of this century, this first history ofChinese May Fourth feminism disrupts the Chinese Communist Party'smaster narrative of Chinese women's liberation, reconfigures thehistory of the Chinese Enlightenment from a gender perspective, andaddresses the question of how feminism engendered social changecross-culturally.

In this multilayered book, the first-person narratives arecomplemented by a history of the discursive process and the authorssophisticated intertextual readings. Together, the parts form afascinating historical portrait of how educated Chinese men and womenactively deployed and appropriated ideologies from the West in theirpursuit of national salvation and self-emancipation. As Wangdemonstrates, feminism was embraced by men as instrumental to China'smodernity and by women as pointing to a new way of life.

"Rarely does a reviewer or publisher encounter a milestone: this isit. It is the first major study of the development of Chinese feminismin what is arguably the most formative period in the history of modernChina. In its women-centered approach, the book challenges theofficial women's history authored by the Chinese Communist Party andlong accepted by Euro-American scholars. This book will set the agendafor future scholars researching the relationship between feminism andnationalism in China."--Dorothy Ko, author of Teachers of theInner Chambers ... Read more

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A review
Wang Zheng¡¦s Women in the Chinese Enlightenment presents five personal narratives of women who were deeply affected by May Fourth and the political turmoil in almost the entire 20th century.In Part One of her book, Wang also launches her version of the history of China after the MayFourth era as the background for her oral narratives.Her textual historysupplements what Gilmartin takes for granted in Engendering the ChineseRevolution, for example she explains and redefines feminism and its closerelationship with nationalism in the May Fourth era, how feminism was usedfor political cause by the nationalists, the CCP and the GMD, and how thewomen¡¦s movement evolved and changed in different periods.In a way, shedeconstructs the generalization of ¡§feminism¡¨ and ¡§women¡¦s movement¡¨.Moreover, she does not stop at 1927, but argues that ¡§feminism did not¡¥fail¡¦ or disappear at that point.¡¨¡§Rather,¡¨ she continues, ¡§as aviable discourse, New Culture feminism continuous affected the historicalprocesses of twentieth-century China.A whole generation of educated womenwith a new subjectivity were both constituted by and contributed to thefeminist discourse in China.¡¨ (359)She asserts that those new womenbrought or sustained institutional changes and enabled Chinese women¡¦ssocial advancement in the first half of the century by pursuing¡§independent personhood¡¨.Furthering Gilmartin¡¦s search for the¡§language and rituals of women¡¦s emancipation¡¨ the CCP kept after 1949,she argues that the first Marriage Law in 1950 which was drafted by MayFourth feminists, the general secretary¡¦s speech in 1996socialist-feminist visions of public kitchens, nurseries, and other socialwelfare facilities for women ¡§tell a story of continuous feministcontestation within the system of the party-state. (360)Women¡¦s issuessuch as women¡¦s equal legal rights have been incorporated in the politicaldiscourse because ¡§gender equality and modernity were cemented so fast bythe New Culturalists that no Chinese ruling group claiming to lead thenation toward modernity has openly tried to separate them.¡¨ (360)Sheadmits that the CCP¡¦s ideology became the dominant one, but she alsoattempts to show how women contested and negotiated their feminist interestwithin the dominant political discourse.

Even though Wang uses oralaccounts of women to challenge the dominant official history of the CCP,she believes that the influence of the May Fourth era and liberal feminismis indisputable.Her goal is to ¡§highlight the unique experience of theMay Fourth women and simultaneously illuminate the differences andsimilarities between Chinese and Euro- American women¡¦s struggles forliberation.¡¨ (6) I am baffled by the author¡¦s purpose.Even though shemaintains that she is aware of poststructuralist criticism and counterargues that she is only concerned with ¡§what might have been useful forChinese women in their struggle for social advancement and improvement¡¨,and that Western liberalism ¡§provided a discourse of resistance,facilitating Chinese men¡¦s and women¡¦s struggles against the hegemonicConfucian framework¡¨ and it was ¡§actively deployed and appropriated byvarious Chinese social groups in their pursuit of self-interest andnational interest¡¨ (361),it seems that Wang takes in the story of womensubordination and emancipation (as in Croll¡¦s book) without questioningit.I am not sure how much of the oral narratives is edited and rearrangedto present that story that ¡§highlights¡¨ the May Fourth influence, but Isuspect that she has overemphasized the power of May Fourth in some of theoral narratives. Also, I do not understand why the author needs tocompare China with what happen in Europe and America. Is it to prove thatwomen¡¦s movement in China take a path on its own? Or to show there that¡§universal womanhood¡¨ does not exist?Or to argue that Chinese feministswere so much better because they did not embrace the notions of femaleinferiority associated with the sex binary as the West?

Wang¡¦s goal ofwriting the book is inspiring and ambitious, as she says: ¡§My study grewout of both a political interest in deconstructing the CCP¡¦s myth ofChinese women¡¦s liberation and an intellectual dissatisfaction withstories about women that lacked women as protagonists.¡¨ (2)Her method ofusing oral histories greatly stimulates my interest. By presenting analternative micro-history, she is successful in debunking a macro-historyand teleological view, one that does not contain women as agents or actors.The discordant noises in these accounts help the readers to rethink aboutthe contradictions, to deconstruct and demystify what has been written, andperhaps to reconstruct a fuller picture closer to the ¡§truth¡¨.It isespecially important in Wang¡¦s case since she thinks that the history wehave now is male-oriented and it is necessary to supply what those textscannot do.However, I somehow think that her combination of oral andtextual histories makes her book less approachable. In Part I of thebook, the author informs (mesmerizes?) the reader with her questions andarguments, after that it seems the oral histories cannot be read withoutthe author¡¦s surveillance.(Not to mention that the narrative istranslated, edited, and selectively presented by the author.) Furthermore,the author attaches her interpretation after each narrative, thus thereader is further subjected to the author¡¦s psychoanalysis of thenarrator.The role of the reader as a critic is limited, and both thenarrator and the reader have to entrust the author with the storytelling. Nevertheless, it is a relief to know that the author is well aware of thepositions of the interviewer and interviewee, and the limitations andeffects of oral histories.I am notice that the interviewees were alleducated women who lived in Shanghai for most part of their lives, and theywere included intentionally because they were eager to participate inhistory-writing (from the author¡¦s point of view) and the author believesthat ¡§the richest and most colorful stories were told by those who hadmany accomplishments before 1949 but were reduced to marginal positions inthe Mao era.¡¨ (123)

Wang is successful in showing the relationshipbetween feminist groups and other political forces, the struggle of thewomen in those political forces, and the hypocrisy of the male leaders inthe Communist party. Even though the discourse of women¡¦s movement wasat first created by men, women were inspired by the man-made feministdiscourse and responded to it actively. The author successfully shows theiractive participation and how they were very different from the new womenimages constructed by the male writers. (62) She also tries to show theconflict between the belief independent personhood and the dominantideology and how the search for independence was reflected in the women¡¦slives. This belief, together with an independent women¡¦s movement, wasdropped after Marxism came into play and socialist revolution became thefirst and foremost goal. To me, it seems that women¡¦s emancipation hadalways been used to serve a larger purpose.It was used to overthrowfeudalism and tradition when nationalism was professed.Only because theanti-oppression proclamation fit well in both nationalistic and feministpurposes that there were no obvious conflicts.Despite that, Wangdemonstrates how gender hierarchy persisted even in the early 20s bytelling the story of Lu Xun and his wife: ¡§the male champions¡¦ sense ofsuperiority as well as their cultural entitlement to privilegesunchallenged but sustained in an age of unprecedented agitation forwomen¡¦s emancipation.¡¨ She uses the history of the ¡§Ladies¡¦ Journal¡¨to reveal the change in ideologies in the women¡¦s movement and howwomen¡¦s reaction to the publication affect the journal. ................... ... Read more

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A groundbreaking study of cultural life during a turbulent and formative decade in contemporary China, this book seeks to explode several myths about the Cultural Revolution (officially 1966-1976). Through national and local examination of the full range of cultural forms (film, operas, dance, other stage arts, music, fine arts, literature, and even architecture), Clark argues against characterizing this decade as one of chaos and destruction. Rather, he finds that innovation and creativity, promotion of participation in cultural production, and a vigorous promotion of the modern were all typical of the Cultural Revolution. Using a range of previously little-used materials, Clark forces us to fundamentally reassess our understanding of the Cultural Revolution, a period which he sees as the product of innovation in conflict with the effort by political leaders to enforce a top-down modernity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not a good introduction to the topic
I am plugging through this book. This is my first book on the topic of the cultural revolution. Unfortunately, coming from a position of near ignorance about Chinese history, this book does not serve as an effective introduction to the topic. If you have some basic exposure to Chinese politcs or the cultural revolution, I believe this would be a good book to read.

There are a few concepts that I feel I needed to know more about to get more from this book. The concept of "model operas" is mentioned as if the reader already knows what these are and what they are supposed to represent. Political manueverings that someone familiar with modern Chinese history would know about are referenced and affect the narrative. When you don't understand about Mao's fluctuating political fortunes, you can be a little lost.

The book is well written. It is written in an easy manner. No "$5 dollar words" or unnecessary digressions in the text.

My only fault with the book lies with my own unfamiliarity with the subject, which I had hoped this book would rectify.

Groundbreaking study
This is a truly groundbreaking study that completely overturns the conventional wisdom on the Cultural Revolution. By focusing on culture rather than politics -- that is, on music, fine art, opera, films, and architecture -- the author demonstrates convincingly and in fascinating new ways, that the years of the Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976 -- were a period of great innovation as artists and ordinary Chinese reached back to the past and recast it in radical new ways. They did this behind formulaic acknowledgments of political orthodoxy, often with a wink and a nod and a tone. Clark brings out the complexities of the Cultural revolution, and the occasional pleasures that people made for themselves in daily life, a view quite different from the usual accounts that focus almost without exception on high politics and suffering. Moreover, its a great read. ... Read more

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This compelling text explores the development of China through its art, religion, literature, and thought as well as through its economic, political, and social history. This author team combines strong research with extensive classroom teaching experience to offer a clear, consistent, and highly readable text that is accessible to students with no previous knowledge of the history of China. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Not the best
This book is very well written but I feel is better as a supplementary guide rather than a main text

not rivetting but agood place to start - 3.5 stars
In this relatively short work you will get a basic overview of the 4000 or so years of Chinese history.Schirokauer does a good job of giving a concise yet somewhat detailed account of not only Chinese history, but also developments in art, culture, religion, and philosophy.I was also pleased with his inclusion of the common people as well as emperors, generals, etc.The only problem is that this book suffers from a common problem among history textbooks; it is a bit dry.The book is not terribly written, but it took more a month to slog through b/c I frankly did not look forward to reading it even though I found the subject matter interesting and relevant (I live in the Far East).All that said this is a good place to start for a study of Chinese history.Just a bit of a slog.

Brief History of Chinese Civilization- Very Useful Survey
I found this a well indexed book to support a course in the History ofChinese Civilization (as a student) -easy to digest but with richillustration of pieceds of art etc.

Good text for a first year CHinese orAsian history course or for background to language and culture. ... Read more

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In 221 bc the First Emperor of Qin unified the lands that would become the heart of a Chinese empire. Though forged by conquest, this vast domain depended for its political survival on a fundamental reshaping of Chinese culture. With this informative book, we are present at the creation of an ancient imperial order whose major features would endure for two millennia.

The Qin and Han constitute the "classical period" of Chinese history--a role played by the Greeks and Romans in the West. Mark Edward Lewis highlights the key challenges faced by the court officials and scholars who set about governing an empire of such scale and diversity of peoples. He traces the drastic measures taken to transcend, without eliminating, these regional differences: the invention of the emperor as the divine embodiment of the state; the establishment of a common script for communication and a state-sponsored canon for the propagation of Confucian ideals; the flourishing of the great families, whose domination of local society rested on wealth, landholding, and elaborate kinship structures; the demilitarization of the interior; and the impact of non-Chinese warrior-nomads in setting the boundaries of an emerging Chinese identity.

The first of a six-volume series on the history of imperial China, The Early Chinese Empires illuminates many formative events in China's long history of imperialism--events whose residual influence can still be discerned today.

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China has the longest and most highly developed ceramic tradition in the world, encompassing early Neolithic earthenwares, the finely glazed stoneware pieces of the Song period, and the years of Imperial patronage and export ware for the new markets of the West. Most studies of Chinese art deal with types, period or styles, but this historical examination of Chinese ceramics, which uses recent research, explains how the evolution of pottery depended upon the technological developments of the Chinese culture. The book's practical approach makes full use of archaeological reports to show how differing geographical areas, materials and developing technology all shaped the evolution of Chinese ceramics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Prompt service
Very prompt and good service received when the book was purchased. Item arrived in perfect condition and approximately 3 weeks ahead of estimated time. Very satisfied!

Chinese Potter
VERY OLD STYLE BOOK, WITH ELEMENTARY INFORMATION GOOD ONLY FOR
TURIST. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Anthropologist bites off big chunk, chews well
Writing anthropology presents many tactical problems.Your data covers vast expanses of life, you can go in many directions.Should you include ethnographic detail or should you go for the big picture ?Should you try to depict what you want to say through the lives of a few individuals or should you remain general ?Some writers avoid discussion of theory and write descriptive ethnographies, others weave complex webs that connect numerous theories and famous authors of the past, trying to steer a course towards some and away from others.Often anthropologists fall through one of the many cracks that gape along the path towards a successful book, usually by trying to do everything at once.Not so Sangren's interesting work on Taiwan.The description is rich, with excellent maps and photographs, but he strongly connects his work to theory.I would say HISTORY AND MAGICAL POWER... is worth reading, not because the author introduces interesting individuals or amusing descriptions of events, but because he "bounces off" many writers of the older school, i.e. those of structuralist-functionalist ideas such as Dumont, Durkheim, Freedman, Leach, Levi-Strauss, Sahlins, Skinner, and Turner.Though the book was published in 1987, it does not engage in the post-structuralist, literary criticism-based anthropology of these last years.I, for one, find both schools equally challenging.

The writer states that he wants to investigate how categories of thought are reproduced in Chinese institutions and how Chinese institutions reproduce categories of Chinese thought.He consciously rejects the old oppositions of "elite/folk", "text/ritual" or "great tradition/little tradition" saying that all these categories are found in each Chinese institution.He prefers to set up an objectivist perspective, though I am not sure that that is possible.In any case, Sangren then guides the reader through a discussion of the ritual construction of social space, dealing with folk religion, cults and pilgrimages associated with a particular geographic area, south of Taipei and connected ritual actions, bringing in a description of the economic and administrative systems as well.Further on, he connects the concept of yin and yang to ideas of order and disorder, then talks of orthodoxy and heterodoxy, pilgrimage, spirits and social identity.Finally there is a section on the social construction of power.

I admired this book because the author is widely read and does not hesitate to bring in examples from societies outside East Asia, (many anthropologists blinker themselves to one region, even though their training should promote the opposite).I found that the many theoretical issues taken up and points raised were useful for me in my work, though I am very far from a China specialist.I also admired the book because Sangren thinks broadly, makes many interesting connections, and constantly creates sparks that may light a fire in your own, private anthropological thought.If he didn't, ultimately, reach the goal that he aimed at, he came close, he created a book that should be of great interest to China experts and also to anyone interested in relating institutions and culture.This is not a book you can sit down and read for fun.It requires serious thought, but it is well worth your time.I feel it is a shame that such a book remains relatively unknown, while many lesser books attract more attention.

Long on a priori pronouncements, short on lived experience
Sangren begins the book with an account of the market town of Ta Ch'i in relation to its cachement area(that is, the area from which people came to market there) from the 18th century onward. He thendescribes levels of religious participation, including cross-island pilgrimages to the Mazho (Matsu in the old romanizaiton he uses) temple at Peikang. As much as he can, Sangre obscures that his data comes from Taiwan, not from China.

Sangren criticizes overly schematic categorizations of spirits into the traditional tricohotomy gods, ghosts, and ancestors and questions the idea that the pantheons is modeled on an authoritarian central government (either the Kuomingtang dicatorship that ruled Taiwan at the time Sangred did his fieldwork or imperial Chinese governments that never had effective control of Taiwan before ceding the island to Japan in 1895). However, Sangred substitutes an equally a priori and rigidly schematic yin/yang contrasts to various phenomena and generalizes his structural analysis to all of China translating the terms Taiwanese used from Hokkien terms into Beijinghua "Mandarin" throughout. It is obvious that Sangren is far more interested in theorizing about a singular Chinese civilization than in observing and talking to the people he supposesdly was studying (Taiwanese). His work in general is long on theory, short on experience-near ethnography and individuals living in Taiwan. ... Read more

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Appropriate as a main text for courses in modern Chinese history, politics, society, and culture; also suitable as a supplementary text for courses in East Asian civilization, world history, and world civilization.

Unlike other texts on modern Chinese history, which tend to be either encyclopedic or too pedantic, Revolution and Its Past : Identities and Change in Modern Chinese History, 3/e, is comprehensive but concise, focused on the most recent scholarship, and written in a style that engages students from beginning to end. The Third Edition uses the theme of identities--of the nation itself and of the Chinese people--to probe the vast changes that have swept over China from late imperial times to the early twenty-first century. In so doing, it explores the range of identities that China has chosen over time and those that outsiders have attributed to China and its people, showing how, as China rapidly modernizes, the issue of Chinese identity in the modern world looms large.

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Chinese History Primer
If you are studying Modern Chinese History (and where else is events in the 1600;s considered modern), its hard to go wrong with this book.Each section is well laid out, and easy to read.The balanced approach should not offend anyone, and has lots of useful pictures.The only thing is, the book could really have used a glossary and a better summary so that students of Chinese history will better understand what Schoppa believes is most important to learn. ... Read more

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Drawing on classical Chinese sources and the best modern scholarship from China and Japan, David A. Graff connects military affairs with political and social developments to show how China's history was shaped by war. The first survey of medieval Chinese military history to be published in English, this seminal text will be of appeal to readers of both military and Chinese history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An indispensable reference, unless you can read Chinese
This is, for now, the best survey of Chinese military history during the long fragmentation of 300-589, a formative period that saw the introduction of the stirrup, heavy cavalry and siege warfare techniques that later served the Tang army so well. It provides a clear and readable account of the many wars in this period, and indeed is often forced to devote more space to narrative than analysis because of the general readership's lack of familiarity with the subject matter.

David Graff is perhaps the only academic currently specialising in medieval Chinese military history, and his impressive and very helpful bibliography demonstrates the level of research that has gone into the book. Still, the format of a single book can scarcely contain the fruits of that research. The issue of whether the pivotal Battle of the Fei River was a mere myth, first suggested by Michael Rogers and largely ignored since then by experts in both China and the West, at least gets a mention but not the discussion it deserves. Similarly, the evolution of tactics and weapons in response to horse archery and armoured cavalry is briefly described, but not really placed in the context of the key battles narrated elsewhere. Where he does excel is in considering the different problems of logistics facing the cavalry-based North and the riverine South in the chapter "North versus South". In addition, the Introduction's overview of past historiography and scholarship (or rather the lack of it) in Chinese military history is sufficient to make this book a worthwhile read for readers who, like myself, always wondered why the field was so disgracefully neglected.

Graff does make some errors in transliteration, mostly in the tedious process of converting earlier English-language sources from the Wade-Giles system to Hanyu Pinyin. His maps are also too sketchy and few to help the reader much - those fluent in Chinese are encouraged to read Bo Yang's translation of the "Zizhi Tongjian" into modern Chinese (published in Taiwan) for the best available battle maps for this period. Nonetheless, David Graff must be credited for writing a long-needed introduction to early Chinese warfare for Western military enthusiasts. Anyone looking for richer historical detail would proabably have to learn Chinese and read the excellent series by Bo Yang. ... Read more

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In telling the story of Law Codes in Dynastic China, John Head and Yanping Wang offer a bird's eye view of Chinese legal history from the earliest dynasties to the last. They survey the majestic sweep of China's legal tradition by allowing the details to emerge from the works of many scholars and then connecting those details in a storyline that revolves around a unifying theme: legal codification. In this way, Law Codes in Dynastic China brings to life such characters as the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, Khubilai Khan, and dozens of other emperors, rebels, scholars, and eunuchs. The book also illuminates the great movements and philosophies of China — Imperial Confucianism, Legalism, correlative cosmology, Daoism, and others — all in order to reveal both the spirit and the practicalities of law in dynastic China.

This new one-volume text will prove valuable not only for researchers in the areas of Chinese law, legal history, and Chinese history, but also for students in a variety of undergraduate and graduate programs and for legal practitioners whose work calls for them to have a historically-based understanding of China's legal culture. For all readers, the book provides comprehensive citation to authorities and sources for further study — with special emphasis on recent findings and translations. Moreover, for the general lay reader, the book offers a fascinating look at the intersection of three paths of literature and learning: law, history, and China. In doing so, it facilitates a broader appreciation of contemporary China as well. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Comprehensive and profound research
Both Vol 1 and Vol 2 written by Mr Feng Yu Lan is indeed a Masterpiece of work.It covers a very wide spectrum on the Chinese roots of Philosophy and how it evolves till what the Chinese people are today.However, the writing is not so easy to be read, (font size is too small and cramped) both in terms of its content and depth.For those with vague interest in Philosophy, you may loose interest quite earlier on your reading of these books.But for those who are really keen to know more, these two volumes provide an EXCELLENT background and wealt of Knowledge! Steven Lim (RSTN) Singapore.

A Canonical Classic on Chinese Classical Learning
This book is a massive accomplishment several times over. First of all, Fung Yu-lan has taken more than 2000 years of Chinese philosophy and synthesized it into a coherent narrative, doing justice to several different systems of thought and also various philosophical differences and debates within those systems in the process. Second, Derk Bodde has translated all of this expertly into English, somehow managing to handle both Fung's scholarly modern Chinese as well as classical Chinese at several different stages in its development over the centuries as found in Fung's many and voluminous quotations and citations--not to mention dealing with a host of abstruse technical terms (the significance of which often shifts from thinker to thinker or from age to age). Third, back when this was originally written in the 1930's--actually, even when it was originally published as a paperback in 1953--almost no work whatsoever had been done on the philosophers in this book nor on their ideas; what we have here is a groundbreaking magnum opus, the foundation and inspiration for much of the fine scholarship that has followed since. Finally, the book itself is massive; this is a hefty tome, no mere pocket guide.

A word of warning, though. If you are looking for a casual, "summer reading" introduction to Chinese philosophy, this is not it. Do not, I repeat, do not take this book out to the beach intending to breeze through it while sipping a pina colada. Fung's exposition is clear and his prose straightforward, certainly, and wonderfully so, but the overall tone is extremely academic and scholarly and, well, downright dry. It's not afraid to make strenuous demands on the reader, and is clearly intended for serious students of this subject early in their investigations. But for anyone approaching this important book in that frame of mind, it'll prove immensely rewarding.

Considering that the book was originally written in the 1930's, it has aged extremely well, too. Fung's judgment is on the whole fair and objective, and the philosophers he includes are generally ones anyone today would still recognize as key figures in Chinese philosophy. That said, it gradually becomes clear that Fung generally favors the Confucianists over the Taoists and the Buddhists, and he has a sort of early 20th-century assurance of some stark, value-laden divide between "philosophy" and "superstition" or between "science" and "supernaturalism" (former "good" and latter "bad" of course) and will sometimes anachronistically nitpick his thinkers for not being scientific and rational enough by his standards. Given Fung's timeframe, though, this slight bias is perfectly understandable and can be taken with a grain of salt without really detracting from the book as a whole. In general, Fung does an excellent job of presenting the reader with a very reliable basic overview of Chinese philosophy.

To give some indication of the contents of the book, here's a rough breakdown by chapter:
Chapter 1: A kind of general overview and introduction
Chapter 2: Tung Chung-shu and the New Text School of Confucianism
Chapter 3: Prognostication texts, Apocrypha, and Numerology during the Han Dynasty (Fung gets really annoyed with this stuff)
Chapter 4: Yang Hsiung, Wang Ch'ung, and the Old Text School of Confucianism
Chapter 5: Neo-Taoism during the Disunity Period (especially Wang Pi)
Chapter 6: Neo-Taoism again (especially Hsiang Hsiu and Kuo Hsiang)
Chapter 7: Buddhism and its critics during the Disunity Period (especially Seng-chao and Tao-sheng)
Chapter 8: Buddhism during the Sui and T'ang Dynasties (especially Chi-tsang, Hsuan-tsang, and Fa-tsang)
Chapter 9: More Sui and T'ang Buddhism (the T'ien-T'ai and Ch'an schools)
Chapter 10: The Rise of Neo-Confucianism (mainly Han Yu and Li Ao)
Chapter 11: Chou Tun-yi and Shao Yung
Chapter 12: Chang Tsai and the Ch'eng Brothers
Chapter 13: Chu Hsi ('nuff said)
Chapter 14: Lu Chiu-yuan, Wang Shou-jen (better known as Wang Yangming), and Ming Idealism
Chapter 15: The Continuation of Neo-Confucianism in the Ch'ing Dynasty (Han learning vs. Sung learning, and Tai Chen)
Chapter 16: The New Text School at the end of the Ch'ing Dynasty (including K'ang Yu-wei, T'an Ssu-t'ung, and Liao P'ing)

Again, if you are seriously interested in Chinese philosophy and are willing to knuckle down and tackle the subject for real, then this book is for you. If you are a graduate student specializing in this subject, well, this is a foundational text in your field so you might as well get it and start reading already--chances are high it'll be on your qualifying orals exam anyway, so get a head start. And if you're a professor in Western philosophy, this would be a great way to really acquaint yourself with what folks outside of Europe were doing in the way of having a love for wisdom.

By the way, this is volume two of a set, of course. There is also a volume one covering all the major early philosophers of China, A History of Chinese Philosophy, Vol. 1: The Period of the Philosophers (from the Beginnings to Circa 100 B. C.). There's also a more user-friendly digest version combining both volumes into a shorter overview, Short History Of Chinese Philosophy. ... Read more

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The primary goal of this volume is a fuller interpretation of the role of the military in Chinese history. It argues that our understanding of Chinese warfare has suffered from misconstrued contrasts between Chinese and Western ways in warfare. ... Read more

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This text explores the social and cultural history of American born Chinese, from the 1930s through the 1990s. Focusing mainly on those from California, and drawing from a range of biographical and fictional material, the author investigates the complex issues of ethnic identity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Of Orphans and Warriors: Inventing Chinese-American Culture
This is an intensely frustrating book.Despite the interesting subject matter and useful historical summaries, I found this book to be initially engaging but also massively under-theorised.

The best segments of thebook are Chun's analysis of the post WW-II period as a key time in thereformulation of Chinese American identity.However, her use of blandgeneralizations instead of demonstrated theoretical links mean that heranalyses rarely proceed beyond the obvious.

Chun's highly biographicalapproach is at its best when she deals with characters with long papertrails.Her analysis of literary figures is also informative.

However,we are only given incidental examination of key issues such as gender,race, class-structure and religion.The social and cultural milieus inwhich key informants moved are given scant attention for a work of culturalanalysis.In this regard, her discussion of the Sixties and Seventies (forexample) read more like a summary rather than an investigation:Whichspecific elements of Black Panther philosophy (as opposed to a generalized'stick it to the man' factor), if any, appealed to the Asian Americanarchitects of Yellow Power?Did the examples of feminist and womanistworkers such as Germaine Greer and Angela Davis have any effect on youngChinese American women? How did the mechanics of desire(the fetishizationof Asian women the feminization Asian men)factor into the SexualRevolution?Unfortunately, Chun does not give us sufficient evidence toevaluate the claims she makes.By the same token, unfortunate errors ofdetail (such as the use of Lin Yutang's given name rather than his familyname, on p. 51 and 53)also act to compromise Chun's authority. While her'talk-story' style might be viewed as an attempt to challenge academicgenres of writing,this work, at base, is an academic project(and notfiction) and therefore must be assessed as such.

I am extremelysympathetic to the goals and aims of this book and applaud Chun's attemptto address some interesting questions but ultimately I found that this bookfails to deliver much in the way of truly satisfying nuanced analysis (asopposed to the representation of experience).

Of Orphans and Warriors
Excellent book! As a second generation Asian American woman, I found this book to be revealing, eye-opening and inspiring. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Great illustrations
I bought this book because of the great illustrations showing the progression of chinese characters from their original rounded graphic shape to their modern straight edged form.
Please see my other list. Portugal/Slovakia

Essential book for learning Characters
This book does a great job introducing the 214 radicals showing their evolution from pictographs to the present day characters. It shows stroke order, gives a short description of the character placing in a cultural context and then shows it in a nice 9-section grid allowing you to practice it at home.

This book won't teach you Chinese but it will be a valuable addition to any course of study and provides a good grounding as part of your Chinese studies. Once your Chinese progresses you can begin to learn different styles of calligraphy and elevate your technique to a new level, but as they say "a journey of a thousand li starts with one step".

The most important thing when learning Chinese is practice, practice, practice. If you write every character in this book 100 times you'll have begun to build a foundation that will serve you well.

Radicals in a different and good way !
I was expecting another 1,2,3...214 radical list. But the author have a more interesting approach: the book is really about radicals - the title "calligraphy" should not be used, as so for the "chinese and japanese". But that is just my oppinion. It is a first rate book as for binding, text and illustrations, and the subject it deals with: radicals. Besides, it has one explanation very well described and with stories, jokes, about the radicals, that make this book a must to relax and enjoy each of them. Personally I feel I will read it until the last
word and...start again. I really like the way the author describes not only the story of the character, but also its applications. I just did not give five stars because I could not see it in the " search inside" and know that the
examples of phrases are in Simplified characters, for I study in Traditional ones.As for the "calligraphy" it does not show you any beautiful cursive that the chinese use as pictures in their walls. But I guess the way it is presented is more didatic. It is clear and ease to understand. Maybe this is the reason it is so...but I still would not use the "caligraphy" in the title.But,I repeat,I loved the book. It is really good to read and to learn. Great !

Best Chinese Book of 2006
Beautiful written characters combined with excelent text and funny image.
Good for both students and teachers !

Exquisite Chinese Characters
Each and every Chinese character has a form of its own, representing a particular meaning and/or sound.This book is a good introduction to Chinese characters.An exquisite Chinese character, like thousand words, tells its own story and evolution.Through understanding these key characters, sometimes called radicals, one can discover the beauty of Chinese culture as well as civilization.(...) ... Read more

Product Description
Medicine is one of the most ancient branches of learning. In order to survive, humanity started its medical activities from the very day it came into being. As one of the birthplaces of ancient civilization, China was one of the earliest countries were medicine was developed. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology was introduced to many other countries and it has made a great contribution to the development of world medicine. This book is compiled for both foreign readers, teachers and students in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It gives a comprehensive account of the original and trailblazing events in the history of Traditional Chinese World Medicine. It starts with introducing the origin of China's traditional medicine, pharmaceuticals and medical treatment. Then it narrates the significance of the inventions of wine and needless to Traditional Chinese Medicine and the formation of its theoretical system and its essential content by introducing some classical works. Thereafter, development of Traditional Chinese Medicine during the Jin and Tang Dynasty is discussed, pulse condition, pathogenic factors, syndrome types manifestations and formulas are introduced. History and Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine continues with a brief account of new developments during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. After that, it discusses the influence of Western Medicine on Traditional Chinese Medicine over the past hundred years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Informative but challenging read
The authors no doubt had good intentions, but didn't execute well.There was no one on this team of writers who was fluent in English, which makes the going tough at times.While there is information here which the hardcore student will find worthwhile, be warned that it is a challenging read nonetheless.The writers also wrote from the viewpoint of the Chinese Communist government, with occasional disparagements of Western governments and their policies in China thrown in.Add to this the frequent reference to various Chinese dynasties without background explanation or approximate years, and you have a challenging book with mostly accurate information written by a committee for committees.I'm not a committee. ... Read more

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Choice (H. T. Wong) July/August, 1997: Jing's ethnographic study isbased on fieldwork at different times (i.e., 1989, 1991-93, and1995). Jing describes the hardship of a village about 80 kilometersof Lanzhou in dirt-poor Gansu from 1949-76, and shows its attemptto deal with misfortune and to rebuild in the post-Mao era. Thepolitical persecution, economic deprivation, and culturaldisruption in this Chinese village were perhaps a microcosm ofMaoist China. What made this village possibly unique is that 85percent of its approximately 3,000 inhabitants in 1992 claimed tobe descendants of Confucius, thus making it a prime target forpolitical attack as an embodiment of the Confucian legacy.Hardships included having the village submerged in water from theconstruction of hydroelectric projects on the Yellow River. Thereconstruction of a new Confucian temple in 1991 signaled more thana public rite of ancestral worship and remembrance. It underscoreda resilient tradition and historical continuity that will continueto survive political and social upheavals. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Profound and Comprehensive
Mr Fung Yu-Lan's writing is very comprehensive and profound.It gives a very good background knowledge on the Chinese Philosophy throughout the ages and what really shapes Chinese to behave, act and think they way they do in the current context.There is a lot of differences between Western Philosophy and that of Chinese per se. Good read but have to digest slowly.Not a book to be read at one go. Pause and think as you read.Mr Fung is perhaps, in my opinion, one very knowledgeable researcher and writer on this said topic. Bravo!Steven Lim (RSTN).

A monument when it first appeared, but no longer
This book represents at least as great an accomplishment for the translator, Derk Bodde, as it does for the author, Fung Yu-lan, because Bodde rendered into English not only Fung's text in modern Chinese, but also countless passages in classical Chinese that Fung used to illustrate his points.For a generation, this was the foremost, if not the only, guide to Chinese philosophy in the English language.
Now that is no longer the case, and time has not been kind.Fung's interpretations are often outdated--it is important to bear in mind that he revised his thinking many times over the course of his life, and this collection does not contain his final views; moreover, the materials surveyed reflect scholarly interests from several decades ago.In particular, there is a noticeable emphasis on scholastic philosophy.Writings from beyond the high orthodoxy tend to get short shrift.
The two volumes are still handy as an overview of the long and engrossing history of Chinese philosophy, but unless one reads them in conjunction with more recent studies, they are likely to present a misleading picture.

An influential but now outdated work.
This book is one of a two-volume set.This volume covers ancient Chinese philosophy up to 100 B.C. (i.e., the period of Confucius, Lao Tzu, and others).Volume two covers later Chinese philosophy.Fung Yu-lan wrote the original work in Chinese.Derk Bodde, a noted Sinologist in his own right, did an excellent job of translating the work into English.(This was no small feat, since Fung quotes from a variety of works from over two thousand years of Chinese history -- works often written in quite different styles of Classical Chinese.)

Fung Yu-lan was one of the most important Chinese philosophers and historians of philosophy of the 20th century.This book (along with volume two) has introduced generations of scholars and general readers to Chinese philosophers, and is justly considered a classic.However, it is now very much out of date.Furthermore, Fung studied in the U.S., and this influence led him to read a sort of Platonism back into some Chinese philosophical texts.

Any informed scholar should have a copy of this (in English and in Chinese), but the general reader would be better off reading Benjamin Schwartz's _The World of Thought in Ancient China_ or A.C. Graham's _Disputers of the Tao_.

History of Chinese Philosophy at its best
This book comes in two volumes, volume one writes about the history of Chinese philosophy from antiquity to before the Han period while the second volume deals with Han learning onwards to Prof. Fung's time, i.e. early20th century.

The style of Prof. Fung's writing differs from many authorsof history of philosophy whereby he allows the philosophers to speak forthemselves by quoting their work and integrating it into his own narrativeand analysis. The result is a study which is informative, intellectual, andat the same time accessable. I have yet to see a better book on history ofChinese philosophy in the English language (although Wing Tsit Chan's"Sourcebook of Chinese Philosophy" is good but the analysis isnot as succint and well interpreted as Fung's).

This book, however, canbe heavy for the first timer who has just got himself/herself interested inChinese philosophy and would like to read up more on it. For people whofalls into this category, a more accessable book and to the same highquality is Dr. Fung's shorter work, "A Short History of ChinesePhilosophy", also available in Amazon.com. This shorter history dealswith the main philosophers, the more important ones and leave out the moreremote philosopher. Dr, Fung also limited the number of quotes associatedwith the philosopher. Although this is so, it is still a first class work.This longer history is suitable for people who has some knowledge alreadyand wants to know more, go deeper. It is suitable for people doing a coursein Chinese philosophy in college.

If you're really into Chinesephilosophy, please do not miss this book. ... Read more

Product Description
"Outstanding" Rated Titles from University Press Books: Selected for Public and Secondary School LibrariesChina, the world´s oldest and most populous state, remains an enigma to most people in the West, even at a time when that country is playing an increasingly prominent role on the international stage. At the heart of modern Chinese history have been the efforts of the Chinese people to transform their polity into a modern nation state, the Confucian orthodoxy into an ideology that can help direct that process, and an agrarian economy into an industrial one. These efforts are ongoing and of great importance.This book is both an introduction to the major features of modern Chinese history and a resource for researchers interested in virtually any topic relating to the Chinese experience of the last 220 years. This valuable reference contains:· a historical narrative providing a comprehensive overview of five core aspects of Chinese history: domestic politics, society, the economy, the world of culture and thought, and relations with the outside world;· a compendium of 250 short, descriptive articles on key figures, events, and terms;· a resource guide containing approximately 500 annotated entries for the most authoritative sources for further research in English, as well as descriptions of important films depicting modern China and a guide to electronic resources; and· appendices, including a chronology, excerpts from key primary source documents, and a wealth of tables and graphs on demographic, social, and economic trends. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very Shipshape
An excellent quick synopsis of modern China.Gives an historical overview, biographies of the major players, and descriptions of all the recent historical trends that make China what it is today, all in 300 pages.

My only reason to withhold five stars is that I felt the treatment of the last forty years or so was a bit cursory.But then, this is a history book, and not a current events review.I'd recommend it to anybody who is looking for a quick but thorough treatment of the subject.

Just the Right Amount of Information
If you are considering doing business in China, are concerned about global geopolitical developments, or just interested in history and current affairs, this is the book for you.It presents a thorough, yet highly engaging overview of the developments that have led to the modern Chinese State.If you are only going to read one book on China, this would be the one. ... Read more

Product Description
This groundbreaking book by the eminent Peking University professor Hong Zicheng covers the literary scene in China during the 1949-1999 period, primarily focusing on fiction, poetry, drama, and prose writing. Reprinted sixteen times since its publication in the PRC in 1999, it is now available in English translation at last. ... Read more