Book Description
This book analyses patterns in rural China in the late 1980s:patterns of causes of death, of what people ate, what they smoked and drank, what kinds of houses they lived in, what they worked at, their education, and many measurements of their blood (for cholesterol, vitamins, evidence of infectious disease) and urine (for food metabolites and other factors). The variation is examined at the level of counties scattered all over mainland China and Taiwan, representing the extremes of values for deaths from specific cancers; ie the counties with the highest and the lowest rates of lung cancer, or the highest and lowest for liver cancer.Coincidentally, this covers the extremes of many of the other variables, such as the intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, and smoking rates. The analysis that fills the pages is the correlation of all of these patterns, one variable at a time, with all the others.The question it answers is, "How well does the variation among the counties for one variable (eg cholesterol in the blood) correlate with the variation across China in deaths from different diseases (eg heart disease)?". If the correlation is strong, it may mean that the variables are related in some causal sense, although this cannot be assumed.If the correlation is weak, it means that the variation must be caused mainly by other factors. Importantly, if the correlation is weak, it does not necessarily mean that the two variables are not related; for example, a weak correlation between blood cholesterol and deaths from heart disease does not mean that cholesterol is not implicated in heart disease, but that in China other factors are more important. Each variable page is similarly arranged, and there are keys to interpreting each element at the beginning of major sections. The book also includes numerous extra tables in the back that give mean values for many variables.These can be useful as many of these values in China are so different from the much more available and common Western values.We tend to think of the range of Western variables as somehow 'normal', without realizing that in China the mean value may not even be within the generally accepted normal range that we are used to. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Data, Data, Data
Excellent, but expensive (they could have at least made it hard cover) report of the data from "The China Study".There is no real text or discussion.This is the raw data so you can do your own analysis.

It takes a few minutes to get used to the organization but once you understand the system it's not bad to flip around to delve into the details you want.

This is a great reference book.Great data for doing your own studies.This information would be more useful if provided on a CD so it could be electronically extracted and manipulated.Typing it by hand into your own software is tedious and time consuming.

This book is not something that very many people will be interested in. ... Read more

Book Description

Taiwan - a fascinating island that balances Chinese tradition with new-world technology. Whitewater raft through spectacular mountain scenery, explore old underground military bases, or wander through the world's finest Chinese art museum - this guide has it all.

• over 80 maps featuring Chinese script with English place names, for easier orientation
• dos and don'ts, protocols and tips on etiquette for the business and cultural traveller
• dozens of detailed and informative listings for the temple aficionado
• advice on visiting the island of the Taiwan Strait - blue skies, turquoise seas, great seafood and no mosquitoes

Customer Reviews (16)

Still A Handy Tool For an Ex-Pat
Although I have been living in Taiwan for nearly 16 months, I still take LP Taiwan Guide along for weekend trips, and even jaunts to nearby cities, regardless of how many times I've visited.

The information is vast, for major urban areas as well as more out of the way locales. Also, the brief Chinese/English dictionary at the end of the book proves an invaluable tool.Even with a rudimentary knowledge of Chinese, simply pointing to Mandrin characters saves time and a lot of headaches.

LP Taiwan is a must for brief vistors as well as long term residents.

Love foodcourts?
I have to begin by admitting that I love to hate the tone of some Lonely Planet guides--an edition for Japan from the early 1990s distinguished itself by one of author's disdain for touring Japan!

That being said, Robert Storey's take on Taiwan (where I've been living for the past year or so) is remarkable for its general laziness.Many examples have been noted in other online reviews, but it's worth mentioning some of them again: the overwhelming focus on "ex-pat" hangouts, the author's love of foodcourts located next to train stations, and the compulsive need to mention that we can find McDonald's, Starbucks, Subway, and so on in Taiwan's major urban centers.

What's left behind in all this is the astonishing beauty of parts of Taiwan, the compexity of its history and its social formations, and the genuine warmth of its people.

To Lonely Planet: please find someone who actually cares about this place to research and write an edition that Taiwan and its visitors deserve!

Lacks even the most essential practical information
Taiwan being one of the few Asian countries I have not yet been to, I bought this book for advance planning.
It has already failed even before leaving home!
When trying to estimate travel costs by looking for long-distance bus fares, I could hardly believe they were not given! In the "Getting There & Away" section after each town/destination, it was merely mentioned that buses do run there (surprise, surprise!), but no information on how long they take and how much they cost.
That is exactly the kind of practical information people usually buy Lonely Planet guides for, and I don't think I have ever seen another LP guide that didn't have them...
The 2 stars were given as it does give information about major sights, but given how poorly-researched the practical information is, I would be surprised if the rest was accurate.
This may just be the worst LP guide of all.

May not be as bad as the other reviewers suggest.
I just spent about 6 days in Taipei, and I brought this book with me.Yes, most of the sights mentioned in the book are pretty tourist oriented, but that may be because there is not much else to see (in Taipei, at least).My relatives, who live in Taipei, laughed when I mentioned some of the sights listed in the book.But when I asked them for other recommendations on what to see, they really didn't have any suggestions.Also, I think the section on conduct and behavior is absolutely dead on.The author isn't exaggerating when he says that there is a long sequence of insisting and refusing when exchanging gifts or doing something of that nature.I have witnessed countless times my parents (who are from Taiwan) and my aunt/uncle argue for literally 10 minutes about who should pay for a dinner bill.

I give the book only four stars, though, because it doesn't really tell you how to get to various places.It wasn't a problem for me, because I had relatives take me to the various sights.But if I had been on my own, then I would have had a lot more difficulty.In addition, it is now 2004, so this book, which was published in 2001, may be starting to get out of date.Looking at older editions of the book, it appears that Lonely Planet Taiwan gets updated only once every 3 years.

Disappointing
I never imagined that Lonely Planet Taiwan could be so bad, but it indeed is. For instance, maps in the book are useless, and the Taipei metro direction is unclear and useless. And I cannot understand why the author says " For sth really special you can try Haagen Daz."

I didn;t belive the previous reviews, and now I learned how bad it is.

If you need more information, lots of Taiwanese websites provide very useful information. You can just go to Taiwanese consular office website and find the links. ... Read more

Book Description
Explores how Taiwan's distinct identity and strong economy may pull Taiwan away from reunification with China. ... Read more

Book Description
The question of human rights in Asia is a topical and controversial issue. The United Nations Charter commits its members to contradictory principles; on the one hand it forbids interference in another country's affairs, and on the other, aims to guarantee rights and freedoms irrespective of race, sex, language and religion.
This conflict is nowhere more apparent than in Asia, where the debate about 'Asian Values' has intensified following the economic slump. Some Asian countries have resisted the development of international human rights standards as an imposition of Western ideals onto non-Western political and social systems, a move which they are keen to resist, partly because of the exposure to external criticism which results from such involvements.
Debate about the relevance of human rights to Asian societies has thus far focused on either evidence from single country studies or dealt with the issues at a very broad, abstract level. This book looks in detail at the history of the introduction of human rights ideas into Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and examines how and to what affect state and society have incorporated the specific international standards on children and patients' rights into legal systems and social practice.
This comprehensively researched, accessibly written book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Asian Studies, Human Rights, Sociology and Politics. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Geographical Journal, published by Royal Geographical Society on July 1, 1998. The length of the article is 8442 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: KEY WORDS: Taiwan, Toroko Gorge, natural hazard, geomorphological map, landslides, rockfalls.

Citation Details
Title: Geomorphological mapping for hazard assessment in a neotectonic terrain.
Author: D.N. Petley
Publication: The Geographical Journal (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 1998
Publisher: Royal Geographical Society
Volume: 164Issue: 2Page: 183

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description

Taipei's quest to become a global city, which began in the 1960's, is the city's urban development.Globalizing Taipei reveals how the development of this capital of an Asian Dragon, key city in the South China Growth Triangle, and center for transnational production, has received firm state support, but is conditioned by international and domestic politics.
Divided into four parts -- economic and spatial restructuring, state and society realignment, social differentiation, and cultural reorientation -- the book analyses the interaction of international, state and local politics in the shaping of the city's urban environment from the Second World War to the present day.
All the contributors to this edited volume, except the editor, are Taiwan scholars, presenting the critical insiders' views for Taiwan. Based on each author's specialization and research interest, each chapter provides an in-depth analyses of one of Taipei's developmental issues generated by globalization.Collectively, they provide a broad, insightful and coherent coverage of this crucial era of Taipei's global transition.

Book Description
Combining richly detailed empirical research on transnational connections with bold and imaginative theoretical argument, this innovative study offers fresh critical understandings of globalization and unique insights into post-apartheid South Africa. Based on research conducted between 1994 and 2001, Gillian Hart traces political dynamics in two former white towns and adjacent black townships in the province of KwaZulu-Natal that are major sites of Taiwanese investment. Focusing on East Asian connections with these places, and on histories and memories of racialized dispossession, she highlights the fragility of the neoliberal project in post-apartheid South Africa. She also suggests how rethinking the "land question" in terms of a social wage could connect a variety of ongoing struggles. Hart provides a clear sense of how and why both popular and academic discourses of globalization are so deeply disabling. Readers will come away with more politically empowering understandings of social change in an increasingly interconnected world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great service
I am satisfied!Am pleased to have received my order in a timely fashion.

Briliant
Shows how gender, race and space have a crucial impact on economic and social relations in business.She lays out why its imperative that one does not discount these factors ... Read more

Book Description

In the 1970s, John K. Fairbank wrote, "The Taiwan issue is the ticking time bomb in U.S. China policy."In this book, Ralph Clough offers a masterly analysis of the Taiwan dilemma set against the background of the island’s history, politics, and economic development.

Clough begins by tracing the changing attitude of the United States toward Taiwan – from disinterest after World War II to deep concern that began with the Korean War and continued until the peace in Vietnam.He then undertakes a thorough description of the island and its people.He discusses Taiwan’s political structure, the strengths and weaknesses of its society, and the evolving relationship between native Taiwanese and the mainlanders who arrived after 1945.

Clough fully examines the complex military situation and the unfinished civil war between the island and the mainland.He discusses, too, the war of diplomacy between the two Chinas, carrying his account into the 1970s and Taiwan’s expulsion from the U.N.He describes Taiwan’s fight for survival as an independent state and its efforts to maintain commercial relations, particularly with Japan ... Read more

Book Description
Since the end of World War II Taipei has undergone dramatic changes affecting the cultural , demographic, physical, political and socio-economic structure. These changes, from 1949 to 1992, are described, and explained using both official government statistics and unpublished reports, Taiwanese and Western research, and field notes taken by the author over twenty years. Tapei highlights two major problems government planners and politicians face if they are to ensure the city retains its regional and world importance, namely land constraints and respect for the rule of the law. ... Read more