Book Reviews
- Christopher I. Beckwith: The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia
A History of the Struggle for Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the Early Middle Ages
- Timothy Brook: The Confusions of Pleasure**
Commerce and Culture in Ming China
- Eileen Chang: Love in a Fallen City
- novellas about women in 1930s Hong Kong and Shanghai
- Glen Dudbridge: Lost Books of Medieval China*
- learning from the reconstruction of lost texts
- Patricia Buckley Ebrey: The Cambridge Illustrated History of China*
- an attractive, accessible, and scholarly general history
- Patricia Buckley Ebrey: The Inner Quarters*
Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period
- Paul Rakita Goldin: The Culture of Sex in Ancient China*
- copulation imagery, Confucianism, and the politics of sexuality
- Patrick Hanan: The Chinese Vernacular Story
- Feng Menglong, Ling Menchu, Li Yu, ...
- Blaine Kaltman: Under the Heel of the Dragon
Islam, Racism, Crime, and the Uighur in China
- Jeanne Larsen: Bronze Mirror + Manchu Palaces
- novels of the Southern Song and Qing dynasties
- Jeanne Larsen: Silk Road
- a fantasy novel set in Tang China
- Cecilia Lindqvist: China, Empire of the Written Symbol**
- Chinese history and culture through written characters
- Ling Mengchu: The Lecherous Academician
- four stories from Ming China
- Michael Loewe, Edward L. Shaughnessy: The Cambridge History of Ancient China*
From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C.
- Colin Mackerras: The New Cambridge Handbook of Contemporary China
- politics, people, economics, geography, minorities, ...
- James A. Millward: Eurasian Crossroads
A History of Xinjiang
- Rana Mitter: A Bitter Revolution
- China's May Fourth Movement and its legacy
- F.W. Mote: Imperial China 900-1800*
- with a focus on political institutions and systems of government
- Joseph Needham: The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: 3*
- nautical technology and the compass
- Qiu Xiaolong: A Case of Two Cities
An Inspector Chen Mystery
- S. Robert Ramsey: The Languages of China**
- social, cultural, and historical background as well as linguistics
- Jan Ryan: Ancestors
Chinese in Colonial Australia
- Victor Segalen: René Leys*
- a mystery set in Peking in 1911, at the end of Manchu China
- Tansen Sen: Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade
The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600-1400
- Shen Congwen: Imperfect Paradise*
- short stories paint a portrait of China before the Revolution
- Shi Nai'an, Luo Guanzhong: Outlaws of the Marsh
- an abridgement of the classic Chinese novel
- Jan Jacob Slauerhoff: The Forbidden Kingdom
- confusions of identity in 16th + 20th century Macao
- Anna Sun: Confucianism as a World Religion
Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities
- Insup Taylor, M. Martin Taylor: Writing and Literacy in Chinese, Korean and Japanese
- their scripts and how they are learned and used
- Steve Tsang: A Modern History of Hong Kong
- a broad-ranging and readable account
- J. Marshall Unger: Ideogram
Chinese Characters and the Myth of Disembodied Meaning
- Robert van Gulik: Judge Dee*
- stories about a famous Chinese detective-magistrate
- Yang Ye: Vignettes From the Late Ming
A Hsiao-p'in Anthology
- Anthony C. Yu: State and Religion in China
Historical and Textual Perspectives
- A. Zee: Swallowing Clouds*
A Playful Journey through Chinese Culture, Language, and Cuisine
See also:
Central Asia |
Japan |
Korea |
Vietnam
Although two of my grandparents were born in China (in Guangzhou),
I have little firsthand knowledge of either Chinese culture or China:
I can't speak any Chinese languages and have visited only briefly,
seeing Kashgar in the extreme west,
Beijing, and Hong Kong.