Book picks similar to
Practice Makes Perfect Basic Chinese by Feng-Hsi Liu
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HONG KONG State of Mind: 37 Views of a City That Doesn't Blink
Jason Y. Ng - 2010
It is where Mercedes outnumber taxi cabs, party-goers count down to Christmas every December 24, and larger-than-life billboards of fortune tellers and cram school tutors compete with breathtaking skylines.HONG KONG State of Mind is a collection of essays by a popular blogger who zeroes in on the city’s idiosyncrasies with deadpan precision. At once an outsider looking in and an insider looking out, Jason Y. Ng has created something for everyone: a travel journal for the passing visitor, a user’s manual for the wide-eyed expat, and an open diary for the native Hong Konger looking for moments of reflection.Together with No City For Slow Men (2013) and Umbrellas in Bloom (2016), HONG KONG State of Mind forms Ng’s "Hong Kong Trilogy" that traces the city’s sociopolitical developments since its return to Chinese rule.
Passing Under Heaven
Justin Hill - 2004
Set in the 9th century, Passing Under Heaven tells the tragic love story of Lily, a Chinese poet and documents a time when Chinese women enjoyed a window of unprecedented personal freedom - including the freedom to fall in love. But when Lily pushes that freedom to its limits disaster ensues, leaving her child and husband to forever mourn her loss.Based on historical fact, Passing Under Heaven is more than the story of the end of a love affair, this book also chronicles the passing of the Chinese golden age into civil war and ruin.
A Small Town Called Hibiscus
Gu Hua - 1981
Its author Gu Hua was brought up in the Wuling Mountains of south Hunan. He presents the ups and downs of some families in a small mountain town there during the hard years in the early sixties, the "cultural revolution," and after the downfall of the "gang of four." He shows the horrifying impact on decent, hard-working people of the gang's ultra-Left line, and retains a sense of humor in describing the most harrowing incidents. In the end wrongs are righted, and readers are left with a deepened understanding of this abnormal period in Chinese history and the sterling qualities of the Chinese people.
The Chinese Bandit
Stephen Becker - 1975
Fighter, thief, black marketeer, courageous leader, quiet dreamer...and a lyrical lover of women. Across China's most merciless land, aswarm with warlords, cut-throats, Japanese deserters, whores and nomads...Jake Dodds is running for his life!
China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire, (10,000 BCE - 1799 CE)
Harold M. Tanner - 2010
Volume 2: From the Great Qing Empire through the People's Republic of China (1644—2009).
The Message
Mai Jia - 2007
It is a story of ordinary men and supermen and an elegy of human will. It reveals heroic logic, a gifted story, phantasmal details…《风声》讲述抗日战争时期的一段特工往事,以“交响乐”式叙事方式娓娓道来。是一部关于凡人与超人的小说,是人类意志的悲歌。透露”了英雄的逻辑,天才的故事,鬼魅的细节,妖魔的风影……
The World According to Xi: Everything You Need to Know About the New China
Kerry Brown - 2018
Its manufacturing underpins the world's economy; its military is growing at the fastest rate of any nation and its leader - Xi Jinping - is to set the pace and tone of world affairs for decades.In 2017 Xi Jinping became part of the constitution - an honour not seen since Chairman Mao. Here, China expert Kerry Brown guides us through the world according to Xi: his plans to make China the most powerful country on earth and to eradicate poverty for its citizens. In this captivating book we discover Xi's beliefs, how he thinks about communism, and how far he is willing to go to defend it.
Are My Roots Showing?
Karola Gajda - 2016
Thirty something Magda, born in England to Polish parents has recently broken up with her rotten boyfriend Matt and needs a fresh start. Quitting her job, she sets off to Warsaw to teach English, While her excited Mama thinks she is off to find a nice Polish husband, Magda simply wants to explore her roots. improve her rusty Polish and see how her parents' homeland has changed. To her horror Magda discovers that Mama and bossy cousin Dagmara have sneakily put her on a dating site. Does Magda stay in Poland? And does she find a Polish husband? And what does she learn about her mama's tragic past? A moving romantic comedy, 'Are My Roots Showing?' is about identity, migration, family, the fleetingness of life and love. Magda learns how history affects the present, and that where there are roots, new shoots can grow. …It’s a charming book which can be read as a light-hearted tale but there is a lot of meaning beneath the surface. As an exploration of how it feels to belong to and reconcile two cultures, it's really successful. It offers humour, sadness and wisdom as well as entertaining read. Just beautiful!… …Although Are My Roots Showing? explores some serious themes, it’s all done with a very light touch and a lot of laugh-out-loud humour. The characterisations are exquisite… …This is a beautiful book, sometimes really funny and sometimes heart-breaking…What readers say about the romantic comedy 'Are My Roots Showing?' ...Fantastic. A Polish Bridget Jones. Funny, and yet the Polish history interjections are interesting too. Makes me want to visit Poland, but I need to take my own food!!! You'll understand once you've read it... …It’s a charming book which can be read as a light-hearted tale but there is a lot of meaning beneath the surface. As an exploration of how it feels to belong to and reconcile two cultures, it's really successful. It offers humour, sadness and wisdom as well as an entertaining read. Just beautiful!… …Although 'Are My Roots Showing?' explores some serious themes, it’s all done with a very light touch and a lot of laugh-out-loud humour. The characterisations are exquisite… …This is a beautiful book, sometimes really funny and sometimes heart-breaking…
Life
Lu Yao - 1982
Against the vivid, gritty backdrop of 1980s China, Lu Yao traces the proud and passionate Gao Jialin’s difficult path to professional, romantic, and personal fulfillment—or at least hard-won acceptance.With the emotional acuity and narrative mastery that secured his reputation as one of China’s great novelists, Lu Yao paints a vivid, emotional, and unsparing portrait of contemporary Chinese life, seen through the eyes of a working-class man who refuses to be broken.
The Rouge of the North
Eileen Chang - 1998
Captive to household ritual, to the strategies and contempt of her sisters-in-law, and to the exacting dictates of her husband's mother, Yindi is pressed beneath the weight of an existence that offers no hope of change. Dramatic events in the outside world fail to make their way into this insular society. Chang's brilliant portrayal of the slow suffocation of passion, moral strength, and physical vitality—together with her masterful evocation of the sights, smells, and sounds of daily existence—make The Rouge of the North a remarkable chronicle of a vanished way of life.
Black Dragon, Black Cat
Brian Edwards - 2010
In ancient China a young girl trains with a great master for many years, learning the principles of kung fu and becoming a skilled and honorable warrior.
24 Italian Songs & Arias - Medium High Voice (Book/CD): Medium High Voice - Book/CD [With CD]
Gregory A. Schirmer - 1986
Schirmer edition of 24 Italian Songs & Arias of the 17th and 18th Centuries has introduced millions of beginning singers to serious Italian vocal literature. Offered in two accessible keys suitable for all singers, it is likely to be the first publication a voice teacher will ask a first-time student to purchase. The classic Parisotti realizations result in rich, satisfying accompaniments which allow singers pure musical enjoyment. For ease of practice, carefully prepared accompaniments are also recorded on CD by John Keene, a New York-based concert accompanist and vocal coach who has performed throughout the United States for radio and television. Educated at the University of Southern California, Keene has taught accompanying at the university level and collaborated with Gian Carlo Menotti and Thea Musgrave on productions of their operas.
China Moon Cookbook
Barbara Tropp - 1992
She was also the inventor of Chinese bistro, a marriage of home-style Chinese tastes and techniques with Western ingredients and inspiration, an innovative cuisine that stuffs a wonton with crab and corn and flavors it with green chili sauce, that stir-fries chicken with black beans and basil, that tosses white rice into a salad with ginger-balsamic dressing. Casual yet impeccable, and as balanced as yin and yang, these 275 recipes burst with unexpected flavors and combinations: Prawn Sandpot Casserole with Red Curry and Baby Corn; Spicy Tangerine Beef with Glass Noodles; Pizzetta with Chinese Eggplant, Wild Mushrooms, and Coriander Pesto; Chili-Orange Cold Noodles; Sweet Carrot Soup with Toasted Almonds; Wok-Seared New Potatoes; Crystallized Lemon Tart; and Fresh Ginger Ice Cream.
Happy Dreams
Jia Pingwa - 2007
Traveling from his rural home in Freshwind to the city of Xi’an, Happy brings only an eternally positive attitude, his devoted best friend Wufu, and a pair of high-heeled women’s shoes he hopes to fill with the love of his life.In Xi’an, Happy and Wufu find jobs as trash pickers sorting through the city’s filth, but Happy refuses to be deterred by inauspicious beginnings. In his eyes, dusty birds become phoenixes, the streets become rivers, and life is what you make of it. When he meets the beautiful Yichun, he imagines she is the one to fill the shoes and his Cinderella-esque dream. But when the harsh city conditions and the crush of societal inequalities take the life of his friend and shake Happy to his soul, he’ll need more than just his unrelenting optimism to hold on to the belief that something better is possible.
Grandpa Grumps
Katrina Moore - 2020
Throughout the week, she tries all sorts of things to get him past his grumpiness. Will she be able to make him smile before he goes home?