YOU CAN CHECK ANY CHINESE DICTIONARY, there’s no word for romance. We say ‘Lo Man’, copying the English pronunciation. What the fuck use was a word like romance to me anyway? There wasn’t much of it about in China, and Beijing was the least romantic place in the whole universe. ‘Eat first, talk later,’ as [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Chinese'
Chinese Romance – “Twenty fragments of a ravenous youth” – Xiaolu Guo
January 19th, 2012 · No Comments · Chinese, Love, Quotes
Tags:China·love·Practicality·Romance
Asian Gamblers – “Casino Royale” – Ian Fleming
August 5th, 2011 · No Comments · Chinese, Culture
Bond’s experience told him that few of the Asiatic races were courageous gamblers, even the much-vaunted Chinese being inclined to lose heart if the going was bad.
Tags:James Bond·racism
“The Family Law”, Benjamin Law
August 18th, 2010 · No Comments · Australian, Chinese
Summary: A loosely linked series of auto-biographical essays by Brisbane based (yes Brisbane!) gay, Chinese Australian, Benjamin Law. David Sedaris light with an Australian aspect. My Take: Given that identity humour is such a focus of “The Family Law”, it’s difficult to avoid applying a stereotypical overlay onto Benjamin Law’s writing. In fact, “The Family [...]
Tags:
“What Does China Think”, Mark Leonard
August 14th, 2009 · No Comments · Asian, China, Chinese, Philosophy
Synopsis: An idiot’s guide to the various streams of contemporary Chinese policy debate. When you view the world through the eyes of China’s intellectuals My Take: Those who know me know that I’m a bit of a Sinophile. While the human rights record of the Chinese government is obviously indefensible and deserves public attention and [...]
Tags:China·Mark Leonard
"What the Chinese Don't Eat", XinRan
June 30th, 2009 · No Comments · Chinese
Synopsis: A collection of newspaper columns on Chinese/Western society written by the a columnist on Chinese life for The Guardian. My Take: I grabbed this wanting an accessible layman’s guide to the quirks of Chinese society. Unfortunately this collection is very uneven, ranging from shallow and patronising observations about the west to insightful explanations of [...]
Tags:Xinran
"Lost in The Crowd: A Cultural Revolution Memoir", Yang Jiang
June 21st, 2009 · No Comments · China, Chinese, History
Synopsis: Memoirs of the experiences of Beijing literature scholar and her husband during the Cultural Revolution. My Take: While I have a strong aversion to “suffering Chinese women literature” (eg “Wild Swans”, “Good Women of China”, “Mao’s Concubine” etc etc – I get it ok, women suffered in China, but so did lots of other [...]
Tags:China·Yang Jiang
"Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China", Fuchsia Dunlop
June 9th, 2009 · No Comments · Asian, China, Chinese, Travel
Synopsis: Englishwoman moves to Chengdu, China for post-graduate study only to end up as the first Westerner to train at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. The author’s following 14 years of Chinese culinary exploration is recounted in this memoir/travelogue/cookbook. My Take: While I love Chinese food, I’ve always approached it from a the perspective [...]
Tags:China·Fuchsia Dunlop
"The Girl Who Played Go", Shan Sa
June 1st, 2009 · No Comments · Asian, Chinese
Synopsis: Chinese teenager and Japanese soldier develop a bond while playing Go in a small town in occupied Manchuria. My Take: A common theme in the ex-pat Chinese authors I’ve read to date (eg Ha Jin, Yiyun Li) is melodrama and The Girl Who Played Go is no exception. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, [...]
Tags:Shan Sa
"The Crazed", Ha Jin
May 30th, 2009 · No Comments · Asian, China, Chinese, Literature
Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of the Tianamen Square uprising, a Chinese literature professor suffers a stroke and relives his suffering in the Cultural Revolution through his dementia. His star pupil and future son in law is tasked with caring for him but is disturbed at what he learns from the old man’s ravings. My [...]
