China   |   READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

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Odyssey Guide Xi'an, Shaanxi & the Terracotta Army  •  Kevin Bishop
GUIDEBOOK •  2005 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES
A convenient, illustrated guide to Xi'an, ancient capital of China. With color photographs, insightful essays on culture and history, and a series of wonderfully chosen literary excerpts. It includes site plans and places of interest, along with practical travel information and maps. (CHN34, $23.95)
  Odyssey Guide Xi'an, Shaanxi & the Terracotta Army
Understanding China, A Guide to China's Economy, History, and Politics  •  John Bryan Starr
HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 356 PAGES
A professor of history and former director of the China Association, John Bryan Starr brings his experience in the classroom to this admirably brief, clearheaded introduction to contemporary China. Revised edition. (CHN196, $16.00)
  Understanding China, A Guide to China's Economy, History, and Politics
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China  •  Jung Chang
BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2003 •  PAPER  • 524 PAGES • FAVORITE
A riveting tale of three generations spanning the end of Old China, Mao's regime and the Japanese occupation. Chang chronicles the enormous changes in China since 1929 through her family's story, one that includes arrest during the Cultural Revolution, exile to the Sichuan wilderness and the bewildering state of China today. It's quite a tale, wonderfully told without a trace of rancor or bitterness. Living in London since 1978, Chang visits her mother back in China every year. You can imagine Chang with notebook in hand back in the family apartment absorbed in the stories of her much-loved mother. The book opens with the statement, "At the age of 15 my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general. It was 1929 and China was in chaos." (CHN04, $16.00)
  Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
China Wakes, The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power  •  Nicholas Kristoff  •  Sheryl WuDunn
CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  1995 •  PAPER  • 501 PAGES
This book is an engrossing, disturbing portrait of contemporary China and its cultural dissidents. The authors journeyed from Tibet to Tiananmen, reporting in depth on a nation struggling to hold onto tradition while modernizing its economy. (CHN33, $16.95)
  China Wakes, The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power
 

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Chinese (Mandarin), Start Speaking Today!  •   Educational Services Corporation   • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS  •  A 90-minute crash course in Mandarin featured in two compact discs and a phrasebook packaged in a vinyl sleeve. Geared for travelers, the course follows the foreign service method -- which focuses on dialogues and useful sentences instead of individual words. (CHN92, $21.95)
 
 
Lonely Planet China  •   Lonely Planet   • GUIDEBOOK  •  An excellent practical guide to China, geared for independent travelers. (CHN39, $31.99)
 
 
Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook  •  Hua-Yuan L. Mowry  •  Justin Ben-Adam Rudelson   • LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS  •  A handy phrasebook for Mandarin basics. This guide focuses on pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler. (CHN72, $8.99)
 
 
Survival Kit for Overseas Living, For Americans Planning to Live and Work Abroad  •  L. Robert Kohls   • GUIDEBOOK  •  A handbook for Americans planning to live abroad. (GEN137, $19.95)
 
 
Between Mecca and Beijing, Modernization and Consumption Among Urban Chinese Muslims  •  Maris Boyd Gillette   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  An academic study of the minority Muslim population of Xi'an. (CHN180, $23.95)
 
 
Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey  •  Kenneth Ch'en   • RELIGION  •  A well organized, scholarly history of the development of Mahayana Buddhism in China, originally published in 1964. (CHN151, $45.00)
 
 
China, A New History  •  John Fairbank  •  Merle Goldman   • HISTORY  •  A sweeping history of China from the Paleolithic to Tiananmen, revised with a new chapter by Merle Goldman. A standard for history buffs. (CHN11, $21.00)
 
 
Foreign Devils on the Silk Road  •  Peter Hopkirk   • HISTORY  •  Hopkirk tackles the history of the Chinese Silk Road in his inimitable style, especially the exploits of Sven Hedin and five other archaeological raiders of the early years of the 20th century. Accurate, vividly written and great fun. (CAS22, $24.95)
 
 
Religions of China in Practice  •  Donald S. Lopez Jr.   • RELIGION  •  Confucionism, Daoism and Buddhism, and how they overlap and interact with each other. (CHN127, $34.95)
 
 
Religions of China, The World as a Living System  •  David L. Overmyer   • RELIGION  •  A brief primer on the religions of China. (CHN154, $11.50)
 
 
Religions of the Silk Road  •  Richard C. Foltz   • RELIGION  •  A scholarly survey of cultural traditions, and especially religions, along the trade routes through China and Central Asia from antiquity to the 15th century. (CAS52, $21.95)
 
 
The Art of Crossing Cultures  •  Craig Storti   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Tips for travelers adjusting to a new culture. (GEN136, $21.95)
 
 
The Cambridge Illustrated History of China  •  Patricia Buckley Ebrey   • HISTORY  •  A concise, handsomely illustrated survey of Chinese history. Organized chronologically, this book marches confidently through 8,000 years of Chinese civilization, balancing social issues with politics and culture. (CHN79, $36.99)
 
 
Along the Silk Road  •  Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  A nicely illustrated collection of essays on the art, culture and music of the Silk Road with contributions by art historian ten Grotenhuis (who edited the volume), Yo-Yo Ma and others associated with the Silk Road Project. (CAS78, $24.95)
 
 
Life Along the Silk Road  •  Susan Whitfield   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  With insight, scholarship and dramatic flair, Susan Whitfield recounts the lives of ten individuals on the ancient Silk Road. A vivid, entertaining portrait of everyday life in eighth-, ninth- and tenth-century China and Central Asia. (CAS44, $18.95)
 
 
Red China Blues, My Long March from Mao to Now  •  Jan Wong   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  Jan Wong tells of her experiences in the "hermetically sealed bubble of Maoism" as one of two westerners to attend Beijing University, then offers a first-hand account of recent reforms in China. (CHN37, $15.95)
 
 


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