China Bound

China Bound

Author: Robert Bickers

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-03-05

Total Pages: 577

ISBN-13: 1472949951

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From its origins in Liverpool in 1816, one unusual British firm has threaded a way through two centuries that have seen tumultuous events and epochal transformations in technologies and societies. John Swire & Sons, a small trading company that began by importing dyes, cotton and apples from the Americas, now directs a highly diversified group of interests operating across the globe but with a core focus on Asia. From 1866 its fate was intertwined with developments in China, with the story of steam, and later of flight, and with the movements of people and of goods that made the modern world. China Bound charts the story of the firm, its family owners and staff, its operations, its successes and its disasters, as it endured wars, uprisings and revolutions, the rise and fall of empires - China's, Britain's, Japan's – and the twists and turns of the global economy. This is the story of a business that reshaped Hong Kong, developed Cathay Pacific Airways, dominated China's pre-Second World War shipping industry, and helped pioneer containerization. Robert Bickers' remarkable new book is the history of a business, and of its worlds, of modern China, Britain, and of the globalization that entangled them, of compradors, ship-owners, and seamen, sugar travellers, tea-tasters, and stuff merchants, revolutionaries, pirates and Taipans. Essential reading for anyone with an interest in global commerce, China Bound provides an intimate history that helps explain the shape of Asia today.


Bound Feet, Young Hands

Bound Feet, Young Hands

Author: Laurel Bossen

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2017-01-25

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1503601072

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Footbinding was common in China until the early twentieth century, when most Chinese were family farmers. Why did these families bind young girls' feet? And why did footbinding stop? In this groundbreaking work, Laurel Bossen and Hill Gates upend the popular view of footbinding as a status, or even sexual, symbol by showing that it was an undeniably effective way to get even very young girls to sit still and work with their hands. Interviews with 1,800 elderly women, many with bound feet, reveal the reality of girls' hand labor across the North China Plain, Northwest China, and Southwest China. As binding reshaped their feet, mothers disciplined girls to spin, weave, and do other handwork because many village families depended on selling such goods. When factories eliminated the economic value of handwork, footbinding died out. As the last generation of footbound women passes away, Bound Feet, Young Hands presents a data-driven examination of the social and economic aspects of this misunderstood custom.


China Bound

China Bound

Author: Linda A. Reed

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1987-01-01

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 030903731X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This comprehensive, highly readable handbook simplifies the sometimes complex aspects of day-to-day life in China. Based on the experience of Americans who have recently studied, done research, and taught there, China Bound gives the invaluable "inside" information that only those who have been there can provide. Written primarily for students, scholars, and teachers, the book describes Chinese academic life and work and how Americans can fit into it. And, because it covers such a broad spectrum of topicsâ€"from customs regulations, taxation, and medical care to hotel life and how to get laundry doneâ€"China Bound is also must reading for anyone who is already planning or just trying to decide whether to plan an extended visit to China. Academic Library Book Review states, "China Bound is one of those books that is absolutely essential."


Bound Feet & Western Dress

Bound Feet & Western Dress

Author: Pang-Mei Chang

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2011-04-27

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 0307792242

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A harrowing dual memoir that braids the story of a Chinese-American woman’s search for identity with the dramatic tale of her great-aunt, who was born at the turn of the century in tradition-bound China and went on to become Vice President of China’s first women’s bank. "In China, a woman is nothing." Thus begins the saga of a woman born at the turn of the century to a well-to-do, highly respected Chinese family, a woman who continually defied the expectations of her family and the traditions of her culture. Growing up in the perilous years between the fall of the last emperor and the Communist Revolution, Chang Yu-i's life is marked by a series of rebellions: her refusal as a child to let her mother bind her feet, her scandalous divorce, and her rise to Vice President of China's first women's bank in her later years. In the alternating voices of two generations, this literary debut brings together a deeply textured portrait of a woman's life in China with the very American story of Yu-i's brilliant and assimilated grandniece, struggling with her own search for identity and belonging. Written in pitch-perfect prose and alive with detail, Bound Feet and Western Dress is the story of independent women struggling to emerge from centuries of customs and duty.


China Bound and Unbound

China Bound and Unbound

Author: Frances Wong 黄星

Publisher: Hong Kong University Press

Published: 2009-12-01

Total Pages: 167

ISBN-13: 9622091717

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this first-hand account of an early returnee's life in communist China, Frances Wong relates her personal experiences in China from 1949 to the present, detailing numerous political movements, including the devastating experiences of the Anti-Rightist Movement and the Cultural Revolution. After her husband was labelled a "Rightist," they were banished to the countryside for eight long years, while their four children were sent to different parts of the country to do manual labor.


Bound

Bound

Author: Donna Jo Napoli

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-12-11

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1471103390

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

YOUNG XING XING IS BOUND. Bound to her father's second wife and daughter after Xing Xing's father has passed away. Bound to a life of servitude as a young girl in ancient China, where the life of a woman is valued less than that of livestock. Bound to be alone and unmarried, with no parents to arrange for a suitable husband. Dubbed "Lazy One" by her stepmother, Xing Xing spends her days taking care of her half sister, Wei Ping, who cannot walk because of her foot bindings, the painful but compulsory tradition for girls who are fit to be married. Even so, Xing Xing is content, for now, to practice her gift for poetry and calligraphy, to tend to the mysterious but beautiful carp in her garden, and to dream of a life unbound by the laws of family and society. But all of this is about to change as the time for the village's annual festival draws near, and Stepmother, who has spent nearly all of the family's money, grows desperate to find a husband for Wei Ping. Xing Xing soon realizes that this greed and desperation may threaten not only her memories of the past, but also her dreams for the future. In this searing story, Donna Jo Napoli, acclaimed author of Beast and Breath,delves into the roots of the Cinderella myth and unearths a tale as powerful as it is familiar.


The China Boom

The China Boom

Author: Ho-fung Hung

Publisher: Contemporary Asia in the World

Published: 2017-03-07

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780231164191

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A systematic investigation into the origins and unraveling of China's economic miracle.


Aching for Beauty

Aching for Beauty

Author: Ping Wang

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 1452904871

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An exploration of the history and cultural practice of footbinding in China reveals the traditions that contributed to and surrounded its thousand-year enforcement, as well as its related literature, music, contests, and rewards.


Every Step a Lotus

Every Step a Lotus

Author: Dorothy Ko

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 9780520232839

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A well-written and beautifully illustrated book on foot binding and the exquisite shoes designed for the tiny feet.