A Trip to China is an intermediate Chinese language textbook designed for students who have studied one year of college Chinese. Offering a strong foundation in grammar and vocabulary, it is written from the perspective of a foreign exchange student who has just arrived in China for the first time. This thoroughly revised edition not only provides students essential lessons for advancing their Chinese language skills, but also introduces important aspects of contemporary Chinese society and culture. The textbook incorporates suggestions from years of student and teacher feedback, and includes new lessons as well as updated vocabulary glosses, grammar explanations, and exercises. An improved format juxtaposes text and vocabulary on adjacent pages and combines grammar notes and exercises into one easy-to-use volume. Intermediate-level Chinese language textbook Revised edition Single-volume, user-friendly format New lessons and updated vocabulary, grammar explanations, and exercises Introduces students to important aspects of contemporary Chinese society and culture
Thirty leading China experts—ranging from Perry Link, Andrew Nathan and Jonathan Mirsky to W. J. F. Jenner, Lois Wheeler Snow and Morton Abramowitz—recount their first visits to China, recalling their initial observations and impressions. Most first traveled to China when it was still closed to the world, or was just beginning to open. Their subsequent opinions, writings and policies have shaped the Western relationship with China for more than a generation. This is essential reading for those who want to understand the evolution of Western attitudes toward modern China. At the same time, this collection provides a vivid, personal window onto a fascinating period in Chinese history. “To collect the stories of first encounters with China was a brilliant idea. Not only do we get the benefit of many fascinating insights (and hindsights) from a range of foreigners and overseas Chinese, but these deftly edited views from the outside make up one great story: the history of Communist China. More than a history of one damned thing happening after another, however, this is a history of perceptions, lies, myths and revelations, as much about China as her rulers wish it to be seen, as about those who chose to see China, more and sometimes less clearly, over the last half century.” —Ian Buruma, author of Bad Elements “The opening of China to the world, and then of the world to China, is one of modern history’s most consequential stories. That story is told in a fresh, innovative fashion in this insightful collection of personal experiences related by a distinguished collection of historians, diplomats, journalists, political writers and others who ventured behind the Bamboo Curtain early on. Leading the way are disillusioned leftists stunned by the horrors of the Cultural Revolution and Mao’s Great Leap Forward that they discover. They gradually give way to knowing observers of a tumultuous society determined to become once again a world power. Their accounts form an impressionistic vision of epochal change taking place on the gallop.” —Jim Hoagland, contributing editor, The Washington Post “This is a wistful and absorbing volume, and a fitting remembrance for all of us who once thought that China was going to be easy to study.” —Jonathan Spence, author of The Search for Modern China
This textbook, prepared for American students who have already completed two semesters of Chinese, does not "talk down" to the student, and its contemporary subject matter will provoke classroom discussion. Successfully encouraging speaking as well as reading practice, the work progresses from correspondence and dialogue to short essays. Lessons 1 through 10 focus on college life in the United States, 11 through 15 concern political and social issues in contemporary China, and 16 through 20 present biographies of three well-known figures in Chinese intellectual history and analyses of the Chinese Democracy Movement and the Tiananmen Square incident. Lessons 21 and 22 deal with Chinese translations of foreign place names and the Gulf War and are designed to accustom students to reading Chinese newspapers. The lessons in this text offer sufficient material for a two-semester course with five contact hours per week. For the text and vocabulary traditional and simplified characters are juxtaposed. The exercises of each lesson are included in the vocabulary volume. An index to the glossary is included. Audio and video materials are available for use with this text. For further information, contact the Chinese Linguistics Project, 231 Palmer Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. 08544. (609-258-4269). This textbook, prepared for American students who have already completed two semesters of Chinese, does not "talk down" to the student, and its contemporary subject matter will provoke classroom discussion. Successfully encouraging speaking as well as reading practice, the work progresses from correspondence and dialogue to short essays. Lessons 1 through 10 focus on college life in the United States, 11 through 15 concern political and social issues in contemporary China, and 16 through 20 present biographies of three well-known figures in Chinese intellectual history and analyses of the Chinese Democracy Movement and the Tiananmen Square incident. Lessons 21 and 22 deal with Chinese translations of foreign place names and the Gulf War and are designed to accustom students to reading Chinese newspapers. The lessons in this text offer sufficient material for a two-semester course with five contact hours per week. For the text and vocabulary traditional and simplified characters are juxtaposed. The exercises of each lesson are included in the vocabulary volume. An index to the glossary is included. Audio and video materials are available for use with this text. For further information, contact the Chinese Linguistics Project, 231 Palmer Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. 08544. (609-258-4269). This textbook, prepared for American students who have already completed two semesters of Chinese, does not "talk down" to the student, and its contemporary subject matter will provoke classroom discussion. Successfully encouraging speaking as well as reading practice, the work progresses from correspondence and dialogue to short essays. Lessons 1 through 10 focus on college life in the United States, 11 through 15 concern political and social issues in contemporary China, and 16 through 20 present biographies of three well-known figures in Chinese intellectual history and analyses of the Chinese Democracy Movement and the Tiananmen Square incident. Lessons 21 and 22 deal with Chinese translations of foreign place names and the Gulf War and are designed to accustom students to reading Chinese newspapers. The lessons in this text offer sufficient material for a two-semester course with five contact hours per week. For the text and vocabulary traditional and simplified characters are juxtaposed. The exercises of each lesson are included in the vocabulary volume. An index to the glossary is included. Audio and video materials are available for use with this text. For further information, contact the Chinese Linguistics Project, 231 Palmer Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J. 08544. (609-258-4269).
Discover all that China has to offer including the Silk Road, seeing the pandas in Chengdu, experiencing traditional Chinese gardens and visiting China's most iconic cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Includes illustrations and floor plans of key landmarks, street-by-street guides, information on popular sights, and a traveler's guide with tips on hotels, restaurants, local customs, transportation, medical services, museums, and entertainment.
From one of China’s most acclaimed writers: a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades. Framed by ten phrases common in the Chinese vernacular, China in Ten Words uses personal stories and astute analysis to reveal as never before the world’s most populous yet oft-misunderstood nation. In "Disparity," for example, Yu Hua illustrates the expanding gaps that separate citizens of the country. In "Copycat," he depicts the escalating trend of piracy and imitation as a creative new form of revolutionary action. And in "Bamboozle," he describes the increasingly brazen practices of trickery, fraud, and chicanery that are, he suggests, becoming a way of life at every level of society. Witty, insightful, and courageous, this is a refreshingly candid vision of the "Chinese miracle" and all of its consequences.
This beautiful guide makes the vast enigma of China accessible to every visitor. Continuing the series' winning formula, this new edition combines in-depth, up-to-date descriptions with dazzling photographs, detailed maps, cutaway illustrations of renowned structures, and a wealth of useful travel tips organized by cities and areas.
An “immensely readable” journey through modern Chinese history told through the experiences of the author’s extended family (Christian Science Monitor). When journalist Scott Tong moved to Shanghai, his assignment was to start the first full-time China bureau for “Marketplace,” the daily business and economics program on public radio stations across the US. But for Tong the move became much more: an opportunity to reconnect with members of his extended family who’d remained there after his parents fled the communists six decades prior. Uncovering their stories gave him a new way to understand modern China’s defining moments and its long, interrupted quest to go global. A Village with My Name offers a unique perspective on China’s transitions through the eyes of regular people who witnessed such epochal events as the toppling of the Qing monarchy, Japan’s occupation during WWII, exile of political prisoners to forced labor camps, mass death and famine during the Great Leap Forward, market reforms under Deng Xiaoping, and the dawn of the One Child Policy. Tong focuses on five members of his family, who each offer a specific window on a changing country: a rare American-educated girl born in the closing days of the Qing Dynasty, a pioneer exchange student, a toddler abandoned in wartime who later rides the wave of China’s global export boom, a young professional climbing the ladder at a multinational company, and an orphan (the author’s daughter) adopted in the middle of a baby-selling scandal fueled by foreign money. Through their stories, Tong shows us China anew, visiting former prison labor camps on the Tibetan plateau and rural outposts along the Yangtze, exploring the Shanghai of the 1930s, and touring factories across the mainland—providing a compelling and deeply personal take on how China became what it is today. “Vivid and readable . . . The book’s focus on ordinary people makes it refreshingly accessible.” —Financial Times “Tong tells his story with humor, a little snark, [and] lots of love . . . Highly recommended, especially for those interested in Chinese history and family journeys.” —Library Journal (starred review)
Includes lectures, essays, diaries and other writings, including "How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse)" and "Juilliard Lecture."