The author gives a poignant picture of the distressing everyday life in Mao's China under the Cultural Revolution.
There is a power struggle at the top of the CP. The Red Guards constitute their own rule. The political decisions are unpredictable (sometimes for then against the farmers or the intellectuals).
The result is that the population doesn't know anymore what to do and where they are (suicides or attempts). They are terrorized by suspicion, house searches, forced migrations and ... are terrorizing each other.

In the story 'Chin-Chin's Birthday' defy two children each other to insult chairman Mao. When their parents learn that other adults heard it, they are panic-stricken.
In 'The Guard' is theft a norm for the Red Guards.
In 'The Execution of Mayor Yin' is Yin a victim of his non proletarian origin. Although totally innocent, he is convicted and executed by the Red Guards.

Masterfully written stories which create a grim and depressing atmosphere. Not to be missed.
I recommend also the poignant book by Nien Cheng 'Life and Death in Shangai'.

Very few works of fiction have been written regarding the Cultural Revolution in China, especially by people, like Chen Jo-Hsi, who lived through it. There are some very good memoirs chronicling the events, but Chen Jo-Hsi's moving work of fiction gives the reader an excellent insight into one of the worst instances of censorship of the arts in the world's history. In addition, it brings to light in a very poignant way, how dichotmous and arbirtary the policies and reform movements during this period actually were. The book contains eight short stories that takes the reader from Nanking to the countryside and demonstrates the affects of the Cultural Revolution on different types of individuals from the professor to the laborer, sometimes with heart-breaking results.

This book documents the last few chaotic weeks of the US presents in Vietnam. The human story is effectively conveyed by first hand accounts of eyewitnesses from many strata of Vietnam society. The author, an NBC reporter in Saigon, witnessed these events firsthand. His unique perspective and access to the diplomatic corps adds a fascinating credibility to the book. His discussion concerning the actions and statements of Ambassador Graham Martin particularly intrigued me. Did Martin's decisions during that period contribute to the frantic last minute evacuation that left many friendlies stranded? The author makes no judgments. Butler includes transcript of many diplomatic cables to and from Martin and Secretary of State Kissinger and the White House concerning events and plans for evacuation and rescue. Reading these transcripts today still convevs a strong emotional impact for this reader. Interspacing these high level discussions are the stories of a whole society turned upside down while "we" skipped town. The Fall of Saigon is not an easy book to read. We are forced to confront the final conclusion of our failed crusade. Our goal was the minds and the hearts but we ended up fragmented the lives of the people we were suppose to help. When one considers the sacrifices made by both countries in treasure and lives the facts concerning the events of April-May 1975 are hard to digest, even after 30 plus years. No judgments are made here, no accusing fingers are pointed; we must read, and ponder.

Butler was a reporter in Vietnam when the world came crashing down on the South Vietnamese government, the United States that had backed it, and the people who had joined the American cause. This is a searing book, worth any number of lofty Frances FitzGerald tomes. Butler was on the street, in the bars, and driving down the road. What's more important, he loved Vietnam and the Vietnamese. Their tragedy was his tragedy. Go find this book, in a library or a used-book store; it's worth the effort. And if you're a publisher, for God's sake get it reprinted.

Falling Leaves was an AMAZING book. It was touching and heart-wrenching, and I could not put it down. Adeline Yen Mah's story is so sad, and one realizes all the obstacles she had to overcome. I highly recommend this book for all mature readers, as it is an excellent and eye-opening work of art.

all of us cling to the belief that our parents would love us and protect us no matter what. This book brought home the cruel fact that family members are related by chance only. It,s lottery!! I heart ached as Adeline recalled her story. I felt I was living her life while I was reading the book.I was that little girl that no one wanted to remember .At the same time, I wanted to reach across time and hug her and confort her. Perhaps it's impossible to imagine all this if one had grown up in a warm and loving family. I salute Adeline for her courage to get her story out.Most of us whom have survived similar experience could not bear to even admit to ourselves that our family did not care. After all, It might mean we were not lovable. "falling Leaves" is a wonderful study of family dynamics . Each charcter teachs me something about human nature.Most of all, I appalud the human spirit. Adeline has shown that out of the mud, a lovely lily emerges.

The first time I got the book from a Chinese Muslim scholar, I began to search what i am Intersted and i got it. I t is about a Islamic sect Xidaodang in which I am one member.Mr. Lipman has been in Xidaotang once and did some research on the group.His book shows his description and study are not only successful, but objective as well.He has his own unique view on Chinese Muslim...

Most Americans don't know squat about Islam itself, let alone Islam in China. Yet today there are about 15 million Muslims in China, centered mostly in the northwest (Xinjiang province), along the margins of the old Silk Road. And they aren't just an insignificant minority: in the Middle Ages, for instance, Chinese Muslims played a central role in bridging the gulf between China, the Middle East, and Europe, bringing goods and knowledge both ways. (...)

Jonathan Lipman's "Familiar Strangers" explores some aspects of Islam in northwestern China from the first arrival of Muslims there in the 8th century up through the 20th. Like most similar histories, it revolves around two major dilemmas that have constantly faced Chinese Muslims (as opposed to non-Chinese Muslims living in China): first, is Islam compatible with Chinese culture? and second, can Chinese Muslims themselves properly be considered Chinese? China's "host" culture has always tended to absorb alien peoples and faiths -- whether they're Mongols and Turks (the so-called "barbarians"), Buddhists from India, or whoever. There were always strangers lurking at the gates of China, drooling with envy or burning with ambition, but almost every one of them who managed to break through eventually assimilated and became, in effect, Chinese: in fact, many sought to do so in the first place. But Muslims were an exception. Their Islamic faith forbade them to have the same kind of relationship with traditional Chinese culture as other groups: for instance, ancestor worship and reverencing the emperor were antipathetic to Islam. Consequently, Chinese Muslims were, while not complete strangers, "familiar strangers", ethnically Chinese, foreign by affiliation.

Lipman's history isn't a comprehensive account of Muslim culture on the northwestern Chinese frontier. Instead, it examines how Chinese Muslims reacted to the complexity of belonging to two cultures at once. Lipman explores, for instance, Muslim reaction to acculturation policies under the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Muslims' role as "strangers in bad times" during the Ming-Qing cataclysm in the 1640s. Chapter 3, "Connections: Muslims in the Early Qing, 1644-1781", analyses the introduction of Naqshabandiya Sufism into China in the early 17th century and the struggle between two rival forms of it -- the orthodox Khafiya and the radical Jahriya -- in the 18th century, the latter a branch of revivalist Wahhabism, the earliest modern version of so-called Islamic "fundamentalism". Chapter 4, "Strategies of Resistance," explores the period between 1784 and 1895, looking at three large-scale Muslim rebellions against the Qing state. Chapter 5 examines Muslim "Strategies of Integration" during the Nationalist period and under the People's Republic. Finally, Lipman sums his findings in chapter 6.

The book is a scholarly read and not always easy going. If you don't have much previous knowledge of Chinese history, start elsewhere. But if you've got the background, it's a great read.

while giving a slide lecture at the great neck public library on our biography THE SECRET LIVES OF ALEXANDRA DAVID NEEL I was handed you excellent children's book. You distilled just the right information with lovely pictures to show how fabulous her journey was.Our biography deals with her life and includes her journey which was amazing considering the Lhasa was so forbiddena at that time. CONGRATULATIONS1

From early childhood, Alexandra David-Neel dreamed of traveling and exploring faraway places. "I craved to go beyond the garden gate, to follow the road that passed it by, and set out for the unknown," she later recalled. "I dreamed of wild hills, immense deserted steppes, and impassable landscapes of glaciers!" As a child, she traveled away from her ordinary life through books and museums, discovering a passion for Buddhism and Asian culture. Her talent as a singer, sent her to India, Greece, and North Africa to perform with opera companies, but that didn't satisfy her wanderlust. Finally in 1911 at the age of forty-three, she left her husband and home in Tunis, North Africa to begin the journey of her dreams. She would travel to the sacred and secretive city of Lhasa, the Forbidden City in Tibet. "Many travelers had been stopped on their way to Lhasa, and had accepted failure. I would not... I would reach Lhasa and show what the will of a woman could achieve!" Using his trademark eloquent prose and artwork, along with some of Alexandra David-Neel's own words, Don Brown weaves a clever and fascinating story in his latest picture book biography, Far Beyond The Garden Gate. Mr Brown's engaging text is filled with imagery, magic, history, mystery, and intriguing facts and details, and complemented by evocative illustrations in soft, dreamy hues. Together word and art transports the reader to Tibet for the arduous adventure of a lifetime. With an Author's Note to augment the story and further enlighten, Far Beyond The Garden Gate is a marvelous introduction to both an amazing woman and little known country that will whet the appetite of kids 8-12, and send them out looking for more.

I found the book very easy to read. It took the reader on a journey through the life of a monk in Tibet. His story is told simply and honestly, without the need to dress up the facts. Whilst the events that unfold in the book are horrifing and hard to comphrehend in todays Western Society, the book is still a good read. The story depicts human endurance and how the spirit of life can overcome the most horrible of obstacles. Read it and make up your own mind.

After reading 'From Emperor to Citizen,' the autobiography of the last Emperor of China; I found it interesting how the former Emperor and his family were 'converted' over by the Chinese Communists. I was amazed at how the imperial family went from being insensitive to the people's sufferings, and became model citizens.

But reading 'Fire Under the Snow' gave me another side of the story. Chinese Communism doesn't seem to work in Tibet. And after 50 years, the struggle continues. The people of Tibet were close-knit, and didn't have the strict caste system of classes so evident in Chinese feudal society. This book details how the Chinese have systematically tried to destroy Tibetan culture and society to force-fit it into a Chinese model.

This is a well told story by a survivor of this externally imposed 'revolution.' The author is intelligent and observant, and tells a well-balanced tale. The humorous reactions of the Tibetans to the Chinese rhetoric are sharply contrasted by the angry frustration and eventual cruelty of the Chinese in trying to force Chinese ideas on a non-Chinese culture and people.

The China's current mantra of "Western human rights policies won't work in China" needs to be turned into a new mantra of "Chinese Communist 'Liberation Methods' haven't worked in Tibet." If China wants the international world to stop meddling in it's so-called 'Internal Affairs,' maybe it needs to realize that it has failed in Tibet by virtue of meddling in the internal affairs of a non-Chinese nation -- that is, the free and independent nation of Tibet. This is far from an internal affair -- it is international genocide.

China's hegemony into surrounding countries, and it's destruction of non-Chinese cultures in these areas is little-known in the west. This book demonstrates the fact that Tibet was a free and independant nation with it's own unique culture and language. And it clearly shows the imperialist efforts of the Chinese to force their culture and beliefs on an innocent people, no matter the cost in lives.

It would seem that all of the 'imperialist running dogs' in Tibet these days are Chinese Communists.

This book brings the study of gender to Chinese medicine and in so doing contextualizes Chinese medicine in history. It examines the rich but neglected tradition of fuke, or medicine for women, over the seven hundred years between the Song and the end of the Ming dynasty. Using medical classics, popular handbooks, case histories, and belles lettres, it explores evolving understandings of fertility and menstruation, gestation and childbirth, sexuality, and gynecological disorders. The author locates medical practice in the home, where knowledge was not the monopoly of the learned physician and male doctors had to negotiate the class and gender boundaries of everyday life. Women as healers and as patients both participated in the dominant medical culture and sheltered a female sphere of expertise centered on gestation and birth. Furth analyzes the relationship of language, text, and practice and reexamines the epistemological foundations of our knowledge of the body and its history.

A very informative text and source book on the history and practice of woman's health and healing in ancient China. Her scholarship is immaculate and her insight into the "Yellow Emperor's Body" showed the distinction between sex and gender. She traces the development of TCM treatment of woman's illness and how it becomes essential. That very early on, the Chinese Doctor are aware of the difference between woman and man in their similar sickness. A good resource for all woman Qigong and Taiji students as well as their teachers. This book also deal with the basics of the Chinese medical concept of vital fluid of blood, Jing/Creative essence, and Shen/ the Spirit, and the developmental stages of the woman's life cycles.

Many books about Buddhism are written from the academic point of view. For practitioners (particularly of the Kagyu lineage) who want wonderful advice about specific practice issues, this is one of the best books available. The translation is excellent; clear and illuminating, the translator has also captured some of the author's intelligence and sense of humor. As someone who practices Shamata (Zhinay) and Ngondro, I have found this an indispensible resource.

During his lifetime, His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche was widely regarded as a realized master by great teachers in all lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. He spent nearly fifteen years in solitary meditation in the mountains of Tibet, and achieved great realization. In this book, presenting teachings he gave at Kagyu Droden Kunchab in San Francisco, Rinpoche demonstrates his famed gentleness, humor, breadth of understanding and acceptance, and ability to vividly bring the dharma alive to Western students.

The text discusses practices central to the Vajrayana path in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Kagyu tradition stresses experience and contemplation as the mode of integrating the teachings, and the practices discussed here reflect that emphasis. Rinpoche gives clear, detailed instructions about each of the practices, but never fails to remind the reader that an authentic teacher and guide is essential to integrating them and assisting our development.

The ordinary preliminary practices are meditations on the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to Dharma--precious human existence, death and impermanence, karma, and samsara (the suffering of aimlessly cycling through existence). Rinpoche lucidly explains how these meditations help provide the discipline necessary for consistent practice and give rise to the hunger for the transformation that the "extraordinary" practices make possible.

"Extraordinary" here means just that--beyond the ordinary, or basic, practice of meditating on the Four Thoughts. In the Kagyu lineage, these practices are refuge and prostrations, Dorje Sempa (Vajrasattva) purification, mandala offering, and guru yoga. Each of these practices plays a vital role in helping to release our habitual clinging to self-created visions of identity that obstruct an understanding of true reality.

The sections on the vows and commitments explain the foundations for understanding the moral underpinnings of daily practice--how we prepare and tend to the ground on which to build a dharmic home. Rinpoche also discusses modes of meditation and introduces Mahamudra, a highly advanced topic.

The book is a useful tool for anyone interested in an introductory overview of the Vajrayana, and is essential as an introduction to those choosing to undertake the journey on this beautiful and liberating path.

FRENCH FAIENCE covers many of the major factories in France and gives brief histories, descriptions of wares, photos, and a guide to the maker's marks. If you're collecting any of these potteries - Quimper, Malicorne, Desvres, etc., you should have this book in your reference library.

This is a very well rounded book on french faience. It covers several faience companies and has an index with identification marks. I would definately recommend this book to any french faience collector.

It makes you speachless

This is the best book ever written by Kalpana Misra! Buy it while it's in stock and before it sells out!