Books for us Americans

[adambchildress]

Hi everyone I am wroking hard to learn as much as I can to make my wife transition into the states as comfortable as possible. Because my wife lacks the english vocabulary to go into any depth of her customs i sought out books to help. I read some about chinese history and such but the book thats has been the biggest help is one called THE GOOD LUCK LIFE and it covers all the majior chinese holidays it has recipies for these holiday meals it discusses funerals importent birthdays and has a great glossary to learn some importent cantonese and maderin holiday words. i give it 9 out of 10 for its usefulnes and am very happy now to understand some of the red envelope things and the incent burning and the gravestone washing things alot of useful info so yes go buy it today

[LeeFisher3]

Adam most of the information I have been able to find has been limited.to a few small books on business travel and a couple on tourist do's and don'ts.

 

With this I have spent time searching the web trying to understand the customs and traditions, finding a few jewels out there.

 

The major festivals are extremely important, I impressed her recently when I ask about the dragon boat festival. She told me this was a small festival that takes place in an afternoon and not heavily celebrated in her town.

 

I expect her to arrive before the Autumn festival and trying to see if the local Chinese community has something planned. At the very least I will find a place for us to sit and watch the moon together that night.

[Dan R]

I now a bit about traditional culture. But it seems her family doesn't follow it much. I send ecards for holidays or have flowers delivered and the family wonders why I know such old things With rapid modernization it is hard to know what and how of tradition the person follows. Certainly provides some interesting conversation time on the phone while waiting for GUZ's pronouncement. B)

 

Autumn Festival has been a special holiday for us. But because the loversmeet only once a year she says we shouldn't do this one when we are together. I think we will watch the moon many nights B) I impressed the family by sending moon cakes nationally famous from Suzhou through http://www.cnflowernet.com . I goofed the year I sent ones from here (made in Monterey Park, CA). They were much too sweet. Bu Hao!

 

This year it is September 18. A good explanation is found here http://chinesefood.about.com/library/weekl...ly/aa091099.htm

[adambchildress]

my wife to was impressed with the knowlege i picked up from GOOD LUCK LIFE though some of it was not closley practiced i found it helped me to understand better her origins and like your wife she was so suprised when i asked if mom made the rice with shrimp and peanuts inside the leaves fpr the dragon boat festivle she said she had a great husband who was working hard to understand her and i said well its the least i can do since ive found it almost impossible to learn Cantonese

[Dan R]

My God Man! Cantonese has 6 tones! Insist that she use Putonghua (Mandarin) with you. Then you only need 4 tones. Now if you are tone deaf like a certain goat in this place that might not help either B)

[frank1538]

Tones? What tones? You mean the Chinese language and dialects are tonal? Who'd have guessed?B)

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....cd841df17870726

[david_dawei]

The Good Luck Life

 

Here is it on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846

 

 

Ebay has some auctions for around $6...

[Dan R]

Tones?  What tones?  You mean the Chinese language and dialects are tonal?  Who'd have guessed?

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....cd841df17870726

That's a great list for ESL practice Frank. Now do you have one for Texashua, New Yawkhua, Joizeyhua or some of the other English dialects that don't exist Once you get a pattern in a language then it gets easy. But our poor SOs must learn English which includes spelling and pronounciations from many languages. Rules for Germanic and Romance languages both apply and only familiarization makes it comprehensible. The beauty of English (when used correctly) is it is the most precise. This is why it has become the scientific and business language. However when it comes to emotions and philosophy we continually add words from other languages to fill the gaps. This flexibilty also adds to both the confusion and usefulness.

 

Hey when is that English/Triggese/English dictionary being released? I heard it is being delayed for Fang Ling to annotate it with Chinese comments.

[skibum]

I think everyone of us should read "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck. It is somewhat dated now but gives a good idea of how the country people lived 100 years ago. Some things have changed, some have not.

[warpedbored]

I would suspect that living in the country side they are more traditional. Problem here is each area develops their own customs to go along with national traditions.

[Yuanyang]

Adam, Looks like a very handy book. Good find guy.

[nygatl15]

The Chinese in America, by Iris Chang is a very good book describing the History over the last 300 years. There is a lot of good information, I read it when I was there a few weeks back, every moment when we were not busy, I picked it up.

[tmkeith]

The Chinese in  America, by Iris Chang is a very good book describing the History over the last 300 years.  There is a lot of good information, I read it when I was there a few weeks back, every moment when we were not busy, I picked it up.

I'll definitely pick that one up.

 

I liked her "The Rape of Nanking", as well as "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang. Without getting into any "right or wrong" argument about either, both offer very interesting points of view.

[nygatl15]

The Chinese in  America, by Iris Chang is a very good book describing the History over the last 300 years.  There is a lot of good information, I read it when I was there a few weeks back, every moment when we were not busy, I picked it up.

I'll definitely pick that one up.

 

I liked her "The Rape of Nanking", as well as "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang. Without getting into any "right or wrong" argument about either, both offer very interesting points of view.

Try Barnes and Noble, I it bought online for $4 . the Rape of Nanking is much more though. I want to read about it also.

[RJZ+JCW]

I'll definitely pick that one up.

 

I liked her "The Rape of Nanking", as well as "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang. Without getting into any "right or wrong" argument about either, both offer very interesting points of view.

Try Barnes and Noble, I it bought online for $4 . the Rape of Nanking is much more though. I want to read about it also.

132757[/snapback]

That's a terribly depressing book. It was because of what Iris learned while writing this book that she later committed suicide. My friend had it in her home, and I browsed thru it, the pictures and stories are horrifying.

 

Trust me, you don't "need" this book to better understand Chinese cullture. You'll get a sick stomach. Some sources said that the Nanjing incident in WWII was worse than the holocaust.