Are there some interesting Chinese history stories ?

[Janefirstday]

Are there some interesting history stories which are helpful to learn Chinese history? Like Calling a Stag a Horse

[warpedbored]

On my first visit to China I found some classic Chinese books that had been translated to English. I wish I could remember the title of the one I bought. It was a story about a rickshaw puller in Shanghai. Even though it was a novel it delved into a lot of history of the late 19th century.

[Greg.D.]

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

is a great history, roughly covering 3 generations of women in one family. Starts with the grandmother as concubine with bound feet, the mother raised in the era of Mao and finally the daughter who was raised in the worst of times but immigrated to England.

Probably slanted here and there (to present the parents as very good rather than just "good") but it's a great read. The mother and daughter totally loved Mao - until ....

 

Also, just saw a great movie: "Mao's Last Dancer" - got the DVD from the library. Especially good after you know some Chinese contemporary history and have been there.

Greg

[warpedbored]

I'm reading that book now Greg. It's very interesting. Thanks for reminding me.

[lhp]

If you have a long commute, the China History Podcast is great.

 

Sterling Seagrave wrote some interesting books about Chinese history. Dragon Lady is a pretty interesting look at Cixi (the last emperor's grandmother) and at China at the turn of the 20th century/end of its imperial line. Not the lightest of reading, though.

[Mick]

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

 

is a great history, roughly covering 3 generations of women in one family. Starts with the grandmother as concubine with bound feet, the mother raised in the era of Mao and finally the daughter who was raised in the worst of times but immigrated to England.

 

Probably slanted here and there (to present the parents as very good rather than just "good") but it's a great read. The mother and daughter totally loved Mao - until ....

 

Also, just saw a great movie: "Mao's Last Dancer" - got the DVD from the library. Especially good after you know some Chinese contemporary history and have been there.

Greg

 

Wild Swans is a fantastic book. I highly recommend it. Also, "The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang details a slice of Chinese history that helps the westerner understand exactly why the Chinese have such resentment toward the Japanese. It describes the barbaric actions of the Japanese in the occupation of China before and during WWII. Also highly recommended.

[Kyle]

I agree with others, Wild Swans is a good book. I also enjoyed China Wakes, but depending on what you mean by Chinese history, that one might not apply, as it is more recent (last half century or so)

[Joecy]

Very interesting to look at these stories again, should read to my daughter to learn Chinese history together.

[Allon]

I have lots to say about Iris Chang and James Bradley but (seriously) I am bound by a promise not to discuss it until after October, 2015. Some of you may know Iris killed herself, November, 2004. .45 bullet to the head.

 

I would recommend not only Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking but her first book, The Thread of the Silkworm. (Her last book, The Chinese in America is long but is a definitive history of the migrations of Chinese to America, the famous ones, the workers, the people we still see in our daily lives as husbands and wives. They have not changed much. It is richly rewarding reading.)

 

The Thread of the Silkworm is about professor Tsien Hsue-shen (or Qian Xuesen), one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here in America. During the Red Scare of the 50's he was purged by the McCarthy committee and was deported to China. He then invented the Silkworm, the deadly nuclear missile still in China's arsenal in one form or another. He never granted Iris an interview. You an imagine how difficult it was for her to write the book.

 

Any of Bradley's books are well-written and give the reader an in-depth look at history in Asia.

Bradley has a fantastic book called China Mirage, about how Teddy Roosevelt set the message to the Japanese that they could invade Manchuria and take over Korea (TR got a Nobel for that) all on the racist premise that the Japanese were a far superior race than the Chinese. He also discusses at length the events leading to Pearl Harbor and how both Roosevelt's stumbled into war with Japan for different reasons. A lot of history about the civil war in China and the real Chiang Kai-shek, the crook, the liar, and wife, Mayling (Madame Chiang).