Ethnic China Living Books
Since I started with the page more than 10 years ago I have been posting some book reviews and news. Now that information is going to be expanded with the small summaries that I make (sometimes) for myself after reading a book or an article, or some of the notes that I take after the readings. In some interesting books that I have not been able to read or of which I do not keep any notes, I may put the text provided by the publisher.
I think all readers will be able to distinguish when it is a personal opinion, when it is an excerpt from the work, and when it is material provided by the publisher.
I have organized the material in the following sections. If you think something is missing, please write to me at the address below.
– Art
– Buddhism
– Classics of Chinese culture
– Daoism or Taoism
– Ethnic groups
– Folklore
– Gender, women and matriarchy
– History
– Idiom and language
– Journeys and travels
– Literature and poetry
– Myths, tales and legends
– Novels
– Orientalisms. Novels set in China.
– Philosophy
– Qi Gong, taiji and health techniques.
– Religion
– Society
– Tibet
– Zoom on politics and current affairs
LAST POSTS ABOUT BOOKS ON CHINA
How the presence of goddesses paves the way for female power
How the presence of goddesses paved the way for female power One of the theses of my book Matriarchy in China: mothers, goddesses, queens and shamans (Madrid, 2011) was to assert that the presence of goddesses with prominent roles in a culture could signal the past or...
The Adventures of the Mad Monk Ji Gong
The Adventures of the Mad Monk Ji Gong The past few days I have been reading a novel about China's most famous rogue monk. About the Monk Ji Gong, better known for his fondness for wine and meat than for his religious merits. His kindness and continuous desire to help...
The Stories of Beijing of David Kidd
The Stories of Beijing of David Kidd This book narrates some events in the life of an aristocratic family during the years in which China ended its traditional history and became a communist country. The author arrived in Beijing as an English teacher two years...
The Spirits are drunk. Comparative approaches to Chinese religion
Paper, Jordan. The Spirits are drunk. Comparative approaches to Chinese religion. SUNY Press. 1995 This is a completely original book on the religions of China. Instead of following the repetitive mantra of the existence of three religions and describing them more or...
Cheng Naishan and the Shanghai aristocratic families
Cheng Naishan. The Blue House. Panda Books. 1989. "Cheng Naishan captivates readers with stories about the present lives of Shanghai capitalists, who have overcome 30 years of political vicissitudes, as well as the lives of their children." So begins the presentation...
The metamorphosis of communism in China
The metamorphosis of communism in China The Communist Party of China (CPC) will be 100 years old in 2021. Of these, more than two thirds have been in power since the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Its evolution has been far from straight, but...
Yan Lianke. The Four Books
Yan Lianke. The Four Books The Four Books refers to the famous Four Books of Confucius, the basis of Chinese thought for two millennia. And like those of Confucius, these by Yan Lianke could become a new model for understanding the glories and miseries of human...
Lao She Cat Country
Cat Country - Lao She Sometimes we say that a poet or a writer writes with his blood, and there are many occasions in which writers end up paying with their lives for having written a book. This is possibly one of them, and we can say that Lao She paid with his life...
Discover the secret of the dances of Chinese minorities
Li Beida. Dances of the Chinese minorities. Beijing, China Intercontinental Press, 2006 Though readers fond of Chinese ethnic groups will welcome the publishing of this new book about the minorities' dances, many will feel disappointed after its reading. This is...
Chinese characters
12 Chinese idioms related to the tiger
12 Chinese idioms related to the tiger With the arrival of the Year of the Tiger 2022, here are 12 set phrases (chengyu) related to the tiger, so that those who are getting familiar with the Chinese language can practice one each month. As a wolf, as a tiger 如狼似虎...
Ethnic groups
The Lahu Matriarchy: An Egalitarian Dyadic Society in China
The Lahu Matriarchy: An Egalitarian Dyadic Society in China From the book: Mothers, Queens, Goddesses, Shamans: Matriarchy in China (Miraguano, Madrid, 2011) The egalitarian society of the Lahu drew academic attention with Du Shanshan’s study Chopsticks Only Work in...
Chinese culture
Does the Daodejing Contain the Oldest Creation Myth of China?
Does the Daodejing Contain the Oldest Creation Myth of China? An introductory article on Chinese mythology asserts (twice) that the myth of the creation of Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor) should be considered one of China's creation myths, following the model of...