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
The world of Shanghai courtesans
The world of Shanghai courtesans The Sing-song girls of Shanghai. A novel by Han Bangqing. The action of this novel takes place, as its title indicates, in the world of the singing girls of Shanghai, of which it is also a description. The singing girls were a type of...
Classics of Filial Piety
Classics of Filial Piety Since the establishment of a Confucian society in the Han dynasty, some two thousand years ago, filial piety could be considered the central pillar around which Chinese society has been built. The behavior of each person towards his father...
Teahouse: A Drama by Lao She
In Brief: One of the best contemporary plays compels multiple reflections on hope and power, and perhaps that universal dream of living in a just society. A drama that unfolds in a limited space spanning half a century of Chinese history. In the three acts in which it...
To Serve the People, a satire by Yan Lianke
To Serve the People, a satire by Yan Lianke In Brief: A biting satire in which the small longings of each person are exposed as the inevitable substratum on which great ideals, such as "serving the people" are built. The censorship of a Chinese work is a powerful...
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua One of the best Chinese novels of the 20th century. Without the apparent search for big ideas, it seduces the reader by its simplicity, and ends up entangling him in its plot. Chronicle of a blood seller, in reality, it is only...
The Grand Canal and the Great Wall
The Grand Canal and the Great Wall In Brief: A brief review showing some of the similarities between the two iconic works of Chinese history and culture, their goals, and their differences. As well as how they both ended up shaping this country. I have always been...
Hong Ying- An Art of Love without art and without love
Hong Ying- An Art of Love without art and without love In Brief: A scandalous novel that fails to shock, and an art of love that is conspicuous by its absence. Already from the beginning, we know that this is a love story without a future because the novel begins with...
Xin Ran – Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet
Xin Ran - Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet In Brief: A work full of exoticism that describes some interesting customs of the Tibetan nomads, but fails to convey emotions to the reader. Sky Burial: An Epic Love Story of Tibet is a novel set in the late 1950s. A...
Mao Dun – Rainbow, a beautiful metaphor about a woman and China
Mao Dun - Rainbow, a beautiful metaphor about a woman and China In short: This officially unfinished novel by the writer Mao Dun takes on a life of its own to become a model of the vital development of each person and at the same time of the social effervescence that...
Chinese characters
Caractères chinois – le livre
Caractères chinois - le livre Ce livre est consacré à révéler à l'étudiant occidental le "mystère" des caractères chinois, rendre leur apprentissage simple, fournir les clés pour entrevoir le sens et la prononciation des caractères inconnus. Pour ce faire, nous allons...
Ethnic groups
An Old Book on the Sani-Yi Minority
An Old Book on the Sani-Yi Minority One may wonder whether it makes any sense to read, in the first decades of the 21st century, a book written at the end of the 19th. Clearly, the person who has spent some of their time translating it, revising it, updating the old...
Chinese culture
The Wenzi Begins: Echoes from a Forgotten Taoist Voice
The Wenzi Begins: Echoes from a Forgotten Taoist Voice The Wenzi (文子) is an ancient Daoist text attributed to a disciple of Laozi. Although its authenticity has been debated throughout history, its content clearly reflects the Daoist worldview and its influence on the...