This compact book of 295 pages, Caucasus An Introduction by Thomas de Waal, 2nd ed 2019, is a joy to read. De Waal’s prose is…
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Author: Julia_M
The Gang of Four – Part 1
This book The Cultural Revolution on Trial, published in 2016, is the most recent book on the trial of The Gang of Four. The trial…
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Escape to the East
Here are 2 books on Jewish refugees finding sanctuary in Shanghai during WW 2. Shanghai Sanctuary by Gao Bei [ 2013] narrates that when Europe…
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Inscribed Landscapes: Travel Writing from Imperial China
This is an anthology of writings by Chinese who travelled in their own country and wrote of their travels and the sights they saw. The…
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Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat – Part 1
The current war in Gaza , the tariffs war and other political dramas remind me of the saying that those who do not know history…
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The Pity of It All Explained
A Jew, to use Satre’s definition, is a person considered by others as a Jew, irrespective of his religious or ethnic allegiance. The Pity of…
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Du Fu [ Tu Fu ]
Du Fu (Chinese: 杜甫; pinyin: Dù Fǔ; Wade–Giles: Tu Fu (712–770), is considered primus inter pares of the three greatest poets in the Tang dynasty.…
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The Tiananmen Protests figures – Part 1
How many died when the military went in to clear protesters who refused to obey a martial law curfew? A recent book stated 478 dead…
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Yongzheng
There are no English biographies on Emperor Yongzheng as far as I know. To the uninitiated, he is an unimpressive emperor compared to his father,…
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Shangxi – Part 9
The best book on the spread of Buddhism to China from India is still the old 1964 published, Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey by…
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