Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia is an expert on Catholicism history. He is best known for his 2010 biography A Jesuit in the Forbidden City, Matteo Ricci.…
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Tag: Asian & Asian American Biographies
The Jesuit in the Ming Court—Part 1
China had 200 million people at the end of the 16th century. It was the dream of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, to convert…
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Xi Jin Ping – Part 1
There are 3 recent books on Xi Jin Ping. The books are On Xi Jin Ping by Kevin Rudd, the former Australian Prime Minister, published…
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Canton Elegy – Part 1
Canton Elegy is a loving memoir, in the form of a letter to his 4 children, written by a Chinese dad late in life so…
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Wartime China Through Western Eyes
Here are 3 excellent books on life in wartime China from Western perspectives. Based on diaries and letters, the literature here transports us vividly to…
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Tibetan Buddhism Explored: Insights from Five Books
How was Buddhism spread to Tibet? How did Tibetan Buddhism evolve and assimilate with Tibetan’s native and animistic beliefs? Is Tibetan Buddhism now the purest…
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Sunday Book Haul
Last Sunday I bought 3 excellent books at Kinokuniya KLCC. The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials by Telford Taylor is a memoir by one of…
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The Box with the Sunflower Clasp
Reading this sad memoir of a Jewish family in Vienna and a Jew in Berlin trying to stay alive and flee their homelands reminds me…
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Zhou En Lai A Life – Part 3
The Xian Incident, (12–25 Dec 1936), is a major turning point in Chinese history. The incident refers to the arrest of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang…
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