“Opportunity for high office is a matter of fate” -Tseng Kuo Fan advising Li Hung Chang. (Page 21) Li was a son of a Chin-Shih…
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Tag: Asian History (Books)
Introduction to Western specialists on China’s history (Part 2)
Jacques Gernet is a French sinophile. Long before the Americans, he had written highly acclaimed books on China’s history. Buddhism in Chinese Society was written…
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Introduction to Western specialists on China’s history (Part 1)
Joseph W Esherick is an expert on Chinese History. In Ancestral Leaves, he gives us a human history of China from the 14th century to…
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A Critical Introduction to Mao
This is not an introduction to Mao. It is a deep dive. In this 2010 book comprising 14 essays by 15 scholars the subjects covered…
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Mao
This slim 205-page book published in 1999 of Mao by Jonathan Spence is a very concise biography. It merely scratches the surface of a leader…
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Mao Tse Tung (Part 1)
All biographies of Mao focus on his failures and foibles. They magnify his disastrous Hundred Flowers Campaign of Feb 1957, and the Anti-Rightist Movement that…
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The New Emperors: Mao and Deng – A Dual Biography
This is arguably the best biography of Mao and Deng. The author has gone into granular details which gives wonderful perspectives on them. Besides this,…
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The New Emperors: Mao & Deng; a Dual Biography
This is a stunningly detailed dual biography of Mao and Deng. The late Salisbury is a reporter who wrote many books on Russia and China.…
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Tracing It Home
This is not a typical memoir. What we have is the author (who achieved fame for her Sons of the Yellow Emperor) tracing her roots…
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China’s Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture
Nothing benefits learning more than being associated with the right people. – Hsun Tzu (wade-Giles), Xunzi (pinyin) p v. This is one of the best,…
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