I don't read much books but this one is the best that I have ever read.
You shouldn't miss this book as it will bring you hope and strength to fight for the misfortune. Quote from Lucy, ¡§Ah Wor gave her life to me will help you cope with areas in your life, no matter what difficulties you encounter. The opportunity to make the best of things is held out if we will work hard for it.¡¨ So friends, don't give up and live richer.

I met Lucy when I was 4 years old in a Vons supermarket. It was not until I was nearly 14 years old that I read Lucy's book and have to say that it made our friendship even more special. There is nothing quite like this book to give one perspective upon life that we might readily ignore in the busy stream of life. I treasure my copy of this masterpiece

Most certainly the best to show what can happen if all the odds are stacked against you and your luck has run out as well. Hats off to loyal people surrounding Lucy for their continued support.

I have lent my copy to many friends and guard my ownership - pity it is out of print should not be at all.

"Other Voices, Other Vistas," edited by Barbara H. Solomon, is a wonderful anthology of stories. The selections in the book are grouped by geographic region into 5 sections, each containing 5 stories. The regions represented are Africa, China, India, Japan, and Latin America. In her introduction, Solomon notes that all of the stories are written by major authors who had published fiction after World War II.

The group of 25 authors is full of noteworthy names: Chinua Achebe, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Jorge Luis Borges, and more. The themes in the anthology include love, marriage, parenthood, oppressive governments, art, religion, economic struggle, ideological conflict, and cultural dislocation. The modes range from fantasy to stark reality--there is violence and serenity, beauty and grotesqueness, sorrow and humor.

I especially loved the Chinese stories, which give a vivid portrayal of life under the Communist regime--it's like a real life dystopia. Other strong selections include Yukio Mishima's "Acts of Worship," about a professor's pilgrimage; Isabel Allende's "Clarisa," a colorful character study; and R.K. Narayan's "A Horse and Two Goats," a story of cross-cultural miscommunication. Overall, I would recommend this book both as a classroom text and for individual reading. Recommended companion text: "Caribbean New Wave," a short story anthology edited by Stewart Brown.

This is a pocket-size book, that contains short stories from the best international authors. Each story is a good one. Each one is different from the next. So, this book is good not only for college classes, but anyone who enjoys reading short stories from Asian, Latin, and African authors.

This collection is valuable to the teachers in humanities classes, because it opens up their students' minds (hopefully) to the new and often previously completely unknown world of different cultures. Many best authors are chosen from each culture. All stories, without exception will bring something new to you as a reader, and the reading itself will be nothing but a sheer delight!!!! All stories will also make you think about your own culture and its values. Some stories will make you laugh, yet others will make you cry...

Now in it's sixth edition, this work bt C.Y. Hsu is still one of the most popular textbooks on this subject in universities across the country. Within its 1000+ pages the book covers the period from the beginning of the Ching dynasty (1644) to 1998. I believe that what separates this book from others on this subject is that instead of focusing primarily on geography, chronology, and names, it attempts to provide a glimpse of the personalities and motivations of the many important figures that emerged during this period. The chapters concerning the years between the decline of the Ching at the turn of the 19th century and the establishment of the PRC in 1949 are extremely well done, and convey a great deal of information about important players of that age such as Sun Yat Sen, Mao, and Chiang Kai Shek. It is a well-researched, well-written book, and a pleasure to read.

Whether you are studying Chinese history or you're simply interested in China, this book is essential for every library. It is both consumately researched and artfully written.

Asian history doesn't get any better than this!

It is a very good book, it is very thorough,and factual, it is really critical of Mao. I highly recommend it

Shanghi Quartet found me in the footsteps of Min Zhan Lu. I found the book riveting - couldn't lay it down. I wanted to lift
the characters out of the book and spend some time with them over tea. This book is destined as a best seller.

This is simply a beautiful book. I read it on a long flight to Australia and kept turning to my travel companion to say, "I love this book. You have to read this book."

When I got to my conference, I gave the book to the first person I met who was also writing about the people of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. I wanted to share it with everyone.

So, now I'm on-line to get a new copy. I don't want to be without it.

I meant to save this book for an upcoming long air flight, but after the first two pages, I couldn't put it down. Min-Zhan Lu's compelling stories of her life and that of her grandmother, nanny, and mother are much like her scholarship in composition studies: rigorous, sensitive, thought-provoking. She depicts herself and the other women in her family as devoted to crossings, travel, immigration, and shows what strengths and challenges arise out of such lives. As she tells and revises and retells these stories, she looks for hints and strategies for doing better to recognize those strengths and handle those challenges. Her quest to compose possible lives, for herself and her daughter, rendered in exquisite prose, inspires us to see our lives as writing projects, always open to rethinking and revision.

It's like reading Proust's Rememberance of Times Past, but not so long. Each detail is mined for its resonances, memories, connections, meaning in the past and in the future. What's the meaning of her parents' clasped hands? What does it mean to drink green tea? Why do people we barely knew sometimes come to mean so much to us? So much meaning in the small details of everyday life.

It's a great book for a book group to read - if you're like me, you will be dying to talk about it with friends as soon as you finish it. It's the best thing I've read this year, and I read a lot.

Being a student of History I have read my fair share of history books. This was one of the few that held my attetion. I had trouble putting it down, and finished it in 2 readings. "Spring winds of Beijing" was a wonderful introduction to the Chinese people and their culture, and has made a lasting impression on me.

This was perhaps one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read. Even though I am a student of history, I typically find non-fiction to be very dry and sometimes boring. With "Spring winds of Beijing" this was not the case. This was a wonderful way to be introduced to the Chinese people and their culture.

This book was not only a pleasure to read, it changed my understanding of the Chinese people. It gave me deeper insight into the culture of China, the problems of it's politics and instilled a fondness in me for it's people that will last. Although, it is an educational piece of literature, it reads like a novel in it's warmth, familiarity and personal touch.. I fell in love with the Chinese people and with Gail Copeland. I was delighted and surprised by it. I highly recommend it to everyone.

This tragic biography traces the story of an educated man and his family in Phnom Penh. Subjected to the indescribable barbaric cruelty that the Khmer Rouge inflicted on its own countrymen, the writer provides the reader with their sense of hopelessness that gripped their nation less than 30 years ago. His hardship and ultimate triumph is the very definition of human survival and the will to survive. Anyone wanting to gain a better understanding of the plight of the Cambodian people under the Khmer Roughe MUST read this book. I can guarantee that when you finish reading this book you will undoubtedly take a moment to think about humanity itself.

this book should really help all of us appreciate our lives. It is amazing what he and his family went through! I could not put this book down! BY the way, does anyone have any recent info on the author? It would be interesting to see what he is up to now, and how his life is going, and if he ever contacted his son Naweth, or obtained any information.

I am rarely moved to tears when reading a book, yet Pin Kathy's recounting of his horrendous experiences and ultimate survival is an exception. The agony of his having to abandon his son and losing his wife in the forest while trying to escape from Cambodia are the worst of numerous agonizing events. The book is a very personal account of one man and the destruction of his family however, Pin Yathay's narration also achieves his primary goal of allowing the reader to understand what life or more often death was like for all under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge rule. This reign of terror is an extreme example of what happens when a nation's political structure so weakens that unbridled ignorance destroys all enlightenment. It is also a warning that progress can never be taken for granted. Few who read this book will ever forget it.

To begin, I believe that books are an inadequate didactic medium within the martial arts world; only a live instructor can point out the subtleties and variations in the motions of the arts. However, many books, this included, are a valuable resource to practitioners.

Although the greater part of the book was very thorough, I have some caveats about those parts which are not as acceptable. The beginning covers a brief history of Chinese swords (mainly of the jian variety). I'm not sure if this is a misconception by the author or a mistake in editing, but some of the pictures misrepresent the weapons they are supposed to illustrate; a slight rearrangement would fix this in most instances, but the fact that they are not arranged properly may result in trouble for the less cautious reader, or for the amateur. I further disagree with some of Yang's descriptions of the jian; the paragraph about the "blood groove" in especial. Although he is a respected martial artist, I maintain that those writers who know little about the weapon itself should write less; knowledge of its use does not, in many cases, signify knowledge of construction/history.

Yang does not go into as much detail as I would like in some aspects; the martial merit of some techniques should be explained more deeply. In many cases, he suffices to say that these techniques were efficient and worked, but did not really provide any reason besides vague references to balance or qi.

However, I am impressed with the thoroughness with which Yang tackles the subject. He covers basic stances, guards, and attacks, and depicts three very detailed forms (he dedicates approximately 100 pages to the first!). I was also pleased to note that he included the hanzi for many of the terms he uses, although he uses the English translation of the terms throughout the text rather than the Pinyin; e.g. he would refer to the Horse Stance rather than to Ma Bu. As something of a purist, I would rather see the Chinese than the English, but some may prefer the contrary.

One last point with which I was pleased was his enthusiasm to warn the reader that his book is NOT a comprehensive manual, and that actual instruction is required to reach any real level of skill in jianshu. I agree with this whole-heartedly. Even though this book is excellent for beginners, no beginner should rely solely on it to attain skill.

Overall, a very decent book indeed; certainly worth a look, and a good foundation for building new skills or for refreshing old skills.

History, Exercises and Forms are all in this book. I believe it has 3 complete forms. The forms are easy to follow and I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good sword book.

I found this book is the most comprehensive guide to learn Shaolin Sword. The picture and the explanation are clear and detail. I recommend this book for sword practisioner. I hope someday Dr. Yang will also produce "Southern Shaolin Sword" book.

I think everyone should read this book. It was great. I learned new words. I loved how there is a glossary at the back. It is also very exciting. Everything about Tibet seems different from America.

Tibet has always been very difficult to understand, so different from Western culture. "Rebel" lets a reader see Tibet from the inside, through the eyes of Tibetans at home there, not through the eyes of Western visitors. It gave me a feel for what it might be like to actually be Tibetan, and helped me to see how people from other non-Western cultures might think and feel. Definitely not just for teenagers.

It has your not so typical bad guy in it. It's thrilling. It's fiction, yet you learn about Tibet! It's action filled. It relates to every day life but with a twist of exoticness. The main character is pretty daring and brave.

Sima Qian was appointed grand historian of the Emperor Wu's court in 108 B.C. In his Records of the Grand Historian he describes the events which he witnessed or heard of that occurred during his lifetime, which offers the modern historian a fairly accurate account of a contemporary historian of the Han Dynasty. He composed his records from conversations he had with courtiers. In addition, he also consulted a plethora of documents and files which were stored in the palace as well as having had the ability to interview generals which enabled him to comment on the military institutions of the Han Dynasty.
Sima Qian had the ability to accompany the emperor on his visits to the provinces where he was able to record the "barbarian" tribes and lands which were brought under Han rule by Emperor Wu. In Sima Qian's records we also have evidence of the penal system and the conditions in the prison system. Qian wrote very detailed descriptions of these penal conditions for he had an intimate experience with them, having been punished for his "attempting 'to deceive the emperor'" (xii). He was accused of using "veiled" words in his description of Emperor Wu, which was Qian's way of criticizing the emperor using language and words that were not outright critical, but inferred disapproval of the emperor and his actions.
The purpose of his official history is to record things so that the people who will be reading the history will be able to understand their past. This need to understand where one comes from helps states and individuals determine how and why they got to where they are. He organizes his accounts thematically, he discusses the military, generals, and he offers a geographic and ethnographic account of the peoples in the various "barbarian" provinces as well. He repeats himself often in order to get a certain point across.
The second way in which official histories are used is that they teach people important lessons. As Thucydides articulated in his Peloponnesian Wars Book I:
It will suffice if my work is judged useful by those who wish to gain a precise understanding of past events because, due to human nature, such events, or ones resembling them, will occur again at some time in the future (Thucydides, 1.22.4)
Basically, if you don't understand or study history, and the mistakes that were made in the past, then you are doomed to repeat them. He is very detailed in his descriptions because the more detailed a history is then the more accurate it appears to be by those who read it.
In contrast to Tacitus, the Roman historian who wrote about the Roman frontier, Sima Qian's descriptions of the barbarians occupying the Han frontier lands is more accurate, possibly because he was able to actually visit and see "first-hand" these barbarians whom he writes about, whereas, much of Tacitus' description came from second-hand sources, and usually merely stereotypical.
As an official history of the Han Dynasty, this book serves its purpose. It allows modern historians a semi-accurate look at what life was like along the borders of Han China. As a source, Sima Qian has recorded a history which makes a valiant attempt at staying clear of certain stereotypes which other historians such as Tacitus could not avoid, that of the uncivilized "barbarian". Rather, Qian's description of the frontier peoples is written from the barbarian perspective, therefore more reliable.

Good, readable translation of the authentic source material on ancient China. Nearly complete text (skips a few boring parts). It's worth it for Sima Qian (aka Ssu'ma Chien)'s story alone: imperial historian who offends the emperor but chooses not to do the honorable thing (aka commit suicide) so he can finish his book. That's perserverance.

I agree with everything the previous reviewer said, except that it is in print again as of 1999.

This is a five-star translation of a five-star book - China's first major work of history, dating from 90 BC. The Qin portion makes up only fifteen or so of the Shi Ji's 130 chapters, but tells the story central to the moral vision of the whole work. This is the rise and collapse of China's first imperial dynasty - Qin is in fact the name from which we derive "China."

The book is a remarkable commentary on human pride, intrigue, strategy and revenge; it also has an eye for detail and anecdote. To cite just one case, a minister is humiliated and driven from his kingdom; and ultimately takes revenge, as prime minister of a neighboring kingdom, by forgiving his persecutor, inviting him to a banquet, and then forcing him eat a meal of hay and water. There is also a detailed description of the tomb of China's First Emperor (the central figure of this book, whose career becomes exemplary of the folly of brutality and suppression of free thought); which has since been made famous by the discovery of the ceramic army of Xian.

this book is a real thriller. action packed and very enjoyable to read. I used to be Geroge Grayson's secretary at a large Philadelphia law firm and just knew George had it in him to be a great author.

This is one of the best thrillers-written-by-lawyers that I've ever read, and I've read quite a few.
The intrigue and suspense is very good. There's a mysterious sub-plot concerning an old manuscript. The pace of the story-telling is very exact and intricate. The plot is fantastic in a way, but just credible enough.

A facinating thriller that is truly hard to put down. George Grayson takes the reader on a journey through the worlds of international finance and espionage with a masterful touch. Grayson imbues his work with a level of sophistication, scholarship and attention to detail that is unusual for the genre. This book has something for everyone: attorneys will enjoy the jabs at large lawfirm life, while those with an interest in international intrigue will be well satisfied. The story begins with the murder of an associate at a large lawfirm. His sister, refusing to believe his death was a suicide, recruits a law professor (a former federal prosecutor) to help her investigate his death. Together they plunge into a web of intrigue involving the Chinese government and the search for a mysterious, lost shipment of gold.