On the shelf-A current booklist on China

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shanghaiceltic

Shanghai Royalty

Joined: Sep 20, 2005
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Posted: May 02, 2006 - 05:15 PM
Post subject: On the shelf-A current booklist on China

I was tidying up my bookshelves today (yes a broing thing to do) but they needed a good clean up and I suddenly realised that I had collected quite a few volumes on China and Shanghai over the last 7 years.

Here's the list with publishers and ISBN numbers:

Mao-A Life Philip Short Hodder & Stoughton 0-340-75`98-3
Very readable biography on Mao. Covers his rise to power and the methods he used to stay in Power.

Mao-The Secret Life Jung Chang
Another Mao biography which leaves nothing to the imagination. Very readable and at time quite depressing.

Shanghai Harriet Seargant John Murry & Sons 0-7195-5713-5
A history of both Chinese and Westerners in Shanghai in the 1920-1930’s. Excllent information on the gangsters such as Du Yue Sheng

In Search of Old Shanghai Pan Ling 962-04-0195-6
Looks at the history of Shanghai via the old buildings that still exist today and tells the story of the buildings and the people.

All About Shanghai Oxford Paperbacks 0-19-581594-7
A reprint of a 1930’s guide to Shanghai. An interesting book as it is full of details that today you’d find in a Lonely Planet guide. Plus lots of old adverts and a nice map of Shanghai at that time.

Shanghai-Electric & Lurid City Oxford University Press 0-19-590603-9
An anthology of extracts from diaries, novels, songs and newspaper articles from the 1920’s -1940’s edited by Barbara Baker. The diary extracts are very interesting as they are a quite personal view of the city.

Secret War in Shanghai Bernard Wasserstein Profile Books 1-86197-138-9
Covers the history of Shanghai from before 1937 – 1945. It specifically looks at the goings on in the British, US, Russian, German and Japanese intelligence and the occupation by Japan of Shanghai.

New Shanghai Pamela Yatsko J. Wiley & Sons 0-471-47915-2
A look at the rise of Shanghai as a modern commercial city. It is an interesting read as it also helps you begin to understand the mentality of the Shanghaiese.

A Short History of Shanghai F.L.Hawkins
A reprint of a book published in 1924 cover the early history of foreign trade in Shanghai. A bit dry but it has some good historical information on the city and an excellent map of Shanghai in 1920 with all the olf street names given by foreigners.

Barbarians & Mandarins Nigel Cameron Oxford University Press 0-19-590373-0
13 centuries of foreign encounters with China. Well worth a read, Marco Polo was a relative latecomer to China. Good extracts from contemporary documents.

The Chinese Jasper Becker John Murray Paperbacks 0-71956036-5
One of the best writers on modern China. A book which deals with the government, politics and the life of modern China. I’d put it down as a must read.

Hungry Ghosts Jasper Becker Owl Books 0-8050-5668-8
A book dealing with the Great leap Forward and the famine that followed. This new edition also has a section on the famine in North Korea. Quite a harrowing book.

Modern China Graham Hutchings 0-14-026275
More of a reference book to China on its politics, government systems and the people who are in power. A good book to have on the shelf as it is almost an encyclopedia on China.

Understanding China John Byron Starr Profile Books 1-8619-7116-8
Looks at the changes in China from the time Deng Xiao Ping opened up the country. Sounds a dry sort of book but it is not, very readable.

No Dogs and Not Many Chinese Frances Wood John Murray & Sons 0-7195-6400-X
Life in the treaty ports in China 1843-1943. A sympathetic look at the rise of the treaty ports and the trading houses.

Duel In the Snows Charles Allen John Murray & Sons 0-7195-5429-2
At last a book that deals with the Younghusband venture into t¡bet in 1903. Not a nice piece of colonial British history, the reason for the invasion was to prevent t¡bet falling into Russian hands. Read it.

t¡bet Handbook Kotan Publishing 0-9701716-0-9
Excellent guide book to t¡bet. Good maps and lots of info on both the people and their beliefs.

Mapping The t¡betan World Footprint Handbooks 0-900751-69-X
Another good guide to t¡bet. Detailed maps and city guides

The Small Woman Alan Burgess Pan books
This is probably out of print. It is the story of Gladys Aylward who worked as a parlour maid in order to save money to pay for her own passage to China in 1911. She became a missionary and set up an orphanage between Chengdu and Xian. She also became a ‘footbinding preventer’ under the protection of the local Mandarin. The book also covers the fighting between the Nationalists and the Japanese. This was the first book I ever read on China, at 11 years old it made quite an impression.

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