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China news tagged with: books (30)

• Rare Books from China to be Digitized

  

  A report from Boston.com gives information on the 6-year project between Harvard-Yenching Library and the National Library of China to digitize rare Chinese books:

  A chance conversation in Macau last year between the head of the Harvard-Yenching Library and the director of the National Library of China, two men with a passion for ancient texts, led to the signing yesterday of an ambitious, six-year pact to digitize Harvard’s treasure trove of 51,000 rare Chinese books.

  Officials from Harvard and the National Library of China would not release exact costs, other than to say it was a “multimillion-dollar’’ project and that the Chinese government is paying most expenses. Harvard staff will be responsible for capturing images of the fragile books, scrolls, and artifacts, one of the largest collections outside Asia, using high-tech cameras in its state-of-the-art lab at Widener Library.

  Once completed, these images dating as far back as the Song ynasty in 960 AD, will be publicly available for free on the Web to scholars in China and elsewhere.

  “We need to change the mindset that rare materials must be kept behind closed doors,’’ said James Cheng, the head librarian at Harvard-Yenching, a separate building just outside Harvard Yard. “A library is not a museum.’’

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  • October 10, 2009 3:03 PM

• Chinese Pen “Instant” Michael Jackson Biography

  

  From Reuters:

  Two Chinese writers slaved for 48 hours straight to produce an “instant” biography of late singer Michael Jackson, despite having never met him, a state-run newspaper said on Monday.

  The book, called “Moonwalk in Paradise”, hit the bookshelves over the weekend, the China Daily said, after the authors subsisted on a diet of coffee and cigarettes and worked round-the-clock to complete it.

  While they are not as popular as the Taiwanese and Hong Kong stars who dominate the music scene in China, Western artists are making inroads in the local market, thanks to young fans.

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  • July 7, 2009 1:43 AM

• Nationalism Rages in New Chinese Book

  

  One of China’s newest book releases is Unhappy China: The Great Time, Grand Vision and Our Challenges(《中国不高兴：大时代，大目标及我们的内忧外患》). A 2009 analog to the nationalist 1996 bestseller China Can Say No, the book is a stinging critique of Western countries and their media. The Zhongnanhai blog translates a Oriental Morning Post (东方早报) article:

  The book Unhappy China – The Great Time, Grand Vision and Our Challenges has been put on the shelves of Beijing bookstores. The book is authored by Song Xiaojun, Wang Xiaodong, Song Qiang, Huangjisong, and Liu Yang.

  Unhappy China contains severe criticism of western countries, with the harshest words reserved for the United States. Zhang Xiaobo, who helped plan the book, said, “This is the revised and upgraded version of the book China Can Say No published in 1996. In the past 12 years, the situation inside and outside of China has changed dramatically, however, there is just one thing that hasn’t changed and never will change: that is we Chinese need to tell the western world we are not happy about what they did to us.”

  One of the authors of this book, Song Qing, was also one of the authors of China Can Say No.

  Unhappy China has 340 thousand words, and is published by Jiang Su Renmin Publishing House. Zhang Xiaopo said, “What happened to us Chinese in 2008 made Chinese people really angry, depressed and annoyed. We finally had our Olympics and we finally made it to the center of the world stage, but look what we got! Boycotts from the western world; treated by them like we are different kind of animal in the world.”

  Oiwan Lam of Global Voices Online has also written about the new release and has translated portions of a book summary posted on Douban:

  Why is China unhappy?
  - There are ghosts behind the Lhasa 3.14 incident, the strategic encirclement of Western World towards China has become more concrete and obvious.
  - Sanlu milk power incident has result in a “psychological tear” among Chinese people. It threaten a strong nation’s core values.
  - People like Nicolas Sarkozy have been offensive to China out of nasty opportunism.
  - The so-called “knowledge elites” or “excellent Chinese people” are harmful to our national spirit.

  [...]What should China advocate?
  - China should become a country with heroic mission.
  - Hold our sword to protect our business, this is a way to build a strong nation.
  - The National Liberation Army should follow China’s core value.
  - We should not listen to the sweet talk of “finance warriors”, industrial upgrade is the fundamentals
  - Get to know the “Russian Roulette” nature of western diplomatic strategy, lower the concrete diplomatic relation with France.
  - China should be brave in protecting international security and clear our path towards a strong country.
  - Avoid high-art’s culture for affecting our social life or else we cannot actualized our political and economic goals.

  Lam has also translated some online reactions on Douban. Some readers heartily recommend the book, while others disdain the publication. From the user abing:

  The content of this book is very simple. It follows the old demagogic discourse of China can say No, reconfigures a number of contemporary social problems, and finds some entrance points in attacking Southern Weekend, Jian Zhong Shu, Wang Xiao Bo. It tells us, China is good enough, don’t be self-critical, don’t be caught in internal problem, the West is just a paper tiger. What else? There is nothing else.

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  • March 13, 2009 10:50 PM

• Chinese Publisher’s Obama Instincts Proved Right

  

  From AFP:

  Young publisher Han Manchun was so taken by US president-elect Barack Obama’s ideas that he decided to have one of his books translated — and created an unexpected hit in China.

  Han, 27, fell under Obama’s spell after reading “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream,” written in 2006 by the then Illinois senator.

  When Han devoured the book at the beginning of 2008, Obama was still a candidate in the Democratic Party’s primaries, and many expected he would lose to a determined Hillary Clinton.

  But the inspired graduate of Tsinghua University’s law faculty, in Beijing, was so impressed by what he read that he was certain Obama would win, and that this presented an opportunity in China.

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  • January 17, 2009 10:39 PM

• Confucius TV Spin-Off Leads China’s Non-Fiction: Top 10 Books

  

  From Bloomberg:

  A book applying the 2,500-year-old teachings of philosopher Confucius to today’s problems was China’s best-selling non-fiction title last month, reflecting a desire for order in a rapidly changing nation.

  “Sentiments on the Analects of Confucius,” by Yu Dan, led the non-fiction list for a third straight month in June, said Beijing OpenBook Co., which monitors sales at about 1,500 outlets nationwide. Confucius advocated a hierarchical social order where each observes his station in life and defers to elders. A 2006 book on Confucian philosophy by Yu, a professor at Beijing Normal University, ranked fifth, said OpenBook.

  “Sentiments,” which beat titles on currency conflict and traditional healing, is based on Yu’s lectures in a popular TV series aired by state broadcaster China Central Television. The show’s success fueled sales, said Shuyu Kong, a professor of Chinese literature at the University of Sydney.

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  • July 29, 2008 6:25 AM

• More and More Chinese Buy Books via Online Shopping – Xinhua

  

  Xinhua reports that Chinese people buy more books online than in the bookstores, via People ’s Daily Online:

  On-line shopping is growing rapidly in China, and more and more Chinese are buying books on the net. An earlier report issued by AC Nielsen revealed that China has the highest online book-purchasing rate in the world.

  About 63 percent of Chinese Internet users had made online purchases and 56 percent of the purchasers had bought reading materials, the highest ratio in the world, said the report issued by AC Nielsen Consulting Group, a leading world marketing information company in late 2005…[Full Text]

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  • August 12, 2007 1:39 PM

• Made in China, Read Worldwide – Helen Brown

  

  Helen Brown discusses the Western enjoyment of China’s “forbidden literary fruit,” with references to yellow books and blue books, Ezra Pound, “cold literature,” and the lack of domestic crime thrillers. From Telegraph newspaper online:

  Fifteen years ago, a big green book emerged from a country better known for a little red one.

  Jung Chang’s family memoir Wild Swans told the heartbreaking story of three generations of women in China: the warlord’s concubine, the betrayed revolutionary and the reluctant Red Guard who became a writer.

  Selling more than 10 million copies and topping the “most borrowed historical biography” chart in British libraries year after year, it proved a publishing phenomenon and a triumph for an author who, at the age of 16, had flushed her first poem down the loo for fear her father’s tormentors should find it. [Full Text]

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  • July 23, 2007 11:45 PM

• Shutterbugs Upset Bookstore Owners – Shanghai Daily

  

  From Shanghai Daily (photo: a bookstore goer snaps a photo from a book with a cell phone, via Xinhua):

  Several bookstore owners in the city are unhappy about an increase in the number of people taking photos of pages in expensive books so they don’t have to pay for them.

  The bookstore shutterbugs, who are referred to as paishuzu (拍书族) in Chinese, are mainly students looking for information from reference books.

  “Such books are usually expensive, often costing thousands of yuan for one copy. That’s too much for a student,” said a young man surnamed He in Shanghai Book City. “We do this because it won’t make sense to buy the whole book as we only want the content from some of the pages.” [Full Text]

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  • March 11, 2007 6:01 PM

• Book excerpts: The Press – Zhu Huaxiang (Êú±ÂçéÁ••)

  

  From EastSouthWestNorth blog:

  The following is the translation of The Press by Zhu Huaxiang (朱华祥). This book is one of the eight books that were banned by the General Administration of Press and Publications. The Press is a novel about the lives of certain newspapers workers in a hypothetical place known as Oriental City.

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  • January 31, 2007 10:35 PM

• Mapping Eileen’s life – Chen Qing

  

  From Shanghai Daily:
  
  

  Eileen Chang to Shanghai is as Charles Dickens to London and Victor Hugo to Paris. Now a book details and maps the life of the complicated legendary female writer who penned the city’s living history.

  Shanghai and Eileen Chang (or Zhang Ailing º†Áà±Áé≤), the city and the legendary writer – the idea came to Chun Zi, whose real name is Li Chun, a city radio presenter and writer, when she visited one of Chang’s old residences.

  The idea became a book “Right Here Shanghai: A Map of the Life of Eileen Chang,” recently released in an updated 166-page second edition with new photos and information. It contains more than 100 scenes of Shanghai and is a virtual map of Chang’s life in the city. [Full Text]

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  • December 10, 2006 10:57 PM

• China’s schools forbid photocopying of foreign textbooks – Chinaview

  

  From Chinaview via Xinhua News Agency:

  Chinese schools are not allowed to photocopy foreign textbooks after a spate of copyright infringement complaints from overseas publishers.

  “All foreign textbooks used in Chinese universities and colleges should be the original edition or the authorized domestic edition,” said a circular from the Ministry of Education during the country’s latest move to fight book piracy.

  Chinese students who have extremely limited incomes have been photocopying complete foreign textbooks recommended by teachers. A photocopied edition only costs a few dollars, and photocopy workshops always enjoy booming business around campus…. [Full Text]

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  • November 12, 2006 10:38 AM

• Jiang Zemin’s works become bestsellers – Xinhua News Agency

  

  From Xinhua News Agency via Danwei blog:

  Queues were reported in book stores around China as The Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, former Chinese President, went on sale on Thursday.

  Branches of the government-run Xinhua Bookstore chain have trucked in tens of thousands of copies to fill their shelves on the first day of its publication.

  In Lhasa, capital of Tibet, prospective readers lined up for Jiang’s book as soon as the local Xinhua bookstore opened. Sales assistants, dressed in local costume, were busy helping readers pack their copies. [Full Text]

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  • August 11, 2006 9:28 AM

• The Rise of China and India – What’s in it for Africa – OECD

  

  From OECD (link):

  African countries are not simply spectators to the economic rise of China and India, they are party to it. This book demonstrates how the growing economic power of China and India is already influencing the growth patterns of African countries, particularly oil- and commodities-exporting ones. As world prices for commodities rise, producer countries in Africa and throughout the world will gain, but there is more to the story than that. Some African countries are redirecting part of their trade and other relationships from their traditional OECD partners to China and India. The book explores the consequences of this, and comes to some surprising conclusions.

  This book is a must-read for anyone who is concerned with the changes in the world economy being brought about by the extraordinary economic growth of China and India. Not only do they represent over a billion workers, but these workers are also consumers and investors. As China and India consolidate their positions in Africa, the results could be unexpected and dramatic.

  The summary is available (in PDF) at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/52/24/36760909.pdf.

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  • May 30, 2006 8:14 PM

• White House Letter: How biography of Mao offers insight into Bush – Elisabeth Bumille

  

  From the International Herald Tribune:

  The book might at first seem an odd choice for Bush, whose taste in biography, like that of other U.S. presidents, runs to previous occupants of the Oval Office. But it is not so surprising given that “Mao: The Unknown Story” has been embraced by the right as a searing indictment of Communism.

  Other reviewers have praised the book’s brutal portrait of Mao as a corrective to sunnier biographies, even as they have questioned the authors’ moralistic, good-and-evil version of history. But almost everyone calls “Mao” a prodigiously researched page-turner.

  Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, said last week that Laura Bush had given the book to her husband as a gift and that the president had just finished reading it. Asked why Bush liked the book, McClellan said he would find out, then reported back on Friday that Bush had told him that it “really shows how brutal a tyrant he was” and that “he was much more brutal than people assumed.”

  Technorati Tags: China, Gearge W Bush, Mao

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  • January 22, 2006 12:39 PM

• Regional Powerhouse: The Greater Pearl River Delta and the Rise of China – Gary LaMoshi

  

  From Asia Times Online: Regional Powerhouse: The Greater Pearl River Delta and the Rise of China by Michael J. Enright, Edith E Scott and Ka-mun Chang.

  As China’s role in the global economy expands, books and articles about Middle Kingdom rivals are flying off the assembly line as fast as toys and tank tops for export. But despite the mushrooming output, a version of the cliche about the weather applies to economic literature on China: Everybody writes about it, but no one tells you anything about it.

  Regional Powerhouse: The Greater Pearl River Delta and the Rise of China deepens the available knowledge base without shedding much useful light. As its fuzzy book cover (that’s the printing, not our website or your computer) suggests, the book isn’t clear on a number of key points.

  If you pick up the book, you likely already know that Pearl River Delta (PRD) refers to the area of southern China that includes portions of the mainland’s Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau. (The “greater” in the book’s title distinguishes this grouping from the mainland’s Pearl River Delta economic zone that excludes Hong Kong and Macau.) Maybe you also know that the Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai’s turf, is a second node of export-led prosperity and innovation.

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  • October 23, 2005 9:55 AM

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