Swallowing Clouds

Author: A. Zee
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
"A. Zee invites us to a veritable Chinese banquet full of charming explorations of food, language, and culture. Beginning with simple dishes from a typical restarurant menu, Zee launches into an engrossing voyage of discoveries about Chinese language and cuisine. With folklore and anecdotes, he uncovers the roots of Chinese characters in ancient pictographs, giving an absorbing and effortless introduction to written Chinese. He also weaves in tradition and philosophy to tell such stories as why mao-tai liquor still comes tied with two red ribbons, why the god of wealth does not eat pork, why 'no monkey' may be the central tenet of Taoism, why a fine wine could make one sleep the sleep of the truily inebriated, and why eating wonton is like swallowing clouds. Zee's conversational wit and playful humor highlight Chinese civilization against a backdrop of two millennia of legend and history. Full of entertaining tales and intriguing insights, 'Swallowing clouds' is an engaging and informative adventure through the captivating world of Chinese culture and cuisine."--Front flap of dust jacket.

Swallowing Clouds

Author: Lillian Ng
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Book Description
A novel about the exploration of sexual passion through the eyes of a young Chinese girl living in Sydney.

Opium Culture

Author: Peter Lee
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1620551160
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

Book Description
A detailed study of the history and usage of opium • Explores the use of opium as a major healing herb and a popular relaxant • Details the opium practices adhered to in the Chinese tradition • Includes information on the suppression of opium by the modern pharmaceutical industry Opium. The very sound of the word conjures images of secret rooms in exotic lands, where languid smokers lounge dreamily in a blue haze of fragrant poppy smoke, inhaling from long bamboo pipes held over the ruby flame of the jade lamp. Yet today very little accurate information is available regarding a substance that for 300 years was central to the lives of millions of people throughout the world. In Opium Culture Peter Lee presents a fascinating narrative that covers every aspect of the art and craft of opium use. Starting with a concise account of opium’s long and colorful history and the story of how it came to be smoked for pleasure in China, Lee offers detailed descriptions of the growing and harvesting process; the exotic inventory of tools and paraphernalia required to smoke opium as the Chinese did; its transition from a major healing herb to a narcotic that has been suppressed by the modern pharmaceutical industry; its connections to the I Ching, Taoism, and Chinese medicine; and the art, culture, philosophy, pharmacology, and psychology of this longstanding Asian custom. Highlighted throughout with interesting quotes from literary and artistic figures who were opium smokers, such as Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Herman Melville, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the text is studded with gems of long forgotten opium arcana and dispels many of the persistent myths about opium and its users.

Ketchup Clouds

Author: Annabel Pitcher
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0316246778
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 169

Book Description
Dear Mr. S. Harris, Ignore the blob of red in the top left corner. It's jam, not blood, though I don't think I need to tell you the difference. It wasn't your wife's jam the police found on your shoe. . . . I know what it's like. Mine wasn't a woman. Mine was a boy. And I killed him exactly three months ago. Zoe has an unconventional pen pal--Mr. Stuart Harris, a Texas Death Row inmate and convicted murderer. But then again, Zoe has an unconventional story to tell. A story about how she fell for two boys, betrayed one of them, and killed the other. Hidden away in her backyard shed in the middle of the night with a jam sandwich in one hand and a pen in the other, Zoe gives a voice to her heart and her fears after months of silence. Mr. Harris may never respond to Zoe's letters, but at least somebody will know her story--somebody who knows what it's like to kill a person you love. Only through her unusual confession can Zoe hope to atone for her mistakes that have torn lives apart, and work to put her own life back together again. Rising literary star Annabel Pitcher pens a captivating second novel, rich with her distinctive balance between humor and heart. Annabel explores the themes of first love, guilt, and grief, introducing a character with a witty voice and true emotional resonance.

Adventure

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Adventure stories
Languages : en
Pages : 596

Book Description

Ancient China

Author:
Publisher: Kendall Hunt
ISBN: 9780787292621
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Book Description

Native American Stories

Author: Joseph Bruchac
Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
ISBN: 9781555910945
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 164

Book Description
A collection of Native American tales and myths focusing on the relationship between man and nature.

A Woman Soldier's Own Story

Author: Bingying Xie
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231502745
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Book Description
For the first time, a complete version of the autobiography of Xie Bingying (1906-2000) provides a fascinating portrayal of a woman fighting to free herself from the constraints of ancient Chinese tradition amid the dramatic changes that shook China during the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. Xie's attempts to become educated, her struggles to escape from an arranged marriage, and her success in tricking her way into military school reveal her persevering and unconventional character and hint at the prominence she was later to attain as an important figure in China's political culture. Though she was tortured and imprisoned, she remained committed to her convictions. Her personal struggle to define herself within the larger context of political change in China early in the last century is a poignant testament of determination and a striking story of one woman's journey from Old China into the new world.

Culture, Identity, Commodity

Author: Tseen Khoo
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0773573275
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Book Description
Established and emerging scholars offer timely discussions of "diasporic Chinese studies," drawing on transnational, postcolonial, globalisation, and racialisation theories. The collection examines what is at stake in the consideration of diasporic literatures and the connections and fissures emerging in these new critical terrains.

Clouds over Paris

Author: Felix Hartlaub
Publisher: Pushkin Press Classics
ISBN: 1782278451
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Book Description
A unique testament to the persistence of ordinary life through the disaster of modern war, perfect for fans of books like Suite Française Sharply immediate, evocative diaries from the heart of Occupied Paris in World War II by a classic German writer, in English for the first time The writer Felix Hartlaub died in obscurity at just 31, vanishing from Berlin in 1945. He left behind a small oeuvre of private writings from the Second World War: fragments and observations of life from the midst of catastrophe that, with their evocative power and precision, would make a permanent place for him in German letters. Posted to Paris in 1940 to conduct archival research, Hartlaub recorded his impressions of the unfamiliar city in notebooks that document with unparalleled immediacy the daily realities of occupation. With a painter's eye for detail, Hartlaub writes of the bustle of civilians and soldiers in cafés, of half-seen trysts during blackout hours and the sublime light of Paris in spring.