The Last Days of Old Beijing
Good book, and I haven’t finished all of it yet. I’ll write a review and post it on LibraryThing later.
A bit of description from Amazon:
A fascinating, intimate portrait of Beijing through the lens of its oldest neighborhood, facing destruction as the city, and China, relentlessly modernizes.
Soon we will be able to say about old Beijing that what emperors, warlords, Japanese invaders, and Communist planners couldn’t eradicate, the market economy has. Nobody has been more aware of this than Michael Meyer. A long-time resident, Meyer has, for the past two years, lived as no other Westerner—in a shared courtyard home in Beijing’s oldest neighborhood, Dazhalan, on one of its famed hutong (lanes). There he volunteers to teach English at the local grade school and immerses himself in the community, recording with affection the life stories of the Widow, who shares his courtyard; coteacher Miss Zhu and student Little Liu; and the migrants Recycler Wang and Soldier Liu; among the many others who, despite great differences in age and profession, make up the fabric of this unique neighborhood.
All the Tea in China
A decent business book, similar to one of my all time favourite Chinese memoirs Mr. China. It’s not a memorable as Mr. China, and the writings are much drier and less consistent. It’s a specific focus on the manufacturing industry and a story on the great US outsourcing machine. He does give excellent advice on when NOT to outsource to China, which should be heeded by all.
And before I forget, I’ll post my review for
Mr. China:
Now, this is how a memoir should be written, especially on a subject like China. He was charmed by the mystery of China, and moved there on a whim and a prayer. (Actually I felt that his Madam Butterfly reference is fairly correct, because that’s almost how China is. )
He moved to Beijing around 1988/89, and tried to learn Mandarin in a Chinese University. He ate cabbage Beijing style, and watched the slow transition of a country’s rise from communist country to that of a quasi captialist one. As Clissold has said in the book, the Chinese are captialists in heart.
In less than 20 years, China has risen from a super poor country to a quasi economical super power. The burning passion from every Chinese to escape poverty, crime, governmental control, and their attempts at building a brighter future for themselves are all presentd here in this book.
This isn’t a sucess story. In fact, this is a story about failures, but the more he “failed”, the more he learned about China in a more fundamental way. The last chapter is especially touching. He decided to travel 1000 kms on his bike through some of the poorest regions of Northern China. And how he felt when he went to Pudon in Shanghai. In his own words, “I felt like I’ve been inside for too long, and when I came out, the sunlight was blinding me.”
His parting wisdom is important to all that players effecting China – China will be China, and it will do things on its own pace, in its own way. You can’t hope that China will change on your behalf, because it won’t. All those people that said that China will eventually see light of reason and play the way everyone plays, well.., read this book.
HIGHLY recommend it!
