Books about China    
& Chinese Language

I will try to rewrite this page when I have a chance.

These are books I have read and would recommend. This page lists the books alphabetically by author's name.

China, Chinese Culture, & Chinese People

• In China, photographs by photojournalist Eve Arnold. Alfred E. Knopf. © 1980.
  This is one of my favorite photograph books about China. Ms. Arnold traveled to China in 1979, shortly after the country became more open to a roaming Western photographer. She made two trips, together totaling 5 months. Her book has 170 color photographs and well written introductions to each section. I find her photographs convey a rich sense of personal experience, especially her portraits.
• The Chopsticks-Fork Principle: A Memoir and Manual by Cathy Bao Bean. We Press.
• Cathy Bao Bean's website
• The Chinese by Jasper Becker (Beijing Bureau Chief of the South China Morning Post). © 2000. The Free Press (Simon & Schuster).
• China, Alive in the Bitter Sea by Fox Butterfield (N.Y. Times first Beijing Bureau Chief). © 1982. N.Y. Times Books.
• The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang. Basic Books. © 1997.
Some Related Links:

• Book Excerpt, Dec. 1 1997, NEWSWEEK
  @ WWW Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre (1937-1938), Research Institute for the Humanities (RIH), Faculty of Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
• MetroActive News & Issues | The Rape of Nanking: Breaking the Silence December 12, 1996.
• Nightmare in Nanking by Sue De Pasquale, Johns Hopkins Magazine -- November 1997
• CNN - Salon review: 'The Rape of Nanking' January 1999.
• Online NewsHour: Gergen Dialogues: Iris Chang February 20, 1998, PBS
• The Chinese In America: A Narrative History, by Iris Chang. Viking. 2003.
• Speaking of Chinese, by Raymond Chang and Magaret Scrogin Chang. W.W. Norton. © 1978.
• Dragons in the Flowery Land -- An Introduction to Chinese History and Literature, by Yin-Lien C. Chin, Yetta S. Center, and Mildred Ross. Seaton Hall University. © 1985.
  "It would be a simple task to tell about China's earliest beginnings if only mountains could whisper, and green fields sigh." So begins this book of story telling. Each chapter introduces a period in China's history, and then follows with selections of stories, poetry, and drama. Both the history and literature give tasteful, often poignant tastes of China's past.
• Chinese Mythology by Anthony Christie. © 1968, 1983. Peter Bedrick Books.
• The Heart of the Dragon, by Alasdair Clayre. Houghton Mifflin Co. © 1984.
  This is based on the PBS documentary series. The book is interesting to read, whether or not one has seen the series.
• Art in China by Craig Clunas (Professor in History of Art, University of Sussex). Oxford University Press. © 1997.
  This book presents a brief yet meaningful survey of art in China from prehistory to the present. The book's endearing feature is that its focus is on how the art was used.
• China -- A Cultural History, by Arthur Cotterell. Meridian, NAL Penguin. © 1988.
• The First Emperor of China, The Greatest Archeological Find of our Time by Arthur Cotterell. © 1981. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
  About the archeology of the famous terracotta soldier army discovered near the tomb of the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, near Xian, Shensi. Also, there is some historical background about the earlier feudal periods, including the major intellectual schools of thought which arose during the Warring States period. And there is some discussion about the Qin dynasty itself.
• China, A New History by John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman (Harvard University & Boston University). Harvard University Press. © 1998, 2005.
  An interesting synthesis of current thinking and questions. Includes references to recent scholarship.
• Ancient China, From Beginnings to the Empire, by Jaques Gernet. Translated from French. University of California Press. 1968.
• Daily Life in China, On the Eve of the Mongol Invasion 1250-1276, by Jacques Gernet. Translated from the French by H.M. Wright. Stanford University Press. © 1962 (English translation).
• A History of Chinese Civilization, by Jaques Gernet. Translated from the French Le Monde Chinois, © Librairie Armand Colin, Paris, 1972. English Translation © Cambridge University Press, 1982.
• Americans and Chinese by Francis L. K. Hsu. © 1955. The Cresset Press.
• China, a Macro History by Ray Huang. © 1988. M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
• Fantastic Tales by Ji Xiaolan, edited and translated by Sun Haichen. © 1998. New World Press (Beijing). This book is adapted from a collection of stories about ghosts, demons and other spirits, compiled in China during the 1700's. The stories weren't written as fiction but rather as a collection of hearsay and recounted experiences. It's interesting to see what people may have believed. Also, within the stories are social commentary, humor, wit, and various views of life. I got this book to share with Chinese friends at a Halloween party. The book is bilingual English and Chinese.
• Chinese Cavalcade by Kwan Kim-Gaul. Hernert Jenkins. © 1963.
  This is an informal narrative history of China, by a Chinese American artist.
• The Woman Warior, by Maxine Hong Kingston. Vintage Books. © 1975, 1976.
• Voices From the Gaps: Maxine Hong Kingston
• Pin Chia Feng: Maxine Hong Kingston
• Suite101.com:
• Growing Up Chinese-American- M.H. Kingston's -The Woman Warrior
• The Woman Warrior- Maxine Hong Kingston's Girlhood Among Ghosts
• Maxine Hong Kingston Teacher Resource Guide by Inez Ramsey.
• Maxine Hong Kingston, part of a women's history month biography collection @ gale.com
• Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World by John Larner. Yale University Press. © 1999.
• When China Ruled the Seas by Louise Levathes. Oxford University Press. © 1994.
  An interesting look at China's maritime past. The particular focus is the expeditions of the eunich admiral Zhang He in the early 1400's. Yet also discussed is evidence for earlier Chinese voyages as far as the New World. Includes historical illustrations.
• Daughter of Heaven, A Memoir with Earthly Recipes by Leslie Li. © 2005. Arcade Publishing (Time Warner).
  A memoir by a Chinese-American woman who grew up in Riverdale, New York City. The most significant family member in her story is Leslie Li's grandmother, Nai Nai, who came from China and moved in while Leslie was in 7th grade. The role of the grandmother's cooking in the family life provided a backcloth to Leslie's growing experiences.
• Everyday Life in Early Imperial China, by Michael Loewe. Dorset Press. © 1968.
  Focuses on the Han Dynasty, 202 BC - 220 AD.
• A Generation Lost, by Zi-Ping Luo. Henry Holt & Co. © 1990.
  A personal account of growing up during the Cultural Revolution.
• Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics - Teachers' Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics in China and the United States, by Liping Ma. ©1999. Lawrence Erlbaum.
• The publisher's page about the book
• NCTM- News & Hot Topics- Articles- Comparing What U.S. and Chinese Elementary School Math Teachers Know National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
• Book Review- Knowing and Teaching Mathematics by Roger Howe. Alternative PDF file @ American Mathematical Society (AMS).
• Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics Key to Improving Mathematics Education
  A preview of the above book review. AMS.
• A Thousand Pieces of Gold: My Discovery of China's Character in Proverbs by Adeline Yen Mah. © 2002. Harper.
• Science in Traditional China, A Comparitive Perspective by Joseph Needham. Harvard University Press. © 1981.
• A Daughter of Han -- The Autobiography of a Chinese Working Woman, by Ida Pruitt, from a story told her by Ning Lao T'ai T'ai (Mrs.). Stanford University Press. © 1945. My edition printed 1990.
  This is a biography of a Chinese working woman who lived from the late 19th to mid 20th centuries.
• Chinese Studies: Daughter of Han Reading Guide Paul Halsall
• Ancient China -- Art and Archaeology, by Jessica Rawson. British Museum Publications Ltd. © 1980.
  This book is an accompanyment to the early Chinese art and archaeology collections at the British Museum. The collection objects date from the Neolithic to the Han Dynasty (up to 220 AD). This book's perspective is strongly one of professional art history, although the book is not a catalogue of museum objects. It's focus is on the development of Chinese art and archaeological artifacts within the context of Chinese history. There is strong attention to artisic details and techique, and their evolution over time. Relevant archaeological sites are sometimes discussed. For me this book serves as an interesting bridge between what I see in art museums and what I read in more general history books.
• The Soul of China, An Interpretation of Chinese History by Amaury de Riencourt. Revised Edition © 1958, 1965. Harper & Row.
• The Shorter Science & Civilization in China: 1, An Abridgement by Colin A. Ronan of Joseph Needham's original text. Cambridge University Press. © 1978.
• The Search for Modern China, by Jonathan D. Spence. W.W. Norton & Company. © 1990.
  From the late Ming period to the present.
• Art of China, Korea, and Japan, by Peter Swann. Frederick A. Preager Publishers. © 1963, 1965.
  For a book that covers such a broad focus, this is very well written and informative.
• The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan. G.P. Putnam & Sons. © 1989.
• Anniina's Amy Tan Page
• Voices from the Gaps - Amy Tan
• Chinese Art, by Mary Tregear. Thames & Hudson. 1980, 1987.
• A Golden Treasury of Chinese Poetry. Translated by John Turner. Renditions Books, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. © 1975. In Chinese and English.
  This is a nice selection of classical poems spanning most of Chinese history. Each page opens with a poem in Chinese on one side, and an English translation on the other. The translator was Father John Turner (1909-1971). He came to Hong Kong from Ireland in the 1930's and stayed there for most of his life. He taught English literature, while at the same time he followed a passion for the literature and culture of China. On the side he translated for himself, taking as much time and care as he needed. His care and feelings for literature are clearly evident in the translations here.
  
  And yet, perhaps because I could feel the flow of Father Turner's translations so well, I noticed that the Chinese poems had a different characteristic. I first read this book while I was beginning to learn how to read Chinese. Although I just had a basic knowledge, I could see that the original Chinese poems tended to be more compact than Father Turner's translations. I felt curious. I then took out my dictionary and translated a number of the poems for myself. I found that, for me, many of the Chinese poems were not flowing sentences. Instead, each Chinese character in the poem seemed to form an impression. Both the components of the written character and character's full possible meaning could be in play. Word by word, impression followed impression, which created a whole, as one might hear a piece of music. This was a completely new kind of reading experience for me.
   
• Fifth Chinese Daughter, by Jade Snow Wong. University of Washington Press. © 1945. My paperback edition printed 1990.
• A short review of Fifth Chinese Daughter.
• China in Search of its Future, by John Woodruff, Beijing Correspondent of the Baltimore Sun, 1982-87. University of Washington Press. 1989.
• A Chinese Village -- Taitou, Shantung Province, by Martin C. Yang. Columbia University Press. © 1945; paperback edition, 1965.
  This is a subtly surprising book. At first glance this is an interesting, socialogical study of a Chinese agricultural community prior to the Second World War, written by a professional. But read it carefully. This professional grew up in this village. And in fact, in an exquisite analysis, he is writing about the world of his childhood. He grew up there but broke away from its confinement. He was able to go to America and get a professional education. And then -- he becomes a socialogist, and writes this book. If you are paying attention, you discover that he is the only person from this village who can write about this village. This is a work from the heart. It is also poigniantly Chinese. He has chosen to devote his life to this kind of work, and to do it at the quality of professional standards. Even when he writes a whole chapter about himself, he writes in the third-person as the socialogist. This book is more than just a professional endeavor to fill important gaps in our knowledge. In this work, this man is "giving back" to the China that gave him life. And he is trying to educate the rest of us, especially in the West, to understand that China, to not overlook it so easily, and perhaps if possible to help it with the understanding he has just given you.
• The Early Civilization of China, by Yong Yap and Arthur Cotterell. Putnam. © 1975.
  The authors are husband and wife who have written several books on Chinese history. (See books by Arthur Cotterell above.) This book covers Chinese history through the Sung Dynasty and Mongol conquest. As a starting point, they use Marco Polo's stories brought back to Europe in the late 13th century, which helped form Western views of China. From that, they then try to illuminate a China that Marco Polo missed.
• Chinese Calligraphy, an Introduction to its Aesthetic and Technique by Chiang Yee. 3rd Edition © 1973. Harvard University Press.

Books For Children

• Hua Mu Lan
• China's Bravest Girl -- The Legend of Hua Mu Lan, written by Charlie Chin, illustrated by Tomie Arai, translated by Wang Xing Chu. Children's Book Press. 1994.
  This is a telling of the Hua Mu Lan story, about the young girl who takes her aging father's place to defend China from the invading northern tribes. This story and illustrations are probably a little closer to the traditional Chinese tale than the recent Disney movie Mulan. Tbis book is bilingual in both English and Chinese. [ You can get the book directly from the publisher; write for their catalog: 246 First Street, Suite 101, San Francisco, CA 94105. ]
• The Legend of Mulan - A Folding Book of the Ancient Poem that Inspired the Disney Animated Film, translated from the Chinese by Lei Fan, calligraphy by David Wang, Hyperion (New York). © 1998 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
  I was pleasantly surprised that Disney produced this book. The text is (apparently) an original Chinese poem written in traditional Chinese character calligraphy and translated to English. The poem is accompanied by tastefully selected artwork based on the movie, including sketches. The tone is appropriately solemn -- more than other Disney Mulan books that I've seen. The book is in the form of a hardcover one-piece foldout book encased in a box, suggestive of traditional Chinese poetry works. I do recommend this.
• The Song of Mu Lan, by Jeanne M. Lee. © 1998. Front Street Books
  This is a close translation of "The Mu Lan Poem", as is the Disney book above. The poem in Chinese is written along side the English text. Also, according to the end notes, on the inside cover pages are written Chinese versions of the poem from the Sung and Ming dynasties. Nicely illustrated, in a style somewhat reminiscent of traditional Chinese pictures.
• Fa Mu Lan - [ ªá¤ìÄõ ] © 1998. This is a book in Chinese, published in Hong Kong by Sun Ya Publications. Mu Lan is one of seven women featured in this book. See Fa Mu Lan - [ ªá¤ìÄõ ]
Related links:

• See Hua Mu Lan on my Chinese Main Page
• Amazon.com has reviews of China's Bravest Girl: The Legend of Hua Mu Lan
• China Books for Kids Celbrate the Child:
• China's Bravest Girl: The Legend of Hua Mu Lan Includes some book excerpts.
• Mulan The Walt Disney Movie
• Mr. Cuckoo by Becky Bloom. A bilingual book in Chinese and English. © 1997. Siphano; Chinese translation: Tomate & Abricot Ltd., Hong Kong.
• Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett. © 2002. G.P. Putnam's Sons.
  The adventure of a little girl's unhappy hen, which one day finds itself floating down the river in a basket. The story takes place along the Li River in Guilin, Guang Xi Province. ISBN 0-399-23618-X.
• The author's pages about the book, Daisy Comes Home.
• The Seventh Sister a Chinese legend, retold by Cindy Chang, illustrated by Charles Reasoner. © 1994. Troll Associates.
  A telling of the story of Zhi Nü, the weaving goddess who together with the her lover the ox herder are celebrated in the Orient on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month.
• Some childrens' books by Ying Chang Compestine.
• The Chinese Language for Beginners by Lee Cooper. Charles E. Tuttle Co. 1971, 1978. 39 pages.
• Happy New Year! / Kung-Hsi Fa-Ts'ai! by Demi. © 1997. Crown ( Random House. )
  A nicely done children's picture book about the customs of Chinese New Year.
• China Homecoming by Jean Fritz. © 1986. Putnam.
  Jean Fritz was an American born in Hankow, China in 1916. As a young girl growing up there she imagined what it was like to be an American. But after she left at age 13 she found that a part of her still couldn't let go of China. She was not able to return though until she was a grown woman, after the Cultural Revolution. This book is about her memoir of her journey back. Young adult level.
• Homesick, My Own Story by Jean Fritz. Illustrated by Margot Tomes. © 1982. Penguin Putnam.
  Ms. Fritz's story of her last two years in China before the Chinese Communist Revolution and then of her coming to America.
• Lóng is a Dragon - Chinese Writing for Children by Peggy Goldstein. © 1991. Scholastic.
• The Misfortune Cookie by Dan Greenburg. © 1998. Grosset & Dunlap.
  A story told by a boy in New York, whose fortune cookies start to come true. From the " ZACK FILES" series.
• Count Your Way Through China by Jim Haskins, illustrated by Dennis Hockerman and Martin Skoro. Carolhoda Books. 1988. 24 pages.
  Counts to ten in Chinese characters. Each number is illustrated with a cultural symbol from China. For example, the number 6 is illustrated with children learning to write with a brush at age 6.
• Maples in the Mist - Children's Poems from the Tang Dynasty. Translated by Minfong Ho. Illustrated by Jean & Mou-sien Tseng. © 1996. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books. In Chinese and English.
• At The Beach by Huy Voun Lee. Henry Holt. 1998.
  This a picture book which illustrates ten Chinese characters. A little boy goes to the beach with his mother. There she draws characters in the sand and helps him find ways to remember them.
• In the Snow by Huy Voun Lee. Henry Holt. 1995.
  This is a similar book to At the Beach. The chartacters in this book fit nicely to winter.
• Big Jimmy's Kum Kau Chinese Take Out by Ted Lewin. 2001. Harper Collins.
  A child's behind-the-scene view of a busy Chinese take out restaurant in Brooklyn.
• Publisher's page about the book, with an excerpt.
• Dragons, Gods and Spirits from Chinese Mythology text by Tao Tao Liu Sanders, illustrated by Johnny Pau. Peter Brodrick Books. © 1980 Eurobook Ltd.
  Forty-six stories on various themes. The stories are generally well written. Suitable for a grade school-level child.
• In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord. © 1984. Harper Trophy.
• Double Luck, Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan by Lu Chi Fa with Becky White. © 2001. Holiday House.
  In 1944 in northern China, when Chi Fa was 3 years old, his father was given a wrong herbal medicine and died. Shortly afterwards his mother took her own life. What follows is a very poingant story, filled with hardships and betrayal. Yet the story at its most deepest is most of all an expression of humanity. About a junior high school reading level.
• The book's website.
• The Diary of Ma Yan, The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese Schoolgirl, Edited and introduced by Pierre Haski, translated from the French by Lisa Appignanesi, original translation from the diaries in Mandarin by He Yanping. Harper Collins. © 2004.
  This is a diary of a teen school girl in Ningxia, in the dry northwest of China. Her community is small. Her family is a Chinese Muslim minority. They, like many in the region, are very poor. Ma Yan's school was 12 miles away from home and so during the week she lived at the school dormitory. When she had enough money she could get a ride home on a tractor back to her village. Often she walked. The family was so short of money that the mother was ready to discontinue Ma Yan's schooling so she could support the family instead. However her two younger brothers would have stayed in school. Ma Yan's diary came to the attention of a passing French journalist when the mother just handed it to him. Excerpts of the diary were later published in January 2002 by the French newspaper Libération. A fund was then created, the Association for the Children of Ningxia, to help the children of families in need continue their education there.
• Harper Collins' webpage about the book.
• Enfants du Ningxia - Association for the Children of Ningxia.
• Ties That Bind, Ties That Break by Lensey Namioka. © 1999. Dell (Random House).
  A well written children's novel about a girl growing up in China around 1911. The title comes from the practice of binding girls' feet in order to make them attractive for marriage. Ailin, the main character, takes on a new load of decisions and responsibilities when she refuses to have her feet bound. Lensey Namioka, the author, was born in Beijing.
• Yang the Eldest and His Odd Jobs by Lensey Namioka. .
  This is the first of a series of four stories about the four children of the Yang family. I recommend all four. The family has immigrated from China to Seattle. Most of the family members play musical instruments.
• The Emperor's Silent Army - Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China by Jane O'Connor. © 2002. Viking ( Penguin Putnam).
  An unpretentious, well written children's book about the terracotta soldiers of the Qin emperor discovered in Xian.
• Oracle Bones, Stars and Wheelbarrows, Ancient Chinese Science and Technology by Frank Ross, Jr. © 1982. Houghton Mifflin.
  Written for a teen level.
• The Squiggle by Carole Lexa Schaefer, illustrated by Pierr Morgan. © 1996. Dragonfly Books, Crown (Random House).
• Mei Fuh, Memories from China by Edith Schaeffer, illustrated by Lesley Liu. © 1998. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-72290-X.
  Edith Schaeffer was born in China in 1914 and grew up there for her first 6 years. This book is a delighful memoir of that time. (Elementary school level, 90 pages).
• Houses of China by Bonnie Shemie. © 1996. Tundra Books.
• Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats -- A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes by Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz, and the Children's Museum of Boston. Illustrated by Meilo So. © 2002. Gulliver Books (Harcourt). ISBN 0-15-201983-9. publisher's link.
• Chinese New Year's Dragon by Rachel Sing. Illustrated by Shao Wei Liu. © 1992. Aladdin (Simon & Schuster).
  A little girl's view of Chinese New Year in a Chinese-American family. Beginning reader level.
• Chinese Women's Fashion Paper Dolls by Ming-Ju Sun. © 2000. Dover. ISBN 0-486-40812-4.
• Round is a Mooncake -- A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thong, illustrated by Grace Lin. © 2000. Chronicle Books.
• Publisher's page about the book
• Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes selected and edited by Robert Wyndham. Pictures by Ed Young. © 1968, 1998. Putnam & Grosset Group. In Chinese and English.
• The Secret Voice of Gina Zhang by Dori Jones Yang. ©2000. American Girl, Pleasant Company Publications.
  This is a fictional story about a Chinese girl, Gina, who comes to the U.S. with her family and enters 5th grade. She discovers when she gets to school that she can't speak up. The story that unfolds is how Gina step-by-step tries to find a path, both within her inner life and in her new outside world. In case you may feel some doubt, I can tell you from my own experiences that her story is quite realistic, both literally and in metaphors. The story beautifully shows how one's inner world should not be taken for granted. The book touches on many rich human themes, more than I can list. Here are some that I felt: cultural tolerance and differences, the tensions of growing up, friendship, how magic in one's inner life can play in the outside world, living life richly with both an inside and outside, finding oneself -- a problem that many adults continue to face.
• Kidsread review of The Secret Voice of Gina Zhang by Tamara Peeny.
• Review at Multicultural Reviews by Ginny Lee.
• The Lost Garden by Laurence Yep. © 1991. Beech Tree Books.
  The author's memoir about his childhood experiences which he felt helped him become a writer.
• The Emperor and the Kite by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Ed Young. Putnam & Grosset. © 1967; this edition 1998.
• Share the Sky story by Ting-xing Ye, art by Suzanne Langlois. Annick Press. © 1999.
  The story is about a girl who grows up in China with her grand parents. Her parents have moved to North America, where they are working and saving enough money for her to come. Then, her parents send for her. The book touches nicely on feelings of separation and love. And it parallels some true life stories. Nicely illustrated.
• Cowboy on the Steppes by Song Nan Zhang. © 1997. Tundra Books.
  This is a story about Song Nan's brother Yi Nan, who was sent to the steppes of Inner Mongolia as a teen during China's Cultural Revolution in 1968. There he lived with the local pastoral tribes for eight years. The story is told from Yi Nan's diary and illustrated with Song Nan's paintings.
• A Young Painter: The Life and Paintings of Wang Yani -- China's Extraordinary Young Artist by Zheng Zhensun, Alice Low, and Chen-Sun Cheng, with Wang Yani's illustrations. 1991. Scholastic.
  A nicely written book that gives a sense of her art and her childhood. As you'll be able to see, her artwork is spontaneously fresh, individualistic, and yet also still within Chinese traditional painting. The book presents her story and representative paintings from when she was 2 and a half years old until she was 16, when the book was written. The book includes her significant relationship with her father. The appendix discusses some of her artist tools and techniques. My favorite painting of hers is "The Lion is Awake."
• Artist Hero - Wang Yani has some pictures and information based on the book.
• Some of Wang Yani's art work on a Power Point presentation: (Schenectady City Schools)
• Last Night I Dreamt I Saw the Racing Egrets Age 11.
• A difficult to read short biography.
• I Am Not Scared! Age 5, after she had her first inoculation at the doctor's office.
• Yani's Party Age 7.
• A quote, and a comment by me
• Books suggestions from the New York Public Library
• Clearwater Public Library - Exploring China Through Books Bibliography Florida
• Boulder Public Library - Asian-American Picture Books
• China and Chinese-American Life - Books for Children, Young Adults Carry Library book list.
• Bank Street Children's Bookstore Broadway and 112th Street, NY, NY 10025.
• Asian American Children's Books Suggestions Cynthia Leitich Smith Children's Literature Resources.
• Asian American Images Vandergraft's Children's Literature Pages, Rutgers University.
• Sun Ya Publications in Hong Kong is a publisher of children's books in Chinese. I bought an astronomy book from them.
• Also see my other Children's Book Suggestions in my Astronomy section.
• Also see Japanese Children's Book Suggestions.

Chinese Language Study Books

Cantonese:

• Everyday Cantonese, by Chik Hon Man. The Chinese University Hong Kong & Radio Television Hong Kong. 1985.
  My edition was printed Oct. 1994. The book comes with 4 audio cassettes. This is the study book I am using at the China Institute in New York.
• Chinese-English Dictionary -- Cantonese in Yale Romanization, Mandarin in Pinyin, by Chik Hon Man and Ng Lam Sim Yuk. The Chinese University Press. © 2000 (original printing 1989).
  I had been looking hard over a number of years for a Chinese-English dictionary that gives you the Cantonese word by looking up the Chinese character by strokes or radical. This dictionary does that. It is primarily a Cantonese-English dictionary. It lets you look up a word by character or by Cantonese pronunciation. It also gives the equivalent Mandarin Pinyin spelling and simplified characters. The book says it lists 6000 commonly used characters and 12,000 compounds.

Mandarin:

• Practical Chinese Reader. The Commercial Press, Beijing, China. © 1993.
  NOTE: This text series has been revised in several editions since I put up this website. I haven't had a chance yet to look up the new information. I'm leaving up the old information in the mean time.
  This is the textbook series I am using at the China Institiute in New York. Also available with the text:
  • Chinese Character Exercise Book. The Commercial Press, Beijing, China. © 1995. As does the text, this teaches simplified characters.
  • There is also a tradional character exercise book available, Practical Chinese Reader: Writing Workbook, ed. by Shou-hsin Teng. Cheng & Tsui Company, Boston. © 1993.
  • Practical Chinese Reader: Patterns & Exercises, by Madeline Men Li Chu. Cheng & Tsui Company, Boston. © 1989, 1992. This is an exercise workbook.
• Modern Chinese -- A Basic Course. Faculty of Peking University. Dover Publications. © 1971.
  The book is available with three accompanying audio tapes. Although I find this book's content somewhat dry, it thoroughly presents the Mandarin pronunciation and tones. This was an area I had difficulty in learning; I found this book's systematic treatment of pronunciation helpful. I also found useful comparing this book's lessons with lessons in other books. There is a second-level book available. However, I haven't tried it.
• Chinese for Today Beijing Languages Institute. © 1986. The Commercial Press (Hong Kong).
  This comes with a set of 6 cassette tapes. This is faster paced than the above two book sets. However, I think this book is more directly relevant to the language you will use immediately. There is also a second volume.
• Mandarin Chinese 汉语语法, A Functional Reference Grammar by Charles N. Li and Sandra A. Thompson. © 1981. University of California Press.
  A recommended grammar reference.

More on Chinese Characters

• Understanding Chinese Characters by their ancestral form, with A Walk Through Chinatown, by Ping-gam Go. Simplex Publications. 1995.
  This is the nicest presentation I've seen of Chinese Character instruction based on learning the earlier pictorial form of the writing. The book includes a section of color photographs featuring a variety of signs in San Francisco Chinatown -- likely a more accessible sort of place for most Americans than China -- to learn from and practice with. I find the book does its job well.
• Simplified Chinese Characters, concept and cartoons by Tan Huay Peng. 1953, 1987, 1991. Heian International, Inc.
  This is a convenient pocket guide to learning and looking up the simplified forms of Chinese characters.

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My Chinese Books Page / GCA7Sky / Created December 30, 1997. Last modified March 19, 2002, updated September 27, 2006.
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