Reviews (9)

Surprisingly Relevent
I was surprised to find that I was often very interested in the topics within this book and Confucius' handling of said themes. Having read Plato only a short time ago, Confucius seemed like a breath of fresh air. His concerns are how to live a virtuous life and achieve benevolence. Unlike much ancient philosphy, many of the sayings have their impact undimished by time. In each book (consisting usually of about 3 pages) there would generally be at least two or three sayings that struck me as truly meaningful and pertinent. Naturally, there were also some that seemed out of place or irrational, but that is to be expected in any text which is so old. If one is able to mine the gold from the rocks, Analects of Confucius can be quite a rewarding experience. However, I found the introduction and essays in the back of the book to be superfluous and felt that they did not shed much additional light on who Confucius was or what his teachings meant, choosing instead to focus mostly on minutue that was mostly uninteresting to me. This book is not a long read, and almost certainly worth a curious person's time.

PRETTY GOOD BOOK
THE ANALECTS IS A GOOD BOOK FOR ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO UNDERSTAND CONFUCIAN PHILOSOPHY.THE TRANSLATION IS CLEAR AND UNDERSTANDABLE, EASY TO READ, BUT IT DOESNT EXPLAIN WHAT EACH ANALECT MEANS AND BEGGINERS ON THE SUBJECT COULD MISUNDERSTAND THE MEANINGS. GREAT REFERENCE BOOK FOR PEOPLE WHO ALREADY KNOW CONFUCIANISM OR A LITTLE OF CHINESE HISTORY.

Reviews (14)

One of the best
D C Lau's version is one of the best currently in the market, despite it being made in 1963.As a native speaker his Chinese is certainly sound, unlike some of the so-called "translators" who just work using a dictionary or software program to do the job; he doesn't make wayward interpretations or renditions, his grasp of the grammatical structure of classical Chinese bear examination, and his translation retain some of the aphoristic poetry of the original.Of more concern is the now-dated introduction and commentary, while the work itself could go with more connotations.However, the translation certainly deserves recommendation.

As good as it gets, considering "the way resembles nothing"
I've been using this translation since 1965 and have found no better. When I want to clarify something, I struggle with a Chinese language edition - my knowledge of Chinese is sufficient to know at least the 'raw' meaning of the characters. Some thoughts and discoveries I've had...

1. D.C.Lau's translation comes closest to the actual Chinese most of the time.

2. I believe he does not consider himself a Taoist, and thus brings less 'pro' bias to his translation. Many other translations (not all) I've seen are written by 'pro Tao' folks who, to one degree or another, unconsciously bend their translations to agree with the 20th century cultural paradigm (values) in which they were conditioned.

3. It is not what a particular translation says, or how it says it, that is 'enlightening'. How you interpret what you read (hear or see) reflects who you really are at that moment. In other words, what you perceive the book to say is actually your own mind's reality. The notion that one translation or another is going to impart 'knowing' is wishful thinking.The knowing lies in the eye of the beholder. Thus, the disclaimer in chapter 1 of the Tao Te Ching, "The way that can be spoken of is not the constant way; The name that can be named, is not the constant name." This sentiment speaks to just how very inward and personal a Taoist journey is. For me, D.C.Lau's translation gets in the way of this journey less than others I've seen over the years.

OK introduction to the text
The Tao Te Ching is one of those hyped-up texts that come about with the proliferation of the New-Age establishment. One can walk into most bookstores to be hounded by dozens of editions, finely illustrated, with plenty of white space, printed on unbleached, acid-free paper, almost saying "buy me, simplicity and enlightenment beckons". So, to cut away from the hype into reality, there are two issues - what's the actual text like and how good is this edition?

The Tao Te Ching is a very short text (I think about 5000 characters in Chinese). It is one of the primary Taoist texts but it has been used in many, many other contexts since. It's attributed to Lao Tzu, the sage of Taoism, although scholarly opinion about authorship varies widely. It opens with a line that can be translated as "the Way that can be named is not the Way," so it's quite impossible to convey the principles without breaking them. The general pop analysis is that it accentuates simplicity, intuition, the under-dog, adaptability, spontenaiety and harmony with the universe. And these all seem to be at least partially, true while of course missing the unattainable essence as all analyses of the work must. Some of the teachings are certainly radical in interpreted literally ("exterminate the sage...and the people will benefit a hundredfold").

As to the edition, it has plenty of white space (this time, sarcasm aside, I think that's a very underrated aspect of works, especially translated ones). I've described the New-Agey side of the Tao's interpretation but there's also a dry and scholarly side which is concerned with manuscripts, variant readings and the like. This edition is a good introduction for someone with no ideological predisposition because it is quite in the middle, though a tad on the dry side. There are some explanatory notes but not to the extent of overwhelming the text. Basically, it's quite bare which is the point. If you're new to the text and are expecting profound insights of a new age, this is not the edition, as it presents the skeleton, and it's hard to process a skeleton into a profound insight.

Reviews (9)

Great story but a very sloppy edition
The story is truly a classic and the translation is pretty good.However, the actual product is pretty sloppy.Volume one was less problematic than volume two, but both had a high number of instances.The main problem is that letters that are similar in shape, such as b and d, p and g, etc. get switched, almost once a page.Also, the names weren't proofread very well, as apostrophes get pretty regularly left out.In a translation system where an apostrophe is the only difference between the names to two characters or places, this becomes a source of confusion.Also, entire words are left out pretty regularly.I wonder if any highly fluent English speakers actually got to proofread this, because most of these errors are so obvious.These errors aren't so bad that it is unreadable, but they really take a person out of the scene while the confusion is dispelled.

Overall i have pleasure reading it
I enjoying reading it except the following problems:

- Typos are almost appeared in every 3 pages.
- Stories are not link between paragraphs. There are pages that I have to read 4-5 times in order to picture what is going on and who and who die.

How about describe more about the heros when introducing them like, how old, what weapon they used and how strong. I believe those will spice up the book a lot more.

EQ

Reviews (18)

Do you have the monkey inside?
I already read it several times and I think I will read it again sometime.

It's a fun novel, besides, folklore collections and ancient Chinese fiction, presenting a real world through imaginary stories. I don't know about others, but I found myself in this book: sometimes I am the priest, sometimes I am the pig and sometimes I am the monkey...

PS: It's one of the so called '4 Chinese ancient classics' (other 3 are A Dream of Red Mansions, Outlaws of the Marsh and Three Kingdoms)

Very poor printing quality
I bought this set based on several earlier reviews I have read, but unfortunately I didn't scroll down to see the other unfavorable reviews.Hopefully you get to see this one before making a decision.This book is very very poorly produced, the paper is too thin so the letters on the other side comes thru and creates double images; combined with the small type face, and the strong odors from the ink makes me wonder how can anyone withstand the "hardship" reading this book entails?I expect something like this in the 3rd world country.

Doesn't matter how good the translation is, I will never find out, as several attempts to read the book had instead made me nauseous.

I bought the one published by the Foreign Language Press.

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Reviews (16)

I didn't read the English version but my dad
read the Chinese version in his teens and I watched the TV series "The Water Margin." This Classic is actually considered as one of the four greatest literatures ever written in Chinese. The other three are Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West (a Monkey, a Monk, a Pig, and a Monster from a river--this one should be hella fun for non-Chinese reader), and the Red Chamber (the intellectualism and daily life of ancient China). Jeez, 3 generations of my family were brought with the stories from these 4 literatures. If you want to know Chinese culture, history, customs, philosophies, disciplines, etc, definitively you need to own these books.

Justified Arrogance
Looking over the past reviews, I've seen a lot of people complaining about the lack of morality often found in the actions of the "heroes".That's a justifiable complaint, and I would be lying to not say that some of the things that happened in the novel completely shocked me. But all these things are there as background for the true theme of the novel, that of brothers-in-arms.

This "novel" is more like a nation-creation story on the lines of "The Song of Roland" or "The Iliad".The 108 heroes in the novel, charged with "killing rapacious villains and greedy officials" are an embodiment of the ideal of justice.And, furthermore, they are very cool.You have to admire a book whose chapters have had martial arts styles named after them.Although you'll detest them for killing entire families and razing whole cities, you'll also never not admire these guys when one of them, by himself, goes off to storm a city just for the sake of a friend.

And, if I have a kid, I'm definitely buying this book for him once he's 13.It's a great story, with great characters, but, most importantly, instead of the cynicism and other tripe that he'll have gotten from the media, this book at least makes it cool to be patriotic, to have duty, to do suicidal things in the name of honor.

If you can get past the gore, you'll actually find one of the better lessons on morality and honor that's around.

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Reviews (9)

nice if you actually read chinese
i have not read a different translation of this book by a different translator. this is not a typical review but a comment about the method of translation, pinyin. and i, with difficulty, have not finished reading. here's why:

if you are an english speaking person, or english educated you will have difficulty in pronouncing chinese names of places and people romanized by the pinyin method.

the pinyin method is only immediately/"instinctively" useable for the chinese speaking/reading person tongued with foreknowledge.

to a non-chinese speaking/reading person pinyin is pinyin-hell. because you *never* know how to say it in 4 or 5 different ways.

even if you have heard how one pinyin name is correctly pronounced you are still guessing when you come across names spelt similarly.

then, for the uninitiated, there is hope to be found in a set of "pinyin rules" (over 30 - oh joy!) where by one can amuse oneself with, repetitively, before embarking on reading pinyin books.

these rules are quite "un-natural" or to put in kindly - foreign - to the english-speaking tongue.

here are a few taken from the web:
qConsonant "ch" as in cheek
uVowels "oo" as in too
ue Diphthong as "i" in ship
ui Diphthong pronounced as wee
v Consonant used only to pronounce foreign words The Chinese have great difficulty pronouncing the V.
w Consonant as in want
x Consonants "sh" as in she
y Consonant as in yet
z Consonant as in zero
zh Consonant "j" as in jump

most pinyin-translations do not provide such a list of rules or coach readers in this matter, or explain how it is suppose to work.

again from the web:
Putonghua (mandrin) , the national dialect has four tones. The Cantonese dialect has the most, with nine. In the four tones of putonghua , the word "ma"

The first tone (flat) "ma" in means "mother."
The second tone (rising) "ma" can mean "numb" or "hemp."
The third tone "ma" the voice dips and then rises, means "horse."
The fourth tone "ma" starts high and falls abruptly, means "to scold."

did that clarify the rules or compounded the difficulty?

frustrations runs high and runs often. everytime a pinyin name comes up i cringe which is like every other sentence.

for the casual reader, how close or by what degree it agree with the original language is hardly the key to successful reading or its enjoyment. if you seriously want to learn all the subtle tones i suggest you take up mandrin reading and writing - and then find the original version and enjoy that!

The Chinese "Anna Karenina"
This book is like Anna Karenina in the following ways: Both are masterpieces of epic proportions. Both are considered contenders for being the greatest works of fiction in their respective languages. Both deal with large, upper class families and the lifestyle and intrigue involved. Both are works of realism and paint a complete picture of a society.

A Dream of Red Mansions focuses on the love between Baoyu, an unusual child in his early teens who is temperamental and spends most of his time with the girls in the family mansion and Daiyu, a delicate, sensitive and yet witty and extremely clever girl. The two grow up as children and live in the same mansion but the family does not hurry to marry them off as they have other plans for Baoyu.

This is the main thread that runs through the novel's amazing 120 chapters. The other sublots are very numerous - there are hundreds - but none of them are sustained for the whole book. The main part of the book is the set of characters. Again there are hundreds but a few main ones which become the most interesting in this drama. There's the conniving Xifeng, Baoyu's strict father, Baoyu's assertive "other love" Baochai and the like.

Unlike Anna Karenina, this book is full of humour, jokes and poems (which was where I think the translation failed the most as Chinese poetry rendered into English seems to lose the plot!). It contains moments of great sadness but also wit and quirkiness.

There's been controversy with the amazon reviews of this particular translation. I don't speak Chinese so can't judge it but reading the text, it seemed fine. I guess if I saw another or the original it would change my mind but this one isn't too bad.

The novel deals with so many topics that you really get an overview of what life in 18th century upper class urban China was about. It is VERY long but it's amazing how in relating heaps and heaps of seemingly trivial incidents you grow to love many of the characters. It's like most novels are like meeting someone and hence only seeing what they want to show while this novel is like living with them. And trivialities aside, it's very moving.

A must for all interested in Chinese society or who don't mind persevering through 1200 pages to read a one of the world's unusual and amazing dynasty chronicles and love stories.

Editorial Review

Reviews (32)

The perfect introduction to Chinese history
This textbook is the perfect introduction for students interested in an overview of modern Chinese history and a valuable reference for scholars already immersed in the subject.Drawing on his many years of teaching the survey course at Yale on Chinese history, Spence covers the major events and themes of the past four hundred years with scholarly thoroughness and a light literary hand.Although the amount of material is daunting - even Spence doesn't use it all in his course- Search for Modern China is written to be accessible to the layperson as well as the academic.Highly recommended for anyone interested in China today.

Excellent, readable introduction
When I started studying Chinese, I wanted a book that would give me some background on Chinese history. I asked several experts in Chinese history, and they recommended this book. I'm grateful they did.

Though long, it held my interest throughout. After all, no matter how good a history book is, if you don't read it, you won't learn a thing.

Though it sometimes goes off on tangents that seem a bit superfluous, overall it's a tightly written book that will really help you explore an interest in Chinese history.

Reviews (9)

A good introduction to Taiwan's history
As the title of my review implies, this is a valuable volume for the person who is interested in developing an understanding of the complex forces that shape Taiwan today.

Roy takes up Taiwan's history from the beginnings of Chinese settlement of the island and the Japanese Occupation.However, the bulk of the book focuses on Post-World War II Taiwan.While it focuses on the political history of the country, other aspects are not ignored.My main criticism is that although this purports to be a political history, the main criticism of the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of "Chinese" sovereignty (regarding the so-called Post WWII transfer to China) over the country is ignored.Save for that ommission, this is a servicable summary of modern Taiwan political history.

I would recommend this book for someone wishing to learn a little about Taiwan before coming to the country.For a person wishing to engage in an in depth study of the country, this would be a good volume to start with.However, if you already have a basic understanding of the major forces shaping this country (particularly post-World War II,) I would advise passing this work by for more in depth works on the subject.

A very interesting book about Taiwan history
I was born in Taiwan and completed my college education in Taiwan. The Chinese history text books focus on the story of the mainland China. I have known not too much about Taiwan. For some reasons my grandparents and parents did not talk too much about it either.

This book opens my eyes and I could not stop reading it. Even though the book is very comprehensive some of the information the author got is either hidden or biased or missing it is far from perfect. There is a lot of truth about Taiwan to be explored. For example Koxinga was given the credit of defeating Dutch and then occupied Formosa. But he lived
only 4 monthes after defeating the Dutch. He was a pirate and very brutal. He excuted his new born grandchild and grandchild's mother. He is more like a refugee than a hero. He was escaping from Qing dynasty's attack.

Because of Taiwan's democracy a lot of information are more readily available and people does not afraid of being talking about the past I believe the author might want to update this
book soon.

Reviews (4)

Full of compelling stories
When reading Jicai's book, it is best not to be too softhearted.TRhat is because the stories regarding the horrors of China's "Cultural Revolution", where paranoia ran rampant as if it was a twisted role playing game, only these events are only too real.Jicai did an excellent job in giving us first hand accounts of so many individuals and how their lives were effected by this madness that enveloped China from 1966 until Mao's death in 1976.However, one must be careful not to cry; some of the stories within are that emotional.

Interesting Idea, but the execution is spotty
These are stories collected from interviews the author did with survivors of the Cultural revolution.However, the author is not interested in the tribulation and redemption stoirs commonly published (E.g. Life and Death in Shanghai,Red Azalea).Instead it is more a catalogue of the bizarre, with the author selecting stories that he found uniqe and interesting.Sometimes I also thought that the stories were interesting, but there were several stories where I could not really see the point.The author also inserts a line at the end of each story, I guess to explain each one, but they did not translate well into English and were an annoying distraction.

A "real" tale on China
Every chapter tells us a different story of individuals, as they spent or lost their lives during the 10 years of Cultural Revolution in China.
The stories brought to us from Feng Jicai are really upsetting, showing another time that reality could overtake our all immaginations. He break the "silk veil" on the real stories happened during the Cultural Revolution and give us a real insight on why the current Chinese culture and people's behaviour has been so greatly affected by that period.