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Customer Reviews

a good historical family story
In my country we do not study much about Chinese history, so I am always glad to find a good book about it. Moment in Peking follow the story of a traditional big family with all of their friends and partners, so there are many people in the story and sometimes it is not easy to follow the names. The book describes some interesting decades of the Chinese history: from the second half of the 19th century until the first years of the 20th century. An interesting period of time with a good author gives a good story as a result. The so many actors of the book gives the possibility to show several destinies in a period full of contradictories. I really enjoyed the period of the very end of the 19th century with all the conflicts of the changing lifestyle and the conflict of the traditions and moderns life.

a chinese's opinion :)
I am a chinese university student. I visited the website by chance and I was so happy to read all the comments about Yutang's books above and got to know not only me, a Chinese girl who loves his books very much, but there are so many people, even foreigners, enjoy them so much like me.

I have read some works of Lin, some in English and some in Chinese. And the one I have read recently is Moment in Peking in English. Please believe me that what he said in his book is totally true. And from it you can get an idea of our country, our cultures and people living here, although things have changed so much in the modern times and nowadays China is quite different from the one in his book. But there are still many people,like me, here who bear the same believes, values and dreams as Mulan and Lifu did and want to make the good cultures and moral standards pass down from generation to generation.

When I read the book Moment In Peking, I just had the feeling that I was reading something in Chinese.(I wish it had been written in Chinese, since someting must be lost from one language to another. And some of Lin's articles in Chinese read so melodic just like music because of our chinese's swing, while you just cannot find that when it is translated in English.What a pity! ) And I just wondered if a native English was able to understand what he said. Of course, after reading the reviews above, I am sure it is not that so. But still, I think you may get confused at some points. I think perhaps I can explain it for you and help you understand our cultures better. It must be a great pleasure to me. :) And I hope I can talk about his books with people like me, who love them so much as well. :)

Thanks for reading:)

An Epic Historical Fiction of China
During the mid-1960s A Moment In Peking was the first book by Lin Yutang I ever encountered. The work impressed me enough to cause me to search everywhere to find everything else he ever published in English. After I'd done so, at considerable time and trouble, I concluded that Moment in Peking was his most enjoyable read. I made it a policy to read it again, at least once per decade until I loaned my copy to someone and lost it.

I think you'll love this book.

The Wisdom of Laotse

This book can change your life...for the better.
This is a great introduction to the Tao Te Ching, the original book on Taoism, and also has other writings to round out the material.

Although the TTC was written thousands of years ago, Lin Yutang's translation speaks to today's society with a fresh voice.

If you find yourself bound to material things and have many worries, this will help you to see new ways to to live a more relaxed and fulfilled life.

From Pagan to Christian

Left a few questions unaswered...
I read this book by Lin Yutang just after reading his outsatnding book on Chinese culture and history "My Country and My People". I also had read parts of another insightful book of his: "The Importance of Living".

"Pagan to Christian" describes Lin Yutang's spiritual journey from the son of a deeply religious Chinese Christian family to his descent into "paganism", and finally his re-conversion back to Chrisianity.

Even though I am Christian myself, I wasn't entirely convinced with some of Lin's explanations. The best parts of the book are towards the beginning where he talks about his childhood in China and later his cultural identity crisis, where he talks about his desire to understand the traditional Chinese philosophies. He goes on to give an outstanding description of the Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist influence (here there is considerable overlap with his book "My Country and My People").

Albeit, the perspective reader should beware, as Lin's book is rather esoteric. It is written on the assumption that the reader has at least some familiarity with major phlosophical ideas of Descartes, Spinoza, Marx, Freud, Nietzsche and others. In fact, there were some things in the book that went over my head; and I have degrees in Psychology, History and Education.

Towards the end of the book, Lin begins to talk about the modern world, and especially expresses disfavor with Marxism (this book was written in the 1950s after Lin had settled in the U.S.A. and his country was being run by Mao's thuggery). He also makes an early case for "intelligent design" as opposed to Darwin's theory of random selection in evolution.

He finally gets around to his return to Christianity in the final chapter and describes it in terms of loving the message and meaning of Christ, as opposed to the structure, traditions and dogmas of the church (or churches) that drove him away in the first place.

In the end, I wanted more from Lin. I wanted to know if his return to Christianity had anything to do with the political developments in China. He makes clear in the beginning of the book, that his flight from Christianity to paganism was in part due to the fact that missionaries to China were accompanied by opium traders and foriegn gun boats. Even if the Western missionaries and the Western opium traders and militarists were not working in complete concert with one another, the association obviously left Lin with a spoiled view of Christianity as something that was out to hurt the Chinese people.

I wanted to know if Lin's return to Christianity was a reaction to Red China's 1950s atheistic communistic Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist-Maoist regime. In that Christianity can be considered an enemy to communism, was his reconversion an attemt to stand up against something that he felt was also hurting the Chinese people?

I also wanted to know if Lin felt a familial connection. Was a part of his re-conversion something that had to do with being loyal to his father who was a devout minister? I wanted to know more about family dynamics involved in his return to the religion of his parents.

Most of all, I wanted to find some kind of reconcilliation between his tradional Chinese beliefs (which he wrote book after book expounding) and his new-found Christian journey. Given all the time in the book that he devotes to talking about traditional Chinese beliefs, it is obvious that he still has a great feeling for the Chinese way.

He also seems to see Jesus Christ as a more of a teacher. He emphasises the teachings and example of Jesus Christ as opposed to the miracle of the Ressurection. There is Confucius, Mencius, Lao-Tsu, Chang-Tse, and Buddha, but also Jesus Christ. It is apparent to me that Lin's faith journey is more akin to that of a Christian who is more in line with the Unitatrian Universalist line of belief, than the Presbyterian Church to which he says he belongs to (and he also has few if any kind words for his church's founder John Calvin).

He brings Jesus Christ into his realm of philosophical All-Stars, and even makes Jesus Christ the first of the best; but doesn't quite quite bring Chinese philosophy and belief into complete harmony with Christianity as a spiritual journey (relationship with God) as opposed to a philosophical way of living.

Still, an interesting book though, that obviously gives a person some things to think about.

The Vigil of a Nation

An excellent book on wartime China
Most of the books I read about the Second Sino-Japanese War are accounts of military operations and the like. It's not too often that I come across personal accounts of civilian life and seeing the war through the eyes of a traveler. The prose is witty and classy, and offers much insight into the real situation in China, away from official propaganda of the Nationalists, Communists and Americans."

My Country and My People

Product Description

MY COUNTRY AND MY PEOPLEby LIN YUTANGINTRODUCTION In this atmosphere of change, the present intellectual youth of China has grown up. Where the fathers imbibed the doctrine of Confucius and learned the classics and revolted against them, these young people have been battered by many forces of the new times. They have been taught something of science, something of Christianity, something of atheism, something of free love, something of communism, something of Western philosophy, something of modern militarism, something, in fact, of everything. In the midst of the sturdy medievalism of the masses of their countrymen the young intellectuals have been taught the most extreme of every culture. Intellectually they have been forced to the same great omissions that China has made physically. They have skipped, figuratively speaking, from the period of the unimproved country road to the aero plane era. The omission was too great. The mind could not compensate for it. The spirit was lost in the conflict. The first result, therefore, of the hiatus was undoubtedly to produce a class of young Chinese, both men and women, but chiefly men, who frankly did not know how to live in their own country or in the age in which their country still was. They were for the most part educated abroad, where they forgot the realities of their own race. It was easy enough for various revolutionary leaders to persuade these alienated minds that Chinas socalled backwardness was due primarily to political and material interference by foreign powers. The world was made the scapegoat for Chinas medievalism. Instead of realizing that China was in her own way making her own steps, slowly, it is true, and somewhat ponderously, toward modernity, it was easy hue and cry to say that if it had not been for foreigners she would have been already on an equality, in material terms, with other nations. The result of this was a fresh revolution of a sort. China practically rid herself of her two great grievances outside of Japan, extraterritoriality and the tariff. No great visible change appeared as a consequence. It became apparent that what had been weaknesses were still weaknesses, and that these were inherent in the ideology of the people. It was found, for instance, that when a revolutionary leader became secure and entrenched he became conservative and as corrupt, too often, as an old style official. The same has been true in other histories. There were too many honest and intelligent young minds in China not to observe and accept the truth, that the outside world had very little to do with Chinas condition, and what she had to do with it could have been prevented if China hadbeen earlier less sluggish and her leaders less blind and selfish. Then followed a period of despair and frenzy and increased idealistic worship of the West. The evident prosperity of foreign countries was felt to be a direct fruit of Western scientific development.

REVIEWS

Still maintains relevence to all things Chinese...
I read about 85-90% of this book and skimmed through the rest. Lin Yutang really gives you an insightful, if not very subjective, view of his Chinese homeland. Having visited China, I am, of course, completely infatuated with the history and culture. Even though this book was written in 1935 (before the Communist revolution and current-day Chinese industrail boom) it still maintains relevence to all things Chinese: from the way they eat; to their poetry and art; to how they see the world.

Lin Yutang obviously holds great love and pride for his Chinese people, but also discusses in a frank manner the shortcomings (including foot-binding and the over-all oppression of women).

Since this book was written during the Sino-Japanese War (eventually to become the Pacific Theatre of WWII); the author's assessment is a valuable first-hand source as to the Japanese atrocities and the retaliation of General Chaing and his temporary alliance with Mao and the Communists.

Lin Yutang's style is a well-written mixture of history, philosophy, psychology, sociology and his own wit and wisdom.

true insight about the Chinese people
I'm a Chinese American fluent in both Chinese and English and I think Mr. Lin did a phenomenal job of explaining the Chinese people and its culture to a Western audience in a very humorous way. I chuckled many times at all the contradictions he pointed out about the Chinese mind and even learned why sometimes my people act the way they do. I've bantered about to friends on the tyranny of family in the Chinese life. But Mr. Lin explained to me why and what that is and its consequences. A great read. One complaint: Mr. Lin tended to throw out names of historical and contemporary figures alike without fully explaining who they are. I was able to guess correctly half of them because of my heritage. But I think most Westerner would find this frustrating because they may be altogether puzzled at who is and why is this person cited.

China before the PRC
Ever wondered what China was like before the "peoples" revolution? Here's an answer by a scholarly writer. This book is now out of print but shouldn't be! Beautifully written, and fully indexed; the best editions were printed in the mid 1930's. These were made so well that if you are fortunate to find one it will still be in good condition, because of the carefull crafting of the binding and covers, and also because of the good paper used.

The Pleasures of a nonconformist

"Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist" Emerson
Author of, "The Importance Of Living" Lin Yutang is a noted philosopher and scholar. This is not a "book club" book. It is for literary types and other book geeks.

Famous Chinese short stories

Wonderful book
This book is one of my favourites. Lin Yutang retells some of the most famous Chinese short stories, ranging from the Tang, to the Sung and Ching periods. There are stories of adventure and mystery, about love, ghost stories etc. Some titles: Curly-Beard (about the Chinese "Charlemagne", uniting China under the great Tang empire), the Stranger's Note, the Jade Goddess, Madame D. When reading these fascinating stories you feel immersed in an exotic atmosphere, and are impressed by the culture of this ancient civilisation that radiates from the text.
A short example from the interesting introduction: "The Tang period was not only the golden period of poetry; it was also the classical period of the literary tale. Men's imaginations were bolder, as in Elizabethan England, their fancy was a little freer and livelier, and their hearts were a little lighter..."

The True Story of Ah Q

Product Description

Considered a masterpiece, this story was written in 1921, and is set in the China of 1911: the period of the old-democratic revolution. It concerns the tragedy of Ah Q, a farm laborer who suffers a lifetime of humiliation and persecution, dreams of revolution, and ends up on the execution ground. The story colorfully reflects the rural conditions in semi-feudal and semi-colonial China, and brings to life the time's sharp class contradictions and the peasant masses' demand for revolution. Its simplicity and directness of style, and the beauty of Lu Hsun's language, place The True Story of Ah Q high among literary works of the time for both content and style.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely masterpiece.
A must-see work. The most well-known short works in China by the greatest writer Mr. Lu Xun in China's history. Try to ask any people from mainland China, I am sure 99% of them have read this story of Ah-Q.
Ah-Q is the most famous character in China. This short novel reflects the status of the whole society in early 20th century, which was in the end of the last feudalistic Dynasty in China.

Beyond propaganda: The reality of village life in China
The Chinese communist party likes to claim Lu Xun as a precursor to later social critics who wrote along party lines. He definitely does not belong in that category. The cover of the English translation, published by the Foreign Languages Press Beijing,(not this edition) claims that his story, set in the China of 1911, reflects "the sharp class contradictions and the peasant masses' demand for revolution". Nothing could be farther from the truth. There are no peasants in Lu Xun's story who demand a revolution. On the contrary, when revolution "arrives" in the towns, it is the officials of the crumbling Ming Dynasty in the village who try to jump on the new train first. The peasants are dumbfounded, but essentially, they do not care. Ah Q is a day laborer who lives on the odd jobs he gets from time to time in his small village. He is an optimistic, naive peasant inclined to turn his daily humiliations into imaginary "victories" When he commits the mistake of confessing his love to a lowly female employee in the household of a wealthy official by saying "sleep with me", he is ostracised by the whole village and forced to steal in order to survive. Finally, he leaves the village. He returns as a man with money, and suddenly gains the respect of the villagers and the local officials. Later, however, he commits another mistake. He tells that the gained the money by selling stolen goods. In the end, he is executed because the officials decide that he has robbed the house of an official.

Lu Xun tells the story in a very detached manner, never interfering with comments of his own. He is very sarcastic: the final chapter which tells of the execution of Ah Q is titled "The Grand Finale". Ah Q is depicted as a likeable fool, stumbling through life and thrown about by chance events and his own clumsiness. The world of the village is one of pettiness, slander, envy, opportunistic cowardness, intellectual tedium, and everyday muddling through. The revolution never has any meaning to the village, other than an interference of the balance of power, an external event to which the poor and the less poor have to adapt in order to survive. Ah Q seems to me to be a symbol for China in the early years of the 20th century: a naive peasant who dreams of great things but finally stumbles helplessly to a bitter end.

The cover text of the Chinese edition concludes that it "was the author's sincere hope that the broad masses of peasants, victims of feudal oppression and imperialist aggression, might be aroused and rise in resistance against them." My own overall impression of the atmosphere in Ah Q's village is one of stifling inertia where everyone was caught in a net of inhibiting relationships and only looked for his own (and his family's) improvement in social status. No masses, no arousal. A sad story, but a true one, I guess.