Page 73 - Mongolia & the Gobi Desert

-PQZ]P _SP /PW`RP ?SP ALYT^STYR BZ]WO ZQ _SP DLYR_ePɪ^ ?S]PP 2Z]RP^ by Deirdre Chetham (Culture)
.SP_SLX ZʬP]^ L OP_LTWPO RWTX[^P TY_Z _SP OLTWd WTQP LWZYR _SP ]TaP] T_^ ^[PN_LN`WL] YL_`]LW
MPL`_d LYO NSPNVP]PO ST^_Z]d >SP LW^Z NZY^TOP]^ _SP PʬZ]_^ _Z _LXP _SP ]TaP] N`WXTYL_TYR
with the massive Three Gorges dam. Although the book was written before the dam was
completed, it is still considered one of the better books on the subject.

China Road Md =ZM 2TʬZ]O ?]LaPW 9L]]L_TaP :Y _SP ]ZLO Q]ZX >SLYRSLT bP^_ _Z _SP 2ZMT LYO
.STYLɪ^ OT^_LY_ MZ]OP] bT_S 6LeLVS^_LY 2TʬZ]O b]T_P^ bT_S bL]X_S LYO LʬPN_TZY ZQ ST^ XLYd
encounters along fabled Route 312 with fellow travelers, truckers, and ordinary folk.

/L`RS_P] ZQ .STYL% , ?]`P >_Z]d ZQ 7ZaP LYO -P_]LdLW by Meihong Xu and Larry Engelmann
(Biography). The true account of a Chinese woman trained as an elite member of the PLA,
denounced as a spy by the Communist government for her love of an American professor.

/PL_S ZQ L =PO 3P]ZTYP by Qui Xiaolong (Mystery) Marvelously evocative of Shanghai and
China’s transition towards a market economy in the 1990’s, this award-winning debut of
Inspector Chen of the Shanghai police is also a real page-turner.

0X[]P^^ :]NSTO by Anchee Min (Fiction) A novel of the glorious, decadent last days of 19th-
Century Imperial China. Min combines her tale of a young girl from the provinces who marries
an emperor with a lovingly re-created portrait of life in the Forbidden City. Pearl Buck told a
much more romanticized tale of the same remarkable woman in 4X[P]TLW BZXLY.

Mao Zedong by Jonathan Spence (Biography) A masterful short biography in the “Penguin
Lives” series, this text by Chinese historian Jonathan Spence tracks the life of the enigmatic
Chinese ruler from his provincial upbringing to his powerful reign.

?SP 3L`Y_PO 8ZYL^_P]d by Robert Van Gulik (Mystery) One of a series of historical mysteries,
featuring a Tang-era Chinese magistrate that are taken from the tradition of Chinese suspense
novels. Apart from the pleasure of the elaborate plots, the books are rich in details of court and
daily life in ancient China.

BTWO >bLY^ ?S]PP /L`RS_P]^ ZQ .STYL by Jung Chang (Biography) A riveting tale of three
generations spanning the end of Old China, Mao’s regime and the Japanese occupation. Chang
chronicles the enormous changes in China since 1929 through her family’s story, which
includes arrest during the Cultural Revolution, exile to the Sichuan wilderness and coming to
terms with the bewildering state of China today.

.STYL TY ?PY BZ]O^ by Yu Hua (Culture) Ten essays on wide-ranging aspects of Chinese culture,
such as economics, history, and politics, each summed up by one word or phrase like “leader”
or “revolution”.

;Z^_NL]O^ Q]ZX ?ZXZ]]Zb >\`L]P% =P[Z]_^ Q]ZX .STYL by James Fallows (Culture) Originally a series
of articles for Atlantic Monthly, each chapter can be read as a stand-alone piece or as part of
a whole. The same author has also written China Airborne, which focuses on China’s aviation
industry as a way of understanding the modernization of China.

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