Books about Chinese from Amazon.com

“I finally understand what the poets have written In spring, moved to passion; in autumn only regret.”

For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, these lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the cloistered daughter of a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage. Though raised to be obedient, Peony has dreams of her own.

Peony’s mother is against her daughter’s attending the production: “Unmarried girls should not be seen in public.” But Peony’s father assures his wife that proprieties will be maintained, and that the women will watch the opera from behind a screen. Yet through its cracks, Peony catches sight of an elegant, handsome man with hair as black as a cave–and is immediately overcome with emotion.

So begins Peony’s unforgettable journey of love and destiny, desire and sorrow–as Lisa See’s haunting new novel, based on actual historical events, takes readers back to seventeenth-century China, after the Manchus seize power and the Ming dynasty is crushed.

Steeped in traditions and ritual, this story brings to life another time and place–even the intricate realm of the afterworld, with its protocols, pathways, and stages of existence, a vividly imagined place where one’s soul is divided into three, ancestors offer guidance, misdeeds are punished, and hungry ghosts wander the earth. Immersed in the richness and magic of the Chinese vision of the afterlife, transcending even death, Peony in Love explores, beautifully, the many manifestations of love. Ultimately, Lisa See’s new novel addresses universal themes: the bonds of friendship, the power of words, and the age-old desire of women to be heard.


From the Hardcover edition..
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An esteemed doctor who has helped countless women achieve their dream of having a child offers his program for enhancing fertility through traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Dr. Daoshing Ni, descended from more than 70 generations of Taoist masters, has achieved renown among high-tech infertility specialists, TCM practitioners, and his many devoted patients. The Tao of Fertility is the first book combining a practical plan for conceiving using TCM with empowering Taoist principles that can carry you through pregnancy, childbirth, and beyond. Structured according to a woman's journey to conception, The Tao of Fertility includes:

• A questionnaire assessing fertility potential
• A 28-day fertility enhancement program
• Simple meditations and acupressure points to improve reproductive circulation and relaxation
• Guidelines for mapping your fertility using Chinese methods of diagnosis
• Information on how herbs and acupuncture can increase fertility
• Eating plans for pregnancy, postpartum, and while breast-feeding.
• and much more

Enriched by moving stories of women who became pregnant using TCM, this is a compassionate, comprehensive handbook.

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In Wild Swans Jung Chang recounts the evocative, unsettling, and insistently gripping story of how three generations of women in her family fared in the political maelstrom of China during the 20th century Chang's grandmother was a warlord's concubine. Her gently raised mother struggled with hardships in the early days of Mao's revolution and rose, like her husband, to a prominent position in the Communist Party before being denounced during the Cultural Revolution. Chang herself marched, worked, and breathed for Mao until doubt crept in over the excesses of his policies and purges. Born just a few decades apart, their lives overlap with the end of the warlords' regime and overthrow of the Japanese occupation, violent struggles between the Kuomintang and the Communists to carve up China, and, most poignant for the author, the vicious cycle of purges orchestrated by Chairman Mao that discredited and crushed millions of people, including her parents..
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East meets West in this extraordinary guide to natural healing by a prominent doctor of Chinese medicine and the author of Secrets of Longevity.

Dr. Mao's philosophy is simple: We all have a built-in healing ability, so why not try to activate it with natural means before we resort to drugs and invasive procedures? For the common cold, why not exploit the power of garlic, ginger, and the herb astragalus instead of taking cold medicine that simply replaces symptoms with side effects? For insomnia, why not try to find a long-term solution through acupressure or feng shui instead of popping sleeping pills, which don't treat the source of the problem?

Chinese medicine sees well-being as a result of a balanced life, not just a healthy body. In Part One of Secrets of Self-Healing, Dr. Mao explains that healing food and herbs, exercise, a positive emotional life, a suitable living environment, and spiritual growth are all essential to vitality and lasting health. Using examples of his own patients' experiences, he demonstrates:

- How negative emotions can make us ill
- How clutter in our homes can create imbalances in our bodies
- How Eastern and Western medicine can work together to fight cancer

Then, in Part Two, he reveals detailed home remedies for seventy common ailments, such as sore throat, allergies, high blood pressure, sunburn, insomnia, memory loss, and jet lag. Inspirational yet practical, Secrets of Self-Healing will put readers on the path to a balanced and healthy life..
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For thousands of years, Chinese women have trusted traditional Chinese medicine to help them conceive A recent medical study found that women who augmented Western fertility treatments with TCM, traditional Chinese medicine, doubled their chances of a succesful pregnancy. THE INFERTILITY CURE gives women an effective, natural means of supporting their efforts to get pregnant. Based on techniques and remedies drawn from traditional Chinese medicine, this program shows readers how to increase their overall health and well-being, strengthen the organs and systems vital to reproduction, heal specific conditions that may affect fertility, and even support Western-based reproductive technology such as IVF and hormone therapy. Dr. Lewis' easy-to-follow program begins with diagnosis, using an extensive questionnaire to determine each reader's unique diagnostic category. The next three steps involve bringing a woman's body back into balance through diet, acupressure, and Chinese herbs. By following this program, women will be able to create a welcoming physical and emotional environment for what they desire most: a child..
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A century ago, outsiders saw China as a place where nothing ever changes. Today the country has become one of the most dynamic regions on earth. In Oracle Bones, Peter Hessler explores the human side of China's transformation, viewing modern-day China and its growing links to the Western world through the lives of a handful of ordinary people. In a narrative that gracefully moves between the ancient and the present, the East and the West, Hessler captures the soul of a country that is undergoing a momentous change before our eyes.

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A dramatic autobiography of one of China's dedicated, courageous, and intensely persecuted house church leaders. (20040603).
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