Best Books for Teaching about China (continued.) [好书推荐] 帮我读懂中国的书

Last year, I wrote a blog of the same title. Since then, I have read more books that I enjoy and would recommend to readers who share the same interest as I do in modern China. My students have helped me in this process, because they have each chosen a book to read about China upon my assignment, and they in turn inspired me to pay closer attention to the book that they have chosen. This "book project," in their words, is the most enjoyable among all assignments because it gives them a choice, a degree of autonomy, and an opportunity to share with and learn from each other.

To Live, a novel by Yu Hua

I have watched the movie To Live many many times, wrote about it, and assigned essay questions on it, but my assumption that I almost read the novel by watching the movie proved wrong. Reading the novel proves to be a totally new experience, as the novel exposes me to a whole new setting and much more vivid details than the limited duration of a movie can ever include. While the movie seems to reference more directly the political tumults from 1940s to 1960s, the novel presents critiques the same period more subtly and realistically. Among all the books I recommend to my students to read, To Live is the most frequently chosen. Students love the controversy about how To Live was first banned in Mainland China and then heralded as one of the most influential Chinese novels of the twentieth century.

Chinese Cinderella - The True Story of An Unwanted Daughter, a autobiography by Adeline Yen Mah

I finished the book almost in one setting. Among all the tragic stories about modern Chinese history, the story of an unwelcome daughter of a mega-rich family somehow managed to sadden me just as much as a story of a Cultural Revolution victim. Compared with other books that I have recommended, this book would be perfect for a middle school student: relatively short, easily understood, easier to empathize with (although from a modern perspective, what happened to Ms. Mah is hardly imaginable), but still teaches an unforgettable lesson about girls in Chinese society and a personal view of the changes 1940s and 1950s brought to China. In addition, the book introduces us to a Chinese cinderella story from the Tang Dynasty that predated the Italian tradition, and suggests that perhaps Marco Polo exported the cinderella story from China to Europe. A more complete, adult version of Ms. Mah's autobiography is called Falling Leaves - Return to Their Roots.

The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua

This book probably does not need any more "recommendation," but the profound controversy that has generated the book's fame also makes is a great medium for students to voice their opinions on parenting and to compare the so-called Chinese and Western parenting styles. I have both 12th-grader and 8th-grader present provocatively and thoughtfully about this book that led to boisterous discussions and great understandings among their classmates. In my middle school classes, the Asian-American students almost unanimously chose this book - well, having met their parents a couple times, I can totally see why.

Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution, by Ji-li Jiang

China's Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution, by Da Chen

 

These two books are good entries into the Cultural Revolution for middle school students. As a history buff and history teacher, I care deeply that my students learn something about China's most painful history, the Cultural Revolution, at some point in their secondary school education. Fortunately, there are books for both sophisticated and innocent readers in the U.S. that can help me accomplish my goal. These two books are sad, yet also convey messages of grit, perseverance, courage and optimism, which young students need to learn regardless of book titles or subject matters.

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: An Adventure in the World of Chinese Food, by Jennifer 8 Lee

Are you curious why the author's middle name is "8"? Do you want to know the teal origin of fortune cookies and restaurant delivery services? Do you want to find out why Ms. Lee's passion is so strong that she devotes an entire book to expose the differences between real and fake Chinese food? In my experience, the students learn tidbits about Chinese culture and Chinese American experience from this book.