Download or read book Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography Volume 4 written by Kerry Brown and published by Berkshire Publishing Group. This book was released on 2015-05-01 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography (1979-2015) provides a riveting new way to understand twenty-first-century China and a personal look at the changes that have taken place since the Reform and Opening Up era started in 1979. One hundred key individuals from this period were selected by an international group of experts, and the stories were written by more than 70 authors in 14 countries. The authors map the paths taken by these individuals-some rocky, some meandering, some fateful-and in telling their stories give contemporary Chinese history a human face. The editors have included-with the advice of myriad experts around the world-not only the life stories of politicians and government officials, who play a crucial role in the development of the country, but the stories of cultural figures including, film directors, activists, writers, and entrepreneurs from the mainland China, Hong Kong, and also from Taiwan. The "Greater China" that comes through in this volume has diverse ideas and identities. It is often contradictory, sometimes fractious, and always full of creative human complexity. Some of the lives rendered here are heroic. Some are tragic, and many are inspirational. Some figures come in for trenchant criticism, and others are celebrated with a sense of wonder and awe. Like previous volumes of the Berkshire Dictionary of Chinese Biography, this volume includes a range of appendices, including a pronunciation guide, a bibliography, and a timeline of key events.
Download or read book Madame Chiang Kai shek written by Laura Tyson Li and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first biography of one of the most controversial and fascinating women of the twentieth century. Beautiful, brilliant, and captivating, Madame Chiang Kai-shek seized unprecedented power during China’s long and violent civil war. She passionately argued against Chinese Communism in the international arena and influenced decades of Sino-American relations and modern Chinese history. Raised in one of China’s most powerful families and educated at Wellesley College, Soong Mayling went on to become wife, chief adviser, interpreter, and propagandist to Nationalist leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. She sparred with international leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt, and impressed Westerners and Chinese alike with her acumen, charm, and glamour. But she was also decried as a manipulative Dragon Lady,” and despised for living in American-style splendor while Chinese citizens suffered under her husband’s brutal oppression. The result of years of extensive research in the United States and abroad, and written with access to previously classified CIA and diplomatic files, Madame Chiang Kai-shek objectively evaluates one of the most powerful and fascinating women of the twentieth century. “Li brilliantly analyzes a fearless and profoundly conflicted woman of extraordinary force.” —Booklist
Download or read book Big Sister Little Sister Red Sister written by Jung Chang and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They were the most famous sisters in China. As the country battled through a hundred years of wars, revolutions and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the center of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history. Red Sister, Ching-ling, married the 'Father of China', Sun Yat-sen, and rose to be Mao's vice-chair. Little Sister, May-ling, became Madame Chiang Kai-shek, first lady of pre-Communist Nationalist China and a major political figure in her own right. Big Sister, Ei-ling, became Chiang's unofficial main adviser - and made herself one of China's richest women. All three sisters enjoyed tremendous privilege and glory, but also endured constant mortal danger. They showed great courage and experienced passionate love, as well as despair and heartbreak. They remained close emotionally, even when they embraced opposing political camps and Ching-ling dedicated herself to destroying her two sisters' worlds. Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is a gripping story of love, war, intrigue, bravery, glamour and betrayal, which takes us on a sweeping journey from Canton to Hawaii to New York, from exiles' quarters in Japan and Berlin to secret meeting rooms in Moscow, and from the compounds of the Communist elite in Beijing to the corridors of power in democratic Taiwan. In a group biography that is by turns intimate and epic, Jung Chang reveals the lives of three extraordinary women who helped shape twentieth-century China.
Download or read book The China Mystique written by Karen J. Leong and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2005-07-25 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on three women, Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong & Mayling Soong, this book studies the shifting images of China in American culture, particularly during the 1930s & 40s.
Download or read book The China Mirage written by James Bradley and published by Hachette+ORM. This book was released on 2015-04-21 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of Flags of our Fathers, Flyboys, and The Imperial Cruise, a spellbinding history of turbulent U.S.-China relations from the 19th century to World War II and Mao's ascent. In each of his books, James Bradley has exposed the hidden truths behind America's engagement in Asia. Now comes his most engrossing work yet. Beginning in the 1850s, Bradley introduces us to the prominent Americans who made their fortunes in the China opium trade. As they -- -good Christians all -- -profitably addicted millions, American missionaries arrived, promising salvation for those who adopted Western ways. And that was just the beginning. From drug dealer Warren Delano to his grandson Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from the port of Hong Kong to the towers of Princeton University, from the era of Appomattox to the age of the A-Bomb, The China Mirage explores a difficult century that defines U.S.-Chinese relations to this day.
Download or read book Chiang Kai Shek written by Emily Hahn and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-10-13 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth biography of the towering 20th-century Chinese military and political figure who led the government, first on the mainland and then in exile in Taiwan, from the acclaimed New Yorker correspondent who lived in China when he was head of state In 1911, 24-year-old Chiang Kai-shek was an obscure Chinese student completing his military training in Japan, the only country in the Far East with a modern army. By 1928, the soldier who no one believed would ever amount to anything had achieved world fame as the leader who broke with Russia and released the newly formed Republic of China from Communist control. Emily Hahn’s eye-opening book examines Chiang’s friendship with revolutionary Sun Yat-sen and chronicles his marriage to the glamorous, American-educated Soong May-ling, who converted him to Christianity and helped him enact social reforms. As the leader of the Nationalist Party, Chiang led China for over two decades: from 1927 through the Japanese invasion, World War II, and the civil war that ended with a Communist victory in 1949. After defeat, he retreated with his government to Taiwan where he continued to lead as president of the exiled Republic of China until his death in 1975. Famous for forging a new nation out of the chaos of warlordism, he was an Allied leader during the Second World War, only to end up scorned as an unenlightened dictator at the end of his life. Casting a critical eye on Sino-American relations, Hahn sheds new light on this complex leader who was one of the most important global political figures of the last century.
Download or read book Love and Revolution written by Ping Lu and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Death is inevitably the end of a journey. Death also allows the journey to go back to the beginning." In this bold novel, one of Taiwan's most celebrated authors reimagines the lives of a legendary couple: Sun Yat-sen, known as the "Father of the Chinese Revolution," and his wife, Song Qingling. Born in 1866, Sun Yat-sen grew up an admirer of the rebels who tried to overthrow the ruling Manchu dynasty. He dreamed of strengthening China from within, but after a failed attempt at leading an insurrection in 1895, Sun was exiled to Japan. Only in 1916, after the dynasty fell and the new Chinese Republic was established, did he return to his country and assume the role of provisional president. While in Japan, Sun met and married the beautiful Song Qingling. Twenty-six years her husband's junior, Song came from a wealthy, influential Chinese family (her sister married Chiang Kai-shek) and had received a college education in Macon, Georgia. Their tumultuous and politically charged relationship fuels this riveting novel. Weaving together three distinct voices--Sun's, Song's, and a young woman rumored to be the daughter of Song's illicit lover--Ping Lu's narrative experiments with invented memories and historical fact to explore the couple's many failings and desires. Touching on Sun Yat-sen's tormented political life and Song Qingling's rumored affairs and isolation after her husband's death, the novel follows the story all the way to 1981, recounting political upheavals Sun himself could never have imagined.
Download or read book The Generalissimo written by Jay Taylor and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-15 with total page 737 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most momentous stories of the last century is China’s rise from a self-satisfied, anti-modern, decaying society into a global power that promises to one day rival the United States. Chiang Kai-shek, an autocratic, larger-than-life figure, dominates this story. A modernist as well as a neo-Confucianist, Chiang was a man of war who led the most ancient and populous country in the world through a quarter century of bloody revolutions, civil conflict, and wars of resistance against Japanese aggression. In 1949, when he was defeated by Mao Zedong—his archrival for leadership of China—he fled to Taiwan, where he ruled for another twenty-five years. Playing a key role in the cold war with China, Chiang suppressed opposition with his “white terror,” controlled inflation and corruption, carried out land reform, and raised personal income, health, and educational levels on the island. Consciously or not, he set the stage for Taiwan’s evolution of a Chinese model of democratic modernization. Drawing heavily on Chinese sources including Chiang’s diaries, The Generalissimo provides the most lively, sweeping, and objective biography yet of a man whose length of uninterrupted, active engagement at the highest levels in the march of history is excelled by few, if any, in modern history. Jay Taylor shows a man who was exceedingly ruthless and temperamental but who was also courageous and conscientious in matters of state. Revealing fascinating aspects of Chiang’s life, Taylor provides penetrating insight into the dynamics of the past that lie behind the struggle for modernity of mainland China and its relationship with Taiwan.
Download or read book The Flying Tigers written by Sam Kleiner and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thrilling story behind the American pilots who were secretly recruited to defend the nation’s desperate Chinese allies before Pearl Harbor and ended up on the front lines of the war against the Japanese in the Pacific. Sam Kleiner’s The Flying Tigers uncovers the hidden story of the group of young American men and women who crossed the Pacific before Pearl Harbor to risk their lives defending China. Led by legendary army pilot Claire Chennault, these men left behind an America still at peace in the summer of 1941 using false identities to travel across the Pacific to a run-down airbase in the jungles of Burma. In the wake of the disaster at Pearl Harbor this motley crew was the first group of Americans to take on the Japanese in combat, shooting down hundreds of Japanese aircraft in the skies over Burma, Thailand, and China. At a time when the Allies were being defeated across the globe, the Flying Tigers’ exploits gave hope to Americans and Chinese alike. Kleiner takes readers into the cockpits of their iconic shark-nosed P-40 planes—one of the most familiar images of the war—as the Tigers perform nail-biting missions against the Japanese. He profiles the outsize personalities involved in the operation, including Chennault, whose aggressive tactics went against the prevailing wisdom of military strategy; Greg “Pappy” Boyington, the man who would become the nation’s most beloved pilot until he was shot down and became a POW; Emma Foster, one of the nurses in the unit who had a passionate romance with a pilot named John Petach; and Madame Chiang Kai-shek herself, who first brought Chennault to China and who would come to visit these young Americans. A dramatic story of a covert operation whose very existence would have scandalized an isolationist United States, The Flying Tigers is the unforgettable account of a group of Americans whose heroism changed the world, and who cemented an alliance between the United States and China as both nations fought against seemingly insurmountable odds.
Download or read book The Soong Dynasty written by Sterling Seagrave and published by . This book was released on 2017-01-15 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Fast paced and jammed with racy details' - New York Times Book Review The Soong Dynasty is the first full behind-the-scenes account of the extraordinary Soong family whose power and wealth dominated China and American policy towards Asia in the Twentieth Century. It is an extraordinary work of historical detection which traces the family's roots from the middle of the last century and their explosive rise thereafter. Descendants of a runaway, they grew up in America under the protection of the Methodist church and returned to their homeland to make a fortune selling Western bibles. The Soong Family became the principal rulers of China during the first half of the Twentieth Century. In The Soong Dynasty, Sterling Seagrave describes for the first time the intricate and fascinating rise to power of Charlie Soong and his children, whom he married to some of China's most powerful men to create a network of power and influence which was to last for over fifty years. It is a classic tale of power, money, corruption and greed with elements of tragedy and comedy. Praise for The Soong Dynasty: 'Seagrave knows China, and has caught the atmosphere of that weird, melancholy place ... he has shed light into so many dark places, and turned a difficult piece of history into an engrossing narrative' - Daily Telegraph 'Seagrave s marathon probe includes much new evidence ... It is an important segment of twentieth century world history ... People should therefore be encouraged to read it' - Dervla Murphy, Irish Times 'The Soong Dynasty brings much pungent material to light ... [it is] a story unraveled with fluency and flair' - Time 'A gripping book. Seagrave has tackled a mighty subject with resourcefulness and spirit' - Washington Post 'Compulsively readable' - International Herald Tribune 'Mr Seagrave is a fine investigative reporter - digging up information from a multitude of sources, much of it original, and piecing together a gripping account of epochal events' - Wall Street Journal Sterling Seagrave, who grew up on the China-Burma border in the 1940s (his father was Dr Gordon Seagrave, author of Burma Surgeon), is the author of Yellow Rain, The Marcos Dynasty, Dragon Lady, and Lords of the Rim and has written many articles for major newspapers and magazines. In preparing The Soong Dynasty, he drew on half a lifetime in Asia and on many sources, including the files of Time Inc., the National Archives, many individuals, and the FBI, to produce a riveting and revealing narrative of major historical importance supplemented with much new material. He lives in Europe.
Download or read book The Soong Sisters written by Emily Hahn and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “If the story of the Soong family were told as fiction, people would say it was fascinating but too improbable. . . . A dramatic human chronicle . . . engrossing.” —The New York Times Book Review In the early twentieth century, few women in China were to prove so important to the rise of Chinese nationalism and liberation from tradition as the three extraordinary Soong sisters—Eling, Chingling and Mayling—who would each marry historic figures. Told with wit and verve by New Yorker correspondent Emily Hahn, a remarkable woman in her own right, the biography of the Soong sisters reveals the story of China through both World Wars. It also chronicles the changes to Shanghai as they relate to a very eccentric family that had the courage to speak out against the ruling regime. Greatly influencing the history of modern China, they interacted with their government and military to protect the lives of those who could not be heard, and appealed to the West to support China during the Japanese invasion. “[A] first-rate reportorial job on three distinguished women.” —Kirkus Reviews “A spirited, well-informed book . . . a fascinating saga . . . Hahn skillfully interweaves the personal material which she has collected in abundance with some indispensable background knowledge of Chinese history.” —The Atlantic
Download or read book The Sian Incident written by Tien-wei Wu and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 1976-01-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Chiang Kai-shek arrived at Sian in the fall of 1936 and laid plans for launching his last campaign against the Red Army with an expectation of exterminating it in a month, he badly misjudged the mood of the Tungpei (Northeast) Army and more so its leader, Chang Hsueh-liang, better known as the Young Marshal. Refusing to fight the Communists, Chang with the loyal support of his officers staged a coup d’état by kidnapping Chiang Kai-shek for two weeks at Sian. Almost forty years after the melodrama was over, the Sian Incident still absorbs much attention from both Chinese and Western scholars as well as the reading public. The Sian Incident attempts to bring together whatever information has been thus far gleaned about the subject, and to cover all aspects and controversies involved in it. [1, xi, xii]
Download or read book We Chinese Women written by Mme. Chiang Kai-Shek and published by . This book was released on 2013-10 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a new release of the original 1943 edition.
Download or read book Madame Chiang Kai Shek written by Laura Tyson Li and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2007-09 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the life of Soong Mayling, from her youth in one of China's most powerful families, to her status as wife, adviser, and propagandist to Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, to her role as an international crusader against Communism.
Download or read book The House of Yan written by Lan Yan and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through the sweeping cultural and historical transformations of China, entrepreneur Lan Yan traces her family’s history through early 20th Century to present day. The history of the Yan family is inseparable from the history of China over the last century. One of the most influential business leaders of China today, Lan Yan grew up in the company of the country’s powerful elite, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping. Her grandfather, Yan Baohang, originally a nationalist and ally of Chiang Kai-shek, later joined the communists and worked as a spy during World War II, never falling out of favor with Soong May-ling, aka Mrs. Chiang Kai-shek. Lan’s parents were diplomats, and her father, Yan Mingfu, was Mao’s personal Russian translator. In spite of their elevated status, the Yan’s family life was turned upside down by the Cultural Revolution. One night in 1967, in front of a terrified ten-year-old Lan, Red Guards burst into the family home and arrested her grandfather. Days later, her father was arrested, accused of spying for the Soviet Union. Her mother, Wu Keilang, was branded a counter-revolutionary and forced to go with her daughter to a re-education camp for five years, where Lan came of age as a high school student. In recounting her family history, Lan Yan brings to life a century of Chinese history from the last emperor to present day, including the Cultural Revolution which tore her childhood apart. The reader obtains a rare glimpse into the mysteries of a system which went off the rails and would decimate a large swathe of the intellectual, economic and political elite country. The little girl who was crushed by the Cultural Revolution has become one of the most active businesswomen in her country. In telling her and her family’s story, Lan Yan serves up an intimate account of the history of contemporary China.
Download or read book Selected Speeches written by May-ling Soong Chiang and published by . This book was released on 1957 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Force So Swift written by Kevin Peraino and published by Crown Publishing Group (NY). This book was released on 2017 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A compelling year-long narrative of America's response to the fall of Chiang Kai-shek and Nationalist China in 1949, and Mao Zedong and the Communist Party's rise to power, forever altering the world's geopolitical map"--Provided by publisher.
