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Goodreads helps you keep track of Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. The popular Beijing Duck House in Rockville, Maryland has been serving devoted regulars for decades, but behind the staff's professional smiles simmer tensions, heartaches and grudges from decades of bustling restaurant life. Owner Jimmy Han has ambitions for a new high-end fusion place, hoping to eclipse his late father's homely establishment. Jimmy's older brother, Johnny The popular Beijing Duck House in Rockville, Maryland has been serving Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 regulars for decades, but behind the staff's professional Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 simmer tensions, heartaches and grudges from decades of bustling restaurant life. Jimmy's older brother, Johnny, is more concerned with restoring the dignity of the family name than his faltering relationship with his own teenage daughter, Annie. Nan and Ah-Jack, longtime Duck House employees, yearn to turn their thirty-year friendship into something more, while Nan's son, Pat, struggles to stay out of trouble. When disaster strikes and Pat and Annie find themselves in a dangerous game that means tragedy for the Duck House, their families must finally confront the conflicts and loyalties simmering beneath the red and gold lanterns. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. More Details Original Title. Rockville, Maryland United States. Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee for Longlist Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Number One Chinese Restaurant Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1, please sign up. Not a? Henry Holt Thanks for letting us know. We'll get that updated. See 1 question about Number One Chinese Restaurant…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Number One Chinese Restaurant. May 08, Larry H rated Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 liked it Shelves: netgalley. Growing up in the New Jersey suburbs in the mids, my family ate dinner out nearly every Sunday evening, and more often than not, we ate Chinese food, as did many other families in my town. I used to joke that there were classmates I saw more regularly at the Chinese restaurant than I did in high school! While there were several different Chinese restaurants in our area, and everyone had a favorite, we frequently ate at one particular restaurant, whose owners my parents had known for a num Growing up in the New Jersey suburbs in the mids, my family ate dinner out nearly every Sunday evening, and more often than not, we ate Chinese food, as did many other families in my town. While there were several different Chinese restaurants in our area, and everyone had a favorite, we frequently ate at one particular restaurant, whose owners my parents had known for a number of years. The owner and his wife seemed to have a fascinating relationship, and the high school gossip I was then loved to make up stories about what was going on in their lives, as well as the lives of the other employees. The Beijing Duck House in Rockville, Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1, has certainly seen better days, Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 it's still a favorite among the community's restaurants. The creation of immigrant Bobby Han, the Duck House was once a place where presidents and celebrities dined, but Bobby's death left the restaurant caught between his two sons, the more managerially suited Johnny, and Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 more impulsive, ambitious Jimmy. Jimmy has dreams of getting away from his father's legacy and opening a fancier Asian fusion restaurant where he'd never again have to serve the dishes which exhaust and repulse him. But to make his dream possible requires striking a deal with the devil, one who has been on the outskirts of their family for years now, and doesn't know how to take the word "no" for an answer. When tragedy strikes, it may make the achievement of Jimmy's dreams closer to reality, but it also upends the lives of many others. But if they do, how will this affect Ah-Jack's wife and Nan's rebellious teenage son, Pat? Pat, a dishwasher at the Duck House since Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 expelled from high school, is in the midst of a flirtation with Annie, the hostess, who happens to be Jimmy's niece. While Annie has very little love for her father or her family's restaurant, she's not expecting to get pulled into a scheme which threatens to destroy both. As Jimmy tries to hold on to his dream, he must battle his brother, their seemingly ineffective mother, and the family friend whose menacing presence has always kept everyone on edge. But what does Jimmy really want? Is it making a name for himself, or continuing to bask in the spotlight his father built all these years ago. There's a lot going on in this book, with no shortage of melodrama, family dysfunction, angst, and even a little crime for good measure. While the different situations the characters find themselves in certainly have potential, they never really grabbed my interest as I had hoped. I don't know if there was too much to digest no pun intended all at once, or if it was more that the characters weren't particularly sympathetic, but I felt that the plot really dragged, and never picked up much steam. If you like stories of family dynamics, you might enjoy this one. The one thing I truly appreciated about this book is that Li didn't spend too much time dwelling on the food, so I didn't get as hungry as I often do when reading books about restaurants and cooks! Thanks for making this available! See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria. View all 15 comments. Apr 05, Rachel rated it it was ok Shelves: literary-fiction, women-s-prize Everything about Number One Chinese Restaurant is just aggressively mediocre. Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 say 'aggressively' because you're confronted with this mediocrity on practically every page; the prose is simultaneously lifeless and overwritten, the characters are poorly drawn caricatures, Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 plot meanders, and this book just never manages to hit any of the emotional beats that it strives for. It's basically an emotionally hollow melodrama. Not to fully absolve Lillian Li of all of these issues, but I do believe t Everything about Number One Chinese Restaurant is just aggressively mediocre. Not to fully absolve Lillian Li of all of these issues, but I do believe that a lot of this could have been solved with tighter editing. Because what works about this book are its bare bones: a dysfunctional Chinese-American family struggles to run a Chinese restaurant, with inter- generational tension providing the main conflict: how Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 one balance a family legacy with their own plans for the future? It's a great concept, and I wanted to root for this book; I wanted to root for the Han family, but it all just fails in execution. Certain plot threads are examined and re-examined through different perspectives ad nauseum; others are abandoned after a brief mention. This book is over-saturated with details, but it doesn't pause to imbue key moments with any kind of emotional weight. When Jimmy Han's family's restaurant is set on fire, we learn the particulars of the fire-setting from about four different perspectives, but what about the aftermath? Jimmy, relying on insurance money to come through, quickly starts a new restaurant and hires staff and creates a new menu and this all happens off the page, we get from point A to point B so easily that it's a wonder we should care at all, with characters overcoming obstacles this easily. This could have been good but it just wasn't. I'd gladly read more from Lillian Li in the future, as this was a debut and it wasn't so abysmal that I'll completely write off her potential, but as a Women's Prize read it sadly felt Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 a waste of time. View all 24 comments. Mar 07, Meike rated it liked it Shelves: chinaread. Nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction Many immigrants become entrepreneurs or workers in the Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 industry, and this book contemplates what this version of the "American Dream" can mean: Li's debut centers on the brothers Jimmy and Johnny, the sons of Chinese immigrants, who, after the death of their father, inherit his Chinese restaurant and have very different ideas regarding the future of their business. The decisions they take do not only have consequences for themselves, but al Nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction Many immigrants become entrepreneurs or workers in the service industry, and this book contemplates what this version of the "American Dream" can mean: Li's debut centers on the brothers Jimmy and Johnny, the sons of Chinese immigrants, who, after the death of their father, inherit his Chinese restaurant and have very different ideas regarding the future of their business. The decisions they take do not only have consequences for themselves, but also for the rest of their family and the cooks and waiters - the restaurant is shown as a sociotope with its own logic, history and stories, where larger dynamics regarding power and prestige, but also friendship and loyalty are played out in a confined area. I really liked that core idea, and Li introduces some great characters, like Ah-Jack, the aging waiter, whose body starts to fail him and who tries to navigate the challenges he faces with a peculiar attitude. Unfortunately, the writing is very uneven, and the pacing is off: Often, scenes are unnecessarily elongated, while others remain underexplored like the Chinese mafioso and the strange power he holds over Jimmy's and Jonny's family - this part of the story is rather unconvincing. The novel shines when it dives into the seemingly mundane aspects of human relationships, the more unusual narrative threads often seem a little lifeless or even contrived. So all in all, I enjoyed reading the book, as it certainly has some Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 and offers interesting perspectives, but it does not live up to its full potential. I am sure though that Lillian Li will come up with stronger texts in the future - this writer does have talent, and she is only getting started. View all 29 comments. Feb 11, Kevin Hu rated it it was ok Shelves: netgalleyasian-americanamerican-fictionfiction. I received this book from NetGalley and was excited to dive into a fiction that dealt with themes surrounding the Chinese restaurant life. I personally grew up as a product of this very niche subculture. I think that Li does some things well here. She illuminates the generational barrier that disallows a conventionally intimate relationship between 1st gen parents, who toil endlessly to pave the way for their progeny, and the 2nd gen children who Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 for the existence of some kind of a relati I received this book from NetGalley and was excited to dive into a fiction that dealt with themes surrounding the Chinese restaurant life. Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 illuminates the generational barrier that disallows a conventionally intimate relationship between 1st gen parents, who toil endlessly to pave the way for their progeny, and the 2nd gen children who yearns for the existence of some kind of a relationship and even at times resent the unwelcome gift of toil. She exposes, in rare occasions, that a language barrier can inhibit what communication there is left between generations. Her minor characters, in a restaurant setting where most of the book takes place, have fleeting qualities that lend to the vapid impressions and homogeneity of each character - this is very much accurate to the environment. She dabbles with the organism of Chinese microeconomy and microcosm that would exchange progressive methods of enterprising a restaurant in exchange for loyalty to your people. The cultural differences certainly collide Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 a business is passed on to children with a completely different framework of goals in enterprising. Contemporary Chinese vol.1 - Character Book / Nejlevnější knihy

Integrated Chinese is one of the best Chinese Textbooks for Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 the leading introductory Chinese textbook at colleges and universities around the world. The Integrated Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 Level 1 Part 1 Textbook covers the first semester of study at the college level. It systematically introduces over essential vocabulary words. Key grammatical structures are presented through clear and jargon-free explanations. Interactive activities for practicing interpersonal, presentational, and interpretive language skills are incorporated throughout. Learners build real-life communicative skills as they discuss everyday topics and learn useful sentence structure. A wealth of realia and authentic materials build proficiency in using the Chinese language in real-life situations. Two review lessons are included for cumulative practice. Keywords: online Chinese classes,Learn Chinese via Skype ID:MandarinChineseSchool ,1 on 1 Chinese lesson, free download Chinese textbooksLearn Chinese via Skype ,1 on 1 Chinese lesson,Chinese tutor,learn standard Chinese,xue hanyu,xue zhongwen,best textbook for learning Chinese,dialogues in Chinese,Chinese conversation,reading,writting,Chinese listening comprehension. MandarinChineseSchool established in ,with dozens of experienced native speaking Chinese teachers,our school has the most flexible solutions for foreigners to learn Mandarin Chinese online via skype easily and effectively. Our Online Chinese lessons are offered via Skype,the free video conferencing Read More. Latest News How to build your Chinese vocabularies rapidly? Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li

This is the SupChina Book Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1, books about China across all genres — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and everything in between — ranked from to 1. We sourced broadly, in an attempt to create a unique, inclusive list that has something for everyone, neither catering to a specific taste nor pandering to any preconceived idea of what such a list should look like. There was no criteria except availability in English. We decided to limit all authors to one title. In the end, this is what we came up with: A list with books by journalists Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 historians, migrant poets and politicians, Nobel Prize winners three, in fact and dissidents; on topics including sex, sorcery, food, debt, Chinese medicine, gay life, and footbinding; across all eras, from the 14th century Three Kingdoms to the books that come in at Nos. And of course, all of it ranked. The folly of ranking, I assure you, is not lost on me. We welcome disagreement. Tweet us supchinanewsor me personally anthonytao. Finally, I want to say a big thank you to all of our blurb writers, who are listed here along with, in the case of some, the China books they themselves Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 written. Sort by time period of primary subject matter :. Riding the Iron Rooster is a fine antidote to the colonialist travelogues of the first half of the 20th century, as well as the self-serious immersive reportage books that came to dominate in the first half of this century. Theroux spent a year crisscrossing the country by rail, going as far as Xinjiang in the west and the Shandong coast in the east, often accompanied by government minders. As in all of his travel writing, he is unfailingly human, at turns prickly, lascivious, poetic, or just plain fed-up. If you were lucky enough to take a trip by train in the days before Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 rail, you will find yourself nodding along in recognition. This is a valuable first-person narrative from an author who spent almost a decade in Lijiang, Yunnan Province during the s and s. Originally a tour guide in Shanghai, the Russian-born Peter Goullart eventually became appointed by the Nationalists as chief of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives in Lijiang, where he learned to speak Naxi, the language of the dominant ethnic group. This controversial Chinese novel tells the story of Coco, a Shanghai waitress in search of love, whose ambition it is to become a famous writer. Within China, this book was officially banned inwith 40, copies publicly burned. Because of all the controversy and misconception, I decided to write my thesis in Literary Studies about this book years ago, arguing that it needs to be put back in its context of the PRC in the late s. What they did was bold, especially in s China, giving voice to a new generation of strong, independent Chinese women. Mark Salzman was among the first generation of Americans to teach in China, in the s, when he was in Changsha. After China, Salzman went on to a great career as a novelist and memoirist, with an impressive range of subjects. The Jade Kingor Funeral of a Muslimas the title is also sometimes rendered, is one of those books. The story of Han Ziqi, an orphan raised by Hui and tutored in the carving of jade ornaments, ranges from the late Qing Dynasty to the end of the Cultural Revolution, and from Beijing to London. China has no shortage of problems on its Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1, but perhaps one of the most alarming Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 underappreciated is its severe gender imbalance, which will see tens of millions of men go permanently without a female partner. In this book, journalist Mara Hvistendahl traces the origins of the problem, from Western fears of overpopulation in the s though the present day, where a patriarchal culture, strict birth limits, and Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 abortion have made China ground zero for this problem with Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 implications. Often they are unstable. Sometimes they are violent. Published inthe book was immediately banned for its political undertones as well as its raunchiness — which naturally increased its demand. Aside from Serve the People! A prolific writer of novels, novellas, and literary criticism, he has won several prizes, including the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Franz Kafka Prize. A subtly feminist work, at each major milestone in the lives of its two main characters, the author reminds the reader that for all the exotic trappings and social strictures of their time and place, women in Imperial China had their own voices, desires, and methods for exerting some measure of control over their lives. The book follows the life of the narrator, Lily, beginning with her experience of footbinding in early childhood and, perhaps paradoxically, its role in helping her rise from the social class of her birth through an advantageous marriage. Snow Flower provides an important and humanizing glimpse into the lives of women in Imperial China, giving a lyrical voice to individuals who have otherwise been all too frequently overlooked. French sets his reconstruction of the events of against the backdrop of a city and a nation on the verge of monumental change. A quiet, wooded mountain; a glint of sunlight; a patch of moss. Xinran does her best to pry open the trapdoor to what still goes unspoken. The stories she collects of rape, incest, domestic violence, forced abortion, kidnapping, and suicide are shocking — but even more shocking is the seeming mundanity of the brutalization of women and girls, sometimes by less extreme but far more insidious means. Perhaps Xinran could be faulted for trying too hard to pin the case on political and social chaos under the Communist Party; still, the stories she relates — including her own — are timeless and depressingly universal. Over the course of 12 short stories, Jonathan Tel conjures a vibrant, complex Beijing of multitudes, of idealists and thieves, migrant workers and musicians, of surreal twists and fantastical elements nevertheless grounded in the possible. This is the Beijing I imagine telling people about when I talk to those who have never been here. I believe that sentiment, in the same way people believe in great fiction. The s witnessed a publishing boom in English-language or translated China memoirs that focused on individual experiences of political campaigns from the s through the Cultural Revolution. Overnight, she became an accused British spy and enemy of socialism. Condemned to six and a half years in prison, she endured physical and psychological torture and deprivation. Her beloved daughter, meanwhile, committed suicide. Cheng is a sharp observer and a gifted storyteller; her fierce intelligence, wit, and courage are evident on every page. McMahon also addresses ghost cities, state monopolies, and a manufacturing boom that has simultaneously generated huge prosperity and created what he sees as economic time bombs. Lin could perhaps be called one of the first anti-Orientalists, but also a debunker of the Yellow Peril. Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 words speak to those of us who try to square the reality of our intellectually dynamic, generous, and open-minded Chinese friends with their monolithic state, and remind us that there is indeed a difference. The premise is straightforward, if somewhat provocative: The dominant narrative of footbinding as a painful patriarchal practice imposed upon women for the pleasure of men is an ahistorical oversimplification — and one that serves to obscure the voices and experiences of the women at the heart of the story. While Ko, who teaches history at Barnard College, is careful to never fully condone or condemn footbinding, and does not shy from the unpleasant — and, as many would persuasively argue, brutal — realities of the practice, she does emphasize that for many Chinese women, bound feet were integral to their perceptions of dignity and self-worth. In this vein, Ko explores how different styles of footbinding emerged and flourished at different periods and locations, locating the various methods of breaking, bending, and binding the female foot within the more conventional history of Chinese fashion. First published inthis book is a classic introduction to Chinese medicine that is equally well-suited for an acupuncture training course, a university philosophy class, or the bedside table of anyone interested in Chinese culture. Its author, Ted Kaptchuk, is a Harvard professor who studied traditional Chinese medicine TCM in Macau and is also known for his work on the efficacy of placebo effects in medical treatment. Ultimately, this book is an ontological sketch of the Chinese universe. Like Joyce, Pai uses his naturalistic portraits of urbanites in service of a larger story about exile, nostalgia, cultural stagnation, and nationalism. Educators should put this excellent and highly readable book on their syllabi. Peppered with sly and sometimes not-so-sly humor, and with gleeful pop culture references, this Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 will provide a solid foundation for understanding contemporary China. Hong also captures the political and social background that contextualizes precisely how women are kept from advocating for even the most basic rights, such as protection from abusive partners and economic exploitation. In this beautifully written work of local and personal history, author Henrietta Harrison provides a gentle yet compelling corrective to the tendency for books about China to focus on individuals and ideas with outsize impact. At the same time, Harrison artfully demonstrates how seemingly abstract developments such as the gradual shift away from Confucian ideology had immediate and deeply felt personal impacts. But, as detailed in this memoir, after she enrolls in the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine — the first-ever foreigner to do so — she begins a decades-long journey traversing the country in search of discovery, understanding, and good food. Along the way, Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 becomes one of those rare Westerners in China to achieve true culinary enlightenment, able to enjoy the bits and pieces that the rest of us merely politely endure. Through personal anecdotes and historical research, she places the vast and varied world of Chinese cuisine into much-needed context, and — as a bonus for us — ends each chapter with a recipe. Bronze and Sunflowera page novel aimed at Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 year-olds, takes us back 40 years to a poor Chinese village during the Cultural Revolution. Sunflower has arrived with her artist father and other educated townsfolk, at the May 7 Cadre School in reality, a labor campwhere the adults will clear the land, build houses, and run a fish farm. The lonely seven-year-old eventually makes friends with a mute boy called Bronze from the nearby village, Daimadi, and together they share hardships and adventures both in the village and further afield. When it comes to English-language books on China, F. Mote takes emperors and eunuchs to task for their failings, unafraid to judge leading characters for their Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 without undue deference to received historical tradition. He then makes his history relevant by grappling with challenges of governance applicable across ages. The book is particularly strong in two aspects: information on steppe peoples and elite political philosophy. It perhaps works best as a capstone for a learner, bridging knowledge across dynasties and inspiring curiosity for deeper reading. It traces the ruination of a social class: scholars who were a source Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 national pride found themselves suddenly lampooned as a national embarrassment. Yang Jiang portrays self-serving relationships between colleagues, friends, and spouses, showing how individuals were manipulated into abandoning genuine expression in favor of performative political genuflection. At that time, Yang was punished for Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 on a translation of Don Quixotewhich she finished in She Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 in Beijing 38 years later, at age This is an early 19th-century book that crosses genres, blending memoir and novel to give us a portrait of a mid-level official and his relationship with his dear wife, who dies young. When I was first getting interested in China I read it and it sort of brainwashed me, in a very good way, making me realize the universality of ambition and disappointment, love and sadness, among people around the world. They get under your skin and stick with you, which is what great writing should do. In the fall ofa warlord named Shi Congbing was decapitated by his rival. His head stuck was stuck on a pole outside a train station. She dumped three rounds from a Browning semi-automatic into the back of his head, splattering his brains all over his prayer circle. Eugenia Lean gives a fine account of the gory details, the media circus, and the legal wranglings that followed, but her purpose is teasing out something about the sociopolitical character of the Republican Era. That is what they disputed: how should Tao be understood and practiced. The book is an excellent introduction to the differences between Confucius and Mozi and the Yangists and others. It clearly draws out distinctions between Confucius and Mencius and Xunzi. The Sophists and Zhuangzi are expertly analyzed. And it is fairly persuasive on a point that not everyone will accept: the nonexistence of a historical person, Laozi, the credited founder of Taoism. Surveys of this sort are difficult to pull off well without lapsing into textbook simplicity, but this one succeeds in both introducing basic concepts and also drilling deeply into fascinating philosophical, historical, and linguistic debates. Handong, an unsympathetic business man with political connections, falls for Lan Yu, a young, seemingly naive newcomer to the Chinese capital. Over pages, the book follows their decade-long infatuation with each other, not shying away from explicit sex scenes, plenty of relationship conflict and emotional turmoil, and questions about the role of sexual identity and desire in the face of societal expectations — questions all too familiar to both current and older generations of men who love men in many other countries. As a cultural product, no other publication may be as representative of the gay experience in China. Instead, the book speaks to the constant need for adaptation and change faced by the Chinese queer community, which will find spaces to survive no matter what. Sir Edmund Backhouse is a reflexively interesting Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1. He was a reclusive linguistic genius and an English dandy, the best-selling chronicler of the late-Qing Dynasty and a literary fraud, the alleged lover of Oscar Wilde and Contemporary Chinese: Character Book Bk. 1 Empress Dowager Cixi. The two-odd years I spent decoding his handwritten memoirs — a dense thicket of polyglottal meanderings, contradictory claims, and byzantine literary allusions — were as mad and exasperating as any an editor is likely to encounter. It is not a book for everyone.