tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post5225563141516162257..comments2024-03-23T18:50:06.402+11:00Comments on journey & destination: Living books for the 20th Century: Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng (1986)Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06820925595506920754noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-46528759781137637242017-09-22T15:51:49.315+10:002017-09-22T15:51:49.315+10:00This is an excellent book. I love most books by Ni...This is an excellent book. I love most books by Nien Cheng.. <a href="http://aazae.com/" rel="nofollow">http://aazae.com/</a>patrickbeverley675https://www.blogger.com/profile/03037719929199881055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-63440014956836967912017-09-03T17:42:56.541+10:002017-09-03T17:42:56.541+10:00Hi Amber, thanks for your comment - I'm never ...Hi Amber, thanks for your comment - I'm never quite sure how much to say about a book & try not to give too much information so I sometimes think my 'reviews' are a bit all over th place! Considering the context and some of the things she had to face, this book is a real testimony to the author. I'd count it as one of the most inspiring true stories I've ever read.Carolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06820925595506920754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-77155409793145525702017-09-03T09:06:46.045+10:002017-09-03T09:06:46.045+10:00I really appreciate your book reviews, thank you! ...I really appreciate your book reviews, thank you! This one sounds fascinating. Thank you for increasing my TBR pile. :-)Amberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12689104216675201913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-40272012249514935962017-08-31T09:51:36.149+10:002017-08-31T09:51:36.149+10:00Yes! And Mao ordered flower gardens to be dug up a...Yes! And Mao ordered flower gardens to be dug up as they were of no practical use. I was also struck with the absolute disregard of items that were culturally significant - out with the old, in with the new. Frightening! Carolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06820925595506920754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-72489904493620329482017-08-30T04:25:38.581+10:002017-08-30T04:25:38.581+10:00I read this book some time ago. What I remember fr...I read this book some time ago. What I remember from this memoir was the awful puritanism of the Communists and Red Guards. Like drinking coffee was looked down on as a bourgeois affectation. And clothing was supposed to be purely functional, everybody had to dress like a proletarian. Just looking at pictures of Mao’s wife, Jiang Ching, we can see her uniform and spectacles were deliberately ugly. Such violence – no wonder the Chinese don’t like to talk about this period and their young people know nothing about it.Majorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05038437416575948282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-23338191439165611312017-08-28T12:10:25.642+10:002017-08-28T12:10:25.642+10:00Hi Silvia, I've been thinking about you today ...Hi Silvia, I've been thinking about you today with the flooding going on...<br />Yes, losing her daughter after all that time of being so careful not to incriminate her. I wonder if she would have survived if she had known of her daughter's death earlier.<br />One of the saddest lines I read on one of the articles I posted, 'Nien Cheng left no survivors.'<br />Carolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06820925595506920754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-89526903091923822662017-08-28T12:03:16.335+10:002017-08-28T12:03:16.335+10:00I think you'd really appreciate her writing, B...I think you'd really appreciate her writing, Brian. It is very literary. Re universities - something I've read a number of times is that a number of these totalitarian rulers became enamoured with their Marxist ideas while at university in Paris. Not Mao, he went to uni in Peking, but Pol Pot was one as were some of Mao's sidekicks. Carolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06820925595506920754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-27590904808341123532017-08-28T11:57:49.405+10:002017-08-28T11:57:49.405+10:00The Small Woman is a great book if you haven't...The Small Woman is a great book if you haven't already read that one. We have a large population of Chinese around us, and more recently in our church, so now we have a Chinese translator. Lots of couples in their 30's or thereabouts, for some reason. A number of them are increasing their family size since arriving in Australia, too!Carolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06820925595506920754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-12824300532735078352017-08-28T09:27:19.097+10:002017-08-28T09:27:19.097+10:00This book is a favorite. It was hard to read, but ...This book is a favorite. It was hard to read, but very inspiring and impressive. She is an unsung hero for sure. (The loss of her daughter was jarring to me.) I'm amazed at how many horrible things happen to the uneducated, the ignorant who want to stay like that, and dominate and destroy whatever they can't have. Silviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17249978624747684879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-46845613530777459962017-08-28T00:08:08.752+10:002017-08-28T00:08:08.752+10:00Great review. This is a sounds like a great book. ...Great review. This is a sounds like a great book. Cheng's story sounds both inspirational and important. Communism was one of the great evils to have popped up in the world over the past Century or two.<br /><br />There is indeed something ominous rising out of the far left that that has manifested it self on many collage campuses as of late. I have been reading a lot about it as well chatted on social media with some people caught in the related witch hunts. It has parallels to Maoism and Communism but there are also some important differences. Books like this help serve as warning against such movements. Brian Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15139559400312336791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7546783121640385268.post-92118374479379844882017-08-27T22:34:28.693+10:002017-08-27T22:34:28.693+10:00This sounds very interesting! We have a daughter ...This sounds very interesting! We have a daughter adopted from China, so I find myself interested in their history more than I would be otherwise. Thanks for sharing!One Acre Follieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07762964600916732096noreply@blogger.com