A Small Town Called Hibiscus

A Small Town Called Hibiscus is one of the best Chinese novels to have appeared in 1981. Its author Gu Hua was brought up in the Wuling Mountains of south Hunan. He presents the ups and downs of some families in a small mountain town there during the hard years in the early sixties, the ôcultural revolution,ö and after the downfall of the ôgang of four.ö He shows the horrifying impact on decent, hard-working people of the gangÆs ultra-Left line, and retains a sense of humor in describing the most harrowing incidents. In the end wrongs are righted, and readers are left with a deepened understanding of this abnormal period in Chinese history and the sterling qualities of the Chinese people.

With internationalization, the world is becoming smaller and the opportunity to meet people from other countries and cultures is becoming more common, providing the need for cooperation, shared knowledge, and cross-border trade. Individual cultures tend to understand themselves best and base their understanding of the world and its peoples on ideas they each have come to believe irrespective of reality, and thus make it difficult to reach a proper understanding of other cultures. This book considers intercultural understanding and co-action, partly by means of general insights into the concept of culture and the dimensions which bring about cultural differences, and partly as a methodology to analyze a certain culture - whether one's own or others'. This leads towards an understanding of cultural complexity and cultural differences among people. The book provides a discussion of a number of ethical issues, which almost invariably will arise when people meet and co-act across cultural boundaries. Cultural Analysis offers a theoretical/abstract proposal for cultural understanding, intercultural plurality, and complexity.

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: China reveals the magnificence of China's greatest sights, including in-depth coverage of the Forbidden City and Terracotta Soldiers. The guide provides expert tips for visiting the Great Wall, cruising through the stunning Yangzi Three Gorges, and exploring the ultra-modern cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong. Explore China's cultural heritage through richly illustrated features on everything from the Beijing Opera to Confucianism, calligraphy, and the cult of Mao. DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: China includes 3-D cutaway illustrations, floor plans, and reconstructions of the major architectural sights, plus maps of the key cities and towns. The best places to stay and eat have been provided by resident experts and recommendations on regional specialties will ensure you don't miss China's best dishes. Markets and festivals are listed town by town. With hundreds of full-color photographs, hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that brighten every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: China shows you this diverse country as no one else can.

The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: China is your indispensable guide to this beautiful part of the world. The fully updated guide includes unique cutaways, floor plans, and reconstructions of the must-see sites, plus street-by-street maps of all the fascinating cities and towns. The new-look guide is also packed with photographs and illustrations leading you straight to the best attractions China has to offer. This uniquely visual DK Eyewitness Travel Guide will help you to discover everything region-by-region, from local festivals and markets to day trips around the countryside. Detailed listings will guide you to the best hotels, restaurants, bars and shops for all budgets, while detailed practical information will help you to get around, whether by train, bus or car. Plus, DK's excellent insider tips and essential local information will help you explore every corner of China effortlessly. DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: China shows you what others only tell you.

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: China will lead you straight to the best attractions the country has to offer. This guidebook reveals the magnificence of China's greatest sights, including in-depth coverage of the Forbidden City and terra-cotta soldiers. It provides expert tips for visiting the Great Wall, cruising through the stunning Yangtze Three Gorges, and exploring the ultramodern cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong. Explore China's cultural heritage through richly illustrated features on everything from the Beijing Opera to Confucianism, calligraphy, and the cult of Mao. Discover DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: China. + Detailed itineraries and "don't-miss" destination highlights at a glance. + Illustrated cutaway 3-D drawings of important sights. + Floor plans and guided visitor information for major museums. + Guided walking tours, local drink and dining specialties to try, things to do, and places to eat, drink, and shop by area. + Area maps marked with sights. + Detailed city maps include street finder indexes for easy navigation. + Insights into history and culture to help you understand the stories behind the sights. + Hotel and restaurant listings highlight DK Choice special recommendations. With hundreds of full-color photographs, hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that illuminate every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: China truly shows you this country as no one else can.

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide China helps you get the most from your visit to this country. You'll find in-depth detail on all the important sights with maps, photos and illustrations. There's suggestions for restaurants and hotels for every budget plus advice on seeing gardens, national parks, tours, architecture, temples, festivals, shops, museums and palaces. Information on tours, cruises and tips on getting around make exploring the country effortless. The guide comes packed with photographs, illustrations and maps plus reviews and listings for hotels, restaurants and bars for all budgets. Visiting China becomes a lot easier with maps of all major sights, plus walks, scenic routes and thematic tours and sights, markets and festivals listed town by town. DK Eyewitness Travel Guide China- showing you what others only tell you.

What do the Chinese literature and film inspired by the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) have in common with the Chinese literature and film of the May Fourth movement (1918-1930)? This new book demonstrates that these two periods of the highest literary and cinematic creativity in twentieth-century China share several aims: to liberate these narrative arts from previous aesthetic orthodoxies, to draw on foreign sources for inspiration, and to free individuals from social conformity. Although these consistencies seem readily apparent, with a sharper focus the distinguished contributors to this volume reveal that in many ways discontinuity, not continuity, prevails. Their analysis illuminates the powerful meeting place of language, imagery, and narrative with politics, history, and ideology in twentieth-century China. Drawing on a wide range of methodologies, from formal analysis to feminist criticism, from deconstruction to cultural critique, the authors demonstrate that the scholarship of modern Chinese literature and film has become integral to contemporary critical discourse. They respond to Eurocentric theories, but their ultimate concern is literature and film in China's unique historical context. The volume illustrates three general issues preoccupying this century's scholars: the conflict of the rural search for roots and the native soil movement versus the new strains of urban exoticism; the diacritics of voice, narrative mode, and intertextuality; and the reintroduction of issues surrounding gender and subjectivity. Table of Contents: Preface Acknowledgments Introduction David Der-wei Wang part:1 Country and City 1. Visitation of the Past in Han Shaogong's Post-1985 Fiction Joseph S. M. Lau 2. Past, Present, and Future in Mo Yan's Fiction of the 1980s Michael S. Duke 3. Shen Congwen's Legacy in Chinese Literature of the 1980s Jeffrey C. Kinkley 4. Imaginary Nostalgia: Shen Congwen, Song Zelai, Mo Yan, and Li Yongping David Der-wei Wang 5. Urban Exoticism in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature Heinrich Fruehauf part: 2 Subjectivity and Gender 6. Text, Intertext, and the Representation of the Writing Self in Lu Yun, Dafu,and Wang Meng Yi-tsi Mei Feuerwerker 7. Invention and Intervention: The Making of a Female Tradition in Modern Chinese Literature Lydia H. Liu 8. Living in Sin: From May Fourth via the Antirightist Movement to the Present Margaret H. Decker part: 3 Narrative Voice and Cinematic Vision 9. Lu Xun's Facetious Muse: The Creative Imperative in Modern Chinese Fiction Marston Anderson 10. Lives in Profile: On the Authorial Voice in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature Theodore Huters 11. Melodramatic Representation and the "May Fourth" Tradition of Chinese Cinema Paul G. Pickowicz 12. Male Narcissism and National Culture: Subjectivity in Chen Kaige's King of the Children Rey Chow Afterword: Reflections on Change and Continuity in Modern Chinese Fiction Leo Ou-fan Lee Notes Contributors From May Fourth to June Fourth will he warmly welcomed. It should be of great interest to all concerned with literary developments in the contemporary world on the one hand, and on the other with the enigmas surrounding China's alternating attempts to develop and to destroy herself as a civilization. --Cyril Birch, University of California, Berkeley