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Title: The Chinese Have a Word for It : The Complete Guide to Chinese Thought and Culture by Boye Lafayette De Mente ISBN: 0-658-01078-6 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Pub. Date: 01 September, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: This book deserves 5 stars...
Comment: But I'm going to give it four because the fort collins reviewer who points out the author's "bitter, judgemental, and condescending interpretation" is actually correct. I wouldn't characterize De Mente so harshly, but as much as the author loves and understands Chinese culture, it's clear that De Mente just doesn't get it. He points out, for example, a quotation from Mao Zedung who said that the Chinese are like grass. If you mow them over, more will grow to replace them.
De Mente uses this example to shock western sensibilities and show how far "behind" the Chinese are in individual rights. Yet this is what makes China China: the focus on society and not the individual.
For what it's worth, though, individual rights are coming to China because the Chinese want them. And so De Mente's judgements while perhaps inappropriate are not irrelevant.
Personally, my biggest criticism of this book is that every Chinese word he presents is accompanied with his own transcription that I found worthless. I would've preferred that he used pinyin with tonal markers. But that's a small criticism considering the focus of the book is the exposition of each word, a collection of maybe a 100 essays, that give wonderfully concise -- and ignoring the subjective judgements, accurate -- summaries of Chinese culture.
Rating: 2
Summary: Interesting, but very condescending
Comment: On the positive side, the format of this book is wonderful and easy to read, and the commentaries are educational and often insightful. However, this book is suffused with a bitter, judgemental, and condescending interpretation of Chinese culture. De Mente portrays the Chinese as misogynistic, ruthlessly authoritarian, and socially backwards, pointing to an obviously negative experience De Mente had living there.
The easiest way to illustrate this problem is with an example. Let us turn the tables and use De Mente's style to do a silly definition of "Liberty" in American culture: "The American concept of liberty has created a culture that is exclusively focused on the self centered pursuit of indulgence, entertainment and wealth. This corrosive desire to be free of any form of social obligation prevents the healthy formation of any family or communal relationships. Although a growing number of Americans are being exposed to the benefits of Chinese culture, it is unlikely that this trait will ever be fully exorcised from the American psyche until several generations have experienced life in a society that understands and values responsibility and respect."
The last few sentences of this example were actually lifted right out of the book, but with the value judgements reversed. As you can see, this commentary may be true, educational, or even insightful, but it is obviously offensive and condescending when there really is no need to be. If you are using this book to learn about Chinese culture, keep these cautions in mind, as De Mente vents frustration on Chinese culture in almost every definition.
Rating: 4
Summary: language contains.betrays.controls thought
Comment: there can be no doubt that language is a major component of culture. but what is the relationship of language to thought? especially to subconscious thought? this is no academic introduction to the complexities of chinese thought.culture.language but rather a few pages dedicated to explanation of some meaningful and common chinese idioms, both single words and phrases. a must read for any student of china, even for a traveler there who might hear and remember the book on a few key words like quanxi. thought provoking, a little political and pointed at times. i wouldnt show it to just any english speaking chinese i talked to, it is not flattering to either the political culture or to the herd mentality that we westerners often see displayed in china. but it shows remarkable taste and scholarship from someone who genuinely likes the chinese and their 5000 year old complex culture as mirrored in a very interested language.
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Title: Chinese Business Etiquette: A Guide to Protocol, Manners, and Culture in the People's Republic of China (A Revised and Updated Edition of "Dealing with the Chinese") by Scott D. Seligman ISBN: 0446673870 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
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Title: Teach Yourself Chinese Language, Life, and Culture by Kenneth Wilkinson ISBN: 0071407138 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Pub. Date: 25 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Dos and Dont's in China: The Traveler's Guide to Culture by Wilson Learning Corporation, Wilson Learning Corporation ISBN: 1886806101 Publisher: Wilson Learning Corp Pub. Date: 26 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Culture Shock! China: China (Culture Shock! Guides) by Kevin Sinclair, Iris Wong Po-Yee ISBN: 1558686150 Publisher: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Sources of Chinese Tradition by William Theodore De Bary, Irene Bloom, Joseph Adler ISBN: 0231109393 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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