According to Dictionary.com, a Sinophile is “a person who admires or has a strong liking for China, the Chinese, or their culture.” After 25+ years in China, I guess I qualify; and I’m guessing that readers of this blog do as well.
In addition to my own experiences of living in China, books have played a major part in helping me understand China. On my personal blog, I have written about the books that were key for me over the years.
On this blog, we have put up numerous posts about books and the importance of reading. Some of the posts provide a list of books on a particular topic:
Some posts focus on a particular book, either in review form, or as an interview with the author. These include:
- Salt and Light: Lives of Faith that Shaped Modern China, by Carol Hamrin and Stacey Bieler
- The Space Between Memories, by David Joannes
- City of Tranquil Light: A Novel, by Bo Caldwell
- Three Names of Me, by Mary Cummings
Last summer, we did a podcast on why it is important to read books about China, including a list of recommendations.
And ChinaSource Quarterly always includes a book review pertinent to the theme of that issue. Check here for all those book reviews—going all the way back to the first issue in 1999!
Moving forward, we’ve got some interesting reviews/recommendations in the pipeline. To whet your appetite (and help you plan your summer reading list), here are some of the books we plan to highlight in coming months:
- Frog: A Novel, by Mo Yan
- Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, by Ian Johnson
- Shanghai Faithful: Betrayal and Forgiveness in a Chinese Christian Family, by Jennifer Lin
- Chinese Theology by Chloë Star
- Street of Eternal Happiness: Big city Dreams Along a Shanghai Road, by Rob Schmitz
As they say, stay tuned…
Finally, if you are interested in recommending or reviewing a book for ChinaSource, please contact us for submission guidelines.
Happy Reading!
