Reddit mentions: The best chinese history books

u/Erebus_of_darkness, u/Osroes-the-300th

There is a helpful and basic introductory series called "History of Imperial China". I have not read their books on the Yuan & Ming or the Qing, but I liked what I saw in their book on the Tang. They're basic, topical, and makes for an easy overview.

In America, the "New Qing" school mostly dominates discussion of Qing Dynasty history. China tends to view the Manchu Qing (and the Mongol Yuan) as part of a multicultural "China" state that has existed since time immemorial. "New Qing" disputes that by essentially arguing that the Manchu only considered "China" as one part of their empire, and thus ruled over Buddhist theocratic Tibet, Buddhist nomadic Mongolia, and Muslim Xinjiang (among others) differently from how it administered core China. This obviously ruffles feathers in China, since this ethnic-focused historiography seems to be trying to start something, but both sides of the ocean can probably agree that it at least provides a way of looking at things, including at ethnic relationships in Qing China. For New Qing, China Marches West is perhaps the most salient right now. You can also look at The Manchus (and look at The Tibetans in the same series while you're at it, since Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetans played important roles in the Ming, Qing, and modern China). Mark Eliot also is a prominent "New Qing" professor, and this seems to be his hallmark book, The Manchu Way.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Neo-Confucianism ideology solidified and became the guiding philosophy of East Asia. For a primary source peek at this philosophy, this translation of Wang Yangming seems a decent start.

The Forbidden City is the crowning achievement of Chinese palatial architecture, a culmination of imperial wisdom transmitted across thousands of years. No less, this book is a great, short introductory resource that is visually pleasing. I don't think it's a direct translation of the author's authoritative Chinese works, but he is the foremost expert on the architecture of the Forbidden City, and Nancy Steinhardt is an excellent authority on traditional Chinese architecture.

See if you can't find this book, The Class of 1761, in a library, going through the minutiae of the Chinese imperial examination system. I plan to look at this as well.

Chinese literature and opera came into maturity during the Ming and Qing Dynasty. So if you're feeling for long reads, read any of the Four Classic Novels of China. In particular, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, while not covering Ming or Qing (written in late Yuan/early Ming) will let you interface with literally any East Asian since they will know all the anecdotes and the Dream of the Red Chamber is noted for its extreme depth (entire departments devoted to studying it) and particular insight into mid-Qing society.

For opera, probably the Peony Pavilion is good enough, as a classic of Kunqu opera, the OG Chinese opera.

And honestly, just go to chinaknowledge.de ... It's a very comprehensive website surprisingly enough.

So I recently graduated with a 3.0 GPA with a Biology degree. I'm two months out and I've still been having a tough time finding a job. I wanted to go into research but lab jobs are scarce.

However, I have been taking some classes at my local community college and I discovered that there are some programs that are relatively cheap to get into. For example, getting certified as an EMT only costs a few thousand dollars or so. This is a lot but if you save up, you might be able to afford it.

Basically if you can't get a job in your field, look into getting retrained cheaply, either in Community College or trade school or even military. You may not necessarily want to do this immediately but think about it.

And I absolutely second JBlitzen's advice:

> It would be beneficial, though, for you to start asking yourself what value you intend to create for others. And how your current path will help you to do so.

Essentially, figure out a plan on what you want to do with your current skills. Next, figure out a backup plan if it goes bad.

It definitely sucks to graduate knowing that you didn't do so well in college. I feel for you man, I'm pretty much in the same spot. Don't give up, don't get discouraged, lots of people have been in worse situations and have come out OK. Just read the book Scratch Beginnings or Nothing to Envy. In both stories, the protagnoists succeed in overcoming incredible odds to live a good life.

Figure out what your dreams are and keep going after them. I believe you can reach them. And no, I'm not just saying that.

EDIT:

Also, network! Get to know your teachers and make sure they like you so you have references!!! Show interest in your classes this last semester. You have no idea how important personal references are. Better yet, ask your teachers if they know of any jobs or have any job advice.

All job searching is personal. Employers want to hire people they know will do a good job. Hence the need for personal connections or references (At least someone though this guy was competent.) or demonstrating interest in a particular position. You're still in school so you still have a solid amount of opportunities to network.

Also, some hepful links

http://www.askamanager.org/2012/12/if-youre-not-getting-interviews-read-this.html

http://www.reddit.com/r/jobs

Every time a discussion regarding tourism to North Korea starts, this point always comes up. After all, it is a valid and natural point of concern.

Yes, North Korea has concentration camps and an atrocious human rights record. Nobody (except the North Korean government) is going to deny that. Yes, any foreigners in North Korea will have significant restrictions on freedom of movement. No one who has gone there is going to tell you otherwise.

Having been educated and cultivated in the West, where oftentimes we can take matters like human rights and freedom of movement for granted, our instant reaction is to be disgusted by this - so disgusted that we'll cry out "North Korea is the most evil place in the world" and instantly clam up in anger. Sometimes that anger, and the lack of reliable information about North Korea, will lead us to sensationalize. We'll try to explain unexplainable evil as a massive prison camp or a farcical socialist movie set.

This is natural and has basis in reality, but, in my opinion, is unhelpful.

If we want to truly make some sense out of that unexplainable evil, which to an appreciable extent is a prerequisite for any sort of meaningful change, we need to take a more nuanced approach. Sometimes, that could involve taking a visit.

From my perspective, going on a tour to North Korea is not supposed to be like sunning in Mallorca or frolicking in Disneyworld. You don't go there to have "fun", you go there to learn. If your objective in traveling is to have "fun", then by god don't go to North Korea. But my objective in traveling places is not to have "fun"; it's to learn.

The next instinctual response is to cry out: "But you won't learn anything! They're just going to parade you around and show you propaganda!"

Again, I think this line of thinking trivializes the matter. In earlier stages of Western education systems, we oftentimes learn about bias and come to perceive it as an absolute negative. In secondary schools you might hear kids going "oh, this source is biased, so we can't use it!" This is incorrect. Bias is not an absolute negative; biased sources like propaganda simply need to be approached differently. Propaganda is rich with information, but not the factual, face-value information you might expect from some place like an encyclopedia. Instead, you glean the wealth of contextual information it offers. Let's say you're reading Chinese propaganda from the Cultural Revolution, and some of it praises this guy named Lin Biao, while some of it denounces him. From that you shouldn't conclude "some of this shit must be fake". Instead, you can extract hints of the regime's worldview, and use the propaganda to piece together the context that perhaps Lin Biao had a falling out with Mao.

Visiting North Korea is much like that. There's a richness of context from both what's seen and unseen, from what's heard and unheard. If you're equipped with the right advance knowledge and the right academic mindset, there is in fact a lot you can internalize about actual North Koreans and the country itself.

Yes, there remains the issue of lining the pockets of the regime and whatnot, and I'm fully aware of that fact. As with everything else relating to the DPRK, there's layers of nuance to this financial facet of the regime that would take rather long to explain, so I won't do it here.

If you do want to hear that explained/debated, and go beyond CNN articles and "Team America", I'd recommend starting off with the following books:

• Under the Loving Care of Fatherly Leader, by Bradley K. Martin: A 900 page behemoth that's probably the most comprehensive guide to the North Korean regime out there.
  
• Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demick: If you want to learn more about the ordinary lives of "actual North Koreans" from outside Pyongyang.
  
• The Aquariums of Pyongyang, by Choi-hwan Kang: The first book published from someone who went through one of those infamous concentration camps.
  
• The Impossible State, by Victor Cha: Written by a former White House official and Six-Party Talks participant, this book provides a view into the complex foreign policy calculus relating to the DPRK.
  
  If after you finish reading all that stuff you get curious enough to go, then that's your choice. If you don't, no one's going to force you to go either. We're fortunate enough to live in societies that generally respect freedom of choice and movement; if we want to play the game of moral superiority, being able to visit North Korea is the ultimate manifestation of that freedom.
  
  

Thanks for the tips! The pie shakes at Hamburg Inn sound amazing. I actually just caved in tonight and got a burger/shake combo after a week of eating healthy...

As far as recommendations go, I have a feeling you've likely read most of the fiction I'd suggest. That said, here's a couple non-fiction suggestions you might not have read:

Walkable City, by Jeff Speck. If you've ever been interested in cities, what makes them work (or not work), and what types of decisions urban planners make, check it out. It's a quick read, entertaining, and you'll never see your city or any other city in the same way.

Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demick. Told primarily through the eyes of two people, this book provides readers with a glimpse of what life is like for the millions of ordinary North Korean citizens.

Anyway, I know it's well past the time frame for your AMA, but if you get a chance, I'd love to know if there's any one book that helped you the most as a writer (e.g. King's, "On Writing"), or any one piece of advice that has carried you the most. I don't ever plan on writing professionally, but I've always wanted to write a novel just for the satisfaction of creating something, regardless if anyone actually reads it. I just feel like I spend so much time consuming things others have created, while creating nothing in return. Plus, getting 'lost in a world you're creating' sounds immensely satisfying.

I think the first point to consider is that The Orphan Master's Son should be read as a domestic drama, more along the lines of Nothing to Envy than any of the foreign-policy focused news and zomg-weird-pop-performance-footage that dominates this subreddit and /r/northkoreanews.

In that light, the Orphan Master's Son is a lovely, well-told story, and it was well-researched, but it's still clearly a second-hand impression of the country. It doesn't add to the outside world's stock of DPRK information; it just retells the tragedies already told by Shin Dong-hyuk and Kenji Fujimoto in a literary style.

Then too, there are places where the needs of the story subsume the reality on the ground. For example, the book entertains the notion that the state would promote just individual one actress its paragon of female virtue and one individual soldier as the paragon of male virtue. This is important to author's point about public and private identity and whether love also needs truth, but it's wholly out of step with the Kim regime's way of doing business. Kim Il Sung is the one god in North Korea, and the only permissible icons are his successors, and to a lesser extent, senior party politicians. Pop figures are disposable.

But The Orphan Master's Son is a good read. It would go high on my list of recommendations for someone who wants a starting point on the country but is scared of footnotes and foreign names. But if your DPRK obsession hinges more on predicting the fate of the Kaesong Industrial Zone, it won't give you much.

Thinking back to when I was in a situation similar to yours, I moved onto looking at history. Various slanders, allegations and statistics were thrown at me whenever I mentioned communism or Marxism to a teacher or some such and I felt that it'd be best to be able to combat these claims, but also get an idea of the context surrounding the ones that were actually true.

I recommend Ten Days That Shook The World by John Reed, Origins of the Great Purges: The Soviet Communist Party Reconsidered, 1933-1938 by J. Arch Getty as well as Another View of Stalin by Ludo Martens. I also keep hearing good things about Class Struggles in the USSR by Charles
Bettelheim and Socialism Betrayed by... I forget who.

Once I began to move over towards MLM (which is pretty recently) I began to read up on articles about Socialist China. I recommend this and this regarding the Great Leap Forward. For the Cultural Revolution, which I have read far more on, Battle For China's Past by Mobo Gao is extraordinary, as are The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village by Dongping Han, Fanshen by William Hinton and the 'Voices' done by Bai Di and Wang Zheng. For a more strictly Maoist based analysis of the Cultural Revolution Evaluating the Cultural Revolution in China
and its Legacy for the Future by the MLM study group is also a good read. Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic by Maurice Meisner is gives a very good, more overall account of Socialist China.

However, you should remember that not everything you read about history will be historical materialist, and that even accounts that give more a nuanced view of AES can still be very liberal and bourgeois at times, everything must be read critically.

Booktopia's got a bunch of Aussie military history books here.

Regimental Books has military books in e-book format too.

I think if she likes military history and biographies she might, at a stretch, enjoy Nothing To Envy, which I thought was an amazing account of life in North Korea. Also a book called The Aquariums of Pyongyang.

Biographies, she might like Swimming to Antarctica, about an endurance swimmer who swam a mile in antarctic waters.

If she's at all interested in science fiction, Baen's Free E-book Library has a bunch of "starter" books for their series, which tend to be military-based sci-fi.

And Project Gutenberg has a ton of military history; they're the go-to free e-book supplier. Loads of good stuff. This is my favorite to recommend - A Lady's Captivity among Chinese Pirates in the Chinese Seas by Fanny Loviot. She's such a fun read! Combines pirates, history, and biography all in one.

When you say you have studied Japanese for 2.5 years that's really not enough information. Have you been to Japan? Have you been there for an extended amount of time (e.g. several months?). I doubled my number of Kanji while I was staying in Japan, whenever I saw a sign / something written on my milk carton / my aircon remote, I would look it up and learn it that way. While in the subway I would take my time to look up random Kanji I saw in the advertisments.

I would use Kanji flashcards of the kind you can by in 500 box sets and go through a couple of them after a day of life in Japan: some characters I would have seen today but maybe would not remember, so going through the flash cards would help me remember them and clarify their reading. I would not learn with flash cards of Kanji I hadn't ever seen before - a useless exercise for me, I can only remember characters I've seen used in a real-life context. I don't "learn" Kanji programmatically taking them from some list and remembering the on- and kun-readings, I will only ever care about what I need to know in order to understand the text I'm working on. A children's book, song lyrics I got from the internet, texts for learners, Wikipedia articles, NHK news. The real lesson is: in order to get good at reading, you have to read a lot. Today I got a copy of a printed newspaper (読売新聞), you can buy those internationally, I got one from my local retailer at a train station in Germany. Reading an article takes an hour and a PC with a Kanji search by radical and a dictionary site, but I can do it.

For refreshment, I use resources like the amazing etymological dictionary "A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters" which will tell you the historical evolution and proper decomposition of Kanji, some stories can be really interesting. With this help I can tell that when seeing a character such as 緒, it consists of thread (糸) and the pronunciation しょ/しゃ(者), hence "the word meaning together (=bound by a thread) pronounced kind of like 者)". Next to etymological help you can also use pure visual clues.

When you read real Japanese texts, you quickly realize that 2000 Kanji is not enough. Even children's literature would use characters outside of that official list. 3000 is more realistic. You should have material (dictionaries, flash cards etc.) that covers more than the official list. Don't despair though, actual Japanese native speakers take their time learning them, too! The more Japanese you come in contact with every day, the better.

I don't categorize 'em like that as I read 'em, but Dataclysm, Rationality; from AI to Zombies, Everything Bad is Good For You, Country Driving, Freakonomics, and The Mathematics of Love are all 'thinky' nonfiction books I've recommended recently because I've retained new ideas and methods from them. In addition, nearly every essay written by DFW is successfully grist for my mill (even the ones about tennis, a subject I would have to work at caring less about.)

I stuck with nonfiction because even that feels a bit overwhelming. Fiction is too much for me right now; I really enjoyed and recently quoted from The Bell Jar, for instance, but what I got from the book was life-affirming and sensual and I have friends who got vastly divergent or even contrary methods (and I also got some solid advice that I'll take to heart if I ever decide to commit suicide.)

Edit: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest makes me want to watch the movie too, now. The book was not what I expected and was more engaging for all that, but also depressing. Set in an asylum. Read it because of a reference in a recent Neal Stevenson book, and because I'd been meaning to for some time.

I'm going to specifically compare Churchill's notion about Greco-Roman thought to the importance of Chinese classics in East Asia. I'd say it is comparable, but distinct from the Roman/Greek case, especially colored by the very recent history running up to where Churchill was.

In the Chinese case, on-and-off dynasties were run according to the precepts of the "four books and five classics." The four books were a set of texts written (or at least compiled by) Confucius and Mencius. While composed as mostly anecdotes, they established a system of propriety, morality, and "right action" that extended upwards and outwards from the home to the government. The classics were the basis of ancient Chinese religious, poetic, and ritual thought. They established a huge amount of the underlying aesthetic, religious, and cosmological worldviews that you see for millennia. These were seen as seminal to almost all literate Chinese individuals, right up until the reforms and upheavals towards the end of the Qing empire as the 19th century ended.

A specific example of their importance is the "Imperial exam system." Set up in the 600s, it determined participation in government work was based almost exclusively on these texts. Specific forms varied and, as time wore on, some texts and requirements were added or subtracted based on which dynasty was giving the test. The underlying basis, though, was always the four books and five classics.

The thought (and, specifically, the Four Books/Five Classics) was also extremely important to the Imperial forms of government in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam (to varying degrees based on place, time, and who in particular was running things).

Chinese Dynastic succession kept up at a reasonably fast pace and established successive, stable empires, with only a century or two of chaos in between--even foreign invaders like the Mongols or Manchu would acquire Han-educated advisors and set up governments based largely on Confucian tenets (Yuan and Qing were both 'foreign' dynasties). The thought of ancient China wasn't seen as something of a bygone age--it was immediate and current, seen as a lineage. As the Qing declined throughout the 19th and early 20th century, however, many saw it as clear to them that the entire worldview was flawed. Western nations, with their own notions of the world, were militarily superior and bullied the Qing Empire (dealing with its own massive internal issues, including a civil war that left more dead than 20 American Civil Wars). As a result, the ancient thought was discredited and a variety of Western ideologies took root. The one that eventually triumphed, Maoist Communism, explicitly sought to utterly destroy Confucian thought in the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese Communist Party has significantly moderated that stance since then, though, and the classics are once again revered. This is at least partially to set up a credible competing nationalist ideology to "the West,"
and one which isn't based on the now also largely discredited (and also, really, Western) Communist thought.

In Europe, you have the fall of Rome in the 400s and largely, there's chaos thereafter (Things are different in the East with the continuation of Byzantium, but Churchill speaks to a specifically Western European mode of thought). There were various Renaissances (many more than most people give credit for, I don't mean to get any Medievalists on me for downplaying the achievements in the period too much)--Charlamagne, the Ottonians, and others. Still, though, none of them succeeded in achieving anything close to the political hegemony of the Romans, much less in physical, engineering terms. Importantly, also, none of them had the control or longevity to be compared to really any of the dynasties that followed the Roman-comparable Han in our contrasting Chinese example. Rather than the living, functional, developing ideology that informed Empire after Empire, Rome was an ancient wonder. It was present--they could see it around them in the roads and aqueducts they used, the Christian religion they practiced, and the cities they lived in--but they couldn't match it. While pretensions to being "successors" to Rome and many aspects of Roman culture had remained, much of the specific text and practice had long passed by the wayside to be rediscovered during the Renaissance.

In the 'Renaissance that stuck' in the 1400s and onwards, they looked on Roman thought and art as something ancient and wonderful. Statues dug up, texts acquired from the Islamic world (where they had been continuing study of Plato/Aristotle for many of the intervening centuries), and other aspects of greco-roman thought created an idealized past of the "ancients" for the "moderns" to compare their world to. Since there was such distance, I would editorialize, it allowed for way more idolization. As the Renaissance and Enlightenment spread, modern nation-states still based a great deal of thought and practice rooted in this source of cultural legitimacy: A perfect empire that existed an untold amount of time ago.

This is where Churchill is coming from; an agent of a modern empire that, still, desperately wanted to cast itself in the mold of the source of ancient legitimacy. Rather than seeing ancient thought as shackles on modernity, it was (mostly rightly) seen as the seed from which the Enlightenment, Scientific Revolution, and subsequent ability to dominate most of the globe had sprung.

To sum up the difference: In China, you have a constant lineage of social and political thought that was in operation in an Empire torn to shreds and thus discredited, though later redeemed as a source of cultural/nationalist pride. In the UK, you have a strain of thought, the specifics of which were lost, held in reverence as a golden age before centuries of intermittent warfare and chaos. Its rediscovery sets off, in part, a sequence of events that sets the UK up as a truly global empire--reflecting on the idealized past, the British Empire is lionized as a "new Rome," necessarily owing much to the ideas from the "old Rome." Nothing legitimizes your social and political thought (in your mind, anyway) than literally conquering most of the planet with it.

Edited to add sources of where I formed these views--by no means exhaustive, mainly what I can remember off the top of my head/can pull off a bookshelf:

Chinese history:

• Fairbanks-- http://www.amazon.com/China-History-Second-Enlarged-Edition/dp/0674018281
  
• De Bary-- http://www.amazon.com/Sources-Chinese-Tradition-Vol-1/dp/0231109393
  
• Hsu-- http://www.amazon.com/The-Rise-Modern-China-Immanuel/dp/0195125045
  
• I also have read through most of Confucius -- Analects and (Mythically Fu Xi, true author debated) -- I Ching at various times
  
  European:
  
  Roman period:
  
  
• Plutarch, Caesar, Livy
  
  Renaissance thought:
  
  
• Arnold-- http://www.amazon.com/Knighthood-1050-1300-University-Academic-Monograph/dp/0198219601/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374248705&sr=1-1&keywords=German+Knighthood+1050-1300 (Used basically as the background text for the 1000-1500 class I took, basis to build around "dark ages")
  
• Machiavelli- Discourses on Livy (while it's more complicated than simple idolization, he definitely looks back on the Romans as a period starkly different and superior to the one he lives in)
  
  Enlightenment-Beyond:
  
  
• Jonathan Swift: Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns (Focus is mainly on literary tradition, but does add the complication that, especially as time wore on, not everyone agreed that Roman thought should be idolized. It highlights this, while also reinforcing the distinction--this was not seen as "Western" or "European" thought that evolved and developed down the ages--there are ancients and there are moderns)
  
• Levine -- http://www.amazon.com/British-Empire-Sunrise-Sunset/dp/0582472814/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374249026&sr=1-1&keywords=levine+the+british+empire
  
• Mokyr-- http://www.amazon.com/Gifts-Athena-Historical-Origins-Knowledge/dp/0691120137/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374248779&sr=1-1&keywords=gifts+of+athena
  
  

Have you read [Into Thin Air] (http://www.amazon.com/Into-Thin-Air-personal-disaster-ebook/dp/B000FC1ITK/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411590869&sr=1-1&keywords=into+thin+air) by Jon Krakauer? I enjoyed reading this one.

I also read [Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage] (http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-Alfred-Lansing-ebook/dp/B006L74DMC/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411590938&sr=1-1&keywords=endurance+shackleton%27s+incredible+voyage), could not put it down. Would still recommend giving it a shot, even though in the other comment you said you weren't interested.

You could also probably find a book about the [Donner party] (http://www.amazon.com/Desperate-Passage-Donner-Perilous-Journey/dp/0195383311/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411591075&sr=1-1&keywords=donner+party+books). Have not read this one yet.

I actually really want to read more of these true doom/adventure stories as well. Let me know which ones you'd recommend or find interesting. We can swap notes :) (I'm looking up the Franklin expedition right now!)

Edit: another recommendation is possibly books on North Korea? [Escape from Camp 14] (http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey-ebook/dp/B005GSZZ1A/ref=sr_sp-btf_title_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411591287&sr=1-1&keywords=escape+from+camp+14) coming to mind. It's still got that morbid fascination element to it. Another good one is [Nothing to Envy] (http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North-ebook/dp/B002ZB26AO/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411591283&sr=1-1&keywords=nothing+to+envy).

Edit2: Saw you wanted to read about that rugby team that was stranded in the Andes, was this the book you were thinking of: [Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors] (http://www.amazon.com/Alive-Survivors-Piers-Paul-Read/dp/038000321X/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411591507&sr=1-1&keywords=alive+the+story+of+the+andes+survivors). The only other book I can think of is [Miracle in the Andes] (http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Andes-Days-Mountain-Long-ebook/dp/B000GCFW6O/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411591638&sr=1-1&keywords=Miracle+in+the+andes).

> Tu peux jurer ce que tu veux, un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l'auras, et force est de constater qu'on vous files des dizaines de milliards par an :

J'étais sarcastique.. bon l'ingratitude.. l'argument lâche, tu laisse croire que l’Europe était altruiste envers nous , mais sa faisait parti du marché , vous nous financer , on ouvre nos marché complètement, on libéralise notre économie, on dérégule nos banques on emprunte auprès de vos banque européennes et vous avez notre main d'oeuvre tout en avalant tranquilement sans protester les thérapies de choc de la BCE et du FMI et on nourri la machine industrielle occidentale. Sources: ici , ici
, ici, ici , ici et ici

Il n'y a pas eu d'ingratitude , on a rempli notre part du contrat.




>Nope, c'est du sérieux.

Tu as détourné la conversation pour aller te concentrer sur l'Amérique latine quand j'ai mis plusieurs autres exemples. Bon regardons de plus près cette carte réalisé par...

> It was produced for the activist newsletter ¡Presente! in 2011.

Ah tiens donc.. réalisé par un groupe inconnu...d'inspiration marxiste, avec une page web défaillante et je vais demander a l'informaticien du consulat de retracer leur ip je te parie 60 euros qu'ils sont qu'il sont basé au Venezuela je vais poser les screeshots.. Ensuite quand on regarde leur carte de plus pres on devient dubitatif..

Colombie 2009: Opération contre les FARC approuvé par le gouvernement colombien(lol PRESENTE les définis comme de simples groupes anti-US..)

Honduras(US refuses to call the overthrowing and undermines effort to restore democracy)

Encore faux les USA ont condamné le coup et déclaré le président qui s'est fait renversé comme étant légitime.


Costa rica() Encore une fois cette organisation ment les USA avait signé un accord avec le gouvernement démocratique du Costa Rica et il a aucune trace de ce qu'ils affirment

Haiti; Euh...La France a participé en Haiti et a même aidé les américains sans compter que le président haitien appelait a la guerre civile ouverte et sans preuve

Les autres dates de la guerre froide , on peut extrapoler tout le monde l'a fait. Sa reste que des gouvernement tels qu'en Argentine , Brésil , Nicaragua n'ont jamais rien subi dans les 20 dernières années sa rend ton argument caduque

> Bon Canada: Bref, ils n'ont pas tout accepté, mais ils n'ont jamais été anti-US ni pro-soviétiques.

Pierre Trudeau, US-Canadian policies grew further apart. Trudeau removed nuclear weapons from Canadian soil, formally recognized the People's Republic of China, established a personal friendship with Castro, and decreased the number of Canadian troops stationed at NATO bases in Europe.


Bref aussi tu as ignoré tous les autres pays que j'ai mentionné

>Nan mais si tu avais été là pendant la guerre en Iraq tu saurais que les US ont sanctionné la France à cause de son veto à l'ONU et qu'ils ont retourné toute notre classe politique et éliminé les gaullistes.

Na je me la coulais douce en Pologne.. ensuite tu lances sa et tu me reproche de ne pas mettre de lien qu est-ce qui faut pas entendre...

> Exxon a "juste" l'accès au 2ème champ qui est capable de produire le plus et BP au plus grand champ du pays /s

Exxon a été forcé de vendre une bonne partie de sesparts , sa fait 3 fois que j'écris sa!!! ils ont une part égale avec Petro-China sois 25% et 75% appartient a Shell et au gouvernement irakien Qurna n'est plus sous controle américain.(En passant il s'agit du second plus grand champ)

> et BP au plus grand champ du pays /s maintenant

Et lol BP estaméricain??? non le plus grand champ se nomme Rumala 38% a BP eet 37% a CP(Chine) si t'appelles sa controles... les américains ont été évincés (. ExxonMobil which also bid on servicing this field at a price $4.80 walked away due to price cutting terms by the Iraqi Government leaving BP and CNPC as winners of the contract.)

>Bah oui tout va bien, la collusion entre le fils du Vice President des US et des compagnies gazières dans un pays qui vient d'être renversé, c'est un hasard.

Il n'y a peut pas d'hasard mais je ne vois pas ou est le problème c'est une compagnie privé dirigé par un fervent anti-russe... La vie privé ne représente rien pour les personnes de nos jours.

>Mais oui on a compris, quand c'est les Russes c'est le mal, et quand c'est les US c'est normal.

1. Gazprom est publique 2) On parle d'un ancien Chancelier et de plusieurs députés et politiciens( et non de leurs fils ou filles)???
   
   
   > Nope, il va falloir que tu m'expliques ce que tous les pays que tu appelles "occidentaux" partageraient et en quoi ça permettrait d'inclure tel pays et pas un autre.
   
   Répondre a une question par une autre question.. franchement /u/Mauvaisconseil..
   
   >La France était déjà en Irak et avait une longue tradition de contacts avec Saddam Hussein.
   
   Il faut vraiment que tu lises mon livre..(s'était le best-seller de 2013)..
   Pétrole contre nourriture sans compter qu’après la guerre la part des investissements français ont augmenté en Irak
   
   Last year, French companies represented 9.9% of the foreign investment in Iraq, compared with 4.7% for American companies, the Dunia report says
   
   Je vais scanner mon livre pour te montrer comment apres cette méchante guerre , plusieurs companies francaises , allemandes, norvégiennes on profité de la chute du régime comme par exemple ici et ici
   
   > Arrêter de se soumettre et de se tirer des balles dans le pied en sanctionnant nos voisins pour commencer
   
   Tu as lu l'assocition agreement que l'Ukraine a signé?? tu te plains mais les compagnies russes seront probablement évincé par des compagnies francaises.. carrefour est la plus grosse chaine d'alimentation en Pologne par exemple. Les russes ont essayé de torpidé l’accord.
   
   
   >Ma prédiction est que les US sont en déclin, que le dollar ne tiendra pas et que tôt ou tard à force d'intervenir partout une grande partie du monde se lèvera contre leur domination.
   
   Fais moi rire , des accords de libre-échange a a gauche et droite la situation économique des USA est loin d’être critique, moi je parie le contraire entente entre les US et la Chine(Je suis sur que c'est déjà le cas d’ailleurs) depuis 1999 Kosovo jusqu’a maintenant toutes les crises ont bénéficié a la Chine.
   Étonnant le nombre de personnes membres du parti communistes qui ont étudié aux USA d'ailleurs.. similairement au nombre d’américain de intelligentsia qui ont étudié en Grande-Bretagne au 19e siècle.
   
   >Et j'ai déjà montré que la Russie ne fait que réagir à des agressions et à une ingérence américaine.
   
   La Russie a essayé de torpillé un accord UE-Ukraine , a notre demande on a appelé quelqu’un qui torpillerait son ingérence.
   
   
   >pas d'ingérence chez les pays qui sont à côté de la Russie.
   
   Sa marche pour les gros France, Allemagne, UK, mais pas pour les petits comme nous voila pourquoi l'influence américaine doit rester en Europe. Il y a eu un immense changement dans notre situation avant otan et Post Otan face a la Russie dans le cas de la Pologne et des pays Baltes.(Plus de politiciens surpris avec des mallettes pleines de roubles)
   
   >Les partis condamnés à l'échec, c'est l'UMP et le PS et l'oligarchie capitaliste et bourgeoise.
   
   L'histoire est contre toi...
   
   Poutine a été adoubé par des oligarques
   
   > https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Capital
   
   On me la tellement injecter en Pologne quand j'étais a l'école que j'ai développé une allergie contre ce livre
   
   
   >Lol. Article qui date de avant-hier :
   http://www.slate.fr/story/94003/kazakhstan-kirghizistan
   
   Les tensions ethniques sont terminés et la politique est calme c'est pas comme si sous leur anciens dictateurs tout irait mieux???
   
   
   

if you're okay with pretty modern history, I recommend North Korea. the secretiveness about the country is fascinating.

For documentaries, i recommend National Geographic: Inside North Korea. there's also the Vice Guide to North Korea and I also personally like their documentary on North Korean work camps inside Russia. If you have netflix, there's also Kimjongilia and Crossing the Line.

As for books, I really liked Nothing to Envy:Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick. It talks about the lives of several defectors mainly during the famine in the 90s and also talks about how their lives are now in South Korea. Right now i'm reading Escape from Camp 14
which is about a guy who escaped from one of North Korea's many prison camps.

With a lot of recent events, I think it's important to understand the history of the country. also, Korea under Japanese rule might be interesting to.

Good Luck :)

EDIT: spelling

If truly interested you should start with Nothing to Envy. Then read Aquariums of Pyongyang:10 Years in the North Korean Gulag as well as Long Road home which give two very good acounts of imprisonment in the Gulags of NK.

After that I really recommend Dear Leader which is a great book written by the founder of New Focus International about his role in the top levels of the propaganda department in Pyongyang and his escape from the country after running afoul of the regime.

After that a more detailed and encompassing view from the start of the Kim regime can be found in Under the Loving care of the Fatherly Leader which I consider to be a must read, but only after becoming a little familiar with the subject as some who read it as their first NK book sometimes don't grasp it all.

Honestly I've read about 15 different books on the DPRK so if one catches your eye I've probably read it and can recommend a book if there is a specific topic you'd like to read about.

I want to add another one, Imperial China I'm only two hours in but it seems like an awesome book. I do have to credit /u/lukeweiss for the suggestion. I am not familiar with F.K. Motes personally so I can not vouch for his accuracy but lukeweiss seems to have a great understanding of the subject and a good attitude towards Motes.

http://www.amazon.ca/Imperial-China-900-1800-F-Mote/dp/0674012127

Yes. There's an excellent book on the matter by Naval War College prof SCM Paine that I'd highly recommend, The Wars for Asia, 1911-1949. There's a lot of history in there that most Americans don't know.

A related book from the same author covering some of the same ground but with a broader focus is The Japanese Empire: Grand Strategy from the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War. The latter's a good read for an Eve player because it's a good primer on the whole "what is grand strategy" question that's good for would-be professionals (Naval War College, remember) and interested amateurs alike. I can't recommend both books highly enough, they're simply excellent and cover the material without ever getting bogged down in minutiae.

For Korea in general I took a lot of East Asian history courses, including courses on relations with the west, in college. I studied abroad in South Korea for a time where I studied Korean history (ancient and modern) as well as Korean culture and sociology (mostly South Korea). I also had the pleasure of speaking with someone from North Korea.
But if you're interested to know more, these are some sources I can personally recommend...

Books:

• Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
  
  
• Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag
  
  
• The Cleanest Race
  
  
• Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty
  
  
• North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea
  
  
• Korea's Place In The Sun by Bruce Cummings
  
  
• Korea Old and New by Harvard Press and Korea Institute
  
  
  And there's more that I have not read yet. If you only read one book out of these, I'd say Nothing to Envy is a great place to start. It gives the most complete picture, in my opinion.
  
  
  Documentaries:
  
  
• A State of Mind (2004)
  
  
• Seoul Train (2005)
  
  
• National Geographic: Inside North Korea (2007)
  
  
• Inside Undercover in North Korea (2007)
  
  
• The Vice Guide to North Korea (2008)
  
  
• Kimjongilia (2008)
  
  
• The Juche Idea (2008)
  
  
• Seven Days in North Korea (2008)
  
  And there's a whole bunch more that I have not seen yet.
  
  And there's a whole bunch of essays and journals/photo collections floating around the internet as well.

I've seen both documentaries mentioned above. Both are excellent.

If you have Netflix instant check out "National Geographic's Inside: North Korea." as well as "Seoul Train".

The latter isn't a joke and is probably the best documentary about NK on Netflix instant.
I just finished this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523904

Its an excellent read into the daily lives of NK citizens told from the perspective of defectors.

Also HIGHLY recommended is this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Tourist-Sightseeing-Unlikely-Destinations/dp/1847398464/

It's not specifically about NK but Dom Jolly (Trigger Happy TV) travels there in this fantastic book. He offers a different, hilarious take on his experience in "The DPRK".

The best textbook for Tibetan language is the Manual of Standard Tibetan by Tournadre. As someone who has spent a lot of time studying Tibetan, I have to say that it is a very difficult language to learn. The sounds, accent, and language use are tough.

The best way to learn is immersion of some sort, either a summer language institute at the University of Virginia or University of Wisconsin, or classes in Dharamsala, India.

There are other textbooks, but the Manual of Standard Tibetan is really the best. It has a cd with audio tracks, too.

Check out /r/Tibet. It's mostly politics, news, and culture, but there are a few of us with Tibetan abilities.

Good luck!

To be fair there's some truth in what you are saying. Tibet was a tribute nation to various dynasties since something like the 14th century, however I don't think any of them directly controlled Tibet - and they especially did not control the Tibetan Buddhist religious organization (for better or worse). It was more like frequent symbolic gift giving and emperors asking lamas sometimes to give off good impressions to their people other times as a way to show face while receiving gifts. Source

You think that you've just made a super intelligent point because you've pointed out the obvious fact that the US has issues with human rights and with over-criminalization. It isn't an intelligent point because you don't know jack shit about North Korea. You don't know dick about how people live there, and I know that because if you did, you would pull your head out of your ass and realize that the issues that the United States has are not even in the same order of magnitude as the issues that North Korea has.

I recommend that you read the following books to give you a better sense of life in North Korea, so that in the future you can be more educated on the subject:

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West

The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag

I completely agree that public perception played an important role, and in fact I think a large part of my point is that popularity plays too large a role. I also agree that he is demonized far more than he deserves on many issues. I learned a lot from reading his books, in particular On China, which helps reveal his mindset a lot better (and helps humanize him and his situation).

At this point, sure. But as the easily predictive models show, this will happen.

e.g. At current birthrates (and these will fall further) 1.75 births per female for North America, the current population model shows 366 million. By 2100 this will drop to 271 million. Now immigration is key and North American will really never have to worry about this due to its almost unlimited people wanting to move there.

Essentially Africa will hold up the Global population until the 2100 mark and then as the female population becomes more educated many feel it will mirror current Western birthrates.

Ethnic, theological, and even geographic inputs do play a key in decision. e.g. Asia has about 160 million missing females compared to natures mix of about 105 males to 100 females. This fact is based on many inputs including ancient, traditional beliefs by these populations. But the surprising fact is many thought the trend would change as education and economies improved. It has only increased. There are regions in China that have 130 boys for every 100 girls today.

The book Unnatural Selection gets pretty deep in this and other areas of local bias related to birthrates.

Just to be 100% clear: I am not targeting anyone including my atheist friends. I'm not looking for proof of anything to leverage. Dignity to all regardless.

The science stuff bothers a lot of GCers, at least it did me for awhile, because its not grounded in current reality, but even when I disagree, I'm glad you contribute. I also think science will save us all, just not in our lifetimes. I think social science, like anthropology, is more useful in understanding race, class, and gender. I would highly encourage you to read a book called Unnatural Selection, its about tech in the developing world influencing sex ratios at birth and its disturbing and fascinating.
https://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Selection-Choosing-Girls-Consequences/dp/1610391519

So here's some of the textbooks I read (and still own) from my Asian History courses at college. All are worth reading over, but you'll also want teachers to help you, to talk with historians from China, and eventually just to go to China and see a lot of stuff for yourself.

The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, by Patricia Ebrey.

Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, edited by Patricia Ebrey.

Quotations from Mao Tse-Tung, written by the man himself.

Fiction:

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie.

The Outlaws of the Marsh, by Shi Nai'An and Sidney Shapiro.

The Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu and Ken Liu.

These are a relatively good start to help you get a grounding in China's history. Everyone in this thread has also given some good suggestions. And visit /r/askhistorians; they'll have some better sources you can check out.

Let's get it started then. What would you be interested in reading? I have some options on my reading list, maybe you are interested. If not, you can also suggest some titles and then we can decide.

• On China, Henry Kissinger I read his book on world order a couple of weeks ago and I enjoyed it a lot. He played a major role in reestablishing diplomatic relations with China, so I think this might turn out to be an interesting read.
  
• The Glorious Cause, Robert Middlekauff This US history book spans the period prior to the independence up to it's aftermath (1763-1789). Chronologically speaking, it is the first book in the Oxford series on the history of the United States. I have heard great things about this series, in particular McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom. I plan to read the whole series little by little.
  
• The Global Minotaur, Yanis Varoufakis I learned about this book by reading his more recent book And the Weak Suffer What They Must?. This is more of a history of political economy, and covers the period from the end of WWII to the 2008 crisis. As far as I know, Global Minotaur covers the same period as the book I read but focuses more on the US than Europe. I'm not an economist, so there are some things I wasn't able to understand, but for the most part I had no problem at all and enjoyed it quite a bit.
  
  
• Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell I learned about this book reading a collection of essays by Chomsky entitled on Anarchism. Here, Chomsky talks about some rare "truly socialist" movement that appeared in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. This movement was crushed by both Franco's military coup and the Soviet army. Orwell fought there and this book narrates his experience. Given the great experience I had reading 1984, I think this could be a very interesting read.
  
  
• The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand I have hear many things for and against this author, but I have never read it. I have also heard that this book is better from a literary standpoint than Atlas Shrugged, and also was written earlier, so this could be a good starting point.

Well, the Cambridge History of China is a great resource, but I don't know if you can find that in eBook form or not. Those tomes cover just about everything you'd need.

If you're interested in modern Chinese history, The Search for Modern China is an excellent book.

For the Song dynasty: The Age of Confucian Rule, and Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion. Just remember that the books can't cover everything, so occasionally they oversimply - particularly Kuhn's book and its overemphasis on Confucianism.

Oh, and one more recommendation for now: the Shi Ji (Records of the Grand Historian).

I would recommend this book by John Keay, an excellent survey of Chinese history. Tons of great podcasts have been mentioned as well, so I'll mention the Romance of the 3 Kingdoms Podcast, which is a reading of the novel by someone who can explain all the very detailed Chinese cultural references to a Western audience.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.com/China-History-John-Keay/dp/0465025188&ved=2ahUKEwje3fekgsTiAhXIpJ4KHVc5DvcQFjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1ambvpkQIWi_Lllth9hcFO

China's had a huge rise in car ownership in only a few years, so there's a lot of people driving who had little experience of being driven around or family car ownership. This is creating challenges.

There's an excellent book called Country Driving by Peter Hessler that is partly about this.

Edit: belated link to the book on Amazon. Really recommend it, it's a lot of fun and full of interesting stuff.

He quotes some questions from the written drivers exam, such as:

Q 81: After passing another vehicle you should

a) wait until there is a safe distance between the two vehicles, make a right turn signal, and return to the original lane.

b) cut in front of the other car as quickly as possible.

c) cut in front of the other car and then slow down.


Q 269 When you enter a tunnel you should

a) honk and accelerate.

b) slow down and turn on your lights.

c) honk and maintain speed.

Unfortunately, the textbook resources for Tibetan, and the online resources for that matter, are quite horrendous. I have done some work to help develop a better textbook, but it is not yet ready to publish. As it stands, Manual of Standard Tibetan (MST) https://www.amazon.com/Manual-Standard-Tibetan-Language-Civilization/dp/1559391898 is going to be your best bet. If you can speak Mandarin though, there are a lot of free resources online targeted at helping Buddhists to learn Tibetan. The analytical (as used in the field of linguistics) nature of Mandarin is very useful when learning Tibetan.

Botany of Desire. The title turned me off, but it's actually really interesting and my whole family has read and enjoyed it.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary lives in North Korea Serious stuff, but so fascinating.

Stumbling on Happiness. Fun read on human nature and happiness.

Perry Link, Richard P. Madsen, and Paul G. Pickowicz, eds., Popular China: Unofficial Culture in a
Globalizing Society (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002)

It may be a little outdated, but it gives a great look into modern Chinese cultural trends.

Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook by Patricia Ebrey has great primary sources if you want to learn about Chinese culture that way, and it stretches all the way back to ancient times.

Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld by David Kaplan and Alex Dubro is a great book to read if you want to learn about the Yakuza and how they have effected Japanese political history.

LINJI RULES! CAODONG DROOLS!

Lump of red flesh translates 赤肉團上, which refers to either the physical heart or the physical body. The expression undoubtedly derives from the following passage in the Chanyuan zhuquanji duxu 禪源諸詮集都序 (Preface to the Anthology of essential writings on the origins of Chan), a work by the Chan and Huayan master Guifeng Zongmi:

>Regarding the word 心, in short there are four kinds. The Sanskrit word for each is diff erent and the translation of each is also diff erent. First, 紇利陀那 [the Chinese transliteration of Skr., “hṛdāya”], which is called “the fl esh-lump heart” 肉團心. Th is is the heart which is one of the fi ve organs within the body.

True man without rank translates 無 位眞人, a term coined by Linji that is one of the key expressions in his presentation of Chan. “True man” 眞人 was originally a term for the ideal, perfected adept of Taoism. Th e best-known, and perhaps earliest, appearance of the term is in the “Dazongshi” 大宗師 chapter of the Zhuangzi 莊子, where the characteristics of the classic Taoist “true man” are described in detail.

In Buddhist works from the Later Han on, the term was used to designate fully enlightened disciples of the Buddha, i.e., completed arhats. Later, “true man” 眞人 was also applied to bodhisattvas.

Face is an abbreviated form of the text’s “face-gate” 面門, an exclusively Buddhist term that originally meant “mouth.” Later the term acquired the more general meaning of “face,” with particular reference to the sense organs, a meaning that it seems to have here.

It is possible, however, that in Linji’s time the word was used for the face itself, since we find the master saying later in the text, “Don’t have the seal of sanction stamped haphazardly upon your face 面門 by any old teacher from anywhere” (see page 194).

The source of the specific phrase in our text is a passage from the long poem Xinwang ming 心王銘 (Verses on the Mind King), attributed to Fu Dashi.

The poem, having referred to the Mind King, who, for all his importance, is not evident to the senses, goes on to say:

>The salt put in water / The glue put in paint—
Certainly these are present / But we cannot see their form.
The Mind King is also thus / Abiding within the body,
Going in and out the [gate of the] face / In response to things, according to their feelings.
Freely and without hindrance / All his undertakings are accomplished

In the original translation Sasaki renders the Chinese, 乾屎橛, as “shit-wiping stick,” saying that the term literally means a “cleaning-off -dung-stick,” a smooth stick of bamboo used in place of toilet paper, with 乾 being the verb “to clean.”

However, Sasaki’s chief researcher for Tang-dynasty slang, Iriya Yoshitaka, subsequently came to believe that the correct interpretation is “stick-shaped piece of dung” (Iriya 1989, 21).

A similar usage is found in the Dahui Pujue Chanshi yulu 大慧普覺禪師語 錄 (Record of Chan Master Dahui Pujue), where the two characters 屎麼 form a noun-compound:

>“I say to [such stupid monks], ‘You’re biting on the dung-sticks of others. You’re not even good dogs!’” (t 47: 872a).

HAHA CAODONG IS DOGS!

The yk has, “[A monk asked,] ‘What is Śākya’s body?’ The master (Yunmen) said, ‘A dung-wiper!’” (t 47: 550b). In the zj 19 the passage parallel to that in the ll reads, “What kind of filthy thing is he?” 是什麼不淨之物.

Sasaki’s other collaborator, Yanagida Seizan, interprets the term to mean “useless dung stick,” explaining that 乾 does not have its usual meaning of “dry,” but is synonymous with the homophonous 閑, “useless” (Yanagida 1977, 52). Regardless of the details of the interpretation, the intention is obviously the same.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Record-Nanzan-Library-Religion-Culture/dp/0824833198

Don't be silly. First, there's no way that that tour company does a lot of good humanitarian work in NK because nothing can be done without the explicit approval of the state. Whatever money they think they're giving, and however many meals they think are going to the orphanage, are probably going to help mid-level cadres bribe their kids' way into Kim Il-Sung University. Of course that money is going straight to the NK government. The only reason they let tourists in is because tourists pay lots of money for the privilege of a sanitized tour of the nicest parts of Pyongyang, with bonus appearances by North Korean citizens who definitely, 100% were not placed there by the regime and do not have to report on you afterwards. I recommend you read the book 'Nothing to Envy' by Barbara Demick for a general idea of things.

Also, they are without produced nature
亦無生性. See the Northern Nirvana
Sutra:


The impure dharmas, even before they
come into being, already have birth-nature
生性; hence it is through birth that they
can come into being. Th e pure dharmas are
originally without birth-nature 無生性; for
this reason their coming into being cannot
be through birth. Like fi re, which has an
original [burning-]nature and which, on
chancing to meet a cause, bursts into fl ame;
like the eye, which has a seeing nature and
because of color, light, and mind, therefore
sees; so too are sentient beings. Because
they originally possess [birth-]nature, on
chancing to meet the causal conditions
and come in contact with karma, they are
conceived when their fathers and mothers
are in harmonious union. (t 12: 490c)
For these terms as used in the Weishi 唯
識 (Consciousness-Only) school, see the
entry 三無性 in Mochizuki Bukkyō daijiten
2:1686c–1687a.


They are just empty names, and these
names are also empty. See Vimalakīrti’s
reply to Mañjuśrī’s questions regarding
his illness:

When [the Bodhisattva] attains to this
sameness, there is no other illness; there
is only the illness of emptiness, and the
illness of emptiness is also empty.” (t 14:
545a)

Th e interpretation of these lines is based
upon the Zhu Weimojie jing 注維摩詰
經, the commentary on the Vimalakīrti
Sutra said to have been compiled by Seng-
zhao from notes on Kumārajīva’s lectures
given during the translation of the sutra,
plus the comments of Sengzhao and sev-
eral other disciples (t 38: 377a). Just as
Linji in the previous section character-
ized the dharmakāya, saṃbhogakāya, and
nirmāṇakāya as “dependent transforma-
tions” (see pages 162 and 209, above), so
here he uses the same term to character-
ize the states of nirvana, bodhi, etc.—all
generally considered to be absolute or
transcendental—as relative or dependent
states.


The objective surroundings and the
subjective mind translates 境智, a term
explained at length by the Tiantai mas-
ter Zhiyi in his Si nianchu 四念處 (Four
foundations of mindfulness) (t 46: 575a).
It was apparently familiar to the compil-
ers of the Dunhuang Platform Sutra of
the Sixth Patriarch, where, in section 17,
we fi nd:

No-thought 無念 means not to be defi led
by external objects. It is to free thought
from external objects and not to arouse
thoughts about dharmas. But do not stop
thinking about things, nor eliminate all
thoughts. [If you do so] as soon as a single
thought stops you will be reborn in other
realms. Take heed of this! Do not cease
objective things nor subjective mind (境
智). (See Yampolsky 1967, 51.)


Th e term may have been introduced into
the Chan school by Yongjia Xuanjue, who
was a student of Tiantai before studying
under the Sixth Patriarch, since we find
the following in the Chanzong Yongjia ji
禪宗永嘉集 (Anthology of Yongjia of the
Chan School):

He who aspires to seek the great Way
must fi rst of all make pure the three acts
[of body, word, and thought] through
pure practice. Th en, in the four forms of
demeanor—sitting, standing, walking, and
lying—he will enter the Way by degrees.
When he has reached the state where the
objects of the six roots have been thor-
oughly penetrated while conforming with
conditions, and the objective world and
the subjective mind 境智 both have been
stilled, he will mysteriously meet with the
marvelous principle. (t 48: 388b)

Another example of its usage in Chan is
in zj 18. Guishan Lingyou asks his disciple
Yangshan Huiji if he can judge the teach-
ers and disciples who come to see him.


“Th ere are students coming from every-
where. When they ask you about Caoxi’s
(the Sixth Patriarch’s) cardinal principle,
how do you answer them?” [Yangshan]
said, “[I ask,] ‘Virtuous one, where have
you come from recently?’ The student
may answer, ‘Recently I have come from
visiting old worthies everywhere.’ I shall
thereupon bring forward an objective
circumstance and ask, ‘Do the old wor-
thies everywhere speak about this or not?’
Another time I bring out an objective cir-
cumstance and say, ‘Putting aside this for
the time being, tell me what is the cardinal
principle of the old worthies everywhere?’
Th e above two are cases of objective cir-
cumstance and subjective mind 境智.”

Waste paper to wipe off privy filth.
A similarly iconoclastic statement by
Linji’s contemporary Deshan Xuanjian is
recorded in zh 20: “Th e twelve divisions
of the teachings are the census-records
of demons and spirits, paper [fi t only] for
cleaning running sores” (x 79: 173a). For a
translation of the entire passage, see page
169, above.


But you, weren’t you born of a mother?
This rather cryptic remark undoubtedly
refers to the “original nature” or “original
face” with which everyone is born. See
the following lines in Nanyue Mingzan’s
poem Ledao ge 樂道歌 (Song of enjoying
the Way):

Don’t blindly seek the true buddha / Th e
true buddha cannot be seen.
Th e wondrous nature and the marvelous
mind / How could they ever have been
tempered and refi ned!
My mind is the nothing-to-do mind / My
face, the face born of my mother.
Th ough the kalpa-stone may be worn
away / Th is is changeless forever.
(t 51: 461b)

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Record-Nanzan-Library-Religion-Culture/dp/0824833198

Sorry for the formatting im on mobile.

Yeah, those 'r's are tricky. It's more like a combination of D and L.

The Pict-O-Graphix versions are pretty useful. They have one for Kana, which is like a really tiny pocket-book, and then one for Kanji which has about 1000 kanji and is rather large. Like this

China really only started to directly control Tibet during Qing dynasty (late 1600s). Anything that claim of suzerainty or sovereignty by the Chinese government before that was bullshit. Fun fact, Tibetan Empire from late 600 to early 800 AD was greatest security threat to the Chinese Empire. Tibetan defeated Chinese army of 100,000 in late 600 AD and sacked Chinese capital Changan in late 700 AD. By around 820 AD whole Tibetan empire disintegrated and not much was heard from them again. In the mean time buddhism spread and became important part of Tibet's culture.

In mid 1500 AD Tibetan buddhism spread to Mongol in Mongolia. Most mongol converted to Tibetan buddhism.

Let's talk about Qing dynasty. Fun fact about Qing was that the ruling class was not Chinese, they were Manchu. Qing also subjugated the Mongol before they conquered China. Qing needs Mongol to control the Chinese because there was less than a million Manchu when they conquered China, while there was around 300-400 million Chinese in the empire. To ensure the loyalty of the Mongol, Manchu intermarry with Mongol and needs the support of Mongol's spiritual leader(i.e. various Tibetan Lamas).

The greatest security threat to the Qing was Dzungar Mongol in modern day Xinjiang. To prevent Dalai Lama from falling into Dzungar's hand, Qing just invaded the country and "protect" Dalai Lama from falling into wrong hand. Eventually, Dzungar were defeated and completely massacred. Read china marches west for more background.

So in short, Manchu needs Mongol to oppress the Chinese. To earn Mongol's loyalty, Manchu need the support of the Mongol's spirtual leader, which was Dalai Lama and etc. So Qing just invaded and annexed to prevent the Lamas from falling into "wrong hand".

Modern China claimed to be successor to the Qing dynasty, so they claim Tibet as integrate part of China.

The second part of your question is more difficult and I won't attempt to answer it.

Piggybacking your comment to tell anyone interested in the situation in N.K. to read the book "Nothing to Envy"

This is true. When Jong Il was in power, and the famine was extremely harsh, free markets sprung up and foreign aid was available for sale. It was the first time a lot of people had been able to get white rice in years. I love to hear this; hopefully it's the beginning of the end for their government. When history looks back on what's been going on in North Korea, I'm sure it will judge the rest of the world harshly for letting this oppression go on so long, leading to the deaths by starvation of so many people.

There is an amazing but very dark book called "Nothing to Envy" link. It's an amazing snapshot of what's going on in that country, written at an interesting time. When Korea finally opens up, we won't be able to get the points of view of people who are absolutely indoctrinated with the propaganda of the North.

The Ming Dynasty whilst having gunpowder didn't have quite the infrastructure and logistical prowess that the Qing has.

Hence the difference in being able to maintain an army to take on the Dzungar Mongols. According to:

https://www.amazon.com/China-Marches-West-Conquest-Central/dp/0674057430

Supply Depots and Magazines to help supply the army as well as the economic strength unavailable to Ming Dynasty comparatively contributed.

Chinese also demographically was able to expand west due to the Columbian Exchange which supplied the Chinese with Potatoes opened up much more of the steppe lands to Agriculture.

This combined with Military farms in the Western Frontiers increased the availability of nearby supplies and reduced the cost of transport due to closer proximity of farms to the army.

This is also combined with alliances with mongol tribes due to successful diplomacy.

Considering the growing gender imbalance in certain countries like China and India that are a result of sex-selective abortions, it's not quite so much a hypothetical . . .

Cultures that value (or at least profess to value) gender equality are always going to take issue with wide-scale gender manipulation, I think (especially when it the preference is towards boys), regardless of how early-on it's done. But unlike the prevention of birth of congenitally-disabled fetuses, terminating female fetuses in favor of male fetuses has a strong negative effect on society as a whole, if the ratio is allowed to be skewed enough. Mara Hvistendah's Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men is a fascinating exploration of how truly beyond-individual-moral-judgments sex-selective abortion is.

Hmm yes, the comparison you made is between a collection of discourses from Master Huangbo and a collection of Koans and stories. I can recommend really any more discourse oriented Chan teachings ranging from Master Foyan's "Instant Zen" to the recorded sayings of Master Linji. The Recorded sayings of Master Linji also include some interactions and stories, but also some clear discourses from the Master... the same with the Recorded sayings of Master Zhaozhou, which is mostly interactions and some discourses. Another one that you might find interesting is "Ch’an Master Hui Hai- Zen Teaching of Instantaneous Awakening" or The Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue.... but really, reading those discourses and not doing the practice won't be very helpful... hence the 'clear discourses' are rather rare since you should penetrate it yourself directly and not have it chewed out by those old grandmothers

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a great book.
Penmanship is technically drawing.
Another fun exercise is using a children's kanji book regarding Japanese calligraphy.
Some random choices arbitrarily picked as examples.
http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Pict-O-Graphix-Over-Japanese-Mnemonics/dp/0962813702
....http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Learn-Kanji-Introduction-Components/dp/156836394X
....http://www.amazon.com/My-First-Japanese-Kanji-Book/dp/4805310375
The more you draw, the better you get at drawing.
Chinese traditional drawing books are also helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/Blossoms-Orchid-Chrysanthemum-Drawing-Chinese/dp/7115268126/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408974775&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=chrysanthemums+and+grasses+drawing

On North Korean along with the Vice ones you've already seen I can recommend the following that you can find on Netflix:

Inside North Korea Lisa Ling (sister of Laura Ling, who was trapped in North Korea) travels to North Korea with an eye surgeon who is doing humanitarian work there. There's a really great scene after all of the patients get their bandages unwrapped.

Crossing the Line About Americans who defected to North Korea during the Korean War and live/lived in Pyongyang. Really interesting stuff.

Kim Jong Il's Comedy Club / The Red Chapel This one is about Korean-Danish comedians who go to Pyongyang to do a very peculiar comedy routine. It's full of awkward moments but there's some pretty insightful stuff in there.

A State of Mind I haven't seen this one, and it's not on Netflix, but it's the same director as Crossing the Line (he's earned DPRK's trust and is allowed access for movies). It's about North Korean girls preparing for the Mass Games.

Also two books I would recommend are Nothing to Envy about ordinary citizens lives during the famine of North Korea and The Real North Korea which explains why politically, North Korea has no choice but to continue the current path.

I don't have any recommendations for China, sorry.

Yes because the growth in the recent decade was huge.https://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Revolution-Change-Chinese-Village/dp/1583671803
Yup, I am aware of Mao's achievements including the positive aspects of the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution.

The gullibility and smarmy naivete in this thread is just pathetic. Yes. War is bad. What a revelation. Why hasn't anybody else thought of that before?

If you want to feel all warm and fuzzy inside go buy a Hallmark card or go browse /r/aww.

People living in the real world understand that geopolitics is a game of advantage that you can't circumvent by pleading for everyone to join hands and sing Kumbaya. When you appease dictators and cede ground to them you simply enable and embolden their behavior. Furthermore, the South Korean president is hugging and holding hands with a mass murderer who has enslaved over 20 million people, condemning them to a live a life of near starvation and physical/psychological imprisonment. You're the leader of an extraordinarily prosperous, democratic country; have some dignity. You're meeting a piece of human excrement who is feeling on top of the world right now. You shake the man's hand for diplomacy's sake. You don't hug and caress him.

It's just so god damned pathetic how naive people are. What's happening here is that South Korea learned to live under a nuclear DPRK a long time ago. What they can't abide is constantly ratcheting up brinksmanship that is eagerly stoked by a senile reality tv star with the strongest military in the history of the world at his beck and call.

China, RoK, and DPRK have cooked up this appeasement scheme to dupe Trump into thinking he's quelled the DPRK threat. DPRK will keep its nuclear weapons (the announcement that they've completed their nuclear weapons program and no longer need the facility they're shutting down should have been a good indicator of DPRK's intentions for people that were too blind to them up until now) and as we can see here, the Kim regime gets boatloads of photo opportunities, diplomatic prestige, increased security internally, increased legitimacy externally and inevitably sanctions relief. China will benefit from further DPRK stability and increased trade opportunities (and leverage on Trump as well). And South Korea gets to see the sabre-rattling cease and they receive the same benefits China does from prolonged security for Kim regime. They don't want to deal with that humanitarian crisis either. Trump gets a plaque on his wall that says "Best Negotiator Ever" and a polaroid of a North Korean testing facility with a "closed" sign on the gate.

But don't let me get in the way of everyone "awwwwww"ing over this like it's a picture of a cat hugging a golden retriever. Bunch of rubes.

edit: Can't wait to see all the memes come out of this. Kim Jong Un is gonna have his image rehabilitated the same way GWB did lol... But I don't want this to just a useless rant yelling at silly people. So, before you guys start memeing up KJU let me give you guys a short reading list of DPRK books I've greatly enjoyed (I've been fascinated with DPRK for at least a decade):

• Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea. This is a great firsthand account of an "inner" party member who lived the relatively high life in Pyongyang as a propagandist.
  
  
• Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea Exactly what it sounds like: biographies of normal people who live(d) in DPRK over the last 30 years. This book is shocking, sickening, heart wrenching, triumphant, and any other superlative descriptor you can think of. Can't recommend it enough.
  
  
• Aquariums of Pyongyang. Nothing to Envy describes gulag life in detail but this book delves into it exclusively and I found myself enthralled but revolted at the same time. You'll have to take breaks to process the horror and atrocities it describes.
  
  So yeah, check any of those books out then come back here and see if you're still inclined to "oooo" and "awww" and talk about how sweet this is.

Rather than watch the vice guide videos (which only show you the propaganda that the DPRK wants you to see) you should go read books like these:

• Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
  
• Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty
  
• The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag
  
  These and other books give you amazing insight into what it's like to actually live inside North Korea. May of the defectors who have been interviewed for these books do indicate that they do believe in the personality cult around the Kim's, at least at a certain level.

History

The classic Fairbanks book, China: a New History for overview.

The always classic, Cambridge Illustrated History of China for reference. Though the real reference is the completely 12 volumes of The Cambridge History of China, which is not for the faint of heart. At that point, you might as learn Chinese and read The Comprehensive Mirror yourself.

For an aspiring historian
China: A Macro Hisotry



Culture

For old pre-revolutionary China, My Country and My People by Lin Yutang

For modern China, you're better off watching TV dramas. I recommend Ode to Joy as a start.

Honestly. Check this out.

If you want literature, I really like these books:

Check out Fairbank, it's amazing.
Or maybe: John Keay
Or try: Ying-Shih Yü

Or alternatively, google it (see first link). If you don't want to pay for any of these books just check your local library (-Genesis). I wouldn't call you out for torrenting/DLing them, since that would make me a hypocrite.

You're welcome! It's good there can be something beneficial come from my obsession of reading North Korean books and articles. Even if that's helping a few people on the interweb learn a bit more.

I really do strongly recommend you get the book Nothing To Envy. It will blow your mind, but is also fairly easy and approachable to read.
https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912

Yep, and there's already a book that's exactly her idea, for about 1000 Kanji:

> http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Pict-O-Graphix-Over-Japanese-Mnemonics/dp/0962813702

But I agree, once you get past a few dozen easy ones, something like Heisig's idea is going to be much easier (and in any case the more absurd & obscene the story you create is, the easier to remember)

Many causes. First, anti-Qing sentiment. The Qing were never beloved, as they were foreign invaders and viewed as usurpers to the throne. Although the Qing had become quite sinised by the 19th century (e.g. few of the bannermen spoke Manchu anymore), the Chinese were still reminded of this daily, such as in being force to have their hair in a queue. The Chinese had been forced to wear this Manchu hairstyle since 1644 as a sign of submission to Manchu rule. Secret societies like the Tiandihui existed, with an agenda to reinstate the Ming dynasty. (in reality this never seems to have made the top of their to-do list, but the ambition itself is witness to the anti-Qing sentiment).

Losing the first Opium War did of course not help. There was naturally outrage at this loss and the terms the Qing had accepted, accompanied by the loss of military strength, social upheavals and unrest, and the scourge of opium of course. Another factor Spence points out here is the westerners had used their naval power to drive the pirates away (threat to their trade after all), which pushed many of them to move to inland banditry, not least to the mountains of Guangxi, which is where the rebellion got started.

There was of course the introduction of radical new Christian ideas, aided not least by the free movement of missionaries being allowed by the peace treaty after the war. Although the contemporary Buddhist-Taoist tract the Jade Record seems to have had some influence on Hong Xiuquan as well.

It also had great populist appeal: They went against the authorities, against Confucianism, against the nobility. They promised a kind of proto-socialist redistribution of land and property. In short they targeted the disenfranchised and promised them a better future with better opportunities in the 'Heavenly Kingdom'.

Then, as Warband14 points out, there was a significant ethnic dimension as well. Hong Xiuquan was a Hakka, and the movement first caught on among that ethnic group. Elements of the Taiping doctrine - a ban on foot-binding, women workers and soldiers - likely came from Hakka custom (their women worked, they never practiced foot-binding). It might be pointed out that although they were indeed outsiders and lower in status than Han chinese, they still had a related language and weren't outsiders to the extent, say, the Miao were.

The Taiping relations with western natiosn were a bit ambivalent. Dissatisfaction with the Opium War was after all one of their recruiting points, but Hong obviously had an belief (of his own making) and respect for Christianity. This did not come to him through the British though; his main sources had been a Christian tract by Liang Fa and Gützlaff's bible translation. (which Hong later was to make his own changes to, removing some things he must have found disagreeable, such as Noah getting drunk - the Taiping had banned alcohol and opium) His bible instruction came from the American Baptist missionary Issachar Roberts, who later became one of the westerners advocating in favor of the Taiping - until he eventually fell out with them. Not least over the heterodox (to say the least) theology of the Taiping.

For most of its existence after the capture of Nanjing, the 'Heavenly Kingdom' was in a stalemate with the Qing. The Taiping's offensive campaigns (among others, north towards Beijing) had failed, but so did the Qing's. During that period they made repeated failed attempts to secure the westerners as allies, or at least their neutrality. Hong made a particularily fanciful attempt to recruit the 8th Lord Elgin, as he passed Nanjing (in a more well-known incident, Elgin was soon to burn the Summer Palace in Beijing)

Their last major offense was towards Shanghai. The western nations saw this as a threat to their trade and the international settlement (despite the Taiping's best attempts to reassure them that they and their property woudl not be harmed). But the westerners defended Shanghai, and you had the formation of the Ever Victorious Army and French Ever Triumphant Army, now taking an active role in fighting the Taiping. It was all downhill from there.

Again as Warband14 wrote, besides the devastation and millions killed, the Taiping rebellion was a significant factor in the demise of the Qing empire.

It does also play a certain role in Chinese Communist historiography. Regarding those populist demands for redistribution of land, Marx himself related a story from the translator of Hong's bible, Gützlaff:

> When Herr Gützlaff came back among civilized people and Europeans after twenty years' absence, he heard talk of socialism and asked what it was. When he was told, he exclaimed in alarm: 'Am I nowhere to escape this ruinous doctrine? Precisely the same thing has been preached for some time in China by many people from the mob.'

This was in 1850, at the very start of the Taiping Rebellion, and while Marx noted that "Chinese socialism may, of course, bear the same relation to European socialism as Chinese to Hegelian philosophy.", and found it amusing that the western bourgoise had helped precipitate such a revolution, he expressed hopes for it as a 'socialist' revolution. (not unlike how other westerners projected their hopes for a Christian China onto them)

Marx did not write a great deal about them, but by 1862 he had apparently become as disillusioned with them as those hoping for a Christian revolution. He wrote:

> They represent a still greater torment for the masses of the people than for the old rulers. Their motive seems to be nothing else than to bring into play against the conservative marasmus grotesquely repulsive forms of destruction, destruction without any germ of regeneration.

Marx's view of the Taiping is understandably, not that dissimilar from that taken by the Chinese Communists themselves, although the latter are perhaps less condemnatory.

Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143122916/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_clf7Ab99NDEFR

Also the person in the neighborhood that reports on you part I mentioned is from this book

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385523912/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_fmf7AbD5VBWRV

Jonathan Spence's Search for Modern China is a nice overview of recent-ish stuff. Spence's other works are also pretty fantastic.

Hitchens (2010) recommended Myer's The cleanest race: How North Koreans see themselves and why it matters.

I recommend Demick's (2010) Nothing to envy: Ordinary lives in North Korea and Martin's (2006) Under the loving care of the fatherly leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty.

There's a good audio course called Yao to Mao. I like this because it was easy to listen to while travelling around China.

My favourite comprehensive history book is The search for modern china

Country Driving is pretty good.

America have 9 cities with population of over a million. China on the other hand have over 50 cities with population of over a million. Which means there are a lot of cities. The cities are growing larger too, incorporating the surrounding areas.

Rural areas are more communist than urban areas. People are organized into villages, and the village owns all the land and housing. This means individuals can't just decide to sell their plot of land and move away. People own shares in the village. If the village as a whole makes money (by leasing land to a factory or garbage dump), it distributes the money to everyone in the village. This also means even though young people tend to move away for work, they can always come back to the village and farm as a backup if economy is bad. In a lot of villages, most of the people are over 50 and under 16, because young people want to earn money in the cities.

for people interested in everyday life in NK: I just read a fantastic book by an American journalist following the lives of (I think) 6 defectors while also providing some good historical and cultural background.

It's called Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. Highly recommended.

I think Heisig is good as a reference book, as in, if you have difficulty learning/remembering a particular kanji, you can take a look at it and hopefully that will lock in the kanji and pronunciation, but as the only way to learn kanji it seems a bit troublesome to me. Another book that is pretty good is Pict-o-Graphix which again is good as a reference book, not a good learning resource.

I personally use Anki and a new site memrise to practice a lot of kanji reading/meanings.

I read the same thing. 99% sure I read it from the book nothing to envy.

http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324420437&sr=8-1

It's a pretty good book.

Kind of looks like Kanji Pict-o-Grafix by Michael Rowley. They have one for Kana as well. Very useful for beginners.

https://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Pict-Graphix-Japanese-Mnemonics/dp/0962813702

We'll go far :)
I'd recommend these two books that I'm reading:

On China - by Henry Kissinger

Etiquette Guide to China: Know the Rules that Make the Difference!


I learned a ton and the etiquette book had a bunch of useful phrases in the back

See: Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, Nothing to Envy, and This is Paradise.

You should read The Party

It is very clear from this and other sources that the CCP does in fact exist to benefit itself and its members. John Garnaut will provide other interesting sources from his articles and his most recent book.

http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912

I'm pretty sure it's this book. Highly recommend

>Would anybody be able to tell me what North Korea is like? Not as a western tourist, but as an average citizen, privileged and favored or not.

No, sorry. It really is the "hermit kingdom." The closest you can get is watching interviews with defectors on YouTube, this AMA or reading Nothing to Envy.

doesn't look like it is. won a non-fiction award. http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912

A book I would recommend looking at is Jonathan Spence's The Search For Modern China *, which is one of the best and most readable books that touches on every question you've asked. You can follow its foot notes for more material citations

If you're a US English speaker, the THDL simple phonetic Tibetan transcription is decent as a rough guide.

Nicolas Tournadre's book (he's one of the co-designers of this phonetic system) is probably the best Modern Standard Tibetan primer out there as well.

I did take it! :)

P.S. My favorite NK defector(s) book is Nothing to Envy - if you read just one, go with that!

I think the work of Patricia Ebrey is perfect for what you are after. Try these books:

China: A Cultural, Social, and Political History
and
Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook
She has also set up some nice stuff on their website at UW:
http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/

This semester I had to read a non-fiction book too, so I picked this:

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

No regrets. Excellent flow, loved the author's way of presenting different events, multiple sources and excellent knowledge to acquire about the past and current life in North Korea.

I'm aware of the state of things in NK. I just didn't think "cult of personality", however extreme, counted as a recognized religion. :) Perhaps I'm wrong.

(Also, I just finished reading the fascinating book Nothing to Envy. Highly recommend it!)

If you're looking for a more in-depth work, there's a fantastic book about six North Korean refugees who are mostly rehabilitated in Seoul now. Here's the link; I highly recommend it.

I believe this is mostly a misconception. Despite how the government tries, North Koreans are more aware than you might think. There’s a fantastic book about life in NK that I highly recommend:

https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North-ebook/dp/B002ZB26AO

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. I can't explain why in just a few words but it is simply the best book I've ever read.

While the bot is trying to be helpful, there's no book on the Taiping Rebellion on that list. Try this. Jonathan Spence is a very well know historian of China and is very readable. Enjoy!
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Chinese-Son-Taiping-Heavenly/dp/0393315568/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421024376&sr=8-2&keywords=taiping+rebellion

The Penguin History of Modern China
is a great overview and very easy to read.

One of the best books on the subject I've read is
The Search for Modern China by. Jonathan Spence but it is very dry.

Yeah, parent is entirely untrue. In fact, many of their TVs are Chinese and Japanese, which are then modified by the telecommunications bureau to only receive government stations. As you might expect, hacking them back to full functionality is a time-honored pastime.

This book describes the phenomenon, and is generally excellent. It even describes what happened when an NKer got their hands on a copy of 1984!

Would probably read this one first to get some general background. It’s a lighter read: https://www.amazon.com/China-21st-Century-Everyone-Needs/dp/0199974969

Perhaps the most authoritative reading on Deng specifically: https://www.amazon.com/Deng-Xiaoping-Transformation-China-Vogel/dp/0674725867

Another good one (more about international relations): https://www.amazon.com/China-Henry-Kissinger/dp/0143121316

This is a good one if you want to learn about the economic reforms under Deng: https://www.amazon.com/Markets-over-Mao-Private-Business/dp/0881326933

Definitely! It is one of the most important events of modern Chinese history. It really kicked off the "century of humiliation."

If you are interested in reading more about it, I'd highly recommend God's Chinese Son. It's very well researched but still really readable.

It's not propaganda. The vast majority of the population is brainwashed and have little access to external news. Only a carefully vetted elite few can travel to China or anywhere out of the country. Having a satellite phone will land you in a labor camp. Underground printing presses? You must be kidding. The North Korean government is a truly tyrannical, oppressive regime with ever present mechanisms of control and suppression inherited from the Soviets and fine-tuned over decades of practice.

If you want to read a fascinating book about NK told through the eyes of an English teacher take a look at Without You There Is No Us. Also really good Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea.

Here is the deal with N. Korea. Pretty much the ones who live in Pyongyang, aka where the media actually have cameras, are brainwashed. Apparently, those who live in the city are chosen by the leadership to live there as it is an honor. Those on the outskirts of the main drag are more in tune to the reality of the situation their country is in. Yes, they still have the mandatory framed pictures of Kim Jong Il & Un on their walls and yes if interviewed, taped or pressured they will act as they are expected to but in reality they know something isn't right. I suggest anyone who is interested read Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick.

This is not biographical, but for anyone interested in the period, The Search For Modern China is worth mentioning.

Ok fine, but where's even that coming from?

After reading this I don't assume that it could be easy.

I have to recommend this book, Nothing to Envy to anyone interested in the human side of North Korea. Daily life from Northern North Korea, not the showcase city of Pyongyang. I just finished it earlier this season, real page turner and its pretty understanding and sympathetic but also sensible, you really get emotionally invested in the characters.

Can't recommend the book that blogger talks about highly enough. For the lazy, and non-lazy, it's Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea and one of the best contemporary nonfiction books I've ever read. SO GOOD.

Yes, living in North Korea is like 1984 except everyone is starving. I highly recommend reading this book for more information.

If you live in the Western world, what you learn about North Korea is almost literally unbelievable.

On China by Kissinger is a very good read. It is much more detailed after about 1900 and especially after 1949, but the other parts are all good too. He just tends to boil down empires and dynasties into a few key themes to avoid boring the nonacademic reader with repetitive and insignificant details

I think the best two parts of the book are 1. He condenses a lot of the drier information without completely discounting it and 2. He was there for a lot of it and can give a unique perspective on what it was like to work with many of the CCP leaders.

I really loved this book: Kanji Pict-o-Graphix

I'm a very visual learner. This book isn't perfect, but it helps a lot with recognition and memorizing kanji that are related to each other.

Two of the absolute best:

https://www.amazon.com/Wars-Asia-1911-1949-S-Paine/dp/1107697476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498655622&sr=1-1&keywords=wars+for+asia

https://www.amazon.com/FIRE-LAKE-Vietnamese-Americans-Vietnam/dp/B008BCQE7W/ref=sr_1_2_twi_har_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498655669&sr=1-2&keywords=fire+in+the+lake

Yes. The older generation that still remembers are in favor of unification, but the younger generations see them as another country, and a burden that they'd have to pay for (in an already highly competitive society). They see them as a massive amount of uneducated and brainwashed refugees they would have to pay for who would not fit into modern South Korean society.

North Koreans do escape and defect to the south. It is not an easy thing for them. They are looked down on by the South Koreans, and they are in a place where the language is different, their skills and credentials are no longer valid (I remember reading an interview with a girl who was a doctor in North Korea, but her credentials were not accepted by places in the South and she had to go back to school).

North Koreans who escape to the South are automatically granted citizenship. Right now, with a trickle of defectors, that is fine. But if the country fell, they would need to keep them sequestered in NK, and then deal with the North's disillusionment as they see how bad they are off compared to the South, and that they will likely never be able to have the lives that the South Koreans have achieved after reunification and the anger that will bring. The issue would reverberate long after, and it may only be the children or grandchildren of those from the North who will finally succeed in the South.

If you are interested in the history of North Korea, I highly recommend reading Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, which gives a very good and complete history of North Korea from its founding till the 1990's.

After that, I recommend Nothing to Envy, which is a collection of interviews following the lives of six North Korean defectors.

Other Books to read:

• Dear Leader: Poet, Spy, Escapee--A Look Inside North Korea
  
• This is Paradise!: My North Korean Childhood
  
• The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia
  
• The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea

I just finished reading this book on Chinese history and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a primer on the subject. One interesting fact that could be used by u/Kimiimar0 in the next version is that the voyages (all of them) were led by a Palace Eunuch called Zheng He who became a part of the bureaucracy after being captured from his native place in South-Eastern China, being castrated and being packed off to Beijing as a 11 year old.

there is a book that is called "kanji pictographics" that helps with about 1000 basic kanji. nice to have on your coffee table. or kotatsu once you get to japan.

http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Pict-O-Graphix-Over-Japanese-Mnemonics/dp/0962813702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269813970&sr=8-1

missyb described it best in her comment, but I'm making mine a separate comment to make sure you see this. In Barbera Demick's work Nothing to Envy, she describes the North Korean reaction to the death of Kim Il-Sung. People were being watched for their emotional displays, and everyone was afraid of not expressing enough remorse/love (in turn leading to ever more frenzied displays of emotion fueled by the others/the fear of being "out-devoted"). Like missyb says, "Don't be so accepting of people's stylised emotional displays." And please don't necessarily accept all the explanations of "it's a hive state" and "it's the power of religion in practice" as the sole explanations. While I have no doubt that the social structure and religious nature of the state have played major roles in creating this "love," most North Koreans aren't stupid or entirely brainwashed - and many lived through the famine and were forced to see the lies with their own eyes. Don't take their intelligence for granted.

It's a question with an answer that exists at the core of all authoritarian regimes: how much of what we are seeing is truly real? I encourage you to read Demick's work and make your own judgement call. (My answer: some of it is, some of it isn't. Unsatisfying, but that's the real world for you.)

They drove an increase in abortions in Japan...for one year.

The more interesting fact is that up until the 50s or so, abortion wasn't really a viable method of birth control in Japan (Buddhism, obviously, isn't hip to the whole 'ending of life' thing) until introduced as a case study by American and global population concerns.

Check out "Unnatural Selection" for more.

http://www.amazon.com/Unnatural-Selection-Hvistendahl-Mara/dp/1610391519

I'm reading a history of China that suggests that stone was not as available in the near east compared to Europe.

http://www.amazon.com/China-A-History-John-Keay/dp/0465025188

He talks at length about how prevalent packed mud bricks are in construction and much less durable over the centuries it is compared to stone even if it is a perfectly reasonable building material over the short or new term.

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick goes into this quite a bit, as well as just general life in the DPRK, if you're interested at all.

For the Asian theater, this is the best I've read:
https://www.amazon.com/Wars-Asia-1911-1949-S-Paine/dp/1107697476/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504552756&sr=8-1&keywords=wars+for+asia+1911+1949

For Europe, Richard Evans' trilogy is the best:
https://www.amazon.com/Richard-J.-Evans/e/B000APZ9EM/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1504552843&sr=1-1

For WW1, Luigi Albertini's trilogy is best, but expensive and difficult to obtain:
https://www.amazon.com/Origins-War-1914-volumes-complete/dp/B001RVQR6C/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1504552926&sr=1-10&keywords=albertini+origins+oxford

I don't think visiting a country who has a differing foreign policy is really comparable to visiting a country where an oppressive dictator has kept 23 million brainwashed people in utter poverty and starvation. Whatever money you spend in North Korea goes to those in power, and they certainly aren't using that money to feed their people. No, it's more like Hennessy and cigarettes.

Furthermore, anyone who suggests that the official tour that everyone who visits NK goes on is in any way a full and accurate depiction of day to day life in North Korea is kidding themselves. That tour is carefully crafted to only show what the propaganda arm of NK wants. You have two tour guides who are carefully selected from party loyalists, you're not allowed to leave their sight, you're not allowed to talk with anyone else, you're not allowed to take pictures they don't like. I'm not quite sure how you would bring a "glimpse of hope" to an average North Korean if you're not allowed to interact with them in any way.

If you're interested in learning about day to day life in NK, I would recommend reading North of the DMZ by Andrei Lankov, who studied in North Korea in the 80's, or Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, who interviewed many defectors about their experiences in NK.

Tourism isn't going to do much for the average North Korean. For a start, I'd place my money on soap operas smuggled in from South Korea and pirate radio stations.

Also check out the book nothing to envy http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523904 fantastic read.

"Nothing to Envy" https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912

Good read if your into that stuff.

Also "Escape from Camp 14" https://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey/dp/0143122916

That one is less about ordinary citizen's lives and more about the modern day concentration camps the North Korean government is controlling.

the wiki on Korea before WWII and after is good for the facts.
I'm reading Nothing to Envy at the moment which recounts stories of defectors from after the war up until the present from North Korea. Gives a good incite to the day to day life of a North Korean.

There are some great films about the Korean War

Brotherhood of War

The Front Line

This film about the boarder of North and south is great also

JSA

I read this one years ago and loved it.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/China-New-History-JK-Fairbank/dp/0674018281

http://www.amazon.com/China-History-Second-Enlarged-Edition/dp/0674018281/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332176566&sr=8-1 is a good place to start then. It's comprehensive enough without being nitpicky.

For more, read: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Amazon

Fascinating insight into the country.

https://www.amazon.com/Search-Modern-China-Jonathan-Spence/dp/0393307808

An amazing book.

I would go with Jonathan Spence's Search for Modern China for, well, modern China.

For a good basic though not comprehensive read on American Indians maybe Daniel Richter's Facing East from Indian Country. For a taste of more modern, survival oriented Indian history I think I'd point people to James Clifford's chapter (in The Predicament of Culture) on the Mashpee Indian land suit in the 1970's.

Yeah I didn't really have a clue about how it was in North Korea until reading this book. As an american who has never gone more than two days without food, it was hard for me to even imagine what they went (and go) through. Thanks for the link

The Search for Modern China by Johnathan Spence is an excellent history of China from the 16th Century to 1989, with extensive coverage of Mao Zedong and the fallout of his rule.

Sinologist Jonathan Spence actually has an excellent book on this topic: God's Chinese Son.

http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Chinese-Son-Taiping-Heavenly/dp/0393315568

Ok. There's numerous examples of his reinterpretations of Daoist and Buddhist concepts in his record here.

I'd also recommend this letter by Yuanwu about Linji which is found in Zen Letters.

I recommend another Henry Kissinger book, since you liked that one. Try On China. It's about China, and Kissinger knows it well since he and Nixon were the architects for the sudden U.S. surprise opening to China in the middle of the Cold War.

>They have smuggled TV shows from SK, they listen to radio, they work in some way or the other. They don't just sit at home and worship the Kims.

Some do, some don't. It depends on where you live in NK. The ones who would sit and remain in the country instead of bolting at the first chance most likely would. this is a good book about the situation

Henry Kissinger: On China is a fantastic book. It gives you a sense of the typical Chinese mindset by quickly going into its history and then applying that to Communist China and beyond. Kissinger draws on his personal experiences and talks with Mao and other key figures.

The most recent nonfiction book that had the biggest impact on me is "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea." Two friends have read it since and they were just as blown away as I was: http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912/

Some recommendations:

• China Wakes - former NY Times correspondent details his experiences during the 1980-90's
  
• In Our Image - history of America's colonial empire in the Philippines
  
• China: A New History - a nice overview of dynastic China
  
  

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea Is really great.

I don't remember where exactly I read that. Probably in either Nothing to Envy or The Impossible state.

I highly recommend both books (though I thought that Cha came off as a bit defensive at times) for general reading on the DPRK.

John Keay is pretty awesome

you should read some books! jonathan spence's search for modern china is a good broad introduction.

Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook by Patricia Buckley Ebrey

A very easy read with ancient texts from different periods of Chinese history

As far as China goes, Fanshen, The Unknown Cultural Revolution, and The Battle for China's Past are probably a great place to start.

Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy is awesome.

One of my favorite non-fiction books.

> Sugli imprenditori però non sarei così tranchant.

Non credo - se non altro, perche' prima dei Padani ci sono i gli imprenditori Cinesi.

E il Grana Padano lo vendi male in un paese dove la gente qualche anno fa crepava di fame per le strade. Source: Nothing to Envy di Barbara Demick

But that's a work of fiction. Here's a good book about the lives of North Koreans

https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912/

This is a good read about N Korea for those interested:

Upvote for this. The excellent Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick deals with this issue towards the end of the book. A good read.

This is a good historical survey:

http://www.amazon.com/China-New-History-Second-Enlarged/dp/0674018281/

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290687205&sr=8-1

It's incredible (ly depressing). You should read it. I live in Seoul so scary to think this is only like 60km away.

How true is the book "Nothing to Envy"

There's a really well written book too that recounts the stories of a few escapees. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385523912/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_DdgHxbTCXMMA6

I recommend it if you want a non-sanitized account of famine.

I also recommend Nothing to Envy, which is a collection of personal accounts of daily life in North Korea. It's not specifically about famine, but does have several chapters about the "Arduous March" famine of the 1990s.

[https://www.amazon.com/Search-Modern-China-Third/dp/0393934519/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487811047&sr=8-1&keywords=the+search+for+modern+china](You need this book) and [https://www.amazon.com/China-Henry-Kissinger/dp/0143121316/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487811112&sr=8-1&keywords=On+China](this book)

It is impossible to answer your question without understanding the "Century of Humiliation." A lot of that is still prevalent in modern China, and those two books will be some solid go-tos. Spence focuses on China; Kissinger discusses the United States.

Edit: I have no idea why it is not formatting correctly.

I would suggest Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demmick. It deals specifically about the subject you raised.

It is a fascinating read.

I really enjoyed Nothing to Envy but it's about North Korea. Longform journalism.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick, is an excellent if disturbing read if you're really interested.

Nothing to Envy

me too! BTW, I'm reading Nothing To Envy by Barbara Demick. It's horrying book about North Korea. If I can save up I'm gonna see N. Korea next year. I think next year I'll have something to karma whore about :P

http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523904

I have ebook of it, if you want I can share.

jumping on your comment to say how much that book engrossed me and that anyone who has read Escape From Camp 14 might also be interested in reading Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick. Out of all of the books I have read about life in North Korea this is the one that made me realise how dire the situation is out there right now due to the many stories from the different walks of life in NK.

I'm going to start The Liar by Stephen Fry, which Vrgom20 generously gifted to me! After that, probably Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick - it's going to be dark, I know.

>Broadly speaking, Dracula is about moral panic, and homosexuality was a MAJOR feature in moral panic in Stoker's time.

The "link by association" argument that ties Dracula to homosexuality gets to my issue, namely that an association argument isn't enough. The text in Dracula needs to mention homosexuality directly or implicitly for your claim to hold. In my opinion the strongest evidence the "lit crit" author you linked provides is that Count Dracula (male) desires Jonathon's (male) blood, but even this evidence is tempered by the fact that Dracula also attacks women. There is also the greater problem that there is another feasible alternate explanation for this, namely that Dracula's behavior stems from the vampiric desire for human blood both men and women have. This is quite unlike your "Roland Rump" example, where alternative explanations (e.g. that the relationship to Trump is mere coincidence) are absurd. The associations you and the paper mentioned need to be stronger to be convincing.

Secondly, consider the book Nothing to Envy, written by the American author Barbara Demick
about the oppression of those living under the North Korean regime. You could similarly argue that since this book is about oppression, then it is also about the oppression of homosexuals and colored people in the U.S., which are both "major features" of Demick's time. That would be an intriguing interpretation of the text. However, I wouldn't say, "Nothing to Envy is about racism against African Americans in the U.S," which is a stretch — even though we could support the assertion with exhaustive analysis (there are actually many fascinating parallels between the two). At best we could only say that racism against African has an indirect, peripheral influence on Nothing to envy. Ditto for homosexuality and Dracula.

Someone recommended this book to me about a month ago in /r/books . Just got it in the mail the other day. As soon as I finish up the book I'm reading now, I'll tackle this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523904

I believe the only substantial course out there written for English speakers learning Tibetan is Manual Of Standard Tibetan: Language And Civilization.

no fucking nation is benevolent, what you dont understand is that chinese people and our whole history is built upon being conquered internally over and over and over again and still surviving miraculously, and now you admit you have no direct experiences in china, im trying to explain to your own western ignorance of how chinese people think as a group, have you done business internationally? do you know how different it is to approach different subjects and ideas from cultural perspectives? no if you grow up asian youd fucking know exactly why and how authority strictly controls information, im not trying to explicitly tell you youre wrong, im trying to explain that theres a level of blindness that comes from being from only 1 culture, you're own perspective is built on one system and its up to you to discover and make judgments on your own experiences, but coming from someone raised on US history/patriotism/individualism AND chinese culture/values/history, you see disparaging differences in one is to approach basic universal truths, why is one culture superior to the other, no such thing


read this, this is the most comprehensible book by a westerner on china ive ever read
http://www.amazon.com/China-Henry-Kissinger/dp/1594202710

Well, I have to tell you you are totally wrong. We do know a lot about the domestic life from defectors to the south, aid workers, Chinese business men that travel there frequently, and the occasional tourist. There are extensive accounts of what life is like there in the city and in the country. But nice try Mr. Know-it-all.

Unlike you I can substantiate my claims with sources:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10206210/As-Pyongyang-celebrates-British-aid-worker-reveals-poverty-of-rural-North-Korea.html

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786428392/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ZB26AO/ref=cm_sw_su_dp#nav-subnav

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/01/tales-north-korea-defector-story-160107131430263.html

http://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/blog/category/refugee-stories/

Amazon got the hook up, as always

Link: https://www.amazon.com/China-Henry-Kissinger/dp/0143121316

I read it in this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912

Very interesting look at people's lives in North Korea from the perspective of people who eventually decided to defect.

If you're looking for a book on life in NK I'd recommend Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea.

> It's a fairly recent phenomenon brought about by the actions of the communist regime.

No. This is a myth.

Public defecation was common in 19th century China--their use of nightsoil was largely what kept the country's large population going for centuries. I recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/China-History-John-Keay/dp/0465025188

If you want to know more about daily life in North Korea, check out this oral history book entitled Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

It is an amazing read, goes from after the Korean War, through the famine in the 1990s, to current day.

Here's the Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912


And a Prezi review that includes a reading level assessment:

Reading level: middle school students to adults
few parts more appropriate for older middle school students
Interesting for: people who are curious North Korean way of life and how North Koreans reacted to an economic crisis, as well as struggles in society


https://prezi.com/5bq1azo7n2rj/nothing-to-envy-presentation/

I have an English degree, but I didn't read nonfiction until I graduated a few years ago. Here are the best I've read: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann, and Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl.

His book is a [good read] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Party-Secret-Chinas-Communist/dp/0061708763/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407789694&sr=8-1&keywords=party+mcgregor)

Uh, yeah no.

http://www.amazon.ca/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912

It is mentioned in Nothing To Envy, by Barbara Demick.

Can probably be found in other resources, with a little research.

Required reading for nostalgic communists: https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912

These anecdotes are from Nothing to Envy, I believe.

https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912


NK has changed a lot. People understand that they are left behind.

http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North/dp/0385523912

obviously the numbers aren't 100% accurate but the comment is reasonable per this book

Book

Book 2

Book 3

Book 4

Book 5

Book 6

Book 7

Book 8

Book 9

Comes to about $91.

Bakgrunden här är alltså att 1861 pågår Taipingupproret, ett av världshistoriens blodigaste konflikter än idag, där en religös sekt ledd av Hong Xiuquan - självutnämnd son av gud och bror av Jesus - gick i öppen revolt mot Kinas styrande Qingdynastin. Då försvagad av Opiumkrigen och med en sedan-länge försvagad centralstat. Rebellerna tar över en stor region av södra Kina och Nanjing blir deras huvudstad, 30 mil uppför Yangtzefloden från Shanghai, som då är internationell fördragshamn med sjömän och äventyrare från hela världen.

Så en del västerlänningar därifrån tar värvning som legosoldater - flest för Qingdynastin men ett fåtal för rebellerna. Vapensmuggling till rebellerna är också en lönsam verksamhet som många västerlänningar ägnar sig åt. ("the bulk of foreign gunrunners are British or American, but some are Belgian, Swedish, Prussian or Italian" - Johnathan Spence) Det var också västerländskt hjälp som i slutändan bidrog till att avsluta upproret.

Beskrivnigen slätar över att det sannolika syftet var att sälja vapen för siden. Den utpekar inte männen direkt som rebeller men beskrivningen 'långt hår' och med röda band identifierar dem för samtiden som Taipingrebeller. Det långa håret visade trots mot den av den manchuriska frisyren som Qingdynastin påtvingat kineserna. Kineserna kallade också Taipingrebellerna för 'de långhåriga'.

Okänt varför svensken har ett engelskklingande namn - kan vara ett alias, eller en förengelskning av ett svenskt namn - ingendera vore särskilt ovanligt för sjömän/äventyrare av den tiden.

China: A History and India: A History by John Keay.

There's a book, called Pict-o-grafix that does the same thing for over 1,000 kanji.

This idea has been around quite a while - at least for Japanese use of Chinese characters. I picked up Kanji Pict-O-Graphix over 15 years ago when I was starting to learn Japanese.

Also, her idea isn't actually new or revolutionary. I bought the book Kanji Pict-O-Graphix some months ago.

That book was published in 1992.

Lots, if you know where to look. I've had this book for 15-20 years now and it's about the same thing.

There's a [whole book] (http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Pict-O-Graphix-Over-Japanese-Mnemonics/dp/0962813702) of these.

The defector in Escape from Camp 14 recanted parts of his story.

I recommend reading Nothing to Envy instead, which is about daily life in North Korea.