10 July 2008 - 8:00Pre-Olympics Crash Course on Chinese History

If the recent Algae Bloom drama [real article, parody article] in China’s preparation for the upcoming Olympics is any indication of what is in store - it will be interesting to see how the media portrays the Land of the Dragon as it takes center stage later this Summer. In the American media storyscape China is part villain, part friend, part ally, part mystery…but something we are all interested in immensly.

For those erudite or curious sports fans looking for some historical context there are plenty of original texts available to get a first hand account of China pre-communism, pre-globalization and pre-just about anything we currently know about China today. Here are a couple of choice selections from the archives to help you bone up before the torch is lit and the athletes take to the field, pool, archery range, etc. etc.

A History of China

By Wolfram Eberhard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wolfram Eberhard, a professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley focused on Western, Central and Eastern Asian societies. He made his first journey to China in 1934. He traveled through regions of China collecting folklore, studying temples and dissecting the Chinese culture. Occasionally, his first wife Alide (née Roemer), who sometimes coauthored with him and helped him with editing and translating into English. Eberhard travelled across northern China to Sian,the sacred mountain Hua-shan, T’ai-yuan, and the Yun-kang caves at Ta-t’ung. His interviews with Taoist priests on Hua-shan were the basis for the text of a book coauthored with Hedda Hammer Morrison, Hua Shun, the Taoist Sacred Mountain in West China (1974).

Read the book free on Gutenberg.org

Get the paperback in regular or EasyScript print

Notable Women of Modern China

By Margaret E. Burton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Margaret Ernestine Burton (1885-1969) was an American missionary who traveled to China and Japan in 1909.

“During a stay of some months in China in the year of 1909 I had an opportunity to see something of the educational work for women and to meet several of the educated women of that interesting country. I was greatly impressed both by the excellent work done by the students in the schools and by the useful efficient lives of those who had completed their course of study.”

Read the book for free on Gutenberg.org

Get the paperback in regular or EasyScript print