Here's Your Beijing Spring Reading List
Hopefully, you had a lovely Qingming holiday enjoying time with friends or the blossoming flowers under a beautiful spring sky. There's an old Chinese poem that says, 春天不是读书天 chūntiān bùshì dúshū tiān “Spring is not the time for reading." However, I'd like to take issue with the poet who scribbled those words: reading is one of my favorite spring pastimes (it sure beats cleaning), as the comfy temperatures allow for a nice sit down with a good book on a balcony, in a cafe, or plopped down on the lawn of a park, taking in the seasonal fragrances to sedate your restless soul and guide you through a world beyond the pages. But enough of that, I'll save the romanticizing for the books themselves. Here, I have collected a few of my recent favorites to share with you while the flowers are still thriving among the twigs.平如美棠 Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China
We live in an era when people question the very meaning of relationships, marriage, or even love. With the rise of digital dating platforms, never in human history has it been so easy to find someone to satiate our basic desires for different levels of intimacy, and yet it seems that finding the one is becoming increasingly harder. Why not give the dating apps a break, skip the pub crawl this week, and read how people in the 20th century used to date.
Our Story: A Memoir of Love and Life in China is not just a love story, but also a piece of Chinese history well preserved by author Rao Pingru who centers the memoir around his boundless love for his late wife. The book – half prose and half illustrations –allows the reader to get a taste of the lives of Chinese folk before warfare, political reformation, and modern technology forever changed life in China. It's also an exploration of how love between this couple was born from the words of their parents, then fermented and matured along their tour in southwest China during an age of turbulence, followed by a separation that lasted more than 20 years.
Despite Rao's tumultuous life, the story is not overly dramatic. And yet, each moment has the potential to make the reader chuckle and sob in turn. The Chinese title 平如美棠 píng rú měi táng is the combination of the author's name and his wife's name, but can also be translated literally as “As simple as a beautiful Chinese crabapple.” People tend to use roses to represent love, but the reality is that it can be as plain as a Chinese crabapple – little red buds decorating the branches of a young tree, like the memories we cherish decorating our lives.
You can find the English version, translated by Nancy Harman, on Amazon.
中轴线 The Central Axis of Beijing
As the capital of a few former dynasties and modern-day China, the cityscape of Beijing has been reformed and overhauled countless times. But no matter who sat on the throne, 中轴线 zhōng zhóuxiàn the central Axis, the spine of this historic city, always plays an important role, not only in the city's construction plan but also in its spiritual arrangement, i.e. it's fengshui.
This illustrated guide to the axis, written and designed by a group of local Beijingers who work in the city planning and architecture industry, vividly demonstrates the history and future of Beijing alongside its central axis with graphics, data visualizations, and stories. When you have the time, consider taking this book as your guide while walking along Beijing’s century-old 龙脉 lóngmài dragon spine.
The Central Axis of Beijing's presale page on Modian went live yesterday (Apr 7), with distribution beginning later this month. What's more, signed copies and other perks are available for early purchasers. And while there is, unfortunately, no English translation, its visual nature means that it can be enjoyed even without HSK 6 certification.
Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem
If you read our blog on the role Chinese immigrants have played in the history of reggae music, then you're already privy to the impact of the Chinese population in the Caribbean. If you'd like to dig a bit deeper into this largely untold history, Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem by Paula Williams Madison is an excellent place to start.
Paula Madison, a Jamaican-American who worked as the Vice President for NBC, only discovered Hakka heritage a few years ago, but to figure out what has happened before she was born and to look for her grandfather’s family roots back in China, she headed on a journey east where she encountered a community of Chinese-Jamaicans on the American continent. From there, she attempts to track down her Chinese family, but even if she can find them, will they accept her?
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Images Courtesy of corresponding authors and publishers, Amazon, Ms. Chin Productions
