I’ve never been to Asia before so I am expecting this trip to a culture shock. I’ll be staying in a homestay for most of my two months in Beijing and so I especially feel the need to expose myself to Chinese culture before taking off.
Over this past year, I have made a real effort to learn about China. I have been taking Chinese language classes for the past year with Tai Lao Shi (the world’s best Chinese teacher), last semester I took a survey course on Chinese history (from the ancient Shang to Mao Zedong in one semester), I’ve been watching Chinese movies and listening to Chinese songs (most notably Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Tong Hua by Guang Liang) and I had a “Chinese language exchange partner” for a brief period who was actually just a businessman downtown who wanted help with English in exchange for Chinese help. As my friend Jeremy put it, it seems like I’ve come down with a case of "Yellow Fever".
Here are some of the books and movies that I plan to read/see this summer to help prepare me for my trip, if you have any more suggestions, please add them as comments:
The Geography of Thought by Richard Nisbett
China: Fragile Superpower by Susan L. Shirk
Man's Fate by André Malraux
Seven Years in Tibet
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
A Great Wall
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
There's one book you MUST MUST MUST read before all others: "River Town" by Peter Hessler. Especially if you're teaching English. It's an absolute classic, fairly recent.
Geography of Thought is good but might give you preconceived notions about Asian mentality...could be better to experience first, analyze via books second.
Post a Comment