Reading Chinese Books

After visiting the main library of UP Diliman (for supplementary research on my thesis), I came across a shelf that had a pile of interesting Chinese books that talk about the Chinese culture and language. I looked over the books and I was delighted at the various subjects concerning China. There were books on the language, the politics and culture. There were three books that caught my interest.

The first book is "Twenty Lectures on Chinese Culture (An Intermediary Chinese Textbook)" written by Parker Po-Fei Huang, Richard I. Feng Chang, Howard Chao, Linda Hsia and Yen-Chan Wang (see the illustration). Originally published in 1967, this book is a collection of lectures about China, written by Mainland Chinese lecturers. An excellent book for intermediate learners of the language since the lectures have a combination of simple and more advance grammar and vocabulary. The text is in traditional Chinese characters, which shows that China just recently adopted the simplified character system. The lectures are pro-China and puts Taiwan in the role of a provincial domain of the motherland.

The second book is "Proscribed Chinese Writing" which is compiled and edited by Robert Tung. Originally published in 1976, it consists of eighteen essays and stories about China during the 50s to 70s. This book proves that despite the strict censorship of the communist government, Chinese literature continued to grow and evolve. The book contains various essays written by pro and anti government writers. Aside from its socio-politcal commentary, the book provides good educational material for those intermediate scholars of the Chinese language who want to have some exposure on the literary works of China.

There was another book that I wanted to borrow, yet I felt I wasn't ready to read it (considering the fact that I had just photocopied the first two books I mentioned). The third book talks about Archaic Chinese Characters, and how early Chinese aristocrats and scholars use a more formal and eloquent characters to express their ideas, as compared to the "bai-hua" or common tongue of the people.

Looking over these books remind me of the Chinese textbooks I used to read during high school and grade school. I never thought I would go back to learning Chinese and remaster the language. I guess it is never late to rediscover my cultural roots.