China Books

Lord Bao has been a legendary hero in China for almost 1000 years. The fairness and wisdom he displayed in the numerous judicial cases he dealt with, as well as his honesty and incorruptibility, have made him a household name. Stories about Lord Bao were largely based on the life of Bao Zhen (999-1062), a native of Hefei in Luzhou Prefecture (present-day Anhui Province) in the Northern Song dynasty. After passing the civil service examination he held a series of government posts, including county magistrate, edict attendant of Shengtianzhang Pavilion, auxiliary academician of Longtu Pavilion, prefect of Luzhou, prefect of Kaifeng and duputy director of the Ministry of Rites. The eight stories included in this book are characterised by tightly-knit plots often leading to an unexpected final solution. The readers will be deeply impressed by Lord Bao's ingenuity in cracking complicated cases as well as his honesty and determination in upholding the law on behalf of the common people. (For this item please quote stock ID 8235) ISBN: 9787119018966

(For this item please quote stock ID 8734) ISBN: 9789620404245

The first book in this series, a collection of short stories The Feng Shui Detective, was praised for introducing a lively new cross-cultural partnership into crime fiction. C.F. Wong is a feng shui consultant, but his cases tend to involve more than interior decoration. He and his brash young intern, Joyce McQuinnie, travel around Asia solving crimes and trying comically to come to terms with each other's language and behaviour. This new novel is the second in the series, which has now been sold to six foreign countries. In Singapore, Mr Wong and other members of the Union of Industrial Mystics are introduced to a young woman who, all their mystical arts tell them, is doomed to die. Their desperate efforts to save her eventually lead C.F. Wong and Joyce to Sydney, where the book climaxes at the Opera House, a building with appalling feng shui. (For this item please quote stock ID 17420) ISBN: 9781876631345

Judge Dee has been appointed emergency governor of the plague- and drought-ridden Imperial City. As his guards help the city fend off a popular uprising, an aristocrat from one of the oldest families in China suffers an "accident" in a deserted mansion.
In The Willow Pattern, the illustrious judge uses his trademark expertise to unravel the mysteries of the nobleman, a shattered vase, and a dead bondmaid. Along the way he encounters a woman who fights with loaded sleeves, a nearly drowned courtesan, and an elaborate trap set for a murderer. Packed with suspense, violence, and romance, The Willow Pattern won?t disappoint Judge Dee?s legions of loyal fans.
About the Author
Robert van Gulik (1910?67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. His many works include sixteen Judge Dee mysteries, a study of the gibbon in China, and two books on the Chinese lute. (For this item please quote stock ID 31289) ISBN: 9780226848754

Judge Dee and his entourage, seeking refuge from a mountain storm, become trapped in a Taoist monastery, where the Abbott Jade mysteriously dies after delivering an ecstatic sermon. The monks call it a supernatural experience, but the judge calls it murder. Recalling the allegedly accidental deaths of three young women in the same monastery, Judge Dee seeks clues in the eyes of a cat to solve cases of impersonation and murder. A painting by one of the victims reveals the truth about the killings, propelling the judge on a quest for justice and revenge.
About the Author
Robert van Gulik (1910?67) was a Dutch diplomat and an authority on Chinese history and culture. His many works include sixteen Judge Dee mysteries, a study of the gibbon in China, and two books on the Chinese lute. (For this item please quote stock ID 31290) ISBN: 9780226848792

'Paper Swordsmen is by far the best treatment in a Western language of a long-neglected topic in Chinese popular culture. Primal notions of bravery, health, cultivation, skill, justice, loyalty, and romantic love are at the core of martial arts fiction. In the modern context of Jin Yong's Hong Kong, issues of foreign incursion, cultural rootedness, nationalism, and a sometimes-flawed 'national character' also come to the fore. Hamm weaves these strands together and sets them perceptively into their Hong Kong/Guangdong context as well as the larger Chinese cultural world' - Perry Link, Princeton University 'Hamm's book is comprehensive and meticulous, touching on a wide range of issues, from generic studies to the question of canon, from readers' responses to media marketing tactics, and from national allegory to political manoeuvering. He asks intelligent questions and answers them from theoretically stimulating perspectives' - David Der-wei Wang, Harvard University The martial arts novel is one of the most distinctive and widely-read forms of modern Chinese fiction. In Paper Swordsmen, John Christopher Hamm offers the first in-depth English-language study of this fascinating and influential genre, focusing on the work of its undisputed 20th century master, Jin Yong. Through close readings of Jin Yong's recognised masterpieces, Hamm shows how these works combine a rich literary tradition with an extraordinary narrative artistry and an evolving appreciation of the political and cultural aspects of contemporary Chinese experience. (For this item please quote stock ID 25166) ISBN: 9780824828950

Cao Naiqian is a writer of rare power whose austere lyricism and superb craft have earned him worldwide acclaim. In this powerful and unforgettable book, the author's affection for vivid personalities and unflinching realism comes through in a stark portrait of adultery, bestiality, incest, and vice in rural China. Set near the border of Inner Mongolia, among a cluster of cave dwellings in Shanxi province, these intense vignettes describe the base desires and dark longings of a life lived in virtual isolation. With its economy of expression, flashes of humour, and emphasis on understatement rare in Chinese fiction, There's Nothing I Can Do When I Think of You Late at Night lyrically evokes the struggle of those who barely, if ever, escape necessity.

The Wen Clan Caves are based on a village where Cao Naiqian lived during the Cultural Revolution. The land is hard and unforgiving and the people live in poverty and ignorance. Through the individual perspectives of the Wen Clan denizens, a comprehensive view of village life takes shape.

ark yet lyrical, Cao's interlocking stories range from pastoral tales of childhood innocence to shocking horror, echoing William Faulkner's Go Down, Moses and Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. Yet the author's depictions of elemental passions and use of regional dialect make the book entirely his own. Marking a major expansion in the themes of Chinese fiction, There's Nothing I Can Do When I Think of You Late at Night introduces a truly original literary force.

"Cao examines the often barbaric side of human nature in the face of stark poverty and extreme necessity."
- Publishers Weekly April 13, 2009

(For this item please quote stock ID 32128) ISBN: 9780231148108

From the author of The Big Mango comes a rascally, take-no-prisoners thriller of the international money trade, chock-full of unforgettable people and places. Welcome to Bangkok - half Miami, half Beirut, and all Blade Runner country after midnight. Jack Shepherd used to be a big-time lawyer in Washington D.C., an expert on global money laundering, but now he?s settled comfortably into teaching business law at a Bangkok university. His biggest worry these days is whether his Italian-artist girlfriend will marry him if he works up the nerve to ask. But when the once-obscure Asian Bank of Commerce collapses and Barry Gale, an old colleague, surfaces in the middle of the scandal, Jack?s sanctuary from the real world comes apart. Barry, it seems, was fronting for Russian mobsters when he turned the hapless bank into the private financial arm of crime syndicates, terrorists, and intelligence agencies. Now he?s got a problem. The ABC has been scammed, completely cleaned out, and Barry figures his new pals will think it was him. That?s why he needs a little favour. He wants Jack to find the missing millions and steal them back - before half of the world?s hard cases catch up with them both. (For this item please quote stock ID 16231) ISBN: 9789748303468

This story takes place in the Snowy Mountain, the coldest part of Manchuria, one Winter's morning in 1781. The Dragon Lodge party run into the Horse Spring Banditry who is there to unearth a buried casket. They are waylaid by the Peking Overland Convoy. All three parties have designs on the metal casket, supposedly housing a poniard, which was an heirloom of the Martial Brotherhood. A monk arrives on the scene and the invites the parties to the eyrie on the summit. The eyrie lord happens to be away summoning help to fight Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, who is scheduled to arrive on the summit at noon. While waiting, each one in the parties begins recounting incidents that took place some twenty years before. The excitement, intrigue and action in these incidents are well dramatized, with one event firmly intertwining with others in the past, developing into a vendetta involving the offspring of several families. The story ends with a fight between Fox, the hero of the story, and his sworn enemy, but the result of the fight is untold, left to the imagination and creative power of individual readers. (For this item please quote stock ID 14706) ISBN: 9789622017337

(For this item please quote stock ID 12623) ISBN: 9787506336246