Dave Ross

All posts tagged with china

4 posts found

In Xanadu

A travel adventure to commemorate Marco Polo’s journey along the Silk Road, Scottish historian (Cambridge student at the time he took this journey), William Dalrymple, uses older historic narratives and maps to help guide him and fellow travelers from the Holy Land to Xanadu (Shan-tu, just north of Beijing). Dalrymple's more recent book, The Golden Road posits that Indian ships were a more economical and vital trade route than the better known (and slower) land route of the Silk Road....

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The Three Body Problem

Chinese author Liu Cixin wrote The Three-Body Problem , which was published in 2008. It is the first book in the “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy. The story weaves together elements of physics, politics, and human nature, taking readers on a journey that spans both time and space. The novel begins during the Cultural Revolution in China, where a young astrophysicist named Ye Wenjie witnesses her father’s death at the hands of Red Guards. This traumatic event sets the stage...

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Life and Death are Wearing Me Out

Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out is a novel by Mo Yan published in 2006. The story spans several decades of Chinese history, following the protagonist, Ximen Nao, through his various lives and reincarnations. The novel begins during the land reforms of the 1950s, where Ximen Nao, a wealthy landowner, is executed. However, instead of moving on to the afterlife, Ximen Nao is reincarnated as different animals over several decades. Each reincarnation takes place during a significant period in...

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Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee

Robert van Gulik wrote The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee , a collection of detective stories, and published them in 1949. van Gulik sets the stories in ancient China during the Tang Dynasty. The fictional character of Judge Dee may be based on a real person: Di Renjie. Di was known for his wisdom, intelligence, and strict adherence to the law. Robert van Gulik was in a Tokyo bookshop one day when he served as a diplomat from the Netherlands....

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