Dream of the Red Chamber

April 28, 2010

The Dream of Red Chamber (also known as The Story of Stone) is generally considered one of four of China’s greatest classical novels. The novel has had several versions and translations and was made into a TV series in China. See Preview of TV series

From TV Series “Dream of the Red Chamber”

The author, Tsao Hsueh-chin (1715-1763) came from a powerful and wealthy family and lived a privileged life as a child in Nanjing. Later, he became poor and struggled to survive. Going from wealth to poverty provided him with the necessary experiences to write this tragic story.

Although this novel has great literary merit on many levels, there is difficulty keeping the characters straight—there are more than four hundred characters and almost thirty are major.  The plot, like most Chinese novels, meanders and doesn’t always flow in the same direction.

Book Cover

None-the-less, readers and students of Chinese history/culture should read this book to develop a better understanding of Imperial China during the Ch’ing Dynasty. The novel paints a vivid portrait of a corrupt feudal society on the verge of the capitalist, market economy we see flourishing in China today.

Another plot is the Romeo and Juliet love story between Chia Pao-yu and Lin Tai-yu, who—like Romeo and Juliet—wanted to be free to marry anyone they desired.

To learn more about China, see About Lin YuTang’s My Country and My People

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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4 Comments | China, Chinese arts and music, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, Chinese literature | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Understanding How to do China Business

April 27, 2010

There’s a reason my wife warned me to never do business in China; then she went and lost money doing business there herself—and she’s Chinese. However, being Chinese in China is the same as being American in America—there is no guarantee that anyone is going to be a success and fill buckets with money.

If you want to read the nightmare side of doing business the wrong way in China, see Showdown at Changsha by John Alley. “Western companies felt they had to be players in the China market, and dozens of the world’s largest corporations fell over themselves losing money in abortive China joint ventures.” Source: Asia Review of Books

Walmart in China

Google appears to have failed because they did not learn that doing business in other cultures means changing the way you think and present yourself. On the other hand, Bob Grant’s guest posts on iLook China are examples that there are success stories in China. Recent news shows that GM is making profits in China—more than in the US. McDonald’s announced recently they are opening hundreds more fast food outlets in China this year.

Anyone wanting to do business in China should consider going back to school. I checked one of America’s top universities, Stanford, and found a course taught by an expert. There’s even a Doing Business in China for Dummies book.

Learn more about Doing Business in China

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar. 

3 Comments | America, American culture, business, China, Chinese Culture, education | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

I Miss the Smell of China

April 27, 2010
Bob Grant

Originally Published at Speak Without Interruption on April 16, 2010 by Bob Grant — publisher/editor for Speak Without Interruption. Posted on iLook China, April 27, 2010 at 12:00 PM

 For various reasons, my business in China declined a little over two years ago, and I have not had occasion to visit there during that time period. A lot has happened—both within the U.S. and China—since my business went south.

I do miss China – its people – its culture – its smell. This might seem like an irrational statement since China is suppose to be one of the most polluted countries in the world, but it is not the smell of pollution that sticks in my memory.

Our China office was located in Guangdong Province, which is in the southern part of China near Hong Kong. Traveling around that province, I always remember the fresh scents of flowers, rain, trees, grass, and meals being prepared for daily consumption.

I tended to visit factories that were in outlying areas—their conference rooms, factories, reception rooms, and gardens all had a smell that I grew to welcome during each of my visits. As I made trips and visits to other parts of China, I felt they each had their own unique smells and aromas that I have not found any other place in the world that I have traveled.

I have written other posts regarding my feelings about the Chinese people—those have not changed.  I am not certain that I will ever have occasion to visit China again but the smells and memories of that country and its people will remain with me forever.

Follow this link to see more by Bob Grant “Transporting Goods by Road in China” http://wp.me/pN4pY-jf

Leave a Comment » | business, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese food, economy, food, tourism | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Lin Yutang Explains Christianity in China

April 27, 2010

“For most Chinese the end of life lies not in life after death, for the idea that we live in order to die, as taught by Christianity, is incomprehensible, nor in Nirvana, for that is too metaphysical, not in the satisfaction of accomplishment, for that is too vainglorious, nor yet in progress for progress’ sake, for that is meaningless. The true end, the Chinese have decided in a singularly clear manner, lies in the enjoyment of a simple life, especially the family life, and in harmonious social relationships.

“The Chinese are a nation of individualists. They are family-minded, not social-minded… It is curious that the word ‘society’ does not exist as an idea in Chinese thought. In the Confucian social and political philosophy we see a direct transition from family, ‘chia’, to the state, ‘kuo’, as successive stages of human organization …

Lin Yutang

“The Chinese, therefore, make rather poor Christian converts, and if they are to be converted they should all become Quakers, for that is the only sort of Christianity that the Chinese can understand. Christianity as a way of life can impress the Chinese, but Christian creeds and dogmas will be crushed, not by a superior Confucian logic but by ordinary Confucian common sense. Buddhism itself, when absorbed by the educated Chinese, became nothing but a system of mental hygiene, which is the essence of Sung philosophy.” Source: My Country and My People, Lin Yutang. Halcyon House, New York. 1938. Pgs 94; 101; 103; 172, and 108)

Learn about Superior versus Civilized

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar. 

1 Comment | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, politics, religion | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Beware “Promises” of Salvation

April 25, 2010

Here are a few excerpts from a review written by Joseph Khan on Falun Gong and the Future of China by David Ownby (291 pp. Oxford University Press) 

“…Like the Communist Party, Falun Gong shrouds its inner workings in secrecy and communicates through propaganda….” 

“…Since the emergence of the White Lotus Society in the 13th century, ordinary Chinese, particularly women and the poor, have found solace in sectarian movements whose features have remained consistent, Ownby argues. He calls the sects ‘redemptive societies’. They are organized around charismatic leaders who preach that salvation can be attained through cultivation of body and mind.

 “The republican (now in Taiwan) and Communist governments of the 20th century inherited this antireligious bias. Both permitted five religions — Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, Catholicism and Protestantism — provided that they submitted to strict state supervision….” 

“…Li (Hongzhi) founded Falun Gong…  He claimed that people who followed his cultivation formula acquired a ‘third eye’ that allowed them to peer into other dimensions and escape the molecular world….”

See “Wearing China’s Shoes” http://wp.me/pN4pY-1p

 

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, politics, religion | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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