A Thousand Pieces of Gold: Growing Up Through China's Proverbs
3.5/5
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About this ebook
In this poignant memoir the New York Times bestselling author of Falling Leaves, Adeline Yen Mah, provides a fascinating window into the history and cultural soul of China. Combining personal reflections, rich historical insights, and proverbs handed down to her by her grandfather, Yen Mah shares the wealth of Chinese civilization with Western readers. Exploring the history behind the proverbs, she delves into the lives of the first and second emperors and the two rebel warriors who changed the course of Chinese life, adding stories from her own life to beautifully illustrate their relevance and influence today.
Adeline Yen Mah
Adeline Yen Mah was born in Shanghai, and then lived in Hong Kong. She went to university in London where she graduated as a physician. She now lives in California and London with her husband, Robert A Mah, and their two children.
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Reviews for A Thousand Pieces of Gold
33 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The author of 'Falling Leaves', the autobiography of a young woman growing up in China, interleaves her own story (much distilled) with that of the foundation of the Ch'in and Han Empires. It is an unlikely juxtaposition, but comes together as she relates the mixture of loving and poisonous relations within her own family (before and after the publication of 'Falling Leaves') to the stories of loyalty and betrayal in ancient Chinese history. using Chinese proverbs to illustrate both themes. The attention to detail is impressive, but the effort it calls upon from the reader is unrelenting - holding together in your head the family connections and threads of loyalty and obligation in a cast of hundreds. It would have been much less punishing if a break, and a summary and recap had been introduced half way through to allow the reader to put it down and pick it up again at least once on the way through. As it is it the reader might get some relief by pausing at each chapter and reviewing the names and events from each in Wikipedia, putting faces to names, and place-names on the map as it were. And it probably would be best to have 'Falling Leaves' under your belt before tackling this, although it's not essential. I didn't, but I had a point of reference in the childhood biographies of Han Suyin and many others. Highly recommended.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I got over half way through before giving up on this book. The long rambling chapters generally have little to do with the proverb they are supposed to be about. The author's favourite topics are her (admittedly horrific) family life as a child and how wonderful ancient China was. She generally does manage to get back to her chosen proverb at the end of the chapter, just in time for a bit of moralizing.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Another of the books by the author of Chinese Cinderella. I like this author so of course I recommend the book. You learn alot of history and proverbs in this one.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yen Ma explains proverbs learned during her life with elements of her life and experience.