Patrick McAloon - Studying in China: A Practical Handbook for Students

Appendix A

Measurement Conversion

Celsius Fahrenheit
(C x 9/5) + 32 = F
(F 32) x 5/9 = C
Freezing 32 F = 0 C
Boiling 212 F = 100 C
A pleasant 75 F = 23.8 C

A hot 40 C = 104 F (Chinese law says that companies must let their workers off if the temperature gets above 40 C, so official urban weather reports rarely exceed 40, while private thermometers may have higher readings)

Appendix B

Reference Books

Background

China: A New History, Second Enlarged Edition , by John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman

China Airborne , by James Fallows

Another book by a former China-based journalist, this one looks at modernizing China by analyzing the frenzied growth of the air travel network in China.

China in Ten Words , by Yu Hua, translated by Allan Barr

One of the few books in this list written by an actual Chinese person, a concise look at contemporary Chinese culture.

China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know , by Jeffrey Wasserstrom

Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China , by John Pomfret

Pomfret wrote about China for the Washington Post, and this well-written book describes where his Chinese classmates at Nanjing University in the early 1980s are now.

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China , by Leslie Chang

Lao Tzu: Te-Tao Ching A New Translation Based on the Recently Discovered Ma-wang-tui Texts , by Lao Tzu, translation and commentary by Robert G. Henricks

Though Daoism is not experienced on a daily basis quite like Confucianism is, it runs deep in Chinese thought.

Mencius (Translations from the Asian Classics) , by Mencius, translated by Irene Bloom

These are the writings that comprise the basis of Confucianism, the prescriptions for daily life that have informed over two thousand years of Chinese civilization.

On China , by Henry Kissinger

Kissinger had access to levels of Chinese power that few others in the U.S. did, and was present for the reestablishment of U.S.-China relations. However, this book is not without its critics. Take it as one perspective on China from the outside.

Pretty Woman Spitting, An Americans Travels in China , by Leanna Adams

This book describes an American womans experience teaching English in a tier-three Chinese city, a place where few tourists go and yet represents the experience of many city-dwelling Chinese.

Selected Stories of Lu Hsun , by Lu Xun, translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang

Lu Xun is one of the greatest modern Chinese authors, and he is often felt to have expressed the tensions created by Chinas breaking from its thousands of years of tradition.

Story of the Stone (or, The Dream of the Red Chamber), by Cao Xueqin, translated by David Hawkes

This novel is one of the great novels of late imperial China. Following the lives of a declining aristocratic family, it is as popularly known in China as Gone With the Wind is in the U.S., and is referred to often.

The Analects , attributed to Confucius, as translated by Arthur Waley, D.C. Lau, or James Legge

The Chinese Century: The Rising Chinese Economy and Its Impact on the Global Economy, the Balance of Power, and Your Job , by Oded Shenkar

The Good Earth , by Pearl S. Buck

A classic novel about the experience of the Chinese peasant in pre-WWII China, written by an American woman who was born and grew up there.

The Living Tree: The Changing Meaning of Being Chinese Today , by Tu Wei-ming

A well-informed self-reflection on Chinese identity by overseas Chinese scholars, written shortly after the Tiananmen incident.

The Search for Modern China , by Jonathan Spence

An excellent survey of Chinese history and culture.

Understanding China: A Guide to Chinas Economy, History, and Political Culture , by John Bryan Starr

Every book by Peter Hessler

Hessler first went to China to teach English in a little-known (outside of China) part of Sichuan. His writing is excellent and balanced.

Travel and Travelogues

China Road , by Rob Gifford

This great read describes the former NPR China correspondents trips on National Road 312, from Shanghai to Urumqi, artfully combining stories about the people he met with the highlights of what you need to know about Chinese culture to begin to understand it as it is today.

China Survival Guide: How To Avoid Travel Troubles and Mortifying Mishaps , 3rd Revised Edition , by Larry and Qin Herzberg

Any of the Lonely Planet , Fodors, Frommers, or Rough Guides guidebooks on China and places in China.

News From Tartary: A Journey from Peking to Kashmir , by Peter Fleming

Written by the brother of Ian Fleming of James Bond fame, this is Peter Flemings account of his trip to western China in 1935.

Riding the Iron Rooster , by Paul Theroux

Theroux is a well-known travel rider, and this year-long trek through China in the late 1980s, largely by rail, is still a popular read.

Phrasebooks

Essential Mandarin Chinese Phrase Book . by Philip Yungkin Lee.

Instant Chinese, How to Express 1,000 Different Ideas With Just 100 Key Words and Phrases! by Boy Lafayette De Mente.

Mandarin Phrasebook , (Lonely Planet) by Charles Qin and Justin Rudelson

Survival Chinese: How to Communicate without Fuss or FearInstantly!, by Boy Lafayette De Mente.

The Rough Guide Mandarin Chinese Phrasebook

Appendix C

Popular Chinese Movies

These are movies that were popular in China and are important parts of popular culture:

A Better Tomorrow is a good representative of John Woos Hong Kong action movies starring the Chinese megastar Chow Yun-fat. The movie, as is common for Chinese movies, has a complicated plot in which characters are unaware of other characters true identities or intentions, and in the end, fate steps in.

A Journey West , a comedy version of the classic Chinese story Journey to the West , starring the Hong Kong comedian Stephen Chou. This movie is very popular among younger Chinese people.

Big Shots Funeral , a comedy by one of Chinas other famous directors, Feng Xiaogang, starring Ge You with Donald Sutherland. This is a New Year Movie, a comedy produced to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

God of Gamblers is another Stephen Chou comedy, about a gambler who suffers a brain injury but can continue to gamble for his friends.

Hero , an exciting Zhang Yimou movie about relative merits of independent states and a unified China.

If You Are the One is another Feng Xiaogang comedy starring the mega-star Ge You. Ge You plays a man who returns to China after years abroad, and, having become wealthy, seeks a wife.