500 words from Jeffrey Wasserstrom

500 words from...is a series of guest posts from authors writing about Asia, or published by Asia-based, or Asia-focused, publishing houses, in which they talk about their latest books. Here Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a California-based historian of modern China, discusses Eight Juxtapositions: China Through Imperfect Analogies. This uses eight experimental and imperfect analogies to challenge readers to think about China in new ways. The analogies touch on everybody from Pope Francis to Xi Jinping to Mark Twain, with stop-offs everywhere from Manchukuo, to Tiananmen Square, to the Berlin Wall, to the Sistine Chapel.

So: Over to Jeff…

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter and happy Easter reading from Asian Books Blog.

FORDEC by Chantal Jauvin

As announced in February, the winner of the Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar Year in the Year of the Ram / Goat, was The Boy with a Bamboo Heart, by Dr. Amporn Wathanavongs with Chantal Jauvin, published by Maverick House (Ireland). The book is an account of Dr. Amporn’s life.  He is today one of Thailand's most generous benefactors – but he didn’t have an easy start to life.

This week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here are links to its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, listings, translations, news items, and round ups:

Links to essays, interviews and news about books, reviews and translation 
The Ruined Elegance: Poems by Fiona Sze-Lorrain reviewed by Jennifer Wong
A Dutch Accountant in Korea: Hendrik Hamel’s Curious Adventures (Part III, conclusion) reviewed by John Butler
China’s Contested Internet by Guobin Yang (ed.) reviewed by Simone van Nieuwenhuizen

The Sunday Post

A rojak* of items that caught my eye this week…

Shakespeare and Asia by Michael Dobson

April 23^rd this year is Shakespeare’s 400th death anniversary, and throughout 2016 arts organisations in the UK are holding events to celebrate his life and works. Beyond the UK, the British Council has organised Shakespeare Lives, a global programme of events and activities which will reach Asia along with every other continent. Within Asia theatres, libraries and universities are also offering tributes. For example in January Beijing’s Star Theatre presented With Love, William Shakespeare, which reinterpreted favourites such as Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night's Dream in the context of modern China. Against this background, Asian Books Blog is delighted to re-post, from the blog of Oxford University Press, this overview of the on-going discussion between Shakespeare and Asia, by Michael Dobson.

This week in Asian Review of Books

See the Asian Review of Books for ever-interesting discussion. Here are links to its newest reviews, excerpts, letters, essays, listings, translations, news items, and round ups:

River of Ink by Paul MM Cooper reviewed by Tim Hannigan
Asian writers in the 2016 Man International Prize longlist and our reviews
A Dutch Accountant in Korea: Hendrik Hamel’s Curious Adventures (Part II) by John Butler
A Dutch Accountant in Korea: Hendrik Hamel’s Curious Adventures (Part I) by John Butler
The Great Soul of Siberia: In Search of the Elusive Siberian Tiger by Sooyong Park reviewed by Peter Gordon