Le testimoni silenziose

China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation : questo il titolo originale che, pubblicato nel 2008, approda in Italia grazie a Longanesi. Declinato al femminile, quel Witness , genera in me un' ingenua aspettativa. Così credo di apprestarmi a leggere un’inchiesta di carattere sì storico ma anche socia Leggi tutto

A fascinating look at what the older generation feels and thinks about China, and the stories of their lives. This book makes a lot more sense if you've read a lot about China (I have) because much of what the author says and implies about certain events are easy to miss if you're not aware of Chines Leggi tutto

Xinran is one of the most authentic voices from China writing today. I snap up each of her books as soon as they come out. I picked this one up with high hopes, as it's about the 'silent generation' of Chinese who lived through the Revolution and the suffering afterward -- the whole gamut of natural Leggi tutto

Xinran is a gentle, non-pushy reporter, but her politeness gets the old folks to open up more than they would for their families. She is trying to record what the revolutionary generation really thinks, and what they are proud of. Mostly they are poor people, who've faced enormous hardships and abus Leggi tutto

I have had a fascination with China and Chinese history since I first visited the country in 2002, spending a couple of months as a volunteer in Shanghai, and falling enough in love with the country and its people to consider moving and living there for a longer period of time (a plan that sadly nev Leggi tutto

Any book on China describing the 'dark years' between the 1940s and 1990s is welcome especially if it avoids the rich, the powerful and the elite and deals instead with the lived experiance of common folk. Xinran has ferreted out people from a variety of fields across the face of China and discussed Leggi tutto

I sought to read this book out of a great interest over the modern history of China from the standpoint of ordinary people from all walks of life. I appreciate the author's effort to tour China to document true but publicly-unavailable stories, yet she has annoyed me in many occasions for interrupti Leggi tutto

Seria muito melhor se eu não tivesse lido o "As boas mulheres da China", que é muito mais conciso e focado. Esse livro tem algo de travelogue que não funciona tão bem no contexto.

This is a very good book that gives some excellent insights into both current China from the perspective of both the author who is in her middle years and now lives mostly in the UK and of the people that she interviews who are mostly people in their later years, most of whom were revolutionaries wh Leggi tutto

This is the book that got me interested in Chinese history. It consists of interviews with older Chinese in which they talk about their experiences of various stages of the People's Republic. Some of them are gruelling and sad, and what's even sadder is that the interviewees themselves have not shar Leggi tutto