225
Hobber, Dorothy and Thomas, The Chinese American Family Album, New York, Oxford University Press, 1994.
The idea of having actual Chinese Americans put down their own experiences and impressions in their own words is an admirable concept, and the photographs reproduced in this book are magnificent indeed. Unfortunately, the text is a disappointment. Readers are assured by the publicity blurb that the authors have written more than 50 books, but it is clear that they are brand new to the field of the Chinese in America. The book is so full of inexactitudes that one reader, at least, could not venture beyond the first page without losing his self-control. Aside from attributing the cause for the practice of drowning female infants to the fighting between Punti and Hakka, the spelling of such words as litchée (page 10) and gooma and mut jay (page 14) boggles the mind and renders their meanings incomprehensible. There are also outright factual errors, such as noting Yang Chen-ning, the Nobel laureate physicist as Wang Chen-ning (page 107). There is no need to add that it was completely beyond the author's store of information to include the information that Dr. Yang's father also received his doctorate from the University of Chicago. Hopefully the publisher will ask someone knowledgeable to wield a blue pen before reprinting this otherwise worthwhile volume.
Kleiner, Robert, Chinese Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1994.
The author introduces the genre of snuff bottles of Qing dynasty China to the readers in this volume of the Oxford Images of Asia series. He discusses the nature of the materials of the snuff bottles as well as the craftsmanship of painters who decorated the insides of the bottles. Himself a collector, Kleiner writes with enthusiasm which readers may find infectious. There are, however, some unfortunate errors which could have been avoided had the editing been accomplished with a little more care. Romanization presented a problem for Kleiner and the editor, while traditional systems of transliterating Chinese characters were totally ignored. It is understandable when Chinese characters are omitted to save production cost, but this book was printed in bi-lingual Hong Kong. Still, this inattention would have been easier to forgive had the photographs of the snuff bottles' reign-marks been placed right side up.
225
Hobber, Dorothy and Thomas, The Chinese American Family Album, New York, Oxford University Press, 1994.
The idea of having actual Chinese Americans put down their own experiences and impressions in their own words is an admirable concept, and the photographs reproduced in this book are magnificent indeed. Unfortunately, the text is a disappointment Readers are assured by the publicity blurb that the authors have written more than 50 books, but it is clear that they are brand new to the field of the Chinese in America. The book is so full of inexactitudes that one reader, at least, could not venture beyond the first page without losing his self-control. Aside from attributing the cause for the practice of drowning female infants to the fighting. between Punti and hakka, the spelling of such words as litchée (page 10) and gooma and mut jay (page 14) boggles the mind and renders then meanings incomprehensive. There are also outright factual crrois, such as noting Yang Chen-ning, the Nobel laureate physicist as Wang Chen-ning. (page 107) There is no need to add that it was completely beyond the autho's store of information to include the information that Dr. Yang's father also received his doctorate from the University of Chicago. Hopefully the publisher will ask someone knowledgeable to wield a blue pen before reprinting this otherwise worthwhile volume
Kleiner, Robert, Chinese Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1994.
The author introduces the genre of snuff bottles of Qing dynasty China to the readers in this volume of the Oxford Images of Asia series. He discusses the nature of the materials of the snuff bottles as well as the craftsmanship of painters who decorated the insides of the bottles. Himself a collector, Kleiner writes with enthusiasm which readers may find infectious There are, however, some unfortunate errors which could have been avoided had the editing been accomplished with a little but more care. Romanization presented a problem for Kleiner and the editor, while traditional systems of translitering Chinese characters were totally ignored. It is understandable when Chinese characters are omitted to save production cost, but this book was printed in bi-lingual Hong Kong. Still, this inattention would have been easier to forgive had the photographs of the snuff bottles reign-marks been placed right side
up.
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