High - A Journey Across the Himalaya through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China (Erika Fatland, 2023)

 (570 pages)

Author took a journey through the areas mentioned in the title; it was divided into two segments, each lasting months.

I like travel books - they give a feel for geography and history told against a story line of things the traveler is encountering, difficulties along the way, etc.

These areas are generally unfamiliar to me. As she moves east, even less familiar.  Lots of visits to Buddhist temples (after starting more with Hindu-Muslim mix, mostly Hindu, then Hindu-Buddhist mix).

Discussions of India-China borderlands are interesting, also India-Pakistan - fraught areas, as is well-known. Kashmir.

Discussions of Chinese control in these areas - after some intermittent resistance, now it's mostly well-controlled.  Social media monitored more closely than in modern-day Great Britain! In the short "acknowledgements" section at the end of the book the author mentions the risks that folks took in speaking with her, including on dangerous topics; she obscured their names and locations in the telling. This atmosphere won't be changing anytime soon.

Lots of Chinese tourists in various areas - as the country has gotten wealthier, they are on the move.

Some of the areas are incredibly obscure.  Shamans with lots of power.  Menstruating women sent off to a hut for days; poor conditions, unhealthy to the point of causing some deaths.  Changing, but many still stuck with this.

Dealing with altitude. She visits Mt. Everest base camp, an interesting perspective from a person not attempting the summit.

Pretty amazing to imagine throughout; I don't foresee visiting any of these places; so it's nice to at least get an armchair experience.

Hawaii (James Michener, 1959)

(1095 pages)

This is recommended as useful background for Hawaii visitors - which we plan to be - so I thought I'd give it a shot.  Long (but quick reading); often interesting; in the end not that great - but I think quite helpful for its intended purposes. 

Michener starts with the formation of the islands - very late geologically.  Then arrival of folks from Bora Bora and Tahiti area - this is interesting to think about if speculative.  Then arrival of missionaries - these folks had tremendous influence on the islands, generation after generation of their descendants pretty much ran things.  (The book is fiction, but I think somewhat tracks the trajectory here.). The transit of the missionaries around Cape Horn was quite the adventure.  Cramped quarters; most missionaries married just prior to embarking to brides they just met (missionaries required to be married).  This is in 1820s.

What I'll call native Hawaiians did not thrive - disease, policy, etc. 

Discussion of sugar plantations, arrival of pineapples, arrival of other plants.  Figuring out irrigation. As labor is required - folks are brought in from China (this story centered on the Kee family).  Intended to be temporary workers that would return to China, but most ended up staying.  Founding of Molokai leper colony and arrival of Peter Damian. Later - arrivals from Japan, pretty much the same story (this part centered on Sagakawa family).  Some rise through the system despite intense prejudice.  Being good at (American) football helped.

Pearl Harbor.  Formation of a US army unit of Japanese soldiers - mostly from Hawaii - they end up in intense fighting near Cassino - very much the same time frame as Irvin Bormann, the Japanese unit has the misfortune of being assigned to cross the Rapido River.  Later they are unexpectedly tasked with rescuing the "Lost Battalion" in France - taking way more casualties than the number of folks rescued.

The discussion moves into 1940s and 1950s politics, labor unions, a descendant of Hawaiian royalty who works as a beach bum - this part not so interesting.

Imperial Twilight - The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age (Stephen Platt, 2018)

I liked this.  

Some overlap with recent book about Brits in India (some of the same folks, lots of trade, India is where the opium poppies were cultivated, etc.) Some of the same opportunism I associate with British adventurers in India.  Things not really planned, but aggressive action when the right excuse came along.

Opening section does a really nice job of bringing to life Macartney's initial trip to visit the Chinese emperor.  I've seen several renditions of this and enjoyed this author's the most.  Hard to imagine.  The "kowtow" kerfuffle, later used to justify aggression.

Explained the origins of the officially sanctioned trade in Canton; the factories; the fallback site in Portuguese Macao.

Chinese bureaucracy getting corrupted, with a few outstanding examples and then widespread problems.  Wasted lots of money putting down White Lotus rebellion (1790s or so).  This is not directly affecting Canton except the corruption issues spread in that direction as well.

A couple missionaries show up (Manning, Morrison); they are more aggressive about exploring China (one of them even went in via Tibet); this helps spark interest back in Britain.  Manning connected to Charles Lamb, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (always these small world stories in Brit-world),  First European to see Lhasa in a couple centuries.

China navy badly outdated, can't even control local pirates.  Brits well aware.

Useful discussion of the growth of the opium trade. It wasn't legitimate, not all firms participated. Author doesn't exonerate China - corrupt officials, users are making a decision as well - but overwhelming driver is Brit aggression as profits started rolling in. Jardine and Matheson as infamously venal, also constantly calling for British navy to attack - ugh.

It's interesting to see how much opposition to the opium trade was raised on the home front.  This was happening shortly after Britain outlawed slavery, and some of the successful antislavery folks turned to attacking the opium trade.

China wavering on policy; some argue to legalize and tax opium (similar discussions as today); the emperor finally decides on an aggressive crackdown (under Li's leadership).  Which is making some headway, surprisingly enough, perhaps would have worked pretty well.  But Li gets crossways with the Brits.  The government back home never seems to have much time to focus on China - this was a very minor backwater as far as Brit Empire matters went - but finally they decide to take action.  Parliamentary vote was very close, the Opium War (here focusing on the First Opium War, 1839-1842) almost didn't happen.

But once started - it took awhile, but outcome never in doubt.  China humiliated; Brits insist on a long list of concessions. This became a bigger issue once Chinese nationalism became more of a thing in the early 20th century - no doubt still used as a rallying cry. With some justification, it was not a pretty chapter.

How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (Yuen Yuen Ang, 2022)

(Kindle)

Book club selection (via Rose; session held (via Zoom) June 12, 2022).

The problem of development.  I much like thinking about it but the challenges, the local difficulties.

calling China "capitalist"; yet all the interviews seem to be with government officials; the entire story is about government control; five levels etc; what relevance the long imperial history - bureaucrats, exams, top-down has been accepted forever - ?

Deng - a leader.  His "Southern Tour" revives lagging momentum.

Willingness to "let some get rich first" was a key.

And China has accomplished a lot.

more broadly:  societies that don't tolerate inequality also don't improve economically.  yet the "inequality" complaint makes people miserable.

TVEs (township and village enterprises) - (from corporate law perspective) who really owned/controlled?  neither state-owned or owned by private individuals - ? surrogate entrepreneurialism - ?  I didn't understand.

what relevance England, US, Holland?  emergence there centuries ago was not complicated by an overweening global economy

author's theme:  coevolution: harness weak instits to build markets; then emerging markets stimulate better instits; strong instits preserve markets.  at the beginning, settle for "good enough" governance (aid agencies shouldn't strictly insist on "democracy", however defined).

corruption

aid agencies killing local initiative, opportunity.  Is it permissible to compare to domestic welfare programs?

functioning administrative states left behind by colonizers (Singapore, India) - to what effect?

Nollywood an odd case

I liked the interview approach, the review of local records - an interesting dive into the situation in various Chinese locales.  Just not sure how far it takes us.

Forgotten Ally - China's World War II 1937-1945 (Rana Mitter, 2013)

I overlook just how long China was caught up in what became known as World War II - well into year five before Pearl Harbor was bombed.  Also hadn't appreciated that all this action was draining on Japan as well - some rationing was already underway there prior to Pearl Harbor.  Which helps make the Pearl Harbor gamble, and other adventures, somewhat more understandable from their perspective.

China - what a mess.  Chiang Kai Shek trying to lead a nationalist government starting in late 1920s (following Sun Yat-Sen) after the humiliations over the years (opium wars, Boxer Rebellion, foreign concessions, etc.).  But little national feeling; and insufficient centralized power.  Warlords still control territories.  CKS spends time in Soviet Union and comes away strongly anti-Communist.  But back home in China - Communists are making headway; but Nationalists are somewhat stronger.  Communist remnant forced in 1934 to undertake the now-mythologized "Long March" to isolation in the northwest.  Where Mao gained influence over the years.

Communists and Nationalists worried about Japan, but more worried about each other.

CKS blows up a dam to slow down the Japanese - with breathtaking disregard for the lives of his own people.  Nationalist forces arrogant; civilians starve while they commandeer.  All this ultimately benefits Mao.

Chinese military thoroughly unimpressive despite some modernization efforts.  After Pearl Harbor, US is interested in keeping China in the war as a distraction for Japan.  But no trust develops among the allies.  Gen. Stillwell (US Army) installed as chief of staff but mostly fights with CKS, not effective.  CKS's wife a force for propaganda in U.S. (as discussed, interestingly, in this book).  In the end, some Japanese forces were tied down.

Mao's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s did not come out of nowhere - already in the late '30s and early '40s he was demonizing non-peasants up in his northwest-China power base.  Main butchery to come.  Just one of several absolutely astonishing 20th century killing machines.

The Little Red Guard - A Family Memoir (Wenguang Huang, 2012)

The story starts in 1973 - Grandma decides she wants a traditional Chinese burial alongside her long-deceased husband.  China - under population pressure - doesn't permit this (cremation only).  Her son - who takes great pride in being "filial" in traditional way - is conflicted.  Wants to help his mother, but also has been a supporter (though eyes wide open) of the Communist regime.  Arranging a traditional burial could be done, but would be risky to his career as a Party member.

Story is written by the eldest grandson who - after his father decides to accommodate Grandma - ends up sleeping in the same room as the coffin for a few years.  Then moves on to foreign language school, eventually ends up in U.S. as a writer.

This was all pretty interesting, but I don't particularly recommend the book.  Useful lens on 20th-century China, starting with the travails of the 1940s - famine, Japanese incursion, revolution, etc.  Then the Mao era - with ridiculous, lethal policies abounding.  Political winds shift course as the leadership encourages cultural revolution, living in the countryside, anti-bourgeois, profit-seeking, then backs off, etc., over the course of the years.

We are somewhat aware of the mass starvation under Mao's agricultural "policies" but this book did tend to bring home the concept of hunger - the author's mother would go out to wheat fields after they were harvested and crawl around on hands and knees trying to find grains that had been missed.  These folks weren't in direct danger of starvation - but, wow.

The main story line rather dragged given that Grandma lived on for about 20 years after requesting the coffin, outliving her "filial" son; and the eldest grandson (author) was away when she died, so he missed out as well.

Quick read, useful insights, not that great.  China is really, really different than anything in my experience.

The Soong Dynasty (Sterling Seagrave, 1996)

Charlie Soong and children (married to Sun Yet Sen and Chiang kai Shek; T.V. Soong).  Not flattering to US policy, Chiang kai Shek.  Read at La Camarilla.

The Opium Wars (Hanes and Sanello)

Imperialism; mid 19^th century war, Britain in China (taking advantage). 

Tomorrow's Gold (Marc Faber)

Economist reviewing history, recommending commodities Asia.  Not very interesting.

Empire's End (John Keay)

Far East from colonialism to Hong Kong turnover to China.