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A Thousand Pieces of Gold
In this poignant memoir the New York Times bestselling author of Falling Leaves, Adeline Yen Mah, provides a fascinating window into the history and cultural soul of China. Combining personal reflections, rich historical insights, and proverbs handed down to her by her grandfather, Yen Mah shares the wealth of Chinese civilization with Western readers. Exploring the histor...more
ebook, 272 pages
Published
May 12th 2009
by HarperCollins e-books
(first published 2002)
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The story of a young girl who's father, although he calls her his treasure, ultimatly sells her when the family face famine in China in the 1870's. She ends up sold again, comes to America where she is enslaved until she is eventually lost (and ultimatly won) in a poker game. From her very grim beginnings, Lalu/Polly triumphs as an inspiring woman - a true heroine.
Adeline Yen Mah has become one of my favorite author. After reading her novel "Falling Leaves," I was fascinated by her storytelling and how she recalled her childhood experiences. In "A Thousands Pieces of Gold," Yen Mah provides the history and culture of China combined with her own personal experiences and the proverbs learned from her Ye-Ye(grandfather). In the book, she writes about the first and second emperors of China and as well as two warriors and constantly compared Mao Zhe-Dong with...more
This is an incredibly sweet and wonderful book. The author weaves her personal life into a collection of famous Chinese proverbs, at the same time taking the reader through the early history of China, including the coming to power of the First Emperor of China, and ending with the establishment of the Han Dynasty. Oh, and did I mention that the author relates the book to current events in history, and an evaluation of Mao Zse Tung? Breathtaking! And it's the kind of book that I love: history, bi...more
Adeline Yen Mah gives you ancient Chinese proverbs and then relates them to Chinese history,specifically the beginnings of the first two emperors of China and then the establishment of the Han Dynasty. She also does a little compare and contrast with the first emperor and Mao Tse-tung. She also adds stories of her own life to help illustrate their relevance to today. Worth reading just for the abbreviated biography of the author. She was born in China but most of her family left for Honk Kong du...more
A Memoir of China's past through it's Proverbs.
This book was written by Adeline Yen Mah. I have written a review on her first book Falling Leave.
When she was young, her Ye Ye (grand father) taught her and told her stories of China's history through proverbs. This book i think is her dedication to her Ye Ye.
With each proverb (for each chapter), tells us the stories of the rise of First Emperor (Qin) of China till the fall of his empire, in between she also wrote about her life and China during C...more
This book was written by Adeline Yen Mah. I have written a review on her first book Falling Leave.
When she was young, her Ye Ye (grand father) taught her and told her stories of China's history through proverbs. This book i think is her dedication to her Ye Ye.
With each proverb (for each chapter), tells us the stories of the rise of First Emperor (Qin) of China till the fall of his empire, in between she also wrote about her life and China during C...more
A friend was raving about this book and lent it to me. Initially, I was rather skeptical: after the success of "Wild Swan", there were tons of 'me-too' books wailing about the hardship of living under Communist China and how they got new lives overseas. One of which, I thought, was Adeline Yen Mah's Falling Leaves.
But I had to eat my words. This is a very good book: 1/3 autobiography, 1/3 chinese history, 1/3 proverb explanation. Weaving two parts (autobiography and chinese history, ancient and...more
But I had to eat my words. This is a very good book: 1/3 autobiography, 1/3 chinese history, 1/3 proverb explanation. Weaving two parts (autobiography and chinese history, ancient and...more
Having read Falling Leaves, I looked forward to reading another of Yen Mah's books. My disappointment in this book stems from a definite relationship to her first book. Undoubtedly, she had a harsh childhood and is a very bright woman. I won't take away from that, but I will look to enjoying anything she writes that tells me she has moved beyond that bizarre childhood and is relishing her successful life. She has way to much too offer to spend her days wallowing in something she cannot change.
Really enjoying the Chinese history behind the proverbs. The intermixing with her life parts were fine, but the proverbs and their historical origins were fascinating.
going to read this in preparation for visiting the british museum next month
it's a very good book indeed through proverb we learn the basic history of Chinal
i liked the concept .. but I got tired of all the gore of the ancient battles.
Enjoyed the proverbs and the history
As someone who is fascinated with Chinese history, I love this book that delves into the origins of Chinese proverbs. Many of the proverbs are based on actual historical events, while others reflect universal human values. Yen Mah has created a great resource. I found her writing a bit tedious though, and have to confess I didn't read this book completely through. I will keep it as a resource though, because it references important linguistic features of Chinese that one encounters often while s...more
this made me rethink chinese
Jan 09, 2012
JiaMin Luo
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
advisory-2011-2012
I expected more from this book. After finished reading Chinese Cinderella and Falling Leaves, I am obesessed with her autobiographies. So I decided to read this book, "A Thousand Piece of Gold". This book has a lot of Chinese phases and Chinese history. I do not recommend it to people who do not like history or Chinese culture. My favorite part of the book is when Adeline applied the chinese phases to his own life.
In this book Adeline Yen Mah does well to blend proverb etymology with her life story and Chinese history. At times though, the historical component lacks dimension (and perhaps could have been shortened). Still, a good read if you like proverbs.
This book gave me insight into the proverbs that the author gleaned from the writings of Sima Qian. Adeline Yen Mah's personal reflections with the history behind this provided a window into the Chinese mind. Reference, Chapter 3: Jing Xi Zi Zhi "Respect and cherish written word"
Ah yes, this is my favorite book by Adeline Yen Mah, I absolutely loved learning about ancient Chinese history and proverbs, it's like you're learning a whole new language! It's great! I highly recommend it!
If you have any interest in China or Chinese history, this is a great book for you. It's interesting, informative, and well written, but not heavy reading at all.
Biography of an unwanted Chinese girl. Adeline is a real fighter. You won't only read her story, you'll feel it. One of my favorite books.
I love anything this author writes. I enjoyed the history, culture and proverbs from this book.
Aug 27, 2007
Dima
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
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Adeline Yen Mah (Chinese: Yen Jun-ling; Pinyin: Mǎ Yán Jūnlíng; Yale (Cantonese): ma5 yim4 gwan1 ling4) (official birthday 30th November 1937, however real birthday not known, this is in fact her father's birthday) is a Chinese-American author and physician. She grew up in Tianjin, Shanghai and Hong Kong with an older sister, Lydia; three older brothers, Gregory, Edgar and James and a younger half...more
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