China A to Z: Everything You Need to Know to Understand Chinese Customs and Culture

by May-lee Chai, Winberg Chai

A practical and accessible guide to an ancient but rapidly changing culture

Perfect for business and armchair travelers alike, China A to Z explains the customs, culture, and etiquette essential for any trip or for anyone wanting to understand this complex country. In one hundred brief, reader-friendly chapters, alphabetized by subject, China A to Z introduces a general audience to contemporary Chinese society, as well as its venerable history.
? Why Chinese names are written in reverse order
? What to bring when visiting a Chinese household
? What the current relationship is between Japan and China
? Why you should wrap gifts in red or pink paper, and never send white flowers

With the 2008 Summer Olympics being held in Beijing, thousands of Chinese adoptions occurring each year, and China becoming the fourth most popular international destination, the need for information about this complex country is greater than ever.

Genres: China, Travel, Nonfiction, Reference, Asia, Cultural, History

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly what it announces itself to be – an A-Z guide to China, and I found it both engaging and informative. Inevitably the authors haven’t been able to cover their subjects in great depth, but as an overview it can’t be faulted, and in fact it covers each topic with admirable thoroughness and impartiality. An invaluable volume to take when travelling to the country, and a stepping-stone for further research. Excellent.
This is an updated 2014 edition

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many thanks to Penguin Group and Netgalley for the ARC.

This is an updated version, re-released in November of 2014. I can't compare this one to the original, since I didn't read it, but compared with many other introductory user-friendly travel guides about mainland China that I've read over the years, I'd rate this an 8 out of 10. The alphabetical setup makes for ease of reference (although when reading through cover-to-cover, as I did, this often proves rather jarring, since there's no transition between entries such as "Forbidden City"; "Gang of Four"; and "Gay and Lesbian Culture").

Especially amusing (and helpful!) are entries detailing how to repulse male advances/unwanted touching in public transportation, how to handle being served a food you detest, and how to order clothes from a tailor ("the process of ordering clothes is not always self-evident," hahahaha).

My personal favorite lines in the book relate to visiting a seaside resort ("visitors should not be startled by the presence of women in ski masks") and the authors' comments regarding the culinary habits of those in Guangdong province, in which after listing everything on offer, they state: "Guangdong also has exquisite food that doesn't scare the hell out of everyone else..."

It's not exhaustive, of course, but if you're planning to travel on the mainland any time soon and have little to no cultural experience with China, you could do a lot worse than this little gem.

[Johan D'Haenen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dit werk heeft me niet kunnen overtuigen, vooral omdat het gewoon niet weet welke kant het op wil gaan. De stempel van beide auteurs, vader en dochter, is er heel sterk op gedrukt. Enerzijds heeft het boek de allures van een toeristische informatiebrochure over hoe zich te gedragen in China, en anderzijds zijn er dan weer items die puur (recente) historische informatie geven die dan ook nog eens heel dikwijls politiek getint is. Die twee rijmen niet met elkaar.
De "toeristische" informatie heeft mij, die heel erg vertrouwd is met de Chinese cultuur, niets nieuw bijgebracht, vooral ook omdat ik er weinig voeling mee had, aangezien die info in eerste instantie gericht is op een Amerikaans publiek.
De "historische" informatie is soms nogal tendentieus en dermate inhoudelijk summier dat het bij gebrek aan diepgang meer weg heeft van weetjes.
Neen, de nogal pompeuze titel van het boek is zwaar overschat en dekt zeker de lading niet.

[Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of tidbits of useful information but somewhat dated now. For me this is a good starting place for learning about China, but it focuses a great deal on information for tourists, which isn't very helpful to someone who is just curious.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good straight forward guide with helpful tips.

[Dipa Sanatani · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice introduction to China... A good starting point if you're completely new to Chinese culture.

[Sonja Likness · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed from a colleague before my first trip to China. Very helpful!

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not too helpful for tourists.

[cc · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75

...China consumed 55 percent of the world's concrete and 36 percent of all steel produced in 2004. And there was more construction taking place in Beijing in 2005 alone than in the whole of Europe for the previous three years...

This is a nonfiction book about China organized into alphabetical order and therein lies my problem: You cannot concretely build an understanding of an entire culture in an A to Z format. What you end up doing is wasting pages with repetition. You cannot understand A, B, or C without a basic idea of different aspects of W, so W is explained in A, B, C, and W.

Ultimately, I just found myself reading the same things over and over in different chapters until I thought I was in some sort of nonfiction loop akin to Groundhog's Day. Which was so disappointing, because there was some genuinely fascinating information mixed in with the repetitive high school history teacher droning.

[Jonathan H · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my October core book I read, China A to Z by May-lee Chai and Winberg Chai, which covers many things about China. The book starts from things that begin with the letter A, such as animals and architecture, and ends with things that start with the letter Z, such as Zhong Guo (the Chinese name for China) and Ziyi Zhang (one of China’s most famous actresses). The author’s main goal/message is to tell the reader information and history about China. The author also includes many customs that one should know before visiting China and incidences one should be prepared for before going to China.

I think this book is very helpful if you plan on visiting China in the future. The book tells the reader how to react in many foreign situations. “Remove your shoes by doorway before entering the living quarters… Compliment your hosts’ living quarters. They will refuse the compliment, saying ‘Oh, no, this is really not very good.’ That’s simple politeness and the expected Chinese response. Whatever you do, don’t agree with them,” (254). There are many examples like these that will help prevent awkward or dangerous situations. There are also many historical elements in the book. There are chapters about different ethnicities in China, different Cities, political figures, wars, and cultural things such as music and art. The chapter on the Sino-Japanese Wars shined a light on a topic of WW2 that often is not covered in U.S. history classes. “An estimated 33 million Chinese died during the war with Japan. Japan was the aggressor, yet many of its textbooks and the museum at the Yasukuni Shrine refuse to acknowledge this fact. The brutality of the Japanese occupation has only been vaguely acknowledged by Japan’s leaders.” There are many other facts and historical events covered in this book. This book helps the reader understand China’s golden ages, and the sad times of imperialism. There was also a chapter on different movies starring famous Chinese actors and actresses. After reading this chapter I watched one of these movies with my family and really enjoyed it. This book is very useful and I think anyone interested in Chinese history, culture, or wants to visit China should read this book. I also think it is important for people to read this book so that they can distinguish China’s distinct culture and have a better understanding about China and its people.

[Nessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sub-title of the book is "Everything You Need to Know to Understand Chinese Customs and Culture". In 292 pages?! Hahahahahahaha! Put the over ambitious subtitle aside before you start reading. The subtitle should be more like "A Few Valuable Nuggets of Information That Might Be Enough to Keep You From Making An Utter Fool of Yourself If You Are Traveling to China". This is really just the basics, a good way to set goals for further reading and study. I appreciated the frank presentation of topics such as gay and lesbian culture, and Tibet. I really liked the number of films mentioned in the text. I have added several to my viewing list. I wish there had been similar mentions for novels, plays or music. It would have been nice to see more information about food or cooking. A book that would cover the claims of the subtitle would need to be as large as China it's self. This little volume is an earnest attempt to help the clueless Westerner. My fear is, that there is just enough info here to get a person into DEEP trouble.

[Lili · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review:

Everything you need to know about China? You are going to need a much bigger book for that task! I have a great love for Chinese culture, specifically the older stuff and art...ok and tea, but we all know I am obsessed with the leaf. So most the books I read are about China from a whole different perspective, reading about more modern things and travel aspects is pretty interesting. I do not think this is an end all travel guide or even general guide to China, I think it is a good starting point and a way to provide points to research further.

For all that it is not everything it says on the tin, it still was a good read! One good thing about kindle reading is I can just highlight things of interest and immediately look them up, usually because I want to see pictures and other than a map, this book was lacking in pictures. I learned some new things, especially with regards to modern China, which is exactly what I was hoping for with this book.

[CL · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC received from: Netgalley

Rating: 4*

Review: Although I like to think I know a bit about Chinese customs, this book opened my eyes to a lot of things and it was very interesting with short, easy-to-digest chapters.

This book is definitely aimed at Americans (as opposed to just a person form any nationality who wants to learn more about China). There were bits that inadvertently made me laugh e.g.:

Thus, if your children find themselves surrounded or swamped by smiling Chinese strangers, who may only want to take a picture or be friendly, your kids might just freak out. If this is the case, a little parental intervention can resolve an otherwise traumatic experience for all parties.

[Paul Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

As you might expect from the title, this book by May-lee Chai and Winberg Chai is intended to explain to the foreigner some of the facets of the most populous country in the world. It is by no means encyclopedic, as there are some topics that I thought should be touched on but were not. Still, there were plenty of useful explanations about things I’d wondered about, as well as topics that had never crossed my mind. In the end I felt as though I had definitely gotten to know the culture better, even if I wasn’t utterly convinced I’d want to go back there after several not-very-enjoyable trips.

[Jenna Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good primer on all things China. And it's literally an A to Z guide aimed at helping you understanding China in a nutshell. Alphabetically ordered, each 'chapterlet' is only about a page or so long. This makes for a quick easy to read book. And you don't necessarily have to read it from cover to cover. It reads like the cultural section of any guidebook and does actually manage to give some good overview without being boring. A bit outdated in places but mostly pertinent, even 4 years after it was published.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are snippets that are nifty, but much of this seems to be specifically for travelers going to Beijing for the Olympics. Which I'm not, or rather, I didn't. Not terribly in-depth, but on the other hand there've been at least six tags that I plan to research further- most especially the ethnic Moso people, known in historical writings as the Country of Women. See? I wasn't even looking for opponents of patriarchy yet still they find me....

[Dina Reynoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful, informative and entertaining read. The information on China is presented in short 1-2 page chapters on a variety of topics such as family, one child policy, the Cultural Revoluion, shopping, etc. I was also fortunate enough to be reading this book as I was traveling through China this summer. If you are at all interested in China but don't want to have to take on a dense, dry history book I highly recommend this book.

[Lisa Findley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written explicitly for American tourists on short trips to China (with a little for the businessperson as well), this book seems to hit the mark. People seem upset about the subtitle, but that's the publisher's fault, not the authors. It's clearly not everything you need to know about one of the oldest civilizations in the world, but it will hopefully get you well enough acquainted to avoid being an Ugly American when you visit. Or at least, I'm hoping that's what it'll do for me.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable book with short chapters on the culture, history, social mores, politics, etiquette, pop culture, etc. of China. Authors are first and second generation Chinese Americans and write from first-hand experience. Highly recommended for the armchair traveler and (I'm hoping) for anyone planning to visit China--I will let you know if the information holds water after I return.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished reading this while on a cruise in China! While there was some good information in this book, I found that it was more focused on advice for creating business relationships in China. Still not bad for the tourist if you want some background and history, but don't want to be overwhelmed.

[Meg Gross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my word. Recommended to me by a friend and if you've ever gone to China, this is a MUST read. It's full of interesting information and made me laugh quite a few times at the things the author experienced. I read it last time I went to China while I was there and it was a little too surreal.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the helpful pronunciations. It was kind of weird reading one chapter talk about something and then the next just repeated it almost word for word.

Oh well there were two people writing it.

If I ever do go visit I will reread this book or buy it and take it with me.

[Will Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful array of information ranging from historical & spiritual traditions to political & socioeconomic analyses both in modern times & in the past. This book is a highly useful guidebook to China's vast culture with a good deal of linguistic information as well

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great info on the customs of china

[Meghan]

Curious to see if this would be useful for my husband's workplace.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very short book, especially considering the title boasts that it includes "everything you need to know about Chinese culture." However, what information was included was of good quality.

[Mina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regardless of the overreaching subtitle, a good book for beginners, easy to browse because of the dictionary structure and pleasant in writing style.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple but enjoyable. Exactly what I was looking for. A basic cultural guidebook. As if a lonely planet guide was written just for culture.

[Aj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical guide that really helped my transfer to Beijing.