Medieval travellers like Marco Polo created a romantic picture of a distant and exotic land while subsequent Jesuit and diplomatic missions sought to correct the more lurid depictions with first-hand accounts. In the mid-nineteenth century China was opened to travellers, collectors and writers of all sorts. Explorers were drawn to the Silk Road and its buried treasures. Writers like Andre Malraux and Vicki Baum found fame with books set in Peking and Shanghai, and Somerset Maugham with his enchanting vignettes. More recently Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn reported from China, as did W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, and the American journalist Edgar Snow. Frances Wood tracks the visits of Harold Acton, Osbert Sitwell, Noel Coward, George Bernard Shaw and Bertrand Russell, and the Chinese childhoods of Pearl Buck and J. G. Ballard. 'It was as if China made writers of them all', Wood observes, as she trawls a vast library of fiction, memoir and travelogue in this captivating and beautifully illustrated journey.

Lure of China

History

Frances Wood

Asia

Yale University Press, New Haven

Marco Polo's book "The Description of the World" is one of the classics of medieval literature, describing his epic journey to China and subsequent return to Italy. He has become a cultural icon bridging East and West, his name known by adults and children alike. This is a piece of historical detective work, marking the 700th anniversary of Polo's journey, and questions whether the explorer ever reached the country he so vividly described. Why, within his romantic and detailed account, is there no mention of such fundamental aspects of Chinese life as tea or foot-binding, or even the Great Wall? Did Polo really bring noodles and ice-cream back to Italy? And why is there no record of the Polo family in China itself?

Did Marco Polo Go to China?

Biographies & Memoirs

Secker Warburg

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WIDE RANGE OF ILLUSTRATED CHINESE BOOKS, FROM THE EARLIEST DAYS OF PRINTING TO RECENT EXAMPLES, IN THE COLLECTIONS OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY. DR. FRANCES WOOD IS SENIOR RESEARCH ASSISTANT, DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL MANUSCRIPTS AND PRINTED BOOKS, THE BRITISH LIBRARY.

Chinese illustration

The British Library Publishing Division

Oriental Gardens

Arts & Photography

Norah M. Titley

History & Criticism

New York : Longmans, Green, And Co.

THE SILK ROAD: TWO THOUSANDS YEARS IN THE HEART OF ASIA

The Silk Road: 2000 Years in the Heart of Asia by Frances Wood (2003-06-01)

The Folio Society

Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. A very good, clean and sound soft cover copy. The Silk Road: two thousand years in the heart of Asia. 270 p. : ill., maps ; 27 cm.. . First published: London : Folio Society, 2002. Maps on lining papers. Includes bibliographical references and index.. .

Silk Road

British Library

This guide provides information on history, religion and beliefs, art, craft and architecture for travellers to China. The main section is arranged by town and region with travel advice and suggestions of where to stay and eat. The introductory sections on history, religion and beliefs, art, craft and architecture, language and script provide essential background reading. The main section of the guide is arranged by town and region with detailed maps to help you find your way around.

China

Portfolio

Set in Shanghai in the late 1970s, this novel depicts the life of Sun Yue, a woman once branded a "rightist" and now confronted with the necessity of reconciling her political convictions as she strives to forget her failed marriage, raise her daughter alone, and renew her belief in love

Stones of the Wall

Dai, Houying

Literature & Fiction

Michael, Joseph

2006 DRA2: A Benchmark Assessment Book Level 38 -- Trouble at the Beaver Pond (P) Written by Frances and Dorothy Wood / Illustrated by Denny Bond ***ISBN-13: 9780765274304 ***11 Pages

Trouble At the Beaver Pond

Dorothy Wood

Celebration Press by Pearson Learning Group

In 2008, as Beijing hosts the Olympic Games, the world's attention is focused on China - yet the most populous nation on the planet is still something of a mystery for many. This comprehensive introduction to the country gives an unbiased and lively overview of China's people, its culture and recent history. In an illuminating account of the rise of modern China, The Britannica Guide shows how this former peasant economy has been transformed in the last three decades to achieve its present position as a super-power - and the future looks set to be even more impressive. China is a country with a continuous culture stretching back 4000 years. Much of what makes the modern world started there - from gunpowder and the compass to paper and credit banking. This guide reveals those roots and the development of other innovations. It explains the differences between the Long March, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and the Four Modernizations. It looks at the key personalities - Sun Yat Sen, Mao, Deng Xiaopeng and Jiang Zemin - who transformed China into a modern state with the world's fastest-growing economy. And it explores the diversity of culture in the contemporary nation, from calligraphy to cuisine, religion, the arts and sport. Drawing together the most up-to-date material, and presenting it in a clear, reader-friendly style, it is the perfect companion for travellers who wish to know the country beyond the tourist trail, students and business people who need an overview of the culture and society, and of course the general reader, who wants to understand China's remarkable legacy and potent future. The Britannica Guide series offers an essential introduction to many of the key issues of our times. Clear, accurate, and meticulously researched, the series gives both the background and analysis for when you need to know for sure what is really happening in the world, whether you are an expert, student or traveller.

The Britannica Guide to Modern China (Britannica Guides)

Robinson Publishing

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Books by Frances Wood