Ancient China

To know China, you really need to see it. I realize for most that is simply not possible (but if you ever get the chance, do go!). I also realize how incredibly blessed I am to have been 3 times now (for a total of 6 weeks in the country!) to this beautiful land, but I wanted to encourage you all to use Netflix if you have it to watch Wild China. I would advise you pre-view as some of it may not be suitable for all ages, but we allowed our older boys to watch.

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Wild_China/70205730?trkid=2361637

I am still pinching myself that we were able to take our whole family to China this past February to bring home our youngest child, our 2YO daughter. We visited Beijing (including the Great Wall and Tienneman Square), Chongqing in Sichuan (our two boys are from this province), Kunming in Yunnan (older daughter is from here), Guiyang in Guizhou province (baby girl is from here), and Guangzhou in Guangdong as well as an overnight in HK.

If I could say one thing about the beautiful people and land of China it is that the people are friendly and engaging and very, very curious. They are a very proud people whose history is vast and complex. I am admittedly biased, but I LOVE China–its beauty, history, and people! We are now a blended family which includes four beautiful Chinese-born children, so I could talk and reminisce about China all day long!

I agree Nebby that it is very hard to find living books about China. We have some that we bought for our older son while there in February, but they are written in Mandarin (and I don’t read or speak it). He does and I hope to learn it, but for now, I just can’t seem to grasp it. Our 10YO son is working on learning the language, and of course our 12YO, who lived in China until age 10, speaks and reads Mandarin quite fluently.

Well it has been awhile, but what I remember is that they do spend a good bit of time on the culture and that often involves the religious aspects of it. This is OK for our family, because our children are old enough to understand that people may not believe the same as we do. But for some families, they might not be comfortable getting deeply into this, and I do think the shows go into depth on this, showing ceremonial rites and such.

I don’t recall their being anything other than that and depending on each family, this is not bad just something to be aware of I think.

It is a very engaging series that is very educational, including informaiton about farming, native animals, history and the culture.

HTH

**PLEASE NOTE these books are NOT recommended for children younger than at least high school. Our oldest son is 13 (nearly 14) and he has not read them yet. I will be having him read them probably when we cycle back through Ancient times in our SCM history modules (about 3 years). I have no idea when I will give them to our next oldest son, 12, and adopted from China. For obvious reasons, some of them will be an even tougher read for him.**

These are of merit especially to me as I try to understand the background to why 4 of our children ended up becoming orphans, presumably abandoned by their families.

I would encourage anyone considering these books for a child of any age to read it yourself as they do deal with adult topics, but they are in my opinion worthy of consideration.

Red Scarf Girl, Ji-Li Jiang

Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah

The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck

Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother, Xinran

The Good Women of China, Xinran

Silent Tears, Kay Bratt

I hope this was not too far OT; just thought anyone reading might want to take note of these books for possible future reference.

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I wanted to mention as well that Youth with a Mission Publishing has a few books in their Christian Heroes series that are very appropriate for family reading and/or for children of 10 or so? Our 10YO has been reading them for a couple of years now.

These are all about missionary experiences in China:

Eric Liddell, Lottie Moon, Gladys Aylward, Hudson Taylor