
The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom
America and China, 1776 to the Present
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Narrated by:
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Tom Perkins
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By:
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John Pomfret
About this listen
Our relationship with China remains one of the most complex and rapidly evolving and is perhaps one of the most important to our nation's future. Here, John Pomfret, the author of the best-selling Chinese Lessons, takes us deep into these two countries' shared history and illuminates in vibrant, stunning detail every major event, relationship, and ongoing development that has affected diplomacy between these two booming, influential nations. We meet early American missionaries and chart their influence in China and follow a group of young Chinese students who enroll in American universities, eager to soak up Western traditions. We witness firsthand major and devastating events like the Boxer Rebellion and the rise of Mao. We examine both nations' involvement in world events such as World War I and II. Pomfret takes the myriad historical milestones of two of the world's most powerful nations and turns them into one fluid, fascinating story, leaving us with a nuanced understanding of where these two nations stand in relation to one another and the rest of the world.
©2016 John Pomfret (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
There is an ancient Chinese proverb that states, "Two tigers cannot share the same mountain." However, in East Asia, there are three tigers on that mountain: China, Japan, and Korea, and they have a long history of turmoil and tension with each other. In his latest entertaining and thought-provoking narrative travelogue, Michael Booth sets out to discover how deep, really, the enmity is between these three "tiger" nations and what prevents them from making peace.
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Not much new here if you are already familiar
- By Neil Richert on 07-13-20
By: Michael Booth
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I Ching
- The Book of Change
- By: David Hinton
- Narrated by: Tom Zingarelli
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In a radically new translation and interpretation of the I Ching, David Hinton strips this ancient Chinese masterwork of the usual apparatus and discovers a deeply poetic and philosophical text. Teasing out an elegant vision of the cosmos as ever-changing yet harmonious, Hinton reveals the seed from which Chinese philosophy, poetry, and painting grew. Although it was and is widely used for divination, the I Ching is also a book of poetic philosophy, deeply valued by artists and intellectuals.
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The introduction is the best part...
- By Metta Bhavana on 06-17-18
By: David Hinton
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Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
- By: Ezra F. Vogel
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 33 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Once described by Mao Zedong as a "needle inside a ball of cotton", Deng was the pragmatic yet disciplined driving force behind China's radical transformation in the late 20th century. He confronted the damage wrought by the Cultural Revolution, dissolved Mao's cult of personality, and loosened the policies that had stunted China's growth. Obsessed with modernization, Deng opened trade relations with the West, which lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. Yet he also answered to his authoritarian roots, most notably when he ordered the crackdown in 1989 at Tiananmen Square.
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Another butcher of the Chinese language
- By Jack Hanson on 09-19-21
By: Ezra F. Vogel
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On Politics
- A History of Political Thought: From Herodotus to the Present
- By: Alan Ryan
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 46 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Both a history and an examination of human thought and behavior spanning three thousand years, On Politics thrillingly traces the origins of political philosophy from the ancient Greeks to Machiavelli in Book I and from Hobbes to the present age in Book II. Whether examining Lord Acton's dictum that "absolute power corrupts absolutely" or explicating John Stuart Mill's contention that it is "better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied," Alan Ryan evokes the lives and minds of our greatest thinkers in a way that makes hearing about them a transcendent experience.
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Simply no book quite like this
- By Jack Raineri on 12-21-22
By: Alan Ryan
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American Colonies: The Settling of North America
- Penguin History of the United States, Book 1
- By: Alan Taylor
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 21 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first volume in the Penguin History of the United States series, edited by Eric Foner, Alan Taylor challenges the traditional story of colonial history by examining the many cultures that helped make America, from the native inhabitants from millennia past through the decades of Western colonization and conquest and across the entire continent, all the way to the Pacific coast.
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Excellent ..
- By aintbuyinit on 09-03-18
By: Alan Taylor
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The Horde
- How the Mongols Changed the World
- By: Marie Favereau
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Favereau takes us inside one of the most powerful sources of cross-border integration in world history. The Horde was the central node in the Eurasian commercial boom of the 13th and 14th centuries and was a conduit for exchanges across thousands of miles. Its unique political regime - a complex power-sharing arrangement among the khan and the nobility - rewarded skillful administrators and diplomats and fostered an economic order that was mobile, organized, and innovative.
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Golden Horde complete history, well done
- By Amazon Customer on 03-10-22
By: Marie Favereau
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Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
- By: Herbert P. Bix
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 29 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose 63-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix describes what it was like to be trained from birth for a lone position at the apex of the nation's political hierarchy and as a revered symbol of divine status.
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Not what I bargained for
- By Alexander Crowell on 08-21-20
By: Herbert P. Bix
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Last Boat Out of Shanghai
- The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution
- By: Helen Zia
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The dramatic real-life stories of four young people caught up in the mass exodus of Shanghai in the wake of China's 1949 Communist revolution. Benny must decide either to escape to Hong Kong or navigate the intricacies of a newly Communist China. Annuo, forced to flee with her father, a defeated Nationalist official, becomes an unwelcome exile in Taiwan. The financially strapped Ho fights deportation from the US in order to continue his studies while his family struggles at home. Bing, given away by her poor parents, faces the prospect of a new life among strangers in America.
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Great book, poor performance
- By Helpful Buyer on 07-02-19
By: Helen Zia
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A New History of India: From Its Origins to the Twenty-First Century
- By: Toby Sinclair, Shobita Punja, Rudrangsh Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Elvis Mathias
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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The book covers all the major landmarks of Indian history from prehistoric times up to the 21st century—starting with the country’s geological origins a few billion years in the past and the migration of Homo sapiens from Africa into the region several millennia ago.
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Long, complex history of the land now home to 1.3 billion people
- By bnieman on 02-22-25
By: Toby Sinclair, and others
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Emperor of Japan
- Meiji and His World, 1852-1912
- By: Donald Keene
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 38 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Little has been written about the strangely obscured figure of Meiji himself, the first Japanese emperor ever to meet a European. But now, Donald Keene sifts the available evidence to present a rich portrait not only of Meiji but also of rapid and sometimes violent change during this pivotal period in Japan's history. Emperor of Japan conveys in sparkling prose the complexity of the man and offers an unrivaled portrait of Japan in a period of unique interest.
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Great book. Terrible narration.
- By Ken Snyder on 07-05-23
By: Donald Keene
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The Scythians
- Nomad Warriors of the Steppe
- By: Barry Cunliffe
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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The Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe.
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Well researched but narrator is terrible
- By John M. on 01-17-21
By: Barry Cunliffe
Great
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An absolute must read!
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Detailed and Interesting
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excellent history of the United States and China
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I am a student of history. I can safely say that this is one of the few books I have read/listened to that I rate among the best.
The history and relationship of China and the USA, for that matter, of the world is important.
I cannot recommend this book more.
I will definitely listen again in the future.
The narrator, mr. Tom Perkins, is a pleasure to listen to.
My thanks to all involved, JK.
AWSOME
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Where does The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
among the bestWhat other book might you compare The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom to and why?
Thomas Rid, Rise of the Machines: subtle, balanced, engaging history of a subject that is consistently misrepresented in popular cultureEvan Osnos, Age of Ambition: new ways to think about China
What does Tom Perkins bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Pronunciation of Chinese words that is almost but not quite rightWas there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The chapters about US behavior toward China during WWII were a revelation and painful to listen to for an AmericanAny additional comments?
I first visited China in 1984 and have returned regularly ever since. I'm in China now listening to this on the campus of a Chinese university that was built by Christian missionaries 100 years ago. Pomfret's analysis of US China relations is a breath of fresh air. By foregrounding the immense cultural baggage that Americans usually bring to their relationship with China, Pomfret is giving Americans some tools they can use if they want to try to have a more authentic experience of ChinaInformative, disquieting, captivating
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Comprehensive Overview
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Having taught history in a number of independent schools where I taught some Chinese history, I can claim academic familiarity in this subject, without being any kind of authority. What I can say is that this book enlarged by understanding of this history significantly and is well worth reading for anyone who would like to have a better understanding of this complicated relationship.
Indispensable for understanding the US China relationship
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Highly recommended
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Fascistic deep dive in the bilateral relationship
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