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American
Reference Books Annual 2004
Reference
Reviews (UK), Vol. 17, #6, 2003
The Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review, January 2003
Review
from: American
Reference Books Annual 2004
Until
President Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972, China has largely
remained isolated from the outside world. Today, as one of the world's
great powers with a large population and substantial resources and
capital, China plays a major role in world and regional affairs. This
book, China, is volume 74, number 5 of H. W. Wilson's The
Reference Shelf series. It is an anthology of 30 reprints of articles
with permission; the majority of which are from newspapers and general
circulation periodicals that appeared between March 2001 and July 2002.
The selection criteria are not clear, but the articles were collected from
a diverse group of sources, such as The New York Times, Business Week,
and South China Morning Post, providing a glimpse into present-day
China. The articles are divided into five sections. The first section
discusses the prospects for the liberalization of China's political
system. The second section looks at the State of the People's Republic,
concentrating on its domestic issues. Section 3 focuses on China's human
rights. Section 4 analyzes the U.S.-Chinese relations, and the last
section concerns China's relations with other countries. Each of the five
sections is also accompanied by the editor's introduction. Following the
five sections, there are an appendix, a bibliography, and an index. The
appendix contains statistics and facts on China, including geography,
people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and
transnational issues. The bibliography includes a list of 29 related
books, 12 Websites, and abstracts of 33 additional articles. A dictionary
index concludes the volume. This work is recommended for high school and
above.
Review
from: Reference Reviews (UK), Vol. 17,
#6, 2003
The Reference Shelf is a series that should be better
known outside the USA….This China volume contains 30 articles
grouped under five broad subject headings. The first section, "Is
China liberalizing?" looks at the prospects for the liberalization
and democratization of China's political system. The second section,
"The state of the People's Republic", looks at China's economy,
workforce, health, crime, education, the plight of abandoned children, and
the state of Hong Kong five years after the transfer of power from
Britain. Section three, "Human rights", looks back at the
Cultural Revolution, and details China's repression of Christianity,
Buddhism, the indigenous Falun Gong cult, and the curtailment of freedom
of expression at universities, particularly the study of Western cultures.
"US-China relations" is the subject of the fourth section, and
the fifth and final section looks at China's dealings with other
countries, including Russia, India, Israel, Japan, Taiwan, and the
Vatican. The articles come from a range of the world's newspapers and
weeklies: Washington Times, Guardian, South China
Morning Post, and the (UK) Northern Echo being four of them….
There is a ten-page appendix of statistics and other
important facts about the geography, economy, government, communications
and population of the country. There is also a bibliography of recent
publications, a list of Web sites, and an annotated list of 33 additional
articles. The index entries include the appendix, but not the additional
articles.
This series presents current affairs in an attractive way
and would be useful for school and college students, and for general
interest.
Review
from: The Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review, January 2003
Capably edited by China expert Dimitri Cavalli as
part of the outstanding H. W. Wilson Company Reference Shelf 2002 series,
China is a straightforward reference for readers of all ages and
backgrounds to a variety of trends and conditions of the modern-day nation
of China. Individual chapters excerpt articles from magazines such as
Business Week, National Post, Washington Times and many more to offer a
broad based picture of China's political and economic trends, human rights
issues, and relations with other states. China is recommended as being an
excellent resource and informative educational read.
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