Susan Blumberg-Kason's Blog
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Aug.09.2011
It’s no secret I just love qipaos, the form-fitting Chinese dress. And because I’m obsessed with qipaos, I’ve noticed the publishing industry has taken an interest in them, too.
Tonight I had to buy some gifts, so as I perused an online bookstore and clicked on Jennifer Cody Epstein’s fabulous...
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Jul.12.2011
I love lunch boxes of all types. I always carried one to school when I was younger, before it became uncool.
But now I'm thinking about buying some kind of environmentally-friendly, BPA-fee container to tote around all the food I bring for my kids when we go out, even just to ballet class or the...
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Jul.05.2011
All the hoopla surrounding last week's anniversary of Hong Kong's Handover got me thinking about the many Hong Kong vs. China dichotomies. Which led me to a broader old China vs. new China reverie.
Take Wade-Giles. It's not a British taipan, but rather a system of Mandarin romanization popular from...
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May.18.2011
I just love receiving free books. It seems like I’m getting them all the time now. And it’s not even my birthday. Take today, when I won a copy of Mingmei Yip’s new novel, Song of the Silk Road (Kensington, 2011).
It’s such a beautiful cover. And I want that qipao.
If the story is anything like her...
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Mar.29.2011
Several weeks ago I blogged about tiger-titled books. Since many of these books relate to Chinese culture, that got me thinking. Are there other common China-themed titles?
The concept of luck and fortune is very important to Chinese culture, and certainly hasn't been lost in book titles.
I...
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Mar.15.2011
We’re only a month into the Year of the Rabbit, but it seems like the Year of the Tiger is still making tracks, at least in the literary world (and with Charlie Sheen, who no doubt will soon land a book deal). Are there too many tiger titles, or are they on to something?
Yesterday Jid Lee’s...
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Dec.29.2010
When you celebrate three different new years, it seems like you're always making resolutions.
I'm Jewish, so I celebrate Rosh Hashanah in the fall. Then there's the Gregorian New Year on January 1st. Since I spent most of my twenties in Hong Kong and China--and have a son whose dad is Chinese--I...
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About Susan
I am writing a memoir about the five years I tried to assimilate to Chinese family life. In the early 1990s, I moved to Hong Kong and met and married a musician from central China. I thought our cultural differences would amount to eating weird food and...
Susan’s Favorite Books
Gweilo by Martin Booth, Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene, The Quiet American by Graham Greene, The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham, The Honourable Schoolboy...