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Breach in the Wall: Memoir of the Old China
Enid Saunders Candlin
€ 7.99
€ 4.99
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Description for Breach in the Wall: Memoir of the Old China
Hardcover. Cassell, 1973, 1st edn. with dust cover, in mint condition; dark brown cloth; x+335pp+6pp index. For Enid Saunders Candlin, daughter of a tea merchant, Shanghai was a wonderful place to grow up in. In the early years of the century there were fairs and fetes and racing, dances and amateur dramatics, riding and houseboat excursions. Faithful, intelligent Chinese servants gave the family its leisure and became its friends; and, best of all, there was the countryside: 'On the bright autumn days, when the sun shone so beautifully, the days of the pheasant and the crisp wind, when the harvests were being winnowed, and you could ride your pony far into the hills, the beauty of China seemed unutterable, there was no end to it.' But she was an observant as well as a carefree child, and her recollections of that pause in Chinese history when the gossip of a twelfth-century poet seemed as contemporary as the bustling streets of her own youth are remarkably detailed and perceptive. Tolerantly she records both old and new, good and bad. The perfection of taste in old China is here: the beauty of everyday things used by even the poorest, nothing tawdry or discordant. Here too are the people's cheerfulness and incredible capacity for work in the face of poverty unthinkable to a Westerner, a problem of dirt, hunger and disease almost too vast to comprehend. The author has painted in the political background of these turbulent years up to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war in 1937, but mainly she tells of the people, Chinese and foreigners, and the colourful incidents of everyday life. This is a truly delightful book, written with humour and compassion, which portrays the magic of the oldest civilization in the world as it changed irrevocably before the onslaught of the West. 9½x6¼in
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
1974
Publisher
Cassell
Condition
Used, Very Good
Number of Pages
352
Place of Publication
, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780304293599
SKU
KEB0002473
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 2 to 4 working days
Ref
99-1
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