"Fil and Filippa: Story of Child Life in the Philippines" by John Stuart Thomson is a captivating narrative that explores the lives of two children growing up in the vibrant culture of the Philippines. Through their eyes, readers are introduced to the rich traditions, customs, and daily experiences that shape their childhood. The book paints a vivid picture of the Filipino landscape, highlighting the beauty of its people and the challenges they face. Thomson's storytelling brings to life t...

It took me over a month and a half to reach the summer islands that I sought. In three weeks I had gone through the Panama Canal and had reached San Francisco, and in four weeks more I had crossed the world’s widest, most peaceful, and bluest ocean, the Pacific. There, like a string of pearls hanging from the golden Equator, I found thousands of wonderful islands of all sizes, but only two of them are very large. I found also my new and kind young friends: Fil; his sister Filippa; Fil’s bo...

A republic in place of the oldest monarchy! Preposterous. It would involve making a yellow man think as a white man, and that had never occurred, not even in the case of the prodigy, Japan. It would involve free intercourse with the whole wide world, and China had opposed such an innovation stubbornly for 400 years. It meant that the proudest and most self-contained nation should treat others as equals and interchange with them. It involved throwing 4,000 years of continuous history and ag...

In "China Revolutionized," John Stuart Thomson offers a comprehensive examination of the sociopolitical landscape of China during a time of transformative upheaval. The book employs a meticulously detailed narrative style that intertwines historical analysis with vivid accounts, thereby immersing readers in the complexities of revolutionary thought and action. Thomson explores pivotal events and movements, articulating how they interconnect within the broader tapestry of 20th-century histo...

In "China Revolutionized," John Stuart Thomson delivers a comprehensive examination of China's seismic transformations during the tumultuous early 20th century. Utilizing a blend of meticulous research and vivid narrative, Thomson explores the complex interplay of political, social, and economic factors that catalyzed revolutionary fervor. His literary style exhibits clarity and engagement, weaving together historical accounts with critical analysis, making it an essential text for scholar...

In "Fil and Filippa," John Stuart Thomson intricately weaves a narrative that explores the themes of love, ambition, and the quest for identity against the backdrop of societal expectations. Written in a lyrical prose style, the novel captures the rich emotional landscape of its characters, highlighting their struggles and aspirations through vivid imagery and profound reflections. Set in the early 20th century, the book not only mirrors the social changes of its time'Äîsuch as the shiftin...

Example in this ebookTREATISE ON HAT-MAKING AND FELTING.It is conceded as an axiom, that theory and practice, in the pursuit of any object, are in their natures essentially different and distinct. But at the same time they long for a mutual understanding each to confirm the assertions of the other, the consummation of all practical results being the mutual embrace and perfect reconciliation of these two attributes.The writer of these pages, being a p...

In 1908 at the age of two, Henry Pu Yi ascended to become the last emperor of the centuries-old Manchu dynasty. After revolutionaries forced Pu Yi to abdicate in 1911, the young emperor lived for thirteen years in Peking’s Forbidden City, but with none of the power his birth afforded him. The remainder of Pu Yi’s life was lived out in a topsy-turvy fashion: fleeing from a Chinese warlord, becoming head of a Japanese puppet state, being confined to a Russian prison in Siberia, and enduring ...

A New York Times Notable BookEmpress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908) is the most important woman in Chinese history. She ruled China for decades and brought a medieval empire into the modern age.At the age of sixteen, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, Cixi was chosen as one of the emperor’s numerous concubines. When he died in 1861, their five-year-old son succeeded to the throne. Cixi at once launched a palace coup against the regents appointe...

In its last days under British rule, the Crown Colony of Hong Kong is the world's most exciting city, at once fascinating and exasperating, a tangle of contradictions. It is a dazzling amalgam of conspicuous consumption and primitive poverty, the most architecturally incongruous yet undeniably beautiful urban panorama of all. World-renowned travel writer Jan Morris offers the most insightful and comprehensive study of the enigma of Hong Kong thus far.

For nearly two decades Western governments and a growing activist community have been frustrated in their attempts to bring about a freer and more democratic Burma—through sanctions and tourist boycotts—only to see an apparent slide toward even harsher dictatorship. But what do we really know about Burma and its history? And what can Burma's past tell us about the present and even its future?In The River of Lost Footsteps, Thant Myint-U tells the story of modern Burma, in p...

"If the story of the Soong family were told as fiction, people would say it was fascinating but too improbable. . . . A dramatic human chronicle . . . engrossing." — The New York Times Book ReviewIn the early twentieth century, few women in China were to prove so important to the rise of Chinese nationalism and liberation from tradition as the three extraordinary Soong sisters—Eling, Chingling and Mayling—who would each marry historic figures. Told with wi...