Why am I passionate about this?
Iām a historian, educator, and author with an abiding interest in stories that help bridge cultural divides. I first encountered tales of China as an elementary school student in Singapore. Years later, I studied Chinese and backpacked through China, after which I earned my M.A. in Asian Studies. I would go on to become a high school instructor, and this experience helped me teach AP World History ā¢ and IB (International Baccalaureate) History. I began writing my Jackie Tempo series as a way of providing accessible content in the classroom. Historical fiction has always helped provide deeper context for me and my students.
Suzanne's book list on Chinese tradition, revolution, and change
Why did Suzanne love this book?
The late and highly regarded scholar Jonathon Spence, prolific author of ground-breaking texts, takes on one of nineteenth-century Chinaās strangest political mysteries.
In Godās Chinese Son, he asks: how did Hong Xiuquan, the so-called Chinese younger brother of Jesus Christ, manage to gain thousands of followersāand nearly topple Qing dynasty(1644-1912)?
As an educator, I needed more than a pat answer regarding how the Taiping Rebellion endured for decades and upended Qing norms. Spence provides this depth.
Prior to reading this, I had no real concept of the disaster that was the Taiping Rebellion. Spenceās compelling and deeply researched tale of a failed scholarās visionāand the disaster that followedāis a riveting ride through Chinaās traumatic nineteenth century, and a glimpse of what would come.
1 author picked God's Chinese Son as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
Whether read for its powerful account of the largest uprising in human history, or for its foreshadowing of the terrible convulsions suffered by twentieth-century China, or for the narrative power of a great historian at his best, God's Chinese Son must be read. At the center of this history of China's Taiping rebellion (1845-64) stands Hong Xiuquan, a failed student of Confucian doctrine who ascends to heaven in a dream and meets his heavenly family: God, Mary, and his older brother, Jesus. He returns to earth charged to eradicate the "demon-devils," the alien Manchu rulers of China. His success carriesā¦