Shu Chao Hu examines the social, cultural, and political forces that led to the development and growth of the Chinese collection, the acquisitions policies followed, and the sources of personal and financial support found within and outside the Library of Congress.

The Taiping Rebellion was one of the costliest civil wars in human history. Many millions of people lost their lives. Yet while the Rebellion has been intensely studied by scholars in China and elsewhere, we still know little of how individuals coped with these cataclysmic events. Drawing upon a rich array of primary sources, What Remains explores the issues that preoccupied Chinese and Western survivors. Individuals, families, and communities grappled with fundamental questions of loyalty and loss as they struggled to rebuild shattered cities, bury the dead, and make sense of the horrors that they had witnessed. Driven by compelling accounts of raw emotion and deep injury, What Remains opens a window to a world described by survivors themselves. This book transforms our understanding of China's 19th century and recontextualizes suffering and loss in China during the 20th century.

This is the first comprehensive and in-depth study of the Chinese collection in the Library of Congress, the largest collection of its kind in the Western world. Started in 1869 with some 950 books received in the first exhange of publications between the United States and China, the collection has grown so steadily that in 1977 it numbered more than 430,000 volumes, including 2,000 rare Chinese items, some of which were printed in A.D. 975. In this primarily historical study, Professor Hu examines the social, cultural, and political forces that led to the development and growth of the collection, the acquisitions policies followed, and the sources of personal and financial support found within and outside the Library of Congress. He also explores the methods by which the library has built up several strong areas in the collection, particularly those of Chinese gazetteers, or local histories; ts’ung-shu, or collections of reprints; and rare works.

Based on the incredible true story of one woman’s journey to the exotic world of nineteenth-century Siam, the riveting novel that inspired The King and I. In 1862, recently widowed and with two small children to support, British schoolteacher Anna Leonowens agrees to serve as governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam (present-day Thailand), unaware that her years in the royal palace will change not only her own life, but also the future of a nation. Her relationship with King Mongkut, famously portrayed by Yul Brynner in the classic film The King and I, is complicated from the start, pitting two headstrong personalities against each other: While the king favors tradition, Anna embraces change. As governess, Anna often finds herself at cross-purposes, marveling at the foreign customs, fascinating people, and striking landscape of the kingdom and its harems, while simultaneously trying to influence her pupils—especially young Prince Chulalongkorn—with her Western ideals and values. Years later, as king, this very influence leads Chulalongkorn to abolish slavery in Siam and introduce democratic reform based on the ideas of freedom and human dignity he first learned from his beloved tutor. This captivating novel brilliantly combines in-depth research—author Margaret Landon drew from Siamese court records and Anna’s own writings—with richly imagined details to create a lush portrait of 1860s Siam. As a Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway musical and an Academy Award–winning film, the story of Anna and the King of Siam has enchanted millions over the years. It is a gripping tale of cultural differences and shared humanity that invites readers into a vivid and sensory world populated by unforgettable characters.

Jade Snow Wong’s autobiography portrays her coming-of-age in San Francisco's Chinatown, offering a rich depiction of her immigrant family and her strict upbringing, as well as her rebellion against family and societal expectations for a Chinese woman. Originally published in 1950, Fifth Chinese Daughter was one of the most widely read works by an Asian American author in the twentieth century. The US State Department even sent its charismatic young author on a four-month speaking tour throughout Asia. Cited as an influence by prominent Chinese American writers such as Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston, Fifth Chinese Daughter is a foundational work in Asian American literature. It was written at a time when few portraits of Asian American life were available, and no similar works were as popular and broadly appealing. This new edition includes the original illustrations by Kathryn Uhl and features an introduction by Leslie Bow, who critically examines the changing reception and enduring legacy of the book and offers insight into Wong’s life as an artist and an ambassador of Chinese American culture.

Baimiao, shuanggou, gongbi, xieyi, and mogu. These words define unique Chinese painting techniques or methods, each of which is seized by the artists whose work is shown in the exhibition, "Brilliant Strokes: Chinese Paintings from the Mactaggart Art Collection," at the University of Alberta Museums in 2008. These paintings span a period of five hundred years, from the fifteenth century to the twentieth century. Brilliant Strokes, the book, is a stunning accompaniment to the exhibition: art enthusiasts and readers intrigued by Asian art are invited to tour its luminous pages.