Bound Feet and Western Dress -- By Pang-Mei Natasha Chang

Yu-I lived a life that reflects the many changes in Chinese society in the twentieth century. She is the first daughter in her family not to have her feet bound, and she fights for her right to get some kind of education. She marries the man her family chooses for her, the poet Hsu Chih-Mo, and does her best to be a dutiful wife and daughter-in-law. When she follows her student husband to England, she finds herself abandoned and divorced, with a child on the way and another home in China with her husband's family. This memoir, written by Yu-I's grandniece, tells Yu-I's story of repression and resilience.

God's Chinese Son : The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan -- By Jonathan D. Spence

This is the true story of one of the most deadly and bizarre human uprisings. Hong Xiuquan, a failed scholar, read a missionary tract, and had a fevered dream in which he discovered that he was the second son of God. He gathers followers, captures cities and tries to establish a heavenly kingdom on earth. But things go terribly wrong, and by 1864, twenty million people are dead.

The River at the Center of the World : A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time -- By Simon Winchester

The author and a Chinese interpreter travel the length of the Yangtze River, from the bustling, modern city of Shanghai to its source in the mountains of Tibet. Along the way, Winchester explores some events of China's past, as well as life in China today.

Red China Blues: My Long March from Mao to Now -- Jan Wong

Jan Wong grew up in Canada, where her father ran a successful Chinese restaurant. As a college student, she became a devout follower of Mao, and in 1972 she went to China where she was swept into the madness of the Cultural Revolution. She writes about her years there, as a student, worker, journalist, wife and mother, with honesty, sadness and humor.

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze -- By Peter Hessler

Peter Hessler served as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English at a college in the small city of Fuling, Sichuan, from 1996 to 1998. This fascinating book is his personal account of his experiences. The parts about his classroom experiences, his teaching techniques, and the excerpts from his students' essays are particularly revealing.

Wild Swans : Three Daughters of China -- By Jung Chang

As a young woman, her grandmother was the concubine of a warlord. Her daughter became a Communist official. Jung Chang's gripping family memoir focuses on the life of three women-- her grandmother, her mother and herself. Their experiences tell the tale of the dramatic change of twentieth century China.