Customer Reviews

Watching the Tree: A Chinese Daughter Reflects on Happiness, Tradition and Spritual Wisdom

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Adeline Yen Mah writes with sometimes painful honesty about her life in general, her personal relationships as well as her family, community and country. I don't recall having read a book that could be so moving and yet so intellectually enriching. Anyone doing business in China, Japan, Korea or Malaysia should read this book and carry it in their briefcase. Beyond the poignant stories of her personal life, the book offers an enormous scope of information and insights. If you have ever wondered about Feng Shui, the I Ching, the Tao, Buddha and Confucius, you will find this book very interesting. If you have some scientific background you will be fascinated by her discussion about Hiesenberg's "Uncertainty Principle", Quantum Physics, String Theory as well as references to Carl Jung, Galileo, Spinoza, the Dalai Lama, the Julian Calendar vs. the Chinese Calendar, Laplace, Leibniz and the list goes on! She is a Physician and writer with a keen sense about philosophy, the history of science and mathematics. There is no word or concept for "human rights" in Chinese and her explanation is a real eye opener. The profound influence of Confucius for over 2500 years and the late adoption of the zero (1247 AD) explain a lot about the history of China. She writes with respect towards the reader and has an obvious reverence for her subject matter. I have only one disappointment. There is no index to help the reader to return to the many points of interest in the book.

This book covers the essentials of Chinese culture in a very cohesive, anecdotal way, and its enjoyable to read. The author brings together elements of the written language, history, legend, food, medicine and more in the best example that I've seen of explaining the Chinese culture to the non-chinese.

It's the single best source for understanding the Chinese culture. If you're going to China - whether a novice or china expert - you'll get a lot out of this book.

When I was looking for a new book in my favorite book store, I glance at this book. Without hesitation, I grabbed the book adding into my shopping cart because of the author's name. I read her Falling Leave and love it so much. But I am quite disappointed on Watching The Tree. The story is not continuously smoothing and not curiously interesting compared to Falling Leave.

The good point in reading this book is to winden the horizon of universal wisdom

Adeline Yen Mah is a writer and physician who lives in Huntington Beach, California. She divides her time between her California home, London, and Hong Kong. Her other works include the bestselling Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter as well as Chinese Cinderella. For more information, you can visit the author's website.

Adeline Yen Mah has combined her experience as a physician, her Chinese heritage, and her deeply personal connection to her grandfather, Ye Ye, to create a work of art that is at once informative, enjoyable, and enlightening. By her own admission, this book is a "letter of gratitude to a grandfather who once gave me the most precious of all gifts: my sense of hope."

Recognizing an ever growing number of people who are interested in eastern philosophy, the author offers us a rare perspective on the concepts and beliefs as she shares with her reader. She is, to her thinking, a true Chinese-American: born in China and having lived and practiced medicine in America for some thirty years. She is able to take the basic concepts of her heritage, blend them with soulful lessons she learned througout her life, and apply them in such a way that she answers questions about the concerns of modern day western peoples who still long to know more about the mysterious and spiritual elements of Chinese culture. Readers are treated to history lessons, religious principles, Eastern medical practices, discussion on foods of the Chinese culture, the more mysterious ideas of invisible energies, and a lesson in Chinese language. All the while, the reader almost forgets that this ia a nonfiction work. Its ease of reading and its personal and relaxed style seems more like a conversation with Adeline Yen Mah. For me, that is the mark of a truely gifted non-fiction author.

In a chapter discussing Confucian practices, I was quite taken back to learn that "over the centuries very few great Chinese novels were written." The author sites the fact that "Composing fiction in the spoken language was considered despicable by the literati. The word "novel" in Chinese is known as "xiao shuo" ("little talk"). " She tells us that authors were often ashamed of their novels or they would deny the fact that they were in fact authors of works of fiction.

A fascinating discussion takes place in the chapter titled "Let Food Be Medicine." The author relates a story of a conversation with her brother. "One fundamental difference between us Chinese and the English is this: We Chinese live to eat, whereas the English eat to live." This enjoyable chapter is sure to make the mouth water and the mind race with vivid images and olfactory arousal. Did you know that the standard greeting of a Chinese upon meeting a friend is not "How are you?" but rather "Have you eaten your meal today?"

A.Y.M. writes "Every month, we women spend hours at the beauty parlor and hundreds of dollars on cosmetics to improve our appearance. Unless we have a healthy body, however, such endeavor (though commendable) is unfortunately rather like applying a new coat of paint ot a car with a damaged transmission. Perhaps we should simply always keep in mind the Chinese proverb: "Yi shi wei liao" (Let food be medicine).

Perhaps one of the most endearing chapters, to my way of thinking, is the eleventh and final chapter: "The Lessons of Silence."

The author's grandfather had two scrolls above his bed. These were scrolls each bearing four Chinese characters he had penned with his own hand. Discussions between grandfather and then child, now author, led to life-long lessons that A.Y.M. shares with her readers in spare yet meaningful form. The one scroll bore the characters for tian ("heaven"), jing ("scripture"), di ("earth") and yi ("justice"). Her grandfather cautioned her that as she went through life and became fascinated by wonders such as a beautiful sunset or a scientific phenomenon she should "keep in mind that all phenomena on earth are based on Tian jing di yi ("Heaven's scripture and earth's justice"). The other scroll bore the four characters/words Bu yan zhi jiao ("the lessons of silence").

Adeline Yen Mah writes of this second scroll: "Writing has obliged me to spend long hours searching for those voices which we never hear except when our inner self is at peace and everything else is suspended." Reading this passage I found my inner self shouting "Yes!" How true it is. When writing, we creatives cannot hear the deeply rooted inner voices when all about us is clamoring and our minds are scattered. Silence from within brings us the peace and clarity we need to put our own words in print. This connection between author and reader was a powerful and fulfilling way to end the experience of spending time in this amazing book.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

This potentially interesting comparison and contrast of the "distinctions... between east and west on a number of fundamental themes in our cultures" is dragged down IMHO by the author's constant references to her apparently horrific childhood and her mistreatment then and later by her family and other intimates. She claims that her decision to write her best-selling autobiography Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter rather than fight her family tooth and nail in court over her stolen inheritance was the healthier choice ("bibliotherapy" she calls it), but I'm not so sure. From what I can gather she has now written FIVE books dwelling in whole or in part on the subject of what was done to her by her family, and I'm beginning to think that she might have been better off mentally, spiritually, and emotionally (though perhaps not financially), if she'd simply sued their a**es off and been done with it. She could hardly be more estranged from the rest of her family after a bitter lawsuit than she must be after FIVE books airing their dirty laundry. At any rate I would certainly have been better off because I would not have been subjected to it over and over and OVER again! There is a good deal of useful information here, but I'm not sure it is worth the effort of wading through Adeline's miserable past in order to glean it, especially if like me you are a stereotypically all too insensitive male who prefers solving problems to listening to them endlessly repeated while making sympathetic noises.