Four Years of Living, Learning, Teaching, and Becoming Half-Chinese in Suzhou, China
| ABOUT THE BOOK Why a Memoir? Meaning of the Title Book Format What/Where Is Suzhou? Why Suzhou Is So Fitting for This Book Where Can I Buy the Book? SELECTED PREVIEWS Chapter 5: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Chapter 20: A Precious Belt Chapter 29: A City Shuts Down UPDATES SINCE 2006 Our Story Suzhou's Story EXTRA PHOTOS Related to the Book Suzhou 2001-2006 Suzhou Since 2006 ABOUT: The Author My Next Book My SuzhouPlus Website |
 Click on this cover image to go to the book page on Amazon.com INTRODUCTION
CHINA, HEART AND SOUL tells the story of my experiences in Suzhou, China, mostly from 2001 through 2004. How I met my Chinese wife-to-be, Ping Ping, and came to live in her apartment in a neighborhood where foreigners were seldom if ever seen. How I shopped in the local stores and markets, ate local foods almost exclusively, bicycled the city and nearby countryside, visited Chinese homes of all sorts, used the public buses, suffered the tragedy of 9/11 from nine thousand miles away, endured the creeping plague that was SARS, and eventually purchased, finished, and furnished an apartment in the city. As a NYC high school teacher myself, I could hardly escape the mainland Chinese mania for English. I was a regular at a local bookstore’s weekly English Corner, spoke before an auditorium full of college students, and even gave English lessons to Buddhist monks. Inevitably, I became involved with schools in Suzhou, ending up at various times as a guest English speaker/teacher at two high schools and a full time instructor in an undergraduate, dual English and business program at Suzhou University. CHINA, HEART AND SOUL describes, via a series of chapter-length vignettes, how I came to know and love China, most especially the city of Suzhou with its magnificent history, extraordinary culture, and wonderful people. As dozens of Suzhou people were fond of telling me, I came to know more about Suzhou than they did. The book's subtitle says it all: "Four Years of Living, Learning, Teaching, and Becoming Half-Chinese in Suzhou, China." Here is what a few readers have said about CHINA, HEART AND SOUL: I highly recommend the book I am reading right now: Stephen L. Koss's China, Heart and Soul: Four Years of Living, Learning, Teaching, and Becoming Half-Chinese in Suzhou, China....I bought the book on Amazon.com as a matter of loyalty to someone I admire (and have not yet met), but once I started reading, I found it hard to put down. It is funny, engrossing, informative, and delightful. Koss is a wonderful writer. --Diane Ravitch, NYU Professor of Education and Former Assistant Secretary of Education, on her "Bridging Differences" website (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/), June 29. 2010. “A portrait of China in the middle of her transformation. Steve Koss has an eye for visual details, an ear for local Chinese dialog, and a passion for the truth. My countrymen and women come to life in his memoir.” --Anchee Min, author of the novels Pearl of China, Becoming Madam Mao, and Empress Orchid and the memoir Red Azalea “Charming. Hits just the right note to hook in an ordinary reader who knows little of China but is curious and wants to be a told a story of what it feels like there.” --Seth Faison, former reporter and Shanghai Bureau Chief, New York Times, author of South of the Clouds: Exploring the Hidden Realms of China “…a literary writer with a sharp and sensitive eye for the cultural details. Sheds light on and even reveals the beauty of the world that is otherwise flowing by unnoticed by us Chinese. I have read a number of travel stories by Westerners and few…have experiences of intimate contact with Chinese persons without a trace of political or cultural bias…. I would be surprised if the American and Chinese reading public should overlook this book of a real life of warm flesh and blood.” --Xu Qing Gen, Professor of English Literature and Dean of the School of Foreign Languages, Soochow University, Suzhou, China Reading this book, I felt transported to another place and another time, for even though this fascinating memoir records the recent past, Mr. Koss's love for Suzhou, a reputed paradise on earth, unfolds to reveal China's complicated history and culture. His determination to experience the `real' Suzhou, eventually `becoming half-Suzhounese', allowed him to live and work in a way that few foreigners ever get to see. His observations of the little things that make up every day life in this rapidly changing country made me feel as though I were there, and had the improbable effect of making China seem more and less foreign to me at the same time....One day, I hope to be more than an armchair traveler, but for now, `China, Heart and Soul' is the next best thing to being there. --B. Bernett, posted book review on Amazon.com I thoroughly enjoyed reading Stephen Koss' memoir, "China, Heart and Soul." Koss' story-telling is not only captivating, but his detailed descriptions and observations are further illuminated by the use of beautiful and vivid metaphors. This memoir aims to provide an account of everyday, modern life in China and the accuracy of his descriptions accomplishes just that....Furthermore, as a Chinese American, I always thought I had little in common with native Chinese. However, "China, Heart and Soul" reveals just how much we do have in common. It was surprising to learn how much our lives and life experiences are intertwined and how our similar values and behaviors are rooted in the China's history...."China Heart and Soul" gave me a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and also imparted important lessons about my historical roots. I would highly recommend this book to both readers with a background in Chinese culture and those interested in learning more about China and its people. --M.Lui, posted book review on Amazon.com |