Women from Minguo

Sun Yat-sen once said love and revolution were his lifelong goals and his second wife, Soong Ching-ling, was the person he loved the most. A new book Minguo Hongfen (Beauty of the Republic) features 22 women from the Republic of China (1911-49), also known as the Minguo period. The book features political figures like Soong, and socialites such as Ruan Lingyu and Sai Jinhua. As a historian of the Minguo period, author Zhang Yaojie relies heavily on the study of documents. The China Art Research Institute scholar writes about these women from a researcher's perspective using reliable sources and unearthing a wealth of new information. His storytelling skills make the book gripping and easy to read. The 22 women have been selected from diverse fields. The author says he is trying to portray a well-rounded picture of women in those times, who were faced with the dilemmas of protesting oppressive ideals stemming from Confucian ideology or remaining true to their family and maintaining independence and assertiveness.

Economic perspective

A new book by Chen Yunxian, vice-governor of Guangdong province, and Qiu Jianwei, who works at an insurance company, puts forward their own economic theory. They say that from the perspective of the global economy, market competition consists of two components - businesses and government. Government Foresighted Leading Theory and Practice of the World's Regional Economic Development says the government can shape the economy by establishing the foundations, mechanisms and regulations of the market economy. The book says the government can employ the visible hand to make up for the margins and defects caused by the invisible hand and remedy market malfunction.

Mizrahi spills all

Isaac Mizrahi is getting ready to tell all. The 52-year-old fashion celebrity has inked a deal with Amy Einhorn Books for a memoir that will track his rise from an unhappy childhood in Brooklyn to hanging out at Studio 54 to international fame. Amy Einhorn Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, says the book is scheduled for release in 2016. It is tentatively titled I.M. Mizrahi previously wrote the fashion advice book How to Have Style.

China Daily - Xinhua

(China Daily 03/18/2014 page22)