Rating: 
Summary: Easy reading
Review: 20 years ago in 1982 Mark, a 22 yr old German round-eye from Connecticut, decides to teach English in Changsha for two years, a rivertown in Hunan, an inland province in southern China. Hunan is an agricultural area and an important higher education center just north of Hong Kong, his POE. His book is one of the first on contemporary Communist Chinese as a personal venue.Although he studied Mandarin and Cantonese in school and was familiar with reading the language, he could not understand the local Changsha dialect. As he teaches English, he gets tutored in the local dialect, kung fu, and calligraphy. Through his teaching classes, his approach is stylistically American with an informal style with a verbal situational emphasis. Most of the students are used to the classical Chinese style with rote learning which makes it tough for the students initially to adapt to. I wonder on how this style of teaching is going to be sustained in China? He quickly grinds through the typical dialog of 3rd world culture shock, eg staring crowds, filth, latrine stench, insolent bureaucracy, packed buses and trains, etc. Because of his fluency and Sino interests, he gets invited to many impromptu teas, lunches and home dinners with people he meets in the college, in the city, and along the river. He gets to sample a lot of home cooked Hunan spicy cuisine and rice wine. He has a common bond with Chinese men because he also is skilled in the martial arts, wushu, a style of kung fu. At least he thought so, yet he relearns it in China under a famous master and 3 other teachers with differing styles. Homesick, he comes home during summer vacation, but travels to Shanghai and Suzhou looking for western food during the 1st lunar New Year, missing milk shakes, coffee, and chocolate the most. He stays in China the 2nd lunar New Year and travels down the Yangtze to Hangzhou. His prose is easy reading and the cultural vignettes he writes are wry and amusing at times. He writes about 25 short stories which are about 6-8 pages long on a variety of topics. However, they do not cover a long enough time period and he doesn't develop the characters deep enough to really savor the differences in culture and attitudes. There is no maps or pictures even though the author has a camera.
Rating: 
Summary: Magnificent
Review: Iron and Silk is a very fitting title...the movie is about contrasts, between the East and the West, between reality and perception. Mark, an American who has had a passion for China and Chinese culture since he was young, lands a job as an English teacher in China. He learns a lot about life from his students. Having watched many kung-fu movies, Mark asks Teacher Pan, a famous wushu master in the area, to teach him martial arts. At first, Teacher Pan refuses, claiming that Americans don't know how to "eat bitter", but eventually gives in. Neither Mark nor Teacher Pan know what to expect from each other----Mark is a fun-loving American in a foreign land, Teacher Pan is a tough guy with the nickname "Iron Fist". Mark also falls in love with a woman named Ming, but he comes to understand that their love can never be a reality. In the movie, Mark encounters all kinds of discrimination; despite his ability to speak Mandarin, he is still perceived as a foreigner. He also experiences closeness and friendship. Mark gains an understanding of the nuances of Chinese culture, how China is a combination of politics, ancient history, and the individual lives of people. The movie has great images of serpentine rivers curving through canyons, as well as everyday scenes like busy markets and streets. This movie really appealed to me because I often feel caught between two cultures(my parents are rather traditional Chinese-Americans), though in a different way than Mark does.
Rating:
Summary: what a heartwarming eye-opener!
Review: Mark Salzman writes of his experiences while teaching in China. His book reminded me a little of the Tony Hillerman and "The No. 1 Detective Agency" series in that they all give us a look at an entirely different culture that many of us know little about. He is a martial arts student and continued learning from masters in China during his stay as a teacher. In some ways we could learn a little from their polite culture and they could learn from ours. They are a much more family oriented than I realized, children remaining with their parents until married in many cases and they are more respectful of their parents and others around them than many of us are. Their homes did not compare in any way to what we are used to, but, you know, when you've never had it, you don't know what you are missing and as most of them were in the same circumstances, they do with what they have. This is not to say that everything was great, because it wasn't, there were many things that could have been improved upon, but the book wasn't about that. It was an account by the author of his experiences and friendships that he developed during his stay in China. We get to know about a lovely group of individuals and how they lived and worked. The politeness, and their way of showing hospitality was endearing. I would have to say that Mark must have had a special touch also for them to react so warmly to him. His sincere interest in their martial arts and learning their calligraphy, etc. drew their support also. If you'd like to know more about how many of the people live and their customs this is a wonderful book that will give us a good unbiased view of them. Highly recommended! Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Iron and Silk
Review: [This is more of a comparison btwn the movie and book] I had to read the book and watch the film for an English class. I found the book to be an easy and fun read. The film and book in many ways are completely different but good in their own ways. I recommend seeing the film and reading the book for a thorough coverage. But knowing what really happened to Salzman remains a question because the "love story" seems to have two different sides. Btw, I think he wasn't such a bad actor considering he was also the author (in response to someone's previous review). Oh, I did find that although I really enjoyed the book that when it came time to writing a paper some of the movie's scenes stuck with me more when discussing cultural mis/understandings. Finally, I enjoyed the book and found it a great insight into the Chinese culture (especially during the 80's- check out Salzman's shorts in the film, ha!). Sometimes I felt it was a bit too focused on Salzman. But in this way I feel it's also a book about being a student of life (or just wushu, calligraphy, tai chi, etc...).
Rating:
Summary: excellent and entertaining!
Review: i was assigned this novel for a course and thought it would be another dry novel such as the ones typically assigned for university history courses. i was pleasantly surprised! salzman's sense of humor and good natured relating of the events surrounding his two years in china is only surpassed by his knowledge and understanding of the culture he lived in for those years. it is an excellent story for anyone who is learning about china or simply wants to know more about the culture. salzman's view as an american looking in is especially helpful for western readers.
Rating:
Summary: Well written travel story
Review: This book is an account of the two years Mark Salzman spent as an English teacher at the Hunan Medical College. Salzman arrived in Hunan Province in 1982, fresh from Yale, where he had graduated with a degree in Chinese literature. He took with him his cello and his experience studying Chinese martial arts. Salzman was an ideal American emissary- -he brought his youthful yet serious enthusiasm to the classroom, and forged ties with the local populace through sharing his skills and interests. Once he even consented to attempt to tune a piano for his supervisor, his only qualification for the task being that he was familiar with the sound of well-tuned pianos back home. He befriended local fishermen and shared his art and music with them, but he also got to know Chinese grad students and professors through his interest in calligraphy and Chinese language. Foremost in his interests was martial arts. Before arriving in China, Salzman had studied Chinese martial arts for 9 years. He hoped to find a teacher of martial arts, or wushu, so that he could continue his practice while in Hunan. Because of his openness to meet others and because of his language skills, he eventually met and studied with some remarkably skilled wushu teachers in Hunan, including Pan Qingfu, perhaps the most renowned living practitioner of Chinese martial arts in the world. Much of Salzman's account is a record of how he met these teachers, and how they helped him develop his skill, each in his own particular way and style. Salzman's interest in calligraphy and martial arts opened doors for him that otherwise may never have appeared. Practicing calligraphy and wushu gave him the excuse for meeting Chinese citizens with similar interests, and for them to seek him out. But Salzman points out the ethical dark side of pursuing these interests as a foreigner. Salzman is very aware of the fact that, while he has studied martial arts for 9 years, no matter how seriously he had applied himself, he had practiced only on a hobby basis, a background to his academic and professional pursuits. On a Chinese scale, his 9 years of part-time study would barely constitute dallying with the sport. Yet because he was a foreigner who seemed to demonstrate such a serious degree of interest in the topic, he had access to the very best teachers, famous superstars that few Chinese wushu students could every dream of meeting. This is not meant to criticize Salzman, as he himself pointed out several times how distressed he was when his teachers would ignore their Chinese students so as to focus on his personal needs. Situations where an interested Westerner is given attention by experts that far exceeds that merited by their skills are unfortunately, quite common. Indeed, many Western musicians of very average talent manage to be accepted as students by famous classical Indian musicians, who may be fascinated by a Westerner who seems seriously interested in Asian music, or who may simply think that having Western students will somehow add to their prestige. I, myself, have benefited from such circumstances while studying Indian music, finding that my teachers give me extra attention or praise that is merited only by the color of my passport. What is remarkable about this book is how much Salzman is aware of this conundrum as he sees it playing out, and how he shows maturity in trying to address the situation both with humility and devotion to his art.
Rating:
Summary: what a heartwarming eye-opener!
Review: Mark Salzman writes of his experiences while teaching in China. His book reminded me a little of the Tony Hillerman and "The No. 1 Detective Agency" series in that they all give us a look at an entirely different culture that many of us know little about. He is a martial arts student and continued learning from masters in China during his stay as a teacher. In some ways we could learn a little from their polite culture and they could learn from ours. They are a much more family oriented than I realized, children remaining with their parents until married in many cases and they are more respectful of their parents and others around them than many of us are. Their homes did not compare in any way to what we are used to, but, you know, when you've never had it, you don't know what you are missing and as most of them were in the same circumstances, they do with what they have. This is not to say that everything was great, because it wasn't, there were many things that could have been improved upon, but the book wasn't about that. It was an account by the author of his experiences and friendships that he developed during his stay in China. We get to know about a lovely group of individuals and how they lived and worked. The politeness, and their way of showing hospitality was endearing. I would have to say that Mark must have had a special touch also for them to react so warmly to him. His sincere interest in their martial arts and learning their calligraphy, etc. drew their support also. If you'd like to know more about how many of the people live and their customs this is a wonderful book that will give us a good unbiased view of them. Highly recommended! Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: simple, touching and funny!
Review: Iron and silk (vhs) is such a simple movie based on the book also written and then acted by Mark Salzman. with his good looks and winning personality, this movie has a big quality of sweetness in it between the people of china and mark. there were misunderstands and misgivings about the different culture, but mark made the best of his time there. the book is more of a series of short stories, and the movie try to incoporate the different scenes. the romance in the movie is that evident in the book, but it makes it more commercial. everybody wants a love story in their movies. this movie is great to watch now, and its funny! response to previous review, the short shorts are hilarious and mark salzman singing communist songs!
but i love everything that mark salzman does. he is so enthusiatic and 100% with whatever he is curious and passionate about.
Rating:
Summary: Exploring China
Review: When many Americans think of China, their immediate association is with the food for which it is famous. Few of us would think of an air of extreme, almost maniacal politeness and even fewer, a haven of martial artistry. But Mark Salzman, known for his earlier memoir Lost in Place as well as several novels, shows us these characteristics of the world he could only dream about in his previous memoir. Throughout Iron & Silk, he seems as fascinated by the world he has been exploring as he expects the reader to be. In an appropriate format of often-detached but thematically linked short stories, he presents the foreign society from as objective a perspective as he can. In his writing, Salzman uncovers some important ideas in Chinese psychology. He does reveal the ridiculous qualities of the nation's bureaucracy as they affect him; he has immense difficulty travelling throughout the nation, not to mention ordering medicine for his Athlete's foot. Perhaps more important, though, is his discovery of what appears to be a societal paradigm: many aspects of Chinese life consistently show a preference of the rote completion of rituals over the actual meaning or intent of those rituals. This is reflected not only in the clearly unnecessary bureaucratic proceedings but also in the attitudes of the people Salzman meets; they are consistently ridiculously friendly to complete strangers but treat their own children like "furniture." "That," he is told, "is the Chinese way." Salzman manages to paint a very rich, believable portrait of a foreign world which it is hard to believe exists to this day, across the ocean from us. In spite of the book's format which abruptly changes setting and characters, China comes across as a coherent whole and though-provoking ideas burst from the pages of this quaint and powerful memoir.
Rating:
Summary: heart warming
Review: I discovered this book first in movie form, thanks to that wonderful socialist institution, the public library. For some reason, I was quite moved by this memoir of a young American's two years teaching English in China. The book and the movie share a straightforward, simple narrative style that works well with the collection of warm hearted episodes to deliver an almost magical sense of modern China. I'm a slow reader, so this is the first book in a years that I've read through in only two days. It goes down easy and has a clean aftertaste.
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