This reference grammar provides, for the first time, a description of the grammar of Mandarin Chinese, the official spoken language of China and Taiwan, in functional terms, focusing on the role and meanings of word-level and sentence-level structures in actual conversations.

A young teen escapes to America from Mao’s China in the early 60s and experiences the consequent culture shock of cruel racism, financial hardships, unexpected freedom, bewildering sexual mores, and the aching rejection and loneliness that so many immigrants face. Swept up in the 1960s antiwar movement in a pacifist and law-abiding way, Li is persecuted by the American law enforcement and immigration authorities. Timely and relevant for today’s enlightened anti-racist views. In The Bitter Sea, Charles Li’s unforgettable coming of age memoir, Li recounts the torturous pains of growing up in the early years of modern China. With his family’s fortune destroyed, he is left impoverished in a Nanjing slum and endures crippling starvation within the harsh confines of a Communist reform school, all set against the opulent decadence of the foreign “white ghosts” in British Hong Kong. The Turbulent Sea recounts Li’s escape to America and the shocking, cruel racism he not only endured but observed nationwide. His fantasy of a fair and free United States is challenged by the behavior of law enforcement, government, and even his college peers whose permissive sexual mores and disregard for outsiders leaves young Charles with a heartbreaking feeling of disappointment and loneliness. As in the case of so many immigrants worldwide who are seeking a better life, his myriad challenges include staying at the top of his class while struggling with financial hardships. He can’t even afford a winter coat in the middle of Maine’s brutal snowstorms, and perhaps more heartbreaking, no one seems to notice or care. Growing steadily more involved in the antiwar movement, Li, having suffered in Mao’s China, becomes a dissident among his cohorts for holding the view that Mao was the diametrical opposite of a revolutionary hero. Yet, for his pacifist and law-abiding protest activities, Li is persecuted by the American law enforcement and immigration authorities. Li’s intellectual and psychological journey at Bowdoin College, Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, is triumphant as he finds a group of talented friends who provide, at last, an opportunity for the love and care that eluded him for so long. Riveting, witty and illuminating, The Turbulent Sea is also an unconventional history of America’s 1960s from the perspective of a brilliant, quintessential outsider.

For fans of SHOGUN (and from the publisher of the bestseller WICKED by Gregory Maguire) comes another iconic story inspired by a real-life world-famous hero, LORD GUAN, the honorable warrior who tried to restore the Han dynasty in second-century China. His military maneuvers, warrior brotherhood, and an unexpected romance with a brilliant escaped concubine have inspired millions of people for generations. Lord Guan (also known as Guan-Yu) has been the subject of television, films, operas, and video games worldwide. Dozens of temples have been built to pay homage to him worldwide. He is known as the God of Good Fortune and also represents honor, courage and loyalty. This historical tale is now fully imagined in a dramatic and modern retelling and is being developed as a rap musical that will inspire readers of all generations for years to come. Guan Yu (160 - 220 A.D.), also known as Guan Gong (Lord Guan), has been celebrated as a pan-Asiatic hero for well over a thousand years. He has been repeatedly canonized and deified across Asia. This historically detailed novel tells the story of his humble beginnings in a rural setting, his unexpected journey into martial arts, the murder of his family members, his unexpected love story, and his emergence as an invincible warrior. It follows his dedication to restoring the great Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.) during a tumultuous and war-torn period in Chinese history. At the outset of his mission, he forms a brotherhood with two equally idealistic supporters of the Han Dynasty. Together, the three men, known as the Peach Garden Brothers, become the backbone of a military force competing against warlords for control of the declining Han Empire. Throughout the years of conflict, Lord Guan encounters Xian-Hui, a talented and educated beauty kidnapped by eunuchs from the Imperial Palace who is forced to serve as a concubine. With great courage, she escapes her bondage and unexpectedly meets Lord Guan during her frightening getaway. Lord Guan ultimately sacrifices his life for his mission. Although he did not succeed in restoring the Han Dynasty, his legendary exploits have become an integral part of Chinese folklore. He has endured in the hearts and minds of millions throughout history as a symbol of courage, integrity, and loyalty. This novel dramatically retells this enchanting true-life story, enriched with informative historical details. Lord Guan's adventures were first romanticized in the classic epic of Chinese literature, the 14th-century novel "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms." Charles Li's "Lord Guan" is a modern and dramatic retelling of this historically significant tale. Lord Guan's character has been commemorated through the centuries in thousands of shrines across Asia and in various media, including opera, film, art, literature, and video games. This novel highlights his journey and tells the story of the making of a timeless hero who symbolizes courage, honor, loyalty and integrity—values that will have broad appeal to readers of all ages during this challenging time.

Wappo is an indigenous language, generally regarded as a language isolate, which was once spoken in the Russian River Valley, just north of San Francisco, California. This reference grammar is based on the speech of Laura Fish Somersal, its last fluent speaker, who died in 1990, and represents the most extensive data and grammatical research ever done on this language. The grammar focuses on morphosyntax, particularly nominal, verbal, and clausal structures and clause combining patterns, from a functional/typological perspective.

A haunting and illuminating true story of growing up in the turbulent early years of modern China In this exceptional memoir, Charles N. Li brings into focus the growth pains of a nation undergoing torturous rebirth and offers an intimate understanding of the intricate, subtle, and yet all-powerful traditions that bind the Chinese family. Born near the beginning of World War II, Li Na was the youngest son of a wealthy Chinese government official. By the time he was twenty-one, he had witnessed enough hardship, hope, and tremendous change to last a lifetime. Li saw his family's fortunes dashed when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists came to power in 1945, transforming his father from a powerful official to a prisoner jailed for treason. He survived a year in a dangerous Nanjing slum and watched from his aunt's Shanghai apartment as the Communist army marched in and seized the city in 1948. He experienced both the heady materialism of the decadent foreign "white ghosts" in British Hong Kong and the crippling starvation within the harsh confines of a Communist reform school. He went from being Li Na—the dutiful Chinese son yearning for a harsh, manipulative father's love—to Charles, an independent Chinese American seeking no one's approval but his own. Lyrical and luminous, intense and extraordinary, The Bitter Sea is an unforgettable tale of one young man and his country.