Archive for November 5th, 2007
A real General Tso — actually General Cao
Monday, November 5th, 2007Someone pointed to me that the defense minister is named Cao Gangchuan. He is a real General Cao, which is (more or less, though you can’t tell unless you know pinyin) pronounced General Tso, as Americans pronounced. Except of course, that General Tso is actually General Zuo Zongtang, and Zuo is pronounced, roughly, like “juoh.” […]
A mad rush of a pre-pub tour: four dinners in four cities in four days
Monday, November 5th, 2007This week I am on a pre-publication tour, going to different cities and having dinner at (where else?) Chinese restaurants with booksellers and local media. Julie Bosman does a nice job explaining the motivation for pre-pub tours in this piece from The New York Times. As she writes: Unlike the postpublication book tour, which focuses […]