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Preface
FOREWORD
"You have read about Singing My China Stories to the World
and now I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions."
This is how Dr. Mark H. Levine concludes the fascinating book you are about to read. And this is how I start the same book, by drawing my own conclusions about why you should read it.
Mark's book is multifaceted and I enjoyed the mix of genres contained in it (amongst others): stories, travel narratives, portraits of different people, but also educational commentaries and… songs! This beautiful and meaningful patchwork blends in interesting (new) knowledge about Chinese society beyond clichés and Mark's personal and diverse experiences of China.
As a specialist of intercultural communication and education, a field of research that looks into preparing people to meet across "cultures," I believe that Mark's very exciting book could replace many of the textbooks that we use to teach about intercultural matters. We have a lot to learn from his 15 years in China (and many more years to come)!
I read the book when the world was experiencing the dreadful COVID-19 crisis. I was still in Finland, unable to fly back to Beijing, where I usually spend my summers teaching and researching. Mark's book transported me back to China….