East Asian Studies
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES, CULTURES AND SOCIETIES
Useful Reading
The books and films listed below have been chosen to try to give you a feel of the past and present of the
societies you will be studying. It is not compulsory to buy or read any of the books prior to your arrival at the
University of Leeds but you may wish to read those of particular interest to you. It is entirely up to you.
Reading lists for the individual modules you will be studying during your first year will be distributed by tutors at
the start of each semester.
Useful web sites for ordering books online include:
 www.blackwell.co.uk
 www.amazon.co.uk
China
General Reading
Barmé, G In the Red: On Contemporary Chinese
Culture, (Columbia University Press, 2000)
Becker, J The Chinese, (John Murray, 2003)
Chen, D Colors of the Mountain, (Random House,
2000)
Fenby, Jonathan ed., The Seventy Wonders of
China (London: Thames & Hudson 2007)
Gittings, J Real China: From Cannibalism to
Karaoke, (Pocket Books, 1997)
MacLeod, C and Zhang, L China Remembers,
(Oxford University Press, 1999)
Hansen, V The Open Empire: A History of China to
1600, (WW Norton & Company Ltd, 2000)
Kam Louie ed., The Cambridge Companion to
Modern Chinese Culture (Cambridge University
Press 2008)
Spence, J The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The
Chinese and their Revolution, 1895-1980,
(Penguin Books, 1987)
Films
Farewell My Concubine (1993), Kaige Chen
(Director)
To Live (1994), Yimou Zhang (Director)
Wong, J Red China Blues, (Bantam, 1997)
Textbooks
Japan
Buckley Ebrey, P The Cambridge Illustrated History
of China, (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
General Reading
Fairbank, J China: A New History, (Harvard
University Press, 1998)
Akutagawa R Rashomon and Seventeen Other
Stories, (Penguin 2006)
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Japan (cont.)
Bashō M Lips Too Chilled, (Penguin 2015)
Dalby, L Geisha, (Vintage, 2000)
Hendry, J Understanding Japanese Society,
(Routledge, 2012)
Inouye, C S Evanescence and Form: An
Introduction to Japanese Culture, (Palgrave, 2008)
Jansen, M The Making of Modern Japan, (Harvard
University Press, 2002)
Kirino N Out (Vintage, 2004)
Murakami, H The Elephant Vanishes, (Vintage,
2003)
Tipton, EK Modern Japan: A Social and Political
History, (Routledge, 2002)
Yoshimoto, B Kitchen (Faber and Faber, 2001)
Films
I Wish (2011), Hirokazu Koreeda (Director)
The Seven Samurai (1956), Akira Kurosawa
(Director)
Spirited Away (2005), Hayao Miyazaki (Director)
Wyatt, D Thailand. A Short History, (Silkworm
Books, 1991)
Peleggi, Maurizio (2007) Thailand: the Worldly
Kingdom, London: Reaktion Books.
Terwiel, B.J., (2005) Thailand’s Political History –
From the Fall of Ayutthaya to Recent Times,
Bangkok: River Books.
South East Asia
General Reading
Beeson, M (ed) Contemporary Southeast Asia:
Regional Dynamics, National Differences,
(Palgrave, 2004)
Halib, M and Huxley, T (eds) An Introduction to
Southeast Asian Studies, (Tauris Academic
Studies, 1996)
King, VT and Wilder, WD The Modern
Anthropology of South-East Asia: An Introduction,
(Routledge, reprint 2004)
Neher, C Southeast Asia in the New International
Era, (Westview, 2002)
Osborne, M Southeast Asia: An Introductory
History, (Allen and Unwin, 2000)
Thailand
General Reading
Cooper, R and Cooper, N Culture Shock Thailand:
A Guide to Customs and Etiquette, (Kuperard,
1991)
Mulder, N Inside Thai Society: Religion, Everyday
Life, Change, (Silkworm Books, 2000)
Pasuk, P and Baker, C Thailand: Economy and
Politics, (Oxford University Press, 2000)
Rodan, G et al (eds) The Political Economy of
Southeast Asia: Conflicts, Crises and Change,
(Oxford University Press, 2004)
Asia Pacific
General Reading
MacKerras, C (ed) Eastern Asia, (Longman, 2001)
McGrew, A and Brook, C (eds) The Asia-Pacific in
the New World Order, (Routledge, 1998)
Rajadhon, A Essays on Thai Folklore, (Thai InterReligious Commission for Development &
Sathirakoses Hagapradipa Foundation, 1988)
Watson, J (ed) Golden Arches East: McDonalds in
East Asia, (Stanford University Press, 2004)
Terwiel, BJ A Window on Thai History, (Editions
Duang Kamol, 2nd revised edition 1991)
Yahuda, M The International Politics of the Asia
Pacific: Since 1945, (Routledge, 3rd edition, 2004)
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