Infinite Swissness - http://www.swissairgroup.com

Editor's picks

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  Learn Chinese - Flash Cards for Beginners

  eBooks (Wells Gray Press)
  

  Rating (4 reviews):

  (3.0/5)

  

  Awesome for Beginniers!

  I don't know what this guy is talking about, of course you don't receive flash cards, it's an E-BOOK! E meaning electronic.These cards are great if you are just starting to learn Chinese. It's a great introduction to Chinese characters, their meanings, and how to say them. 5/5 Jenn777 - See all my reviews This review is from: Learn Chinese - Flash Cards for Beginners (Kindle Edition) I don't know what this guy is talking about, of course you don't receive flash cards, it's an E-BOOK! E meaning electronic.These cards are great if you are just starting to learn Chinese. It's a great introduction to Chinese characters, their meanings, and how to say them. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , July 24, 2011

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  Great introduction to Chinese

  This is a great study aid for anyone wanting to begin learning Chinese mandarin and looking for a really useful way of using an e-reader to teach yourself a language.Flash cards work really well on the kindle as each image can be displayed on an individual page, making them easy to learn and work through. It introduces a good range of simple words across a number of everyday topics providing a great starting foundation of Chinese. Good for all age ranges and easy to use. Each character is shown first and then you can flip to the next flash card which shows the English and Pinyin expressions, which allows you to learn to pronounce and say each word. There is also a short section at the start of the book which introduces the basics of Pinyin and how words and tones should be spoken.This has been a great starting point for me going on to learn more comprehensive Chinese.Overall a really useful learning tool!I also found the other titles in... 5/5 Matt4652 - See all my reviews This review is from: Learn Chinese - Flash Cards for Beginners (Kindle Edition) This is a great study aid for anyone wanting to begin learning Chinese mandarin and looking for a really useful way of using an e-reader to teach yourself a language.Flash cards work really well on the kindle as each image can be displayed on an individual page, making them easy to learn and work through. It introduces a good range of simple words across a number of everyday topics providing a great starting foundation of Chinese. Good for all age ranges and easy to use. Each character is shown first and then you can flip to the next flash card which shows the English and Pinyin expressions, which allows you to learn to pronounce and say each word. There is also a short section at the start of the book which introduces the basics of Pinyin and how words and tones should be spoken.This has been a great starting point for me going on to learn more comprehensive Chinese.Overall a really useful learning tool!I also found the other titles in... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , April 15, 2011

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  what's the interest ?

  A selection of letters? Any Chinese dictionary does better than this one.I downloaded it and returned it 10 minutes later. I'd like to know from learners if this really is helpful? 1/5 Zhongjun Liu "中鈞" (Paris, France) - See all my reviews, March 9, 2012

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  List Price: $3.49
  

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  Pop Suey - Chinese Music Treats

  Digital Music Album (R2G Music)
  

  Rating (6 reviews):

  (3.0/5)

  

  No Matter What

  Contrary to what the previous reviewer says, I think that these songs are beautiful and they are not useless to me. I do not understand Mandarin Chinese either but I love the songs.You brain does not need to understand the lyrics. It is your heart and soul that needs to feel the beat and the sounds. You need to feel to understand. After all Music is the universal language. 5/5 Big Papa Jess - See all my reviews This review is from: Pop Suey - Chinese Music Treats (MP3 Download) Contrary to what the previous reviewer says, I think that these songs are beautiful and they are not useless to me. I do not understand Mandarin Chinese either but I love the songs.You brain does not need to understand the lyrics. It is your heart and soul that needs to feel the beat and the sounds. You need to feel to understand. After all Music is the universal language. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , June 21, 2011

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  Listen to the music

  Amazon music store has music sampler from around the world, Nigeria, Israel, and now we have some Chinese pop here! This sampler selection is good, some more variety will be even better. I recommend track 3 for its cultural element mixed in a standard ballad. We can speak every language, but it's music that we listen to. 4/5 CompulsiveShopper - See all my reviews This review is from: Pop Suey - Chinese Music Treats (MP3 Download) Amazon music store has music sampler from around the world, Nigeria, Israel, and now we have some Chinese pop here! This sampler selection is good, some more variety will be even better. I recommend track 3 for its cultural element mixed in a standard ballad. We can speak every language, but it's music that we listen to. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , June 4, 2011

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  NOT like Carsick Cars

  Being a big fan of Carsick Cars, and international music in general, I had high hopes for this sampler. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the one-dimensional nature of the music selected. If you like syrupy ballads and love songs, you may like this - especially if you understand the language. It was not what I was looking for, though.If you want a much more varied (and rock-oriented) sampler, check out . Unfortunately, it's no longer free, but it might end up being purchase-worthy for you. Also, I highly recommend you check out the "Chinese Radiohead" - Carsick Cars. 3/5 Oliver Ready "Kwaping" (Southern California) - See all my reviews, June 21, 2011

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  Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters, Vol. 1: A Revolutionary New Way to Learn and Remember the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters

  Book (Tuttle Publishing)
  

  Rating (72 reviews):

  (4.3/5)

  

  The Ultimate Course in Chinese Characters!

  I so wish I had had this book when starting to learn Chinese! While studying on my own, I was fascinated with Chinese characters, but I never managed to retain them. During an immersion course in Beijing, I learned to memorize Chinese characters by rote, just writing them over and over again - it worked for the 6 weeks I was there since I had classes every day and used the characters a lot. However, back home and only studying Chinese once a week or so, I quickly forgot all but the most common ones again.Then I stumbled upon James Heisig and his method for learning Kanji (Chinese-derived characters used in Japanese). It was enlightening! I actually remembered the characters, and I can still remember them several years later! Unfortunately many characters in his book aren't really useful when learning Chinese, or they may even teach you incorrectly due to the meanings having changed over time. But I had learned what method would work for people with an analytical Western... 5/5 Sprachprofi "Judith" (Germany) - See all my reviews This review is from: Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters, Vol. 1: A Revolutionary New Way to Learn and Remember the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters (Paperback) I so wish I had had this book when starting to learn Chinese! While studying on my own, I was fascinated with Chinese characters, but I never managed to retain them. During an immersion course in Beijing, I learned to memorize Chinese characters by rote, just writing them over and over again - it worked for the 6 weeks I was there since I had classes every day and used the characters a lot. However, back home and only studying Chinese once a week or so, I quickly forgot all but the most common ones again.Then I stumbled upon James Heisig and his method for learning Kanji (Chinese-derived characters used in Japanese). It was enlightening! I actually remembered the characters, and I can still remember them several years later! Unfortunately many characters in his book aren't really useful when learning Chinese, or they may even teach you incorrectly due to the meanings having changed over time. But I had learned what method would work for people with an analytical Western... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , January 17, 2008

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  Don't use this book in isolation

  I have finally worked my through this entire book and the pages are thumb worn so I believe I can offer an informed review. At first I really liked it and felt it was helping me learn the Hanzi characters quickly. However, after now studying Chinese for over a year I would not recommend the approach I took. I tended to use this book in isolation, learning characters, writing them out, and using homemade flashcards, but not reading them in actual text. I think that that is a big mistake. I have found I need to see the characters in an actual text to really digest them. Perhaps if the student uses this book while learning new characters from a Chinese textbook that would be better, but I would advise strongly against just plowing through the book as I did, learning one character after another and thus do less reading. I find that you don't retain the Hanzi this way.My second criticism is that the book's stories for the characters sometimes seem to determine how they... 3/5 Brooklynnative "Brooklynnative" (China) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters, Vol. 1: A Revolutionary New Way to Learn and Remember the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters (Paperback) I have finally worked my through this entire book and the pages are thumb worn so I believe I can offer an informed review. At first I really liked it and felt it was helping me learn the Hanzi characters quickly. However, after now studying Chinese for over a year I would not recommend the approach I took. I tended to use this book in isolation, learning characters, writing them out, and using homemade flashcards, but not reading them in actual text. I think that that is a big mistake. I have found I need to see the characters in an actual text to really digest them. Perhaps if the student uses this book while learning new characters from a Chinese textbook that would be better, but I would advise strongly against just plowing through the book as I did, learning one character after another and thus do less reading. I find that you don't retain the Hanzi this way.My second criticism is that the book's stories for the characters sometimes seem to determine how they... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , January 11, 2010

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  not for everyone (anyone?)

  Although this book seems to please many reviewers, I think that it is too limited to be of great help to other serious learners. To begin with, the definitions are too limited and not really very accurate. To take two examples, their character 137 is xian1 which is defined as "ahead," but the central meanings are surely "first," "previous," and "before." "Ahead" is one of the meanings, but to single it out and present it all by itself is very misleading. Character 145 is dao4, which is defined as "way," and the little mnemonic story suggests that it is to be taken in the sense of "which way should you walk?" Again, the central meanings are surely "road" and "path."A second fault is the method itself. People may be able to learn characters fairly rapidly this way, and that might help them on exams, but they may also find that they have to go through the whole song and dance each time they want to bring a character to mind. I once taught myself Morse code using short... 1/5 Charles W. Strong (McMinnville, OR United States) - See all my reviews, May 14, 2010

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  List Price: $29.95
  

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• 

  Chinese folk-lore tales

  Book (Nabu Press)
  

  Rating (2 reviews):

  (1.0/5)

  

  Bad Kindle Conversion - Don't Bother

  For some reason this book has quite a bit of missing text. The biggest mystery is why other sources from the Gutenberg Project have the full stories along with the pictures and text that this version is missing. A really bad Kindle conversion. 1/5 Lajean Keller "LaJean" (California) - See all my reviews, October 16, 2011

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  Missing Text-Don't buy!

  This book has alot of missing pages.Therefore,it's kind of hard to read.For example,it's talking about an emperor right now,and suddenly it starts talking about someone who died.I didn't enjoy this book that much. 1/5 Legleg - See all my reviews This review is from: Chinese Folk-Lore Tales (Kindle Edition) This book has alot of missing pages.Therefore,it's kind of hard to read.For example,it's talking about an emperor right now,and suddenly it starts talking about someone who died.I didn't enjoy this book that much. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , April 14, 2012

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  List Price: $24.75
  

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  Sales! Ancestry Cookery 14 Piece Chinese Dining Set with Square Steamer for Two

  Kitchen (Ancestry Cookery)
  

  Rating (2 reviews):

  (4.0/5)

  

  Japanese Style not Chinese

  Lived in both China and Japan and can say by a quick glance its Japanese style and not similar to Chinese. I dont own the set so cant talk about its quality...looks good though(just not Chinese as advertised) 3/5 Doolie1 - See all my reviews This review is from: Sales! Ancestry Cookery 14 Piece Chinese Dining Set with Square Steamer for Two Lived in both China and Japan and can say by a quick glance its Japanese style and not similar to Chinese. I dont own the set so cant talk about its quality...looks good though(just not Chinese as advertised) Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , January 1, 2012

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  very good

  Es un buen producto, me gusto el servicio y el precio esta aceptable. Lo que no me gusto es que Amazon me obligue a escribir minimo 20 palabras en el review. 5/5 JOSE ESCOBAR "ferescogi" (miami, florida) - See all my reviews, September 7, 2011

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  2 Soy Sauce Plates, 2 Pairs of Chopsticks with Rests,

  Nicely packaged. Ready to be shipped as a gift!

  and 2 Black-and-Red Dining Mats

  Chinese Dining Set with Flowers Pattern for Two

  Includes 1 Square Steamer with Lid, 2 Bowls, 2 Appetizer Plates,

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  The Chinese Fairy Book

  eBooks
  List Price: $0.00
  

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  Chinese Traditional Music

  Digital Music Album (Autumn Hill Records)
  

  Rating (3 reviews):

  (4.0/5)

  

  this CD is driving me CRAZY!

  First, let me say that I really really like this CD -- I recently bought a bunch of allegedly "traditional" Asian music CDs (new for me) and this one was my favorite. It's very mellow, mostly just an instrument or two, flute or plucked strings. And the few livelier tracks are very beautiful too. I am subtracting one star ONLY FOR TOTAL VAGUENESS! What IS this CD? Who are the artists? When and where was it recorded? NONE of this information is on the packaging. And the record "label" (Autumn Hill Records) doesn't seem to have a website. I would love to believe that this is just field recordings (good ones) made by some archivist traveling the countryside or something, and listening to many of the tracks that supposition can be maintained, at least by the untrained ear. But a few of the melodies sound distinctly western to me ... and track 15 is in fact clearly based on a well-known Baroque tune -- heard it a million times but can't quite place it, I think it's Bach. And I... 4/5 River Flow (nyc) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Chinese Traditional Music (Audio CD) First, let me say that I really really like this CD -- I recently bought a bunch of allegedly "traditional" Asian music CDs (new for me) and this one was my favorite. It's very mellow, mostly just an instrument or two, flute or plucked strings. And the few livelier tracks are very beautiful too. I am subtracting one star ONLY FOR TOTAL VAGUENESS! What IS this CD? Who are the artists? When and where was it recorded? NONE of this information is on the packaging. And the record "label" (Autumn Hill Records) doesn't seem to have a website. I would love to believe that this is just field recordings (good ones) made by some archivist traveling the countryside or something, and listening to many of the tracks that supposition can be maintained, at least by the untrained ear. But a few of the melodies sound distinctly western to me ... and track 15 is in fact clearly based on a well-known Baroque tune -- heard it a million times but can't quite place it, I think it's Bach. And I... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , April 6, 2011

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  Good music, but buyer beware

  I bought this with two other albums, "Traditional Japanese Music" (it has similar cover art), and "Traditional Asian Music: Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Korean, Oriental Shamisen and Shakuhachi". It wasn't until I had them all on my ipod that I realized the same songs were on each album. For example:Chinese: "Massage"Japanese: "Japanese Relaxation"Asian: "Korean Melody"Three songs, attributed to three cultures, yet each song is exactly the same one. Every song on all these albums is the same way. They don't just sound similar, they are exact. And all of them have different titles.It's nice, relaxing music, just don't be fooled into buying all three. Forunately, I was able to get a refund for the extra albums through Amazon. 3/5 Alicia Harnois "Cerrita" (Palouse, Washington) - See all my reviews This review is from: Chinese Traditional Music (MP3 Download) I bought this with two other albums, "Traditional Japanese Music" (it has similar cover art), and "Traditional Asian Music: Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Korean, Oriental Shamisen and Shakuhachi". It wasn't until I had them all on my ipod that I realized the same songs were on each album. For example:Chinese: "Massage"Japanese: "Japanese Relaxation"Asian: "Korean Melody"Three songs, attributed to three cultures, yet each song is exactly the same one. Every song on all these albums is the same way. They don't just sound similar, they are exact. And all of them have different titles.It's nice, relaxing music, just don't be fooled into buying all three. Forunately, I was able to get a refund for the extra albums through Amazon. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , October 4, 2011

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  great CD

  We like to use asian music for relaxing during massage, while going to sleep, etc. This one is a little different -- I believe the music is more authentic and not Americanized like most similar recordings. 5/5 topcat44 (central Indiana) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Chinese Traditional Music (MP3 Download) We like to use asian music for relaxing during massage, while going to sleep, etc. This one is a little different -- I believe the music is more authentic and not Americanized like most similar recordings. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , December 25, 2010

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  Magnetic Poetry Kids' Chinese Kit

  Toy (Magnetic Poetry)
  

  Rating (6 reviews):

  (4.2/5)

  

  Useful for students of all ages

  This set of magnets is useful for anyone first learning to read Chinese, including adults. It includes just over 140 magnets, with a few key words ("I", "to be", "you", etc.) duplicated a few times. Several key Chinese particles and category words ("le", "de", "ge", etc.) are included, so you can compose actual grammatical Chinese sentences. The characters are aesthetically pleasing. This is a quality product with thought behind it.My set included an envelope with two corrected tiles (the originals had incorrect pinyin).I agree with the other reviewers that it would be much better to have the pinyin (Roman alphabet Chinese) on the reverse with the English: not only does it make the tiles less useful for character memorization, but also the refrigerator calligraphy you make with the tiles isn't as pretty.A little bit of Chinese knowledge is helpful for enjoying these tiles, but they're entirely suitable for anyone who has had their first few... 5/5 Kuru (Seattle) - See all my reviews = Durability:, July 28, 2011

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  Great Chinese learning tool

  I had initially gone looking for this for myself, but ended up buying it for my nieces first. They love it. They watch enough Ni Hao Kai-Lan to appreciate Chinese, plus they know my interest. They are barely school-age, but these magnets are great because they're relatively simple in vocabulary, yet enough to stoke their curiosity.I purchased my own set, as well. I wasn't thrilled about having the Pinyin (pronunciation guide) printed above the characters, but the magnets are soft enough that you can cut them off with scissors fairly easily. (Though I know Chinese well, I find that I stop reading the character and start reading the Pinyin words).My only regret is that they don't have expansion sets. Overall, this is a great product. 5/5 M. Sullivan (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews, October 17, 2010

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  Awesome Learning Tool!

  My son learned his letter sounds with letters on the refrigerator. My son learned to put together letters to make words with the letters on the refrigerator. And now, for the past 15 months, my son has been in Chinese Immersion school...it only makes since that has another reinforcement activity on the refrigerator!I don't know a thing about Chinese, but I do know that my son is doing an awesome job reviewing the Chinese characters on the refrigerator like he did when he was a toddler. He also loves to leave messages for me and tries to get me to learn to read it as well.Perhaps it was just good timing, but I am thrilled to have the pinyin on the same side as the character. The past 14 months of his instruction focused on the character. His class just began working on pinyin this month! I am very happy that he is able to put the character together with the pinyin!I am also thrilled with the price! Most Chinese reinforcement content that I have come... 5/5 JazzyMaxie (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews = Durability:, December 26, 2011

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  List Price: $16.95
  Price: $10.49
  You Save: $6.46 (38%)

  Flip magnets to switch to English

  Helps make learning another language fun and easy

  Your child can learn Chinese with simplified Chinese characters and their pronunciations

  Manufacturer's Suggested Age: 5 Years and Up

  These flippable magnets are printed on both sides

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  Spoken Chinese

  Mobile Application (Developer)
  

  Rating (3 reviews):

  (4.3/5)

  

  Good for learning conversation in Chinese

  For people learning Chinese or visiting China, this is very helpful. It covers the common topics for visitors to a foreign country. 5/5 Hengning Wu (VA, USA) - See all my reviews, December 24, 2011

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  Great app for China

  LIf tou live in China its essential to have this app. I can reas pinyin but its even more helpful to have the character as well. I cant access the voice recordings but it doesnt really matter. If youre really trying to learn Chinese rom scratch and arent in the country I can see how it would be helpful to have the feature. Also the dictionary on this app is OUTSTANDING. So many words. 5/5 Adrianne - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Spoken Chinese (App) LIf tou live in China its essential to have this app. I can reas pinyin but its even more helpful to have the character as well. I cant access the voice recordings but it doesnt really matter. If youre really trying to learn Chinese rom scratch and arent in the country I can see how it would be helpful to have the feature. Also the dictionary on this app is OUTSTANDING. So many words. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , March 2, 2012

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  Pretty decent

  It is worth downloading. It has native pronunciation of each phrase as well as the charachters and pinyin. The downside is it's fairly limited content wise. I would give it another star if it had more content not related to the typical travel, restaurant, hospital subjects. Add some more creative content. 3/5 Sean - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Spoken Chinese (App) It is worth downloading. It has native pronunciation of each phrase as well as the charachters and pinyin. The downside is it's fairly limited content wise. I would give it another star if it had more content not related to the typical travel, restaurant, hospital subjects. Add some more creative content. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , January 22, 2012

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  List Price: $0.00
  

  1,200 practical phrases in 12 topics

  List and flash cards

  Oral test

  Searchable and favorites

  Real human voice pronunciation for Chinese, English, and pinyin

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  Phases Of The Moon: Traditional Chinese Music

  Music (Sony)
  

  Rating (20 reviews):

  (4.5/5)

  

  Modern Scores of Traditional Themes

  I've been searching for a CD of uncompromising traditional/classical Chinese music. This is not it. Most of the tracks are 1950s and 1960s performances by The Chinese Broadcasting Traditional Instruments Orchestra, with up to 70 members indeed playing traditional instruments but not in traditional ensembles. Instead these are "orchestral" compositions of early Communist China, with obviously westernized musical structures. Still they are not all bad. In fact, a couple of tracks are quite enjoyable, equal to and rather comparable to the ballet suites of Aaron Copeland. On the other hand, a couple of tracks are pure Hollywood epic music, and for those misbegotten moons I'm deducted a star. But notice the price! If you have any taste for muiscal travel, go ahead, buy it! It's surely worth the chance. 4/5 Customer Formerly Known as Giordano Bruno - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Phases Of The Moon: Traditional Chinese Music (Audio CD) I've been searching for a CD of uncompromising traditional/classical Chinese music. This is not it. Most of the tracks are 1950s and 1960s performances by The Chinese Broadcasting Traditional Instruments Orchestra, with up to 70 members indeed playing traditional instruments but not in traditional ensembles. Instead these are "orchestral" compositions of early Communist China, with obviously westernized musical structures. Still they are not all bad. In fact, a couple of tracks are quite enjoyable, equal to and rather comparable to the ballet suites of Aaron Copeland. On the other hand, a couple of tracks are pure Hollywood epic music, and for those misbegotten moons I'm deducted a star. But notice the price! If you have any taste for muiscal travel, go ahead, buy it! It's surely worth the chance. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , October 30, 2007

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  Grand and beautiful

  This is a selection of orchestral music, including some beautiful, grand and moving pieces, from all across China. It is played by a (communist) Chinese orchestra using traditional instruments, organised along modern (European) lines, and the resulting synthesis is one of enchanted magnificence and awe which truly reaches within the soul. It also conveys the mystery and potential of Chinese creativity and its powerful yet delicate beauty. 5/5 A Reader - See all my reviews This review is from: Phases Of The Moon: Traditional Chinese Music (Audio CD) This is a selection of orchestral music, including some beautiful, grand and moving pieces, from all across China. It is played by a (communist) Chinese orchestra using traditional instruments, organised along modern (European) lines, and the resulting synthesis is one of enchanted magnificence and awe which truly reaches within the soul. It also conveys the mystery and potential of Chinese creativity and its powerful yet delicate beauty. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , September 19, 2005

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  Beautiful music

  This release provides a wide spectrum of orchestral music from the many regions of China. Using traditional Chinese instruments, these musicians present a widely varied set of music that ranges from sublimely tranquil to inspirationaly rousing. Every selection is of outstanding quality. My favorites include The Moonlight Reflected on the Pool and The Dance of the Yao People. 5/5 S. Finefrock (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews, January 30, 2003

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  List Price: $7.99
  

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