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Against All Odds: Famous and Infamous Women of China and Some Contemporary Achievers 220 BC - 1995 AD

by Molly Phillips

165 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #00-0045; ISBN 1-55212-381-2; US$21.50, C$24.50, EUR17.50, £12.50

A study of famous Chinese women, from ancient to modern.

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about the book      about the author      sample chapter      catalogue info

About the Book Against All Odds is a fascinating and comprehensive look at the history of historical and contemporary Chinese women from 220 B.C. to the present day.

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About the Author Molly Phillips was born in Hong Kong in 1909. Her father, Sidney Frank Ricketts, an electrical engineer, was sent out by his firm in Britain in 1903 to build the first electric power house in Canton. Her mother, Ruth Lavinia Briscombe, a teacher, was appointed by the British Wesleyan Methodist Church to serve in Canton as a teacher. The couple met in Canton and were married there in 1908. When the power house was completed, Sidney's firm moved him to Hong Kong and in October, 1909, Molly was born. She was named Mary but as the Cantonese have no R sound in their language, the Chinese name for Mary was pronounced Mahlay, which very soon became Molly and by that name she is best known. When the Revolution of 1911 occured, life in China was so chaotic that it was impossible to do business with Chinese firms. Consequently the Ricketts family emigrated to Canada where Molly was brought up and educated. After completing her university degree in 1929 she continued her studies in teacher training at which time she met her future husband, Richard Gaundry Phillips. But the Great Depression made it impossible to find a job. Molly was offered a three-year teaching position in Canton which she and her fiancé agreed that she should accept as when she returned surely Richard (Dick) would have work. But five months after Molly arrived in Canton a teaching position opened for Dick also in Canton and he immediately accepted. Whem Molly completed her contract, they were married in Canton and later moved to Hong Kong when Dick's teaching position was transferred to that city. Two boys were born to them in Hong Kong and in January 1939 they returned to Vancouver on leave, but with the outbreak of World War II in August of 1939 they were unable to return to the Orient. It was not until 1974 that they way opened up for Molly to take a group of friends to China and from that time until the mid-1990s Molly managed 26 trips to China, 22 as leader of tour groups, one to the International Tourist Convention in Beijing, one to teach at Yantai University summer school, one as a guest of the province of Shandong, and one to explore possible inter-university relations for the Federation of Canada-China Friendship Associations which had been formed in 1980 to unite the fifteen associations that had organized across Canada.

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Sample Chapter or Table of Contents

CONTENTS

I. ANCIENT LOVE

1. Sacrificial Love - Meng Jiangnu (circa 258-220 B.C.)
2. Dream Maiden - Part 1 - Wang Chao Chun (52 B.C. - 18 A.D.)
3. Beloved Queen - Part 2 - Wang Chao Chun

II. POWER, PASSION AND POETRY

1. Fighting Her Way to the Top - Empress Wu (622-705 A.D.)
2. A Kingdom Lost for a Concubine's Love - Yang Kuei Fei (718 - 756 A.D.)
3. Superb Poetess - Li Cn'ing Chao (1084-1151 A.D.)

III. THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE

1. Part 1 - Tzu-hsi's Rise to Power
2. Part 2 - Tzu-hsi as Regent
3. Part 3 - The Final Struggle

IV. THE SOONG TRIUMVIRATE

1. Love of Money - Soong Ai-ling (1890-1975)(Madame Kung Hsiang-hsi)
2. Love of Country - Soong Ching-ling (1892-1981)(Madame Sun Yat Sen)
3. Love of Power - Soong Mei-ling (1897-19--)(Madame Chiang Kai Shek)

V. CONTRASTING RESPONSES TO REVOLUTION

1. Part 1 - Rebellious Youth - Jiang Jiang (Madame Mao Tse-tung) 1914-1991
2. Part 2 - Jiang Jiang's Revenge
3. Part 3 - Beloved Author and Social Conscience - Bing Xin (1900-1999)

VI. CONTEMPORARY ACHIEVERS

1. Innovative Manager - Zei Mei Wing (1934- )
2. She Makes Clay Live - Zhang Runzi (1928- )
3. Practical Christian Dreamer - Liu Nian-fen (1920- )

VII. WOMEN OF MINORITY NATIONALITIES

1. From Camel Tender's Daughter to Fashion Clothes Executive - Qian Ziuzhen (1938- )
2. Matriarchal Society, the Naxi Version
3. Twelve Minority Women Introduce Themselves and At the Feast - Making Love the Minority Way

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Catalogue Information

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