Books and Films to educate about China

Question:

To help me learn more about the local culture(s), please recommend: books, films, television shows, foods and web sites.

Canadian Perspective:

A good place to start is the Lonely Planet Guide to China. Although these books were once the choice of backpackers going "off the beaten track," Lonely Planet Guides are actually filled with important information for travellers and expats working in China who want to get a start on the city they’re living in, as well as for those trips to different parts of the country. For historical perspectives on China, China: A New History by John K. Fairbank offers an important overview, as well as The Search For Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence. For up-to-date business and cultural information the Far Eastern Economic Review covers China extensively, and The Economist usually has articles pertaining to China as well. A good place to start for an understanding of modern China in the writer Lu Xun, who has been and is still being translated and discussed. For a collection of contemporary Chinese literature China’s Avant-garde Fiction (Duke University Press, 1998) gives an overview of newer writers. There are many young Chinese researchers who publish in English in the United States. The book Chinese Modern, although geared towards an academic audience, is an important historical survey of Chinese culture from the late nineteenth century until the present. China has an incredibly diverse music scene. One of the most well-known pop musicians is Cui Jian. From lilting ballads to rock to rap, Cui Jian does it all. One of the most important film directors in China is Zhang Yimou. I highly recommend his movie To Live, which is at turns a funny, sad, tragic and comic story of modern China. The movie is based on the novel of the same name by the contemporary writer Yu Hua. Useful internet links: http://deall.ohio-state.edu/denton.2/biblio.htm is up to date and contains, among other things, bibliographies of mostly English-language materials on modern Chinese literature, film, art, and culture.