A Thousand Pieces of Gold: Growing Up Through China's Proverbs by Adeline Yen Mah


A Thousand Pieces of Gold: Growing Up Through China's Proverbs
Title : A Thousand Pieces of Gold: Growing Up Through China's Proverbs
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0060006412
ISBN-10 : 9780060006419
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 272
Publication : First published January 1, 2002

In this poignant memoir the New York Times bestselling author of Falling Leaves , Adeline Yen Mah, provides a fascinating window into the history and cultural soul of China. Combining personal reflections, rich historical insights, and proverbs handed down to her by her grandfather, Yen Mah shares the wealth of Chinese civilization with Western readers. Exploring the history behind the proverbs, she delves into the lives of the first and second emperors and the two rebel warriors who changed the course of Chinese life, adding stories from her own life to beautifully illustrate their relevance and influence today.


A Thousand Pieces of Gold: Growing Up Through China's Proverbs Reviews


  • Bookshop

    A friend was raving about this book and lent it to me. Initially, I was rather skeptical: after the success of "Wild Swan", there were tons of 'me-too' books wailing about the hardship of living under Communist China and how they got new lives overseas. One of which, I thought, was Adeline Yen Mah's Falling Leaves.

    But I had to eat my words. This is a very good book: 1/3 autobiography, 1/3 chinese history, 1/3 proverb explanation. Weaving two parts (autobiography and chinese history, ancient and modern) around proverb explanations to produce one complete, flowing story is a remarkable feat. At times, the relevance of one part to another seems jagged but I can't complain. It's a pleasure to read and, along the way, I find out more about the Chinese history. There are a lot of illustrations on the chinese philosophies and way of life, peeks into her own life, and lessons that history repeats itself.

    Fascinating. There is no need to understand chinese or its proverbs to enjoy this book.

    PS: now I am curious about "Falling Leaves"

  • Jinbin

    Adeline Yen Mah has become one of my favorite author. After reading her novel "Falling Leaves," I was fascinated by her storytelling and how she recalled her childhood experiences. In "A Thousands Pieces of Gold," Yen Mah provides the history and culture of China combined with her own personal experiences and the proverbs learned from her Ye-Ye(grandfather). In the book, she writes about the first and second emperors of China and as well as two warriors and constantly compared Mao Zhe-Dong with them. Yen Mah also explains how the proverbs can be used in the situation with her family. From reading this book, I learned a lot more about the Chinese history and culture and how China came to be today.

  • Lucy B

    Biography of an unwanted Chinese girl. Adeline is a real fighter. You won't only read her story, you'll feel it. One of my favorite books.

  • Alyssa Nelson

    A Thousand Pieces of Gold is a unique memoir that highlights various Chinese proverbs and uses the history of China to show how the proverb came into use; Adeline Yen Mah adds a personal touch to this by showing how that proverb relates to every day life by relating it to her own personal experience. I feel like this book is everything at once. It is informative and poignant and so beautifully crafted.

    I am in awe of Yen Mah’s ability to weave together such different stories into something seamless and absolutely riveting. This is a unique way to tell a story, and I was riveted from cover to cover. Even though I’d read her earlier memoir, Chinese Cinderella, I found that viewing her story through the lenses of the different proverbs she chooses to highlight put those stories in a new light. This has made me think that I need to read all of her works because of her abilities as a writer.

    If you have any interest in Chinese history, proverbs, or Adeline Yen Mah’s story, you will love this book I highly recommend it.

    Also posted on
    Purple People Readers.

  • Kathy

    I love anything this author writes. I enjoyed the history, culture and proverbs from this book.

  • Lyn Haines


    A Thousand Pieces of Gold: My Discovery of China's Character in Its Proverbs is fascinating blend of memoir and history written by
    Adeline Yen Mah the author of
    Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter.

    ‘The best proverbs come from our history ... Proverbs mirror the past to benefit the present.’

  • Jessica

    This is a very enjoyable and informative book. Adeline Yen Mah has pulled off a well balanced fusion of biography, ancient history, and modern history, whilst explaining Chinese culture through its proverbs. It sounds like too much to cram into one book, but somehow she did it. It was interesting the way she intertwined several different storylines and made them all relate to each other through the themes of the Chinese proverbs, showing how history repeats itself both on a national and a personal scale. It was particularly interesting to me because as a mandarin Chinese learner I am forever confused by the way native speakers throw proverbs around in conversation, and this book explained the origins of some of them. Overall a very interesting and thorough look into the Chinese culture and way of thinking.

  • Vivian

    Interesting but annoying. Of course I can’t expect this book to be a perfectly researched primer of Chinese proverbs, but at the same time I think we could ask for more professionalism in many, many ways.

    I think part of my dislike stems from my disbelief about how confident this book’s tone is, how much it demands our unquestioning belief. But of course that’s exactly what that general was thinking over 2000 years ago, and now we’ve been given a perfect translation of those ancient Chinese words into modern English. Really. I appreciate that Mah is no professional historian or researcher, but having dialogue and oversimplification makes me really distrust her words.

    I also have a hard time getting past Mah’s constant descriptions of her familial problems. I’m very sure she felt terribly treated, but at the same time I have to wonder that hers is the only voice broadcasted to the world – which leads me to doubt much of what she says happened. After all, can her childhood memories be so perfectly remembered and retold? And coming off Dave Egger’s unflinchingly honest self-inspection, I find Mah’s story to be a selfish revenge of sorts, with little remorse or doubt about consequences.

    I got this book because I wanted to get a bit more in touch with the Chinese language and culture, and while this was an easy read to swallow, its tone and its many impossibilities made it very annoying. I’ve got Falling Leaves on my bookshelf at home, but now, to tell the truth, I don’t want to read it.

  • Vivian

    The library houses this volume in the "folk literature, fairy tales, and proverbs" section, which somehow piqued my curiosity. I would say it falls more into either autobiography or history of China, but had it been in either of those places I would never have picked it up. The author is best known for her two autobiographical works FALLING LEAVES and CHINESE CINDERELLA.

    I found her personal applications of the proverbs her grandfather taught her which spring from the time of the 1st Emperor and the wars following his death to be fascinating. I especially appreciate learning that to know a country and its people one must have an understanding of its proverbs or sayings. It is the "salt in the stew" -- invisible to the untrained eye or palate, but seasoning all.

    The time of the 1st Emperor approximates the time of the Roman Empire. It was a period of massive construction--the Great Wall of China and many roads and canals. There was also great violence done to the people.

    The author shows many parallels to this emperor and Mao Tse Tung. Her account is drawn from an ancient book of Chinese history she calls SHIJI, which was written at great sacrifice to its author.

    I feel it imperative that we in the West be more cognizant of the ways of the East and this little volume makes this more possible.

  • M.

    I have mixed feelings about this book and am giving it 3.5 stars. I loved the telling of ancient Chinese history through its proverbs aspect as well as the snippets comparing that history to Mao's era and today. I feel I came away from this book knowing more about China and factors that have influenced its people over the generations and interested to learn more. Where I lost interest was in her personal family outtakes. At first I enjoyed them and saw the value in continuing the explanation of the proverbs from her own life prospective but pretty soon it was evident that these were just a way for her to vent about her stepmother cutting her out of her will. She managed to bring almost every proverb back to this event some way or another and by the end I was sick of hearing about it. I haven't read Falling Leaves yet but am now hesitant to pick it up least it is just more of the same. At least in this book I had the excitement of another storyline full of murder, revenge, conquest and the shaping of China to break up the monotony of the 'I had an evil stepmother who denied me my inheritance" story.

  • Sascha

    A Thousand Pieces of Gold is essentially a commentary of Sima Qian’s Historical Records, or 史記 (Shiji). The writing is, at times, extremely tedious and the personal testimonies are unnecessary, detracting from what could have otherwise been a very elegant book. Nevertheless I respect that it would have taken great courage and determination to write this book, and that the Author’s stories about why these proverbs are so important obviously matter to her even if the point is never properly made to the audience. There’s a loose thread in there somewhere, and the tapestry gets a little muddled. The stories matter less in the end then the history, and the history seems to matter more than the proverbs, and it only serves to make you wonder if Sima Qian pulled some of his penned phrases from The Odes or any of The Four Books.

    The positives about this book are that it incites you to read and provides a greater understanding of Chinese history, and a cultural background, to those that might not understand that history is an ever-present being that never really falls into the past.

  • Melanie

    This book is actually pretty good, I don't know why it took me so long to read it. Perhaps it was because of its own style, that alternates between Adeline's story and tales of the Chinese Warrying States period.
    I enjoyed how she put each proverb into context with either her own life, the war or even the Cultural Revolution, but at some times I struggled to understand why the hell she decided to put the Chinese phrase rather than the translated version. It gave me the same feeling I have whenever I see the meme of "Everything is going according to the keikaku*. *Translator's note: keikaku means "plan"."
    I did read Yen Mah's book "Chinese Cinderela", so I already knew a bit about the things that happened to her when she was younger and, in a way, I'm actually glad I read that book before I got this one. Her story is very intriguing and this book read like a good addition to that story. Plus, I really liked to know a bit more about the Warrying States era.

  • Eden

    While the decades of Chinese history begin to feel much the same after chapters and chapters of battles, schemes, usurping of thrones, and beheadings, the repetitive nature of the subject is no fault of the author, whose handling of her narrative structure is excellent. The way in which she interweaves her own life, the history of the First Emperor, and the history of Mao Zedong allows all three subjects to complement and support one another, giving the reader a strong sense of the circular nature of history and of the vast importance of their heritage to the Chinese mentality. Altogether, the book is an enlightening look at a subject many Westerners are all too unfamiliar with and certainly merits reading for the cultural exposure alone.

  • Anne

    As someone who is fascinated with Chinese history, I love this book that delves into the origins of Chinese proverbs. Many of the proverbs are based on actual historical events, while others reflect universal human values. Yen Mah has created a great resource. I found her writing a bit tedious though, and have to confess I didn't read this book completely through. I will keep it as a resource though, because it references important linguistic features of Chinese that one encounters often while studying the language.

  • Holly

    Adeline Yen Mah gives you ancient Chinese proverbs and then relates them to Chinese history,specifically the beginnings of the first two emperors of China and then the establishment of the Han Dynasty. She also does a little compare and contrast with the first emperor and Mao Tse-tung. She also adds stories of her own life to help illustrate their relevance to today. Worth reading just for the abbreviated biography of the author. She was born in China but most of her family left for Honk Kong during the communist revolution.

  • Shu

    "... the renowned British poet Philip Larkin ... described Chinese proverbs as 'white dwarfs' of literature because each was so densely compacted with thoughts and ideas... He said that the enormous heat radiated by these small stars is equivalent to the vast knowledge and profound wisdom contained in certain sayings gleaned from China."

    "General Meng Tian, who built the Great Wall, supposedly first invented the writing brush by binding rabbit or camel hair to a wooden shaft with string and glue and using pine soot as ink."

  • Patrick

    I would rate this book 1.5 stars only because it provided a good introduction to the history of the Warring States period. I was not very interested in the author's family history and I had issues with her interpretations on China's history and some of her editorial comments on Mao. Maybe it's because I had not read the author's autobiography, Falling Leaves, and therefore was not familiar with the back stories on her family their actions.

  • Mike DeLue

    Read while still in school and reread recently while on vacation to Taiwan and Hong Kong. A fascinating way of putting so much information into context for the unfamiliar reader and a great way to introduce yourself to Chinese history and culture. Adeline Yen Mah's writing is excellent and the story she has to tell is unique and engaging.

  • Mary Gilmartin

    This book gave me insight into the proverbs that the author gleaned from the writings of Sima Qian. Adeline Yen Mah's personal reflections with the history behind this provided a window into the Chinese mind. Reference, Chapter 3: Jing Xi Zi Zhi "Respect and cherish written word"

  • Dima

    personal favorite

  • Aaron

    Really enjoying the Chinese history behind the proverbs. The intermixing with her life parts were fine, but the proverbs and their historical origins were fascinating.