“苏州老行当”画稿表现的是20世纪各个时期苏州市面上所见的诸业行当。随着经济的发展，人们生活方式的改变，有些已经消失，只能从图中得见，而其中大部分仍是家居生活中不可或缺的。这些画作既不像“北京民间生活彩图”那样，只给人物和器具，也不同于吴友如只用墨线勾勒的画作，而是将经营各种行当的特定场景都一一表现出来，如卖白兰花的姑娘行走在幽深的小巷中，剃头摊、小吃店没在跨河的拱桥畔，油漆匠在富家花园内劳作，渔夫、菜贩摇着般儿穿行于水巷叫志，采菱女泛舟于绿荷田田的湖上……画家采用了表现江南烟雨蒙蒙景色的彩墨渲染技法，使得画中的小桥、流水、粉墙黛瓦、街巷、人物似乎都被浸得湿漉漉的，尽显水乡屡动、婉丽的情境，令人想起8世纪诗人白居易咏呤江南的词句：“江南好，风景旧曾谙。日出江花红胜火，春来江水绿

Huang Hua just celebrated his 96th birthday. A graduate of Yenching University, he is a typical Chinese progressive intellectual of his time. In old China the suffering of the mon people and the pressing danger of losing the sovereignty of the entire nation led Huang Hua and millions of young people to join the struggle for China’s liberation. Huang Hua’s memoir is a book describing his more than 70 years of activities as a revolutionary and a diplomat. It reflects also many significant aspects of China’s modern political history. In his posts as ambassador and foreign minister he witnessed a great range of events in international relations and participated in the realization of the foreign policy of New China. As to the book’s style of writing, it is just like the character of the author-clear and straightforward, so it is easy to read and prehend.

Our book is such a tool, presenting the major points of Chinese history along a plete timeline, with parisons between the concurrent histories of China and the rest of the world. Covering a time span from 1,700,000 years ago up to AD 1911, the book includes influential historical events and figures in Chinese history, arranged in chronological order with pictures, illustrations, maps and charts. Distinguishing this book from other general introductory books on Chinese history, its contents have been arranged along a timeline, with the function of quick access highlighted by its innovative layout and a detailed index.

Peking Opera, known as Jing Ju (Capital Opera), has a history of more than 200 years. Because of its patronage by the ruling Qing,or Manchu, dynasty, Peking Opera grew from a local folk art .to the standard bearer of theatrical art. It attained the prominent status of Guo Ju or National Opera of China. After the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911, Peking Opera continued to gain popularity not only with the upper classes but also with students and intellectuals. By the 1920s, it had developed into a splendid art form and a popular means-of entertainment as well. In the capital alone, numerous theaters were established solely for op- era performances,and there were at least, three academies for training young performers and several pr0fess!onal opera troupes that performed every week.