Further reading suggestion: Lisa See’s first novel [[Peony in Love by Lisa See|Peony in Love]] takes a very female look at a much earlier period in Chinese history, or for a modern Westerner’s response to China, you could do a lot worse than Fuchsia Dunlop’s experience in [[Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop|Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper]] (which shows that some things have changed a little since the 1950s/60s)