culture, Chinese people, and Chinese society.

One of the most difficult subjects to address in discussing popular culture is
that of "lifestyles," since it has so many features and interrelated aspects. Nev-
ertheless, Rebecca Weiner in "Lifestyles: Commercialization and Concepts of
Choice" has managed to focus on the crucial characteristics of contemporary
Chinese conceptions of lifestyle choices and concerns, while providing the
reader with a wealth of bibliographical detail on every dimension of the subject,
from economics and political struggles to sexuality and child care. E. N. An-
derson turns our attention to an even more ubiquitous element of popular culture,
"Food." Although this aspect of Chinese culture is perhaps the only one with
which most Americans have some familiarity, Anderson demonstrates how much
there is to know about the tremendous variety of Chinese food and the cultural
implications of that diversity. Ione Kramer in "Tea Drinking and Its Culture"
demonstrates the degree to which tea drinking is more a matter of cultural com-
munication than of consumption. Particularly of interest to many will be her
discussion of the revitalization of teahouses since the end of the Cultural Rev-
olution.

Jordan Paper provides a new perspective on the conception of Chinese spir-
ituality in "Religion," which focuses on the daily rituals and beliefs of the
masses rather than on the formal philosophical and religious systems, such as
Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, that usually define this subject and ex-
clude the bulk of actual popular religious practice. After having read his chapter,
readers will more readily understand why we have placed Hsiao-Hung Lee
Chinese Herbal Medicine immediately after it. Cosmology and philosophy
are crucial ingredients, alongside of herbs and attitudes, in the evolution and
application of herbal medicine throughout China, as well in its adaptations by
Westerners. Lee's study excels in providing information about both Chinese and
English studies on this subject.

In some ways, it is difficult to determine whether Chinese traditional popular
sports are part of the physical culture of sport as we understand it in the West
or more a continuation of religion and medicine. Susan Brownell chapter,
Sports," outlines the historical development of sport in China, including a
discussion of the relationship of traditional sports and the introduction and pop-
ularization of Western sports, particularly those associated with the Olympics.
J. A. English-Lueck Taijiquan and Qigong provides a detailed examination
of two of China's traditional sports, which remain widely popular and are prac-
ticed as components of maintaining psychic and physical health. Zhang Wei and
Tan Xiujun, on the other hand, in their chapter on Wushu focus on the
popular culmination of China's evolution of the martial arts.

The mass media are generally thought of as a contemporary phenomenon,
and while Xu Xinyi The Chinese Mass Media does emphasize the past
half-century, it also details the long history of Chinese newspapers. Of special
value is Xu's discussion of the ways in which government-controlled mass me-
dia are organized but nevertheless respond rapidly and extensively to audience

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