Welcome to Asia Bookroom

Asia Bookroom is a leading Asian bookselling specialist. We have a large stock of books old and new on China, Japan, India, Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Sri Lanka/Ceylon, Malaysia, Singapore, Timor Leste, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Himalayan region including Tibet and Central Asia. We stock books old and new on all of these areas - and many Asian themes and topics - for example cookery and food, religion and philosophy, Asian art and many more. Browse our site and subscribe to our mailing list for updates of new books as they arrive.

Below find a very small selection of some of our out of print and new book arrivals.

A Yankee on the Yangtze. Being a Narrative of a Journey from Shanghai Through the Central Kingdom to Burma.
GEIL, WILLIAM EDGAR.
AU$95.00
Black and white photographic plates, xv + 312pp, black and white frontispiece, with tissue guard, hardback, pictorial upper cover, binding soiled and worn, particularly at extremities, upper hinge cracked, ex-library, name on title page and one leaf, large bookplate front pastedown, large stamp lower pastedown, little loosening between gatherings but still quite sound. A narrative of a journey from Shanghai through the Central Kingdom to Burma. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 33139) ... more
Stock ID: 33139

Beijing Tai Tai.
MCCARTNEY, TANIA.
AU$23.99
280 pages, paperback. Laugh and cry at this collection of witty observations on Chinese expat life by CityWeekend?s own Family Matters columnist, Tania McCartney. Hilarious, intensely personal, at times a little controvesial, enjoy this rollercoaster ride of honesty and openness as a mother and wife (tai tai) juggles suburban family life in urban Beijing. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 128529) ... more
Stock ID: 128529

In the Valley of the Yangtse.
FOSTER, MRS. ARNOLD.
AU$135.00
Black and white illustrations, viii + 216pp, endpapers browned, upper hinge split, still a good copy in original pictorial boards with some light wear along upper joint. Mrs Arnold Foster was a missionary in China for 18 years by the time she wrote this book. Not withstanding the title of the book she describes in these pages events that take place not just in Hankow but also in Peking, Canton and other parts of China. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 20657) ... more
Stock ID: 20657

Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.
HEARN, LAFCADIO.
AU$45.00
Black and white frontispiece, 240pp, some occasional foxing, spine a little faded, very good copy in pictorial cloth. A good copy of what appears to be a very early impression. Kwaidan was immensely popular with 11 impressions of the first edition alone being published. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 130182) ... more
Stock ID: 130182

Post-Disaster Reconstruction. Lessons from Aceh.
CLARKE, MATTHEW ET AL (EDS).
AU$144.00
xxi +261 pages, index, hardback. On Sunday 26 December 2004, a tsunami of up to 30 metres high hit the northern tip of Sumatra in Indonesia, causing immediate destruction and the deaths of at least 130,000 in Indonesia alone. The scale of the devastation and ensuing human suffering prompted the biggest response endeavour to any natural disaster in history. "Post-Disaster Reconstruction" will be the first major book that analyses the different perspectives and experiences of the enormous post-tsunami reconstruction effort. It looks specifically at the reconstruction efforts in Aceh, one of the regions most heavily-hit by the tsunami and a province that has until recently suffered nearly three decades of armed conflict. Positioning the reconstruction efforts within Aceh's multi-layered historical, cultural, socio-political and religious contexts, the authors explore diverse experiences and assessments of the reconstruction. It considers the importance of the political and religious settings of the reconstruction, the roles of communities and local non-government organisations and the challenges faced by Indonesian and international agencies. From the in-depth examination of this important case study of disaster reconstruction - significant not only because of the huge scale of the natural disaster and response but also the post-conflict issues - the editors draw together the lessons learned for the future of Aceh and make general recommendations for post-disaster and post-conflict reconstruction-making. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 132824) ... more
Stock ID: 132824

Revolutionary Century. Art in Asia 1900-2000.
CARROLL, ALISON.
AU$99.00
Maps, colour photographic illustrations, 207 pages, index, bibliography, dustjacket. This book, with nearly 200 colour plates, aims to introduce the major themes and practices of art in Asia over the years 1900-2000. While national art histories have been written, there has not been an overview across the whole region - exposing the major themes that affected the art of individual countries within the whole geographic context. It was a century of change, and the focus is on the developments in art and art practice, particularly those adapted from outside. Beginning with a broad overview of the nature of art in Asia in the twentieth century, it is followed by a cross-region study divided into four parts: the setting leading in from the 19th century, the decades 1900-1940 followed by the period between World War II and 1960, and finally the years from 1960-2000. The major geo-political groupings of the region are discussed within each time-period. This has not been easy give that over this century, borders have changed and countries have been renamed. But Alison Carroll, with her many years of experience and travel throughout the region as Director of Asialink's Arts Program, is in an excellent position to provide this long-awaited study. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 132528) ... more
Stock ID: 132528

Yakuza. Japan's Criminal Underworld.
KAPLAN, DAVID E. AND ALEC DUBRO.
AU$20.00
Black and white photographic illustrations, xxii + 400pp, notes, glossary, bibliography, index, paperback, top edge bumped, otherwise very good copy. The authors "spent nearly two decades conducting hundreds of interviews with everyone from street-level hoodlums and police to Japan's most powerful godfathers. The result is a searing indictment of corruption in the world's second-largest economy." Publisher's description. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 132711) ... more
Stock ID: 132711

Fragrant Harbour. A Private View of Hong Kong.
OMMANNEY, F.D.
AU$25.00
223pp, map, neat name of a prior owner upper margin author's note leaf, good copy in protected dustjacket. Includes a chapter entitled "A Trip to Macao". (When referring to this item please quote stockid 41075) ... more
Stock ID: 41075

The West and the Map of the World.
RICHARDSON, MATTHEW.
AU$69.99
Maps, colour illustrations, ix + 278 pages, indices, notes, dustjacket. Inspired by antique maps and the mapmakers' global vision, The West and the Map of the World presents the past as a single narrative in which European history is an offshoot of Asian history. Matthew Richardson explains that the dominating ethos of the modern West owes more to hordes of Asian nomads, who colonised Europe, than to the classical civilisation of the Greeks and Romans. Surprising insights include reappraisals of the historic roles of Chinese bureaucrats, Greek cities, Christian explorers and the Dieppe maps, which spark arguments about Australia's discovery. Lavishly illustrated with more than 100 outstanding maps from the State Library of Victoria, and based on ancient and medieval writings, this book reaches striking conclusions about the modern success of the West. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 132776) ... more
Stock ID: 132776

Bushwhacking and Other Tales and Memories of Malaya.
CLIFFORD, HUGH.
AU$50.00
Full page colour plates and dustjacket by Mahlon Blaine, x + 331pp, hardback, dustjacket worn and a little creased with minor loss, dustjacket has been covered with plastic which has been neatly taped down, contents very good and clean. A wealth of new and varied experiences awaits the reader in these tales which irresistibly bring Conrad and Kipling to mind. One travels up a treacherous river in a rickety steam launch, hemmed in by the jungle within whose depth rebellious natives lurk.... Sir Hugh Clifford's recent return to Malaya as Governor and High Commissioner is one the greatest romances of the British Civil Service.... His life has been continuously adventurous and distinguished.... Despite the reminder of Kipling and Conrad to be found in his writing, Sir Hugh borrows from no other writer; his fine clear style is all his own, and the truth which he tells is constantly stranger and more exciting than fiction. From the blurb. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 132522) ... more
Stock ID: 132522

HIV in China. Understanding the Social Aspects of the Epidemic.
JUN, JING AND HEATHER WORTH (EDS).
AU$49.95
When China's first HIV-positive patient was reported in 1985, among those initially infected were peasants who had sold their plasma to international companies. Then it became clear that sex workers and injecting drug users were also becoming infected, and later, transient populations, ethnic groups and the poor. The realisation that HIV was a profoundly social issue had begun to dawn. It was becoming clear that this epidemic was being propelled by three main economic drivers: the blood trade, the drug trade, and the sex trade. In this unique book young Chinese scholars map some of the most important social, political and cultural characteristics of the HIV epidemic in that country. The result of a collaboration between the University of New South Wales and Tsinghua University in Beijing, HIV in China uncovers some hidden truths about the spread of the disease and its social impacts. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 132738) ... more
Stock ID: 132738

Invisible China A Journey Through Ethnic Borderlands
LEGERTON, COLIN, RAWSON, JACOB
AU$38.95
Maps, colour photographic illustrations, index, dustjacket. Travelling over 14,000 miles by bus and train to the farthest reaches of China, the authors of this narrative explore the minority people who dwell there, talking to farmers in their fields, monks in their monasteries, fishermen on their skiffs, and herders on the steppe. Closely observing daily life in these remote regions, they document the many lifestyles and adventures of the Chinese natives - they visit an old Catholic fisherman at a church that has been without a priest for 40 years; they hike around high-altitude Lugu Lake to farm with the matriarchal Mosuo women; and, they descend into a dry riverbed to hunt for jade with Muslim Uyghur merchants. This account uncovers surprising truths about China's hidden minorities and their complex position in Chinese society through real discussions, including a heated debate with Ewenki village cadres on human rights and talks with ageing hajjis about the Chinese government's razing of their mosque. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 132262) ... more
Stock ID: 132262