Shu Ping

When I went to China, did I head for Tianenmen Square, the Forbidden Temple, the Summer Palace, or the Great Wall? When the staff of the school where I was going to teach English helped me settle into my apartment, they said, "Where do you want us to take you?" I said, "Take me to the largest bookstore in Beijing." Where was the second place I went? That's right, the second largest bookstore in Beijing. In the meantime, I dropped in on the foreign language bookstore.

One of my friends in China told me, "You act like a bookseller. You're always showing people books." Well, yeah. Sometimes they hand it back to me and say, "Nice." I don't get discouraged. But like other bookworms, I've heard the question one too many times: "Why do you buy so many books?" Well, because I'm a teacher. I've never heard anyone ask a mechanic, "Why do you have so many tools?"

During my first trip to a bookstore, I try to examine every book on the shelf. A formidable task, but I usually succeed. Book reviews supplement my appetite. I have surveyed thousands of books, in bookstores and libraries, and on the Internet. One of my ESL specialties is vocabulary. I have started a collection of visual dictionary. Not all books I survey are ESL. Other interests are mostly current events, social sciences, and humanities.

My chief hobby in shopping. I prefer the back street shops to the glamorous malls. I guest lecture at every opportunity, and never get tired of English Corner. (English Corner is an ESL exercise in China. Students practice their conversational skills in an informal atmosphere.) I travel as much as possible, and shun typical tourism in favor of meeting the people and exploring the culture. Cultural art captivates me, and I confess that I have probably bought too much of it. Computers intimidate, baffle, and frustrate me, but I have learned the basic skills through perseverance - and even got major kudos on www.eslbooksreview.com.

ESL Book Review is relatively small, but I have big ambitions for it. I plan to include a translated page for every country that uses English as a second language. I also plan to personally examine every ESL book in print.

My Chinese friends and I are still working on an appropriate Chinese name. One that means book focus or book intense. For now, Shu Ping will have to do. It means book review.