If you are a big fan of Tibetan dzi beads, most likely you knew about this book - The Gzi Beads of Tibet - written by the expert LIN TUNG-KUANG from Taiwan, printed in 2001 (The first version was in 1997, Chinese only). This book was and still is the best materials & references on AUTHENTIC OLD/ PURE dzi beads, divided into 32 sections, all written in BOTH ENGLISH and traditional CHINESE.
Early this year, I found there was a new book on Tibetan Dzi Bead by Mr. Lin Tung-Kuang, priced at RMB 199.00. The book is in Chinese only. The direct translation for the title of this book is "Dzi Bead - Collection and Appreciation".
Strange enough, only websites from China selling this book; you can find it at jd.com, dangdang.com, taobao.com and even amazon.cn. This book was and still not available from Taiwan book stores like books.com.tw and hanniew.com. One of them replied my email that they will not carry this book.
I continued to search for more information on this book and here are some interesting facts...
1) This is the cover design for the original book "The Gzi Beads of Tibet"
Look at the lower part of the cover for the earlier version of this new book.
In fact, most of the photos at the cover are from the content of "The Gzi Beads of Tibet".
2) In March 2014, the book was still priced at RMB 199.00. The price quickly went down to RMB 99.00 by end of May. Now you can even find this book at RMB 30++ in Taobao.
3) One seller take a snap shot of the ISBN number in the book. The publishing date was 2012 instead of 2013/2014. Also, the ISBN 957-744-990-5 is the number for the original book.
4) The content of this new book is very very close to the book "The Gzi Beads of Tibet". Nothing is new here.
5) The preview of the content displayed in some websites like http://item.jd.com/11447936.html and http://taoshopeu.com/item/39364271933 revealed same photos from "The Gzi Beads of Tibet". There are no new photos detected.
6) One of my favorite website enjoybead.com claims this is a pirated books, without permission from Mr. Lin Tung-Kuang. (You need to register to be able to view photos below at webpage http://enjoybead.com/bbs/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=5266).
Well, I am still interested to take a look at this book. If you think this book is really written by Mr Lin, please let me know.
Thank you.
Tan Chin Hock
14-June-2014