Wei Chuang was a prolific Tang dynasty poet. He not only wrote in the shih form (poems in the old and new styles, the latter having strict rules of meter, rhyme, and euphony), but also was one of two literati founders of the tz’u (lyric) tradition, based on a popular song form. This tripartite study provides a thoroughgoing picture of his life and work. The book begins with the first detailed biography of Wei Chuang in a Western language, drawn both from historical sources and Wei’s poetry. The shih poems are intensely autobiographical and provide insight into Wei’s own experience and into the situation in China at the end of the ninth century. A second section analyzes the poetry, demonstrating that Wei’s tz’u cannot be understood without reference to his shih compositions, a new approach to the totality of Wei’s work. Finally, this volume presents translations, briefly annotated, of 110 shih poems, including his major narrative poem, The Lament of the Lady of Chin, and almost all the tz’u attributed to him, constituting more than a third of Wei Chuang’s extant poetry. The translations, while hewing close in meaning to their Chinese originals, have considerable value as poems in English. This work offers information that is useful to those interested in the literature, history, and general culture of medieval China. The translations bring to modern readers of English poetry the pleasures of becoming acquainted with a complex and innovative voice from the Chinese past.
This essential reference work provides an alphabetic listing, with an extensive "index," of studies on women in China from earliest times to the present day written in Western languages, primarily English, French, German, and Italian. Containing more than 2500 citations of books, chapters in books, and articles, especially those published in the last thirty years, and more than 100 titles of doctoral dissertations and Masters theses, it covers works written in the disciplines of anthropology and sociology; art and archaeology; demography; economics; education; fashion; film and media studies; history; interdisciplinary studies; law; literature; music; medicine, science, and technology; political science; and religion and philosophy. It also contains many citations of studies of women in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Spanning four centuries, from 221 B.C. to A.D. 220, the Qin and Han dynasties were pivotal to Chinese history, establishing the social and cultural underpinnings of China as we know it today. Age of Empires: Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties is a revelatory study of the dawn of China’s imperial age, delving into more than 160 objects that attest to the artistic and cultural flowering that occurred under Qin and Han rule. Before this time, China consisted of seven independent states. They were brought together by Qin Shihuangdi, the self-proclaimed First Emperor of the newly unified realm. Under him, the earliest foundations of the Great Wall were laid, and the Qin army made spectacular advances in the arts of war—an achievement best expressed in the magnificent army of lifesize terracotta warriors and horses that stood before his tomb, seven of which are reproduced here. The Han built on the successes of the Qin, the increasing wealth and refinement of the empire reflected in dazzling bronze and lacquer vessels, ingeniously engineered lamps, and sparkling ornaments of jade and gold from elite Han tombs. But of all the achievements of the Qin-Han era, the most significant is, no doubt, the emergence of a national identity, for it was during this time of unprecedented change that people across the empire began to see themselves as one, with China as their common homeland. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana} With its engaging, authoritative essays and evocative illustrations, Age of Empires provides an invaluable record of a unique epoch in Chinese history, one whose historic and artistic impact continues to resonate into the modern age.
Wei Chuang was a prolific Tang dynasty poet. He not only wrote in the shih form (poems in the old and new styles, the latter having strict rules of meter, rhyme, and euphony), but also was one of two literati founders of the tz’u (lyric) tradition, based on a popular song form. This tripartite study provides a thoroughgoing picture of his life and work. The book begins with the first detailed biography of Wei Chuang in a Western language, drawn both from historical sources and Wei’s poetry. The shih poems are intensely autobiographical and provide insight into Wei’s own experience and into the situation in China at the end of the ninth century. A second section analyzes the poetry, demonstrating that Wei’s tz’u cannot be understood without reference to his shih compositions, a new approach to the totality of Wei’s work. Finally, this volume presents translations, briefly annotated, of 110 shih poems, including his major narrative poem, The Lament of the Lady of Chin, and almost all the tz’u attributed to him, constituting more than a third of Wei Chuang’s extant poetry. The translations, while hewing close in meaning to their Chinese originals, have considerable value as poems in English. This work offers information that is useful to those interested in the literature, history, and general culture of medieval China. The translations bring to modern readers of English poetry the pleasures of becoming acquainted with a complex and innovative voice from the Chinese past.
Law, State, and Society in Early Imperial China has been accorded Honorable Mention status in the 2017 Patrick D. Hanan Prize (China and Inner Asia Council (CIAC) of the Association for Asian Studies) for Translation competition. In Law, State, and Society in Early Imperial China, Anthony J. Barbieri-Low and Robin D.S. Yates offer the first detailed study and translation into English of two recently excavated, early Chinese legal texts. The Statutes and Ordinances of the Second Year consists of a selection from the long-lost laws of the early Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). It includes items from twenty-seven statute collections and one ordinance. The Book of Submitted Doubtful Cases contains twenty-two legal case records, some of which have undergone literary embellishment. Taken together, the two texts contain a wealth of information about slavery, social class, ranking, the status of women and children, property, inheritance, currency, finance, labor mobilization, resource extraction, agriculture, market regulation, and administrative geography.
The Gunpowder Epic is one of three planned publications on military technology within Dr Needham's immense undertaking. The discovery of gunpowder in China by the 9th century AD was followed by its rapid applications. It is now clear that the whole development from bombs and grenades to the invention of the metal-barrel hand gun took place in the Chinese culture area before Europeans had any knowledge of the mixture itself. Uses in civil engineering and mechanical engineering were equally important, before the knowledge of gunpowder spread to Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Dr Needham's new work continues to demonstrate the major importance of Chinese science and technology to world history and maintains the tradition of one of the great scholarly works of the twentieth century.
The fifth volume of Dr Needham's immense undertaking, like the fourth, is subdivided into parts for ease of assimilation and presentation, each part bound and published separately. The volume as a whole covers the subjects of alchemy, early chemistry, and chemical technology (which includes military invention, especially gunpowder and rockets; paper and printing; textiles; mining and metallurgy; the salt industry; and ceramics).
Science and Civilisation in China Volume V Part 6 is the first of the three parts dealing with the arts of war in ancient and medieval China. (Part 7--on gunpowder and all aspects of explosive weapons--has already been published, while Part 8--on cavalry techniques and signaling--is still in preparation.) The present volume opens with an introduction on Chinese attitudes to warfare in general. Four major sections follow: on the making and use of simple bows; on the crossbow, the standard weapon of the Han armies, and its introduction to the Western world; on the pre-gunpowder forms of artillery, including the invention of the trebuchet; and on the art of siege warfare in which the Mohists were particularly interested. There is a good deal of material on siege-warfare available, and this final section is a substantial one, covering all aspects in detail.
Science and Civilisation in China Volume V Part 6 is the first of the three parts dealing with the arts of war in ancient and medieval China. (Part 7--on gunpowder and all aspects of explosive weapons--has already been published, while Part 8--on cavalry techniques and signaling--is still in preparation.) The present volume opens with an introduction on Chinese attitudes to warfare in general. Four major sections follow: on the making and use of simple bows; on the crossbow, the standard weapon of the Han armies, and its introduction to the Western world; on the pre-gunpowder forms of artillery, including the invention of the trebuchet; and on the art of siege warfare in which the Mohists were particularly interested. There is a good deal of material on siege-warfare available, and this final section is a substantial one, covering all aspects in detail.
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