An examination of medieval Chinese Buddhist thanatonic practices. Bridging area studies and the history of religions, Teiser explores the concerns, practices and beliefs of 9th- and 10th-century Chinese Buddhists.
This volume is the first in a series of full-length English translations from one of the foremost classics in Daoist religious literature, the Zhen gao or Declarations of the Perfected. The Declarations is a collection of poems, accounts of the dead, instructions, and meditation methods received by the Daoist Yang Xi (330–ca. 386 BCE) from celestial beings and shared by him with his patrons and students. These fragments of revealed material were collected and annotated by the eminent scholar and Daoist Tao Hongjing (456–536), allowing us access to these distant worlds and unfamiliar strategies of self-perfection. Bokenkamp's full translation highlights the literary nature of Daoist revelation and the place of the Declarations in the development of Chinese letters. It further details interactions with the Chinese throne and the aristocracy and demonstrates ways that Buddhist borrowings helped shape Daoism much earlier than has been assumed. This first volume also contains heretofore unrecognized reconfigurations of Buddhist myth and practice that Yang Xi introduced to his Daoist audience.
This is the first full-length English-language study of one of the world's most exciting and innovative cinemas. Covering a period from 1909 to 'the end of Hong Kong cinema' in the present day, this book features information about the films, the studios, the personalities and the contexts that have shaped a cinema famous for its energy and style. It includes studies of the films of King Hu, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, as well as those of John Woo and the directors of the various 'New Waves'. Stephen Teo explores this cinema from both Western and Chinese perspectives and encompasses genres ranging from melodrama to martial arts, 'kung fu', fantasy and horror movies, as well as the international art-house successes.
This dual-language compilation of seven complete major works and many shorter pieces from the Confucian period through the Ch’ing dynasty will be indispensable to students of Chinese literature. Stephen Owen’s masterful translations and commentaries have opened up Chinese literary thought to theorists and scholars of other languages.
This is the first comprehensive, fully-researched account of the historical and contemporary development of the traditional martial arts genre in the Chinese cinema known as wuxia (literal translation: martial chivalry) - a genre which audiences around the world became familiar with through the phenomenal 'crossover' hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). The book unveils rich layers of the wuxia tradition as it developed in the early Shanghai cinema in the late 1920s, and from the 1950s onwards, in the Hong Kong and Taiwan film industries. Key attractions of the book are analyses of:*The history of the tradition as it began in the Shanghai cinema, its rise and popularity as a serialized form in the silent cinema of the late 1920s, and its eventual prohibition by the government in 1931.*The fantastic characteristics of the genre, their relationship with folklore, myth and religion, and their similarities and differences with the kung fu sub-genre of martial arts cinema.*The protagonists and heroes of the genre, in particular the figure of the female knight-errant.*The chief personalities and masterpieces of the genre - directors such as King Hu, Chu Yuan, Zhang Che, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, and films such as Come Drink With Me (1966), The One-Armed Swordsman (1967), A Touch of Zen (1970-71), Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006).
Farrel Ivins may be standing on the gallows with his neck in a noose, but he's not worried. He's taken a drug that makes it impossible to contemplate his future, and besides, he hasn't given his "final" speech yet. He knows that when the governor hears about the odd goings-on in Oxford Circus, Lake City, Chicago, and Chinatown Crescent, where the tong of the Lean Grey Rats rules, Farrel is bound to be saved. So begins the most Oriental of Harry Stephen Keeler's webwork mysteries.
The annual publication Antisemitism Worldwide is compiled by the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University. Unique in scope, structure, and variety of sources, this volume is an analysis of antisemitism in 2000 and early 2001. It includes scholarly articles and book reviews as well as country-by-country surveys. In 2000, the number of major violent acts of antisemitism more than doubled from 1999, and other acts of violence increased by over 50 percent. Antisemitism Worldwide is based on information systematically collected by the institute throughout the world in many languages, then summarized and computerized in its database in English. The source materials come from individuals and institutes, all forms of media, ministries, and committees, as well as Jewish communities and organizations.
Largely unstudied until now, the religious festivals that attracted Chinese people from all walks of life provide the most instructive examples of the interaction between Chinese forms of social life and the Indian tradition of Buddhism. Stephen Teiser examines one of the most important of such annual celebrations. He provides a comprehensive interpretation of the festivities of the seventh lunar month, in which laypeople presented offerings to Buddhist monks to gain salvation for their ancestors. Teiser uncovers a wide range of sources, many translated or analyzed for the first time in any language, to demonstrate how the symbolism, rituals, and mythology of the ghost festival pervaded the social landscape of medieval China.
Stephen Eskildsen's book offers an in-depth study of the beliefs and practices of the Quanzhen (Complete Realization) School of Taoism, the predominant school of monastic Taoism in China. The Quanzhen School was founded in the latter half of the twelfth century by the eccentric holy man Wan Zhe (1113–1170), whose work was continued by his famous disciples commonly known as the Seven Realized Ones. This study draws upon surviving texts to examine the Quanzhen masters' approaches to mental discipline, intense asceticism, cultivation of health and longevity, mystical experience, supernormal powers, death and dying, charity and evangelism, and ritual. From these primary sources, Eskildsen provides a clear understanding of the nature of Quanzhen Taoism and reveals its core emphasis to be the cultivation of clarity and purity of mind that occurs not only through seated meditation, but also throughout the daily activities of life.
Apply the latest scientific and clinical advances with Wall & Melzack's Textbook of Pain, 6th Edition. Drs. Stephen McMahon, Martin Koltzenburg, Irene Tracey, and Dennis C. Turk, along with more than 125 other leading authorities, present all of the latest knowledge about the genetics, neurophysiology, psychology, and assessment of every type of pain syndrome. They also provide practical guidance on the full range of today's pharmacologic, interventional, electrostimulative, physiotherapeutic, and psychological management options. Consult this title on your favorite e-reader with intuitive search tools and adjustable font sizes. Elsevier eBooks provide instant portable access to your entire library, no matter what device you're using or where you're located. Benefit from the international, multidisciplinary knowledge and experience of a "who's who" of international authorities in pain medicine, neurology, neurosurgery, neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, palliative medicine, and other relevant fields. Translate scientific findings into clinical practice with updates on the genetics of pain, new pharmacologic and treatment information, and much more. Easily visualize important scientific concepts with a high-quality illustration program, now in full color throughout. Choose the safest and most effective management methods with expanded coverage of anesthetic techniques. Stay abreast of the latest global developments regarding opioid induced hyperalgesia, addiction and substance abuse, neuromodulation and pain management, identification of specific targets for molecular pain, and other hot topics.
This is the most extensive study of Chin dynasty history in any language. It demonstrates the importance of cultural developments in North China under the Chin (1115-1234).
An American soldier of fortune pursues a Japanese war criminal through the streets and alleyways of war-torn Peking in this edge-of-your-seat thrill ride from the author of The Chinese Bandit Peking, 1948. In the midst of a brutal winter, the Communists tighten their stranglehold on the ancient capital, preparing to strike. Peasants starve, students riot, police crack down, and an entire city shivers on the edge of revolt. A decade ago, Maj. Jack Burnham was an American civilian living in China when the Japanese invaded. Now, he has returned on a mission to capture a notorious war criminal before Peking falls to the Red Army. Kanamori Shoichi raped, murdered, and pillaged his way through China during World War II—he also broke Burnham’s nose. If caught, Kanamori will be brought before a tribunal and made to pay for his crimes, large and small. But finding one man in a devastated city of millions is no simple task. Luckily, Burnham has the help of a beautiful Chinese doctor eager to help her people find justice, as well as his own expert knowledge of the language and culture. But when he finally locates Kanamori, the showdown Burnham has sought for so long will be far stranger and more dangerous than he ever imagined. The Last Mandarin is the 2nd book in the Far East Trilogy, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Three thrillers set in WWII-era Asia by a New York Times–bestselling author who writes “like a cross between Joseph Conrad and James Clavell” (Houston Chronicle). “A master of terse, ironic dialogue,” the author of A Covenant with Death presents a trilogy that journeys from the Gobi Desert to Peking to Burma in the chaotic years following the Second World War (Kirkus Reviews). The Chinese Bandit: An American ex-marine must run for his life in the cutthroat atmosphere of postwar China, pursued by both a dangerous criminal and Chiang Kai-shek’s forces. This one “will keep readers turning pages through the night” (Los Angeles Times). The Last Mandarin: An American mercenary chases a Japanese war criminal through the war-torn streets of Peking in this “fascinating . . . exciting” adventure (ThePhiladelphia Inquirer). The Blue-Eyed Shan: The battle between East and West explodes in a remote corner of Burma, as an anthropologist in an isolated mountain village finds himself fighting to save the people he loves from the Chinese Red Army and a fearsome tribe of headhunters. A thriller “as exciting as Raiders of the Lost Ark” (Publishers Weekly). Described as “absolutely ripping adventure” by Time and “sublime entertainment” by John Irving, the Far East Trilogy is an unforgettable saga filled with suspense, epic scope, and rich historical atmosphere.
“Song Lyric,” ci, remains one of the most loved forms of Chinese poetry. From the early eleventh century through the first quarter of the twelfth century, song lyric evolved from an impromptu contribution in a performance practice to a full literary genre, in which the text might be read more often than performed. Young women singers, either indentured or private entrepreneurs, were at the heart of song practice throughout the period; the authors of the lyrics were notionally mostly male. A strange gender dynamic arose, in which men often wrote in the voice of a woman and her imagined feelings, then appropriated that sensibility for themselves.As an essential part of becoming literature, a history was constructed for the new genre. At the same time the genre claimed a new set of aesthetic values to radically distinguish it from older “Classical Poetry,” shi. In a world that was either pragmatic or moralizing (or both), song lyric was a discourse of sensibility, which literally gave a beautiful voice to everything that seemed increasingly to be disappearing in the new Song dynasty world of righteousness and public advancement.
Qian Qianyi's Reflections on Yellow Mountain is a close examination of travel writing in seventeenth-century China, presenting an innovative reading of the youji genre. Taking the 'Account of My Travels at Yellow Mountain' by the noted poet, official andliterary historian Qian Qianyi (1582-1664) as his focus, Stephen McDowall departs from traditional readings of youji, by reading the landscape of Qian's essay as the product of a complex representational tradition, rather than as an empirically verifiable space. Drawing from a broad range of materials including personal anecdotes, traditional cosmographical sources, gazetteers, Daoist classics, paintings and woodblock prints, this book explores the fascinating world of late-Ming Jiangnan, highlighting the extent to which this one scholar's depiction of Yellow Mountain is informed, not so much by first-hand observation, as by the layers of meaning left by generations of travelers before him. McDowall includes the first complete English-language translation of Qian Qianyi's account, and presents the first full-length critical study to appear in any language. The ideas explored here make this book essential reading for scholars and students of late imperial Chinese history and literature, and also offer thought-provoking new insights for anyone interested in travel writing, human geography, the sociology of tourism, and visual culture.
In 1702, the second emperor of the Qing dynasty ordered construction of a new summer palace in Rehe (now Chengde, Hebei) to support his annual tours north among the court’s Inner Mongolian allies. The Mountain Estate to Escape the Heat (Bishu Shanzhuang) was strategically located at the node of mountain “veins” through which the Qing empire’s geomantic energy was said to flow. At this site, from late spring through early autumn, the Kangxi emperor presided over rituals of intimacy and exchange that celebrated his rule: garden tours, banquets, entertainments, and gift giving. Stephen Whiteman draws on resources and methods from art and architectural history, garden and landscape history, early modern global history, and historical geography to reconstruct the Mountain Estate as it evolved under Kangxi, illustrating the importance of landscape as a medium for ideological expression during the early Qing and in the early modern world more broadly. Examination of paintings, prints, historical maps, newly created maps informed by GIS-based research, and personal accounts reveals the significance of geographic space and its representation in the negotiation of Qing imperial ideology. The first monograph in any language to focus solely on the art and architecture of the Kangxi court, Where Dragon Veins Meet illuminates the court’s production and deployment of landscape as a reflection of contemporary concerns and offers new insight into the sources and forms of Qing power through material expressions. Art History Publication Initiative
Dealing not only with architecture, sculpture, and painting, but also with bronze and ceramics, this text offers a complete panorama of Chinese arts and civilisation. In his text, the author Bushell stresses the importance of knowing the society to understand the arts.
Sima Qian's vast Records of the Historian is the first comprehensive history of China and has exerted an immense influence both upon our understanding of the Chinese past and also upon the style and structure of subsequent Chinese historiography. In addition to his contribution as a historian, Sima Qian is a highly significant literary figure whose writings are among the most elegant and powerful from the ancient world. Durrant's study approaches Sima Qian's work from a literary perspective and demonstrates the relationship between Sima's narrative of the past and his narrative of his own life. That life was a fascinating and complex one. Enjoined by his father to complete a comprehensive history of China, Sima Qian subsequently offended the great Emperor Wu and was sentenced to castration. Rather than take the "noble path" of suicide, he suffered this traumatic punishment and lived on to fulfill his father's injunction—but not without emotional scars, scars that influenced his portrayal of the Chinese past. In fact, the great Han historian's account of the Chinese past, this study argues, is as much his story as it is history.
Sima Qian (first century BCE), the author of Record of the Historian (Shiji), is China’s earliest and best-known historian, and his “Letter to Ren An” is the most famous letter in Chinese history. In the letter, Sima Qian explains his decision to finish his life’s work, the first comprehensive history of China, instead of honorably committing suicide following his castration for “deceiving the emperor.” In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, some scholars have queried the authenticity of the letter. Is it a genuine piece of writing by Sima Qian or an early work of literary impersonation? The Letter to Ren An and Sima Qian’s Legacy provides a full translation of the letter and uses different methods to explore issues in textual history. It also shows how ideas about friendship, loyalty, factionalism, and authorship encoded in the letter have far-reaching implications for the study of China.
Learn to change your outlook and amplify your good luck with specific advice from a feng shui expert. Feng shui is the Chinese art of improving quality of life by making specific changes to the arrangement of a landscape, a house, or a room. Making these changes alters the energy, or ch'i, or the space. In Flying Star Feng Shu, you'll learn in a step-by-step manner how to change your energy patterns to improve your relationships, finances, and health. Flying Star Feng Shui adds a new "time dimension" to feng shui practice reflecting the fact that the subtle energies present in our living environment are constantly changing. The flying star combinations make it possible to respond to∙or prepare for∙these changing energy "situations." These methods produce impressive and rapid results that can shorten periods of bad luck, while initiating or prolonging periods of good fortune. These concepts have previously been available only from a few highly technical sources. The book's 15 chapters include: Theory of Feng Shui Space Dimension Room-by-Room Analysis Interpreting the Stars Remedies Author Stephen Skinner has an international reputation as a leader in bringing feng shui concepts to Westerners. You never know--Flying Star Feng Shuicould change your life.
As China reclaims its position as a world power, Imperial Twilight looks back to tell the story of the country’s last age of ascendance and how it came to an end in the nineteenth-century Opium War. As one of the most potent turning points in the country’s modern history, the Opium War has since come to stand for everything that today’s China seeks to put behind it. In this dramatic, epic story, award-winning historian Stephen Platt sheds new light on the early attempts by Western traders and missionaries to “open” China even as China’s imperial rulers were struggling to manage their country’s decline and Confucian scholars grappled with how to use foreign trade to China’s advantage. The book paints an enduring portrait of an immensely profitable—and mostly peaceful—meeting of civilizations that was destined to be shattered by one of the most shockingly unjust wars in the annals of imperial history. Brimming with a fascinating cast of British, Chinese, and American characters, this riveting narrative of relations between China and the West has important implications for today’s uncertain and ever-changing political climate.
The ancient Chinese art of Feng-Shui, the basis of man's relationship with the land, has practitioners and followers throughout the Western world, from rural communities to big cities. Not just an Eastern practice any more, Feng-Shui can be found around the globe. Feng-Shui is an art that stresses the importance of living in harmony with nature. The Chinese believe that the earth has channels of energy known as 'dragon-lines', comparable with the meridians of the human body, and the buildings, towns and rooms should be designed and constructed so as not to obstruct these channels. According to the principles of Feng-Shui, living in harmony with the earth's field of energy will promote prosperity, peace and happiness. Living Earth Feng Shui is a fascinating book which outlines how Feng-Shui can be applied on a small or large scale, in the busiest cities or the smallest room. Author Stephen Skinner outlines its history and philosophy, clearly showing how it can be used to determine the site and arrangement of dwelling places in order to enhance the quality of life of the inhabitants. This is the perfect book for those new to Feng-Shui or someone who is interested in expanding their knowledge.
The advent of semiconductor structures whose characteristic dimensions are smaller than the mean free path of carriers has led to the development of novel devices, and advances in theoretical understanding of mesoscopic systems or nanostructures. This book has been thoroughly revised and provides a much-needed update on the very latest experimental research into mesoscopic devices and develops a detailed theoretical framework for understanding their behaviour. Beginning with the key observable phenomena in nanostructures, the authors describe quantum confined systems, transmission in nanostructures, quantum dots, and single electron phenomena. Separate chapters are devoted to interference in diffusive transport, temperature decay of fluctuations, and non-equilibrium transport and nanodevices. Throughout the book, the authors interweave experimental results with the appropriate theoretical formalism. The book will be of great interest to graduate students taking courses in mesoscopic physics or nanoelectronics, and researchers working on semiconductor nanostructures.
Forecasting Volatility in the Financial Markets, Third Edition assumes that the reader has a firm grounding in the key principles and methods of understanding volatility measurement and builds on that knowledge to detail cutting-edge modelling and forecasting techniques. It provides a survey of ways to measure risk and define the different models of volatility and return. Editors John Knight and Stephen Satchell have brought together an impressive array of contributors who present research from their area of specialization related to volatility forecasting. Readers with an understanding of volatility measures and risk management strategies will benefit from this collection of up-to-date chapters on the latest techniques in forecasting volatility. Chapters new to this third edition:* What good is a volatility model? Engle and Patton* Applications for portfolio variety Dan diBartolomeo* A comparison of the properties of realized variance for the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 equity indices Rob Cornish* Volatility modeling and forecasting in finance Xiao and Aydemir* An investigation of the relative performance of GARCH models versus simple rules in forecasting volatility Thomas A. Silvey Leading thinkers present newest research on volatility forecasting International authors cover a broad array of subjects related to volatility forecasting Assumes basic knowledge of volatility, financial mathematics, and modelling
This book describes the mechanisms that allow aquatic photosynthetic organisms to contribute about half of the global primary productivity; in order to mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, they transform the original anoxic atmosphere of the Earth over geological time. Aquatic photosynthesis is performed by a wide diversity of organisms, predominantly involving cyanobacteria, and algae derived from the “red-lineage”, unlike terrestrial primary productivity, which is restricted to “green-lineage” plants. Blue Planet, Red and Green Photosynthesis describes how, in order to maximize productivity, aquatic primary producers have evolved a series of structures and mechanisms that increase the limiting supply of carbon dioxide to the enzyme, Rubisco, which is responsible for carbon dioxide fixation. This book covers the molecular mechanisms involved in aquatic carbon uptake and the global consequences as humankind alters the blue planet.
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