A Century of Travels in China

A Century of Travels in China PDF Author: Douglas Kerr
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
ISBN: 9622098452
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Writings of travelers have shaped ideas about an evolving China, while preconceived ideas about China also shaped the way they saw the country. A Century of Travels in China explores the impressions of these writers on various themes, from Chinese cities and landscapes to the work of Europeans abroad. From the time of the first Opium War to the declaration of the People's Republic, China's history has been one of extraordinary change and stubborn continuities. At the same time, the country has beguiled, scared and puzzled people in the West. The Victorian public admired and imitated Chinese fashions, in furniture and design, gardens and clothing, while maintaining a generally negative idea of the Chinese empire as pagan, backward and cruel. In the first half of the twentieth century, the fascination continued. Most foreigners were aware that revolutionary changes were taking place in Chinese politics and society, yet most still knew very little about the country. But what about those few people from the English-speaking world who had first-hand experience of the place? What did they have to say about the "real" China? To answer this question, we have to turn to the travel accounts and memoirs of people who went to see for themselves, during China's most traumatic century. While this book represents the work of expert scholars, it is also accessible to non-specialists with an interest in travel writing and China, and care has been taken to explain the critical terms and ideas deployed in the essays from recent scholarship of the travel genre.

A Century of Travels in China

A Century of Travels in China PDF Author: Douglas Kerr
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
ISBN: 9622098452
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 255

Get Book Here

Book Description
Writings of travelers have shaped ideas about an evolving China, while preconceived ideas about China also shaped the way they saw the country. A Century of Travels in China explores the impressions of these writers on various themes, from Chinese cities and landscapes to the work of Europeans abroad. From the time of the first Opium War to the declaration of the People's Republic, China's history has been one of extraordinary change and stubborn continuities. At the same time, the country has beguiled, scared and puzzled people in the West. The Victorian public admired and imitated Chinese fashions, in furniture and design, gardens and clothing, while maintaining a generally negative idea of the Chinese empire as pagan, backward and cruel. In the first half of the twentieth century, the fascination continued. Most foreigners were aware that revolutionary changes were taking place in Chinese politics and society, yet most still knew very little about the country. But what about those few people from the English-speaking world who had first-hand experience of the place? What did they have to say about the "real" China? To answer this question, we have to turn to the travel accounts and memoirs of people who went to see for themselves, during China's most traumatic century. While this book represents the work of expert scholars, it is also accessible to non-specialists with an interest in travel writing and China, and care has been taken to explain the critical terms and ideas deployed in the essays from recent scholarship of the travel genre.

China Abroad

China Abroad PDF Author: Elaine Yee Lin Ho
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
ISBN: 9622099459
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The book seeks to address how movements across cultures shape the different ways in which China and Chineseness have been imagined and represented since the beginning of the last century. In so doing, it aims to offer an overview of the debate about Chineseness as it has emerged in different global locations.

Asian Crossings

Asian Crossings PDF Author: Steve Clark
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
ISBN: 9622099149
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The fourteen chapters in this book examine various topics and contexts of travel writings on China, Japan and Southeast Asia. From the first Colombian on a trade mission to China, to French women travellers in Asia, and the opening of "Japan Fairs" in the US during the latter half of the nineteenth century, this book offers a kaleidoscopic glimpse of the various cultures in the eyes of their beholders coupled with insightful understanding of the various politics and relationships that are involved. While this book will appeal to expert scholars and students of travel literature and Asian studies, as well as those working on cultural studies, general readers will also find it an interesting and accessible addition to their collections.

Travels in China

Travels in China PDF Author: John Barrow
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : British
Languages : en
Pages : 672

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Book Description


Wilson's China

Wilson's China PDF Author: Mark Flanagan
Publisher: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
ISBN: 9781842463949
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Ernest Wilson was the foremost plant collector of his generation, responsible for introducing over 1,000 species to our gardens in the West. The authors of this book reveal Wilson’s adventures through excerpts from his own writing as well as describing their own experiences tracing his journeys in the wilds of China today. Wilson’s legacy includes glass plate photographs taken in Sichuan at the beginning of the 20th century depicting landscapes, villages, river scenes, people and plants, veteran and exceptional trees. Armed with copies of these images and with the help of Chinese guides and local knowledge, the authors retraced Wilson’s footsteps, taking photographs themselves. The result, a splendid series of ‘then and now’ images, is a key feature of this informative homage to a great plant hunter. Further photographs provide a fascinating insight into the changes and continuities in China over a hundred year period, and offer a captivating glimpse of people and places in the remote province of Sichuan.

Wealth and Power

Wealth and Power PDF Author: Orville Schell
Publisher:
ISBN: 0679643478
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
Two leading experts on China evaluate its rise throughout the past one hundred fifty years, sharing portraits of key intellectual and political leaders to explain how China transformed from a country under foreign assault to a world giant.

Mark Twain in China

Mark Twain in China PDF Author: Selina Lai-Henderson
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804794758
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835–1910) has had an intriguing relationship with China that is not as widely known as it should be. Although he never visited the country, he played a significant role in speaking for the Chinese people both at home and abroad. After his death, his Chinese adventures did not come to an end, for his body of works continued to travel through China in translation throughout the twentieth century. Were Twain alive today, he would be elated to know that he is widely studied and admired there, and that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn alone has gone through no less than ninety different Chinese translations, traversing China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Looking at Twain in various Chinese contexts—his response to events involving the American Chinese community and to the Chinese across the Pacific, his posthumous journey through translation, and China's reception of the author and his work, Mark Twain in China points to the repercussions of Twain in a global theater. It highlights the cultural specificity of concepts such as "race," "nation," and "empire," and helps us rethink their alternative legacies in countries with dramatically different racial and cultural dynamics from the United States.

Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China, 1844-1846

Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China, 1844-1846 PDF Author: Evariste Régis Huc
Publisher: Arkose Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Barbarian Lost

Barbarian Lost PDF Author: Alexandre Trudeau
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 1443441422
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
To this day, China remains an enigma. Ancient, complex and fast moving, it defies easy understanding. Ever since he was a boy, Alexandre Trudeau has been fascinated by this great county. Recounting his experiences in the China of recent years, Trudeau visits artists and migrant workers, townspeople and rural farmers. Often accompanied by a young Chinese journalist, Vivien, he explores realities caught in time between the China of our memories and the thrust of progress. The China he seeks out lurks in hints and shadows. It flickers dimly amidst all the glare and noise. The people he encounters along the way give up but small secrets yet each revelation comes as a surprise that jolts us from our preconceived ideas and forces us to challenge our most secure notions. Barbarian Lost, Trudeau’s first book, is an insightful and witty account of the dynamic changes going on right now in China, as well as a look back into the deeper history of this highly codified society. On the ground with the women and men who make China tick., Trudeau shines new light on the country as only a traveller with his storytelling abilities could.

Heart of Buddha, Heart of China

Heart of Buddha, Heart of China PDF Author: James Carter
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199367590
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
James Carter, accessing previously untapped sources, tells the story of Tanxu's life and gives first-person immediacy to one of the most turbulent periods in Chinese history.