Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276

Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276 PDF Author: Jacques Gernet
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804707206
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Describes the occupations, pleasures, clothes, food, art, and social and civic life of the people in the city of Hangchow.

Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276

Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276 PDF Author: Jacques Gernet
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804707206
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Describes the occupations, pleasures, clothes, food, art, and social and civic life of the people in the city of Hangchow.

A Tale of Two Melons

A Tale of Two Melons PDF Author: Sarah Schneewind
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 1624669344
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
A commoner's presentation to the emperor of a lucky omen from his garden, the repercussions for his family, and several retellings of the incident provide the background for an engaging introduction to Ming society, culture, and politics, including discussions of the founding of the Ming dynasty; the character of the first emperor; the role of omens in court politics; how the central and local governments were structured, including the civil service examination system; the power of local elite families; the roles of women; filial piety; and the concept of ling or efficacy in Chinese religion.

Buddhism in Chinese Society

Buddhism in Chinese Society PDF Author: Jacques Gernet
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231114110
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
Translated and revised by respected scholar of Chinese religions Franciscus Verellen, who has worked closely with Gernet, this edition includes new references, an extensive, up-to-date bibliography, and a comprehensive index.

The Pattern of the Chinese Past

The Pattern of the Chinese Past PDF Author: Mark Elvin
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804708760
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
A satisfactory comprehensive history of the social and economic development of pre-modern China, the largest country in the world in terms of population, and with a documentary record covering three millennia, is still far from possible. The present work is only an attempt to disengage the major themes that seem to be of relevance to our understanding of China today. In particular, this volume studies three questions. Why did the Chinese Empire stay together when the Roman Empire, and every other empire of antiquity of the middle ages, ultimately collapsed? What were the causes of the medieval revolution which made the Chinese economy after about 1100 the most advanced in the world? And why did China after about 1350 fail to maintain her earlier pace of technological advance while still, in many respects, advancing economically? The three sections of the book deal with these problems in turn but the division of a subject matter is to some extent only one of convenience. These topics are so interrelated that, in the last analysis, none of them can be considered in isolation from the others.

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens PDF Author: Jack Weatherford
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307407160
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
“A fascinating romp through the feminine side of the infamous Khan clan” (Booklist) by the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan “Enticing . . . hard to put down.”—Associated Press The Mongol queens of the thirteenth century ruled the largest empire the world has ever known. The daughters of the Silk Route turned their father’s conquests into the first truly international empire, fostering trade, education, and religion throughout their territories and creating an economic system that stretched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Yet sometime near the end of the century, censors cut a section about the queens from the Secret History of the Mongols, and, with that one act, the dynasty of these royals had seemingly been extinguished forever, as even their names were erased from the historical record. With The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, a groundbreaking and magnificently researched narrative, Jack Weatherford restores the queens’ missing chapter to the annals of history.

The Last English King

The Last English King PDF Author: Julian Rathbone
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466876107
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 491

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Book Description
On September 27, 1066, Duke William of Normandy sailed for England with hundreds of ships and over 8,000 men. King Harold of England, weakened by a ferocious Viking invasion from the north, could muster little defense. At the Battle of Hastings of October 14, he was outflanked, quickly defeated, and killed by William's superior troops. The course of English history was altered forever. Three years later, Walt, King Harold's only surviving bodyguard, is still emotionally and physically scarred by the loss of his king and his country. Wandering through Asia Minor, headed vaguely for the Holy Land, he meets Quint, a renegade monk with a healthy line of skepticism and a hearty appetite for knowledge. It is he who persuades Walt, little by little, to tell his extraordinary story. And so begins a roller-coaster ride into an era of enduring fascination. Weaving fiction around fact, Julian Rathbone brings to vibrant, exciting, and often amusing life the shadowy figures and events that preceded the Norman Conquest. We see Edward, confessing far more than he ever did in the history books. We meet the warring nobles of Mercia and Wessex; Harold and his unruly clan; Canute's descendants with their delusions of grandeur; predatory men, pushy women, subdued Scots, and wily Welsh. And we meet William of Normandy, a psychotic thug with interesting plans for the "racial sanitation" of the Euroskeptics across the water. Peppered with discussions on philosophy, dentistry, democracy, devils, alcohol, illusions, and hygiene, The Last English King raises issues, both daring and delightful, that question the nature of history itself. Where are the lines between fact, interpretation, and re-creation? Did the French really stop for a two-hour lunch during the Battle of Hastings?

A History of Chinese Civilization

A History of Chinese Civilization PDF Author: Jacques Gernet
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521497817
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 836

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Book Description
When published in 1982, this translation of Professor Jacques Gernet's masterly survey of the history and culture of China was immediately welcomed by critics and readers. This revised and updated edition makes it more useful for students and for the general reader concerned with the broad sweep of China's past.

China and the Christian Impact

China and the Christian Impact PDF Author: Jacques Gernet
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521266819
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Jacques Gernet's invigorating book turns the tables on traditional approaches to the history of Christianity in China, presenting a coherent analysis of the impact of Christianity in the seventeenth century from the Chinese point of view. The aim is to reveal what the Chinese said and wrote about the Jesuit missionaries and to ask a profound general question: to what extent do the reactions of the Chinese at the time of their first contacts with the 'doctrine of the Master of Heaven' reveal fundamental differences between Western and Chinese conceptions of the world? For the missionaries themselves, the Chinese were men like any other, but corrupted by superstition and unfortunate enough to have remained in ignorance of the Revelations. Professor Gernet shows, the missionaries, just like the Chinese literary elite, were the unconscious bearers of a whole civilisation. The problems they encountered were generated by different languages and logic and by very different visions of the world and of man.

Transcendence and Divine Passion

Transcendence and Divine Passion PDF Author: Suzanne Elizabeth Cahill
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804721127
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Drawing on medieval Chinese poetry, fiction, and religious scriptures, this book illuminates the greatest goddess of Taoism and her place in Chinese society.

Cultural Centrality and Political Change in Chinese History

Cultural Centrality and Political Change in Chinese History PDF Author: Roger V. Des Forges
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804740449
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 460

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Book Description
The Ming period of Chinese history is often depicted as one of cultural aridity, political despotism, and social stasis. Recent studies have shown that the arts continued to flourish, government remained effective, people enjoyed considerable mobility, and China served as a center of the global economy. This study goes further to argue that China’s perennial quest for cultural centrality resulted in periodic political changes that permitted the Chinese people to retain control over social and economic developments. The study focuses on two and a half million people in three prefectures of northeast Henan, the central province in the heart of the "central plain”--a common synecdoche for China. The author argues that this population may have been more representative of the Chinese people at large than were the residents of more prosperous regions. Many diverse individuals in northeast Henan invoked historical models to deal with the present and shape the future. Though they differed in the lessons they drew, they shared the view that the Han dynasty was particularly relevant to their own time. Han and Ming politics were integral parts of a pattern of Chinese historical development that has lasted to the present.