Servants of the Dynasty

Servants of the Dynasty PDF Author: Anne Walthall
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520941519
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
Mothers, wives, concubines, entertainers, attendants, officials, maids, drudges. By offering the first comparative view of the women who lived, worked, and served in royal courts around the globe, this work opens a new perspective on the monarchies that have dominated much of human history. Written by leading historians, anthropologists, and archeologists, these lively essays take us from Mayan states to twentieth-century Benin in Nigeria, to the palace of Japanese Shoguns, the Chinese Imperial courts, eighteenth-century Versailles, Mughal India, and beyond. Together they investigate how women's roles differed, how their roles changed over time, and how their histories can illuminate the structures of power and societies in which they lived. This work also furthers our understanding of how royal courts, created to project the authority of male rulers, maintained themselves through the reproductive and productive powers of women.

Servants of the Dynasty

Servants of the Dynasty PDF Author: Anne Walthall
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520941519
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Get Book Here

Book Description
Mothers, wives, concubines, entertainers, attendants, officials, maids, drudges. By offering the first comparative view of the women who lived, worked, and served in royal courts around the globe, this work opens a new perspective on the monarchies that have dominated much of human history. Written by leading historians, anthropologists, and archeologists, these lively essays take us from Mayan states to twentieth-century Benin in Nigeria, to the palace of Japanese Shoguns, the Chinese Imperial courts, eighteenth-century Versailles, Mughal India, and beyond. Together they investigate how women's roles differed, how their roles changed over time, and how their histories can illuminate the structures of power and societies in which they lived. This work also furthers our understanding of how royal courts, created to project the authority of male rulers, maintained themselves through the reproductive and productive powers of women.

Inside the World of the Eunuch

Inside the World of the Eunuch PDF Author: Melissa S. Dale
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
ISBN: 9888455753
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
The history of Qing palace eunuchs is defined by a tension between the role eunuchs were meant to play and the life they intended to live. This study tells the story of how a complicated and much-maligned group of people struggled to insert a degree of agency into their lives. Rulers of the Qing dynasty were determined to ensure the eunuchs’ subservience and to limit their influence by imposing a management style based upon strict rules, corporal punishment, and collective responsibility. Few eunuchs wielded significant political power or lived in a lavish style during the Qing dynasty. Emasculation and employment in the palace placed eunuchs at the center of the empire, yet also subjected them to servile status and marginalization by society. Seeking more control over their lives, eunuchs serving the Qing repeatedly tested the boundaries of subservience to the emperor and the imperial court. This portrait of eunuch society reveals that Qing palace eunuchs operated within two parallel realms, one revolving around the emperor and the court by day and another among the eunuchs themselves by night where they recreated the social bonds—through drinking, gambling, and opium smoking—denied them by their palace service. Far from being the ideal servants, eunuchs proved to be a constant source of anxiety and labor challenges for the Qing court. For a long time eunuchs have simply been cast as villains in Chinese history. Inside the World of the Eunuch goes beyond this misleadingly one-dimensional depiction to show how eunuchs actually lived during the Qing dynasty. “This book is a thorough and responsible account of eunuch life during the Qing dynasty, which takes us deep inside the Forbidden City and introduces the often underclass families who provided servants to the Qing monarchs.” —R. Kent Guy, University of Washington “This is a unique study of Chinese eunuchs, in which Melissa Dale proves that they were a necessary and vital presence in the palace of the last dynasty in China. She explores all aspects of their life to the end of their existence, while avoiding the temptation to sensationalize them.” —Keith McMahon, University of Kansas

Sanyan Stories

Sanyan Stories PDF Author:
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295805692
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Presented here are nine tales from the celebrated Ming dynasty Sanyan collection of vernacular stories compiled and edited by Feng Menglong (1574–1646), the most knowledgeable connoisseur of popular literature of his time in China. The stories he collected were pivotal to the development of Chinese vernacular fiction, and their importance in the Chinese literary canon and world literature has been compared to that of Boccaccio’s Decameron and the stories of One Thousand and One Nights. Peopled with scholars, emperors, ministers, generals, and a gallery of ordinary men and women in their everyday surroundings—merchants and artisans, prostitutes and courtesans, matchmakers and fortune-tellers, monks and nuns, servants and maids, thieves and imposters—the stories provide a vivid panorama of the bustling world of imperial China before the end of the Ming dynasty. The three volumes constituting the Sanyan set—Stories Old and New, Stories to Caution the World, and Stories to Awaken the World, each containing forty tales—have been translated in their entirety by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang. The stories in this volume were selected for their popularity with American readers and their usefulness as texts in classes on Chinese and comparative literature. These unabridged translations include all the poetry that is scattered throughout the original stories, as well as Feng Menglong’s interlinear and marginal comments, which point out what seventeenth-century readers of the stories were being asked to appreciate.

Destiny Dynasty Legacy

Destiny Dynasty Legacy PDF Author: Dr. James E. Randolph
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1493105574
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
This Working Wealth Book (Working Wealth) is written out of my passion, concern and desire to see Gods people become more fully developed, purpose-driven and more effective in the Kingdom of God. Our time is short and much must be done by the Body of Christ to make an impact and a difference on the earth. I firmly believe that as believers and individuals we need more personal development and a real understanding of true wealth. Wealth is not really about money, but rather the richness of our internal system which reveals who we are, our purpose in life, our gifts, talents, abilities and our God given assignment on earth. A truly wealthy person is a valuable and powerful vessel that is internally opulent and abundantly blessed. When we are wealthy we are overflowing with fulfillment, godly purpose, passion, delight and generosity. Jesus is our ultimate example and He said in John 10:10bAMP, I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance,(to the full, till it over flows). This is the true definition of wealth and we are assigned and entrusted to be examples of it. In Working Wealth, you will learn all about wealth. You will be given the resources to assist you in your personal development building so you can be a witness of Gods wealth. Personal development is the key to becoming a truly wealthy individual with all fruitfulness, prosperity, success and effectiveness of a wealthy person. Thank you for investing in yourself by purchasing the Working Wealth. I can promise you that this book will be a very powerful tool and resource towards building a fulfilling, energizing, exciting and edifying lifestyle. I have found that every person wants to be better, more improved and more effective. Personal development is the key to reaching those dreams, goals and desires that speak on the inside of you. Why should you live in weakness and lack, when you are full of treasure? Jesus said, in Matthew 25:14-15, For it is like a man who was about to take a long journey and he called his servants together and entrusted them with his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his own personal ability. Then he departed and left the country. Personal development is taking seriously what has been entrusted to you and investing in it to produce a wealthy, more profitable you.

Servant of Mut

Servant of Mut PDF Author: Sue D'Auria
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900415857X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
Richard A. Fazzini has inspired and mentored many scholars of Egyptology through his tireless efforts as curator and then chairman of the Brooklyn Museum's Deptartment of Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Middle Eastern Art (ECAMEA); field archaeologist of the Pricinct of Mut at Karnak; scholar; and teacher, The 35 contributions to this volume in his honor represent the variety of Professor Fazzini's own research interests namely in ancient Egyptian art, religious iconography, and archaeology, particularly of the New Kingdom, Third Intermediate Period, and Late Period. Reflections on Professor Fazzini's scholarship and teaching are accompanied by an extensive bibliography of his works.

A History of Chinese Political Thought

A History of Chinese Political Thought PDF Author: Youngmin Kim
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509523189
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
China's rapid rise as a regional and global power is one of the most important political developments of the twenty-first century. Yet the West still largely overlooks or oversimplifies the complex ideas and ideals that have shaped the country’s national and international transformation from antiquity to the present day. In this beautifully written introductory text, Youngmin Kim offers a uniquely incisive survey of the major themes in Chinese political thought from customary community to empire, exploring their theoretical importance and the different historical contexts in which they arose. Challenging traditional assumptions about Chinese nationalism and Marxist history, Kim shows that "China" does not have a fixed, single identity, but rather is a constantly moving target. His probing, interdisciplinary approach traces the long and nuanced history of Chinese thought as a true tradition anchored in certain key themes, many of which began in the early dynasties and still resonate in China today. Only by appreciating this rich history, he argues, can we begin to understand the intricacies and contradictions of contemporary Chinese politics, economy, and society.

China's Examination Hell

China's Examination Hell PDF Author: Ichisada Miyazaki
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300026399
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Written by one of the foremost historians of Chinese institutions, this book focuses on China's civil service examination system in its final and most elaborate phase during the Ch'ing dynasty. All aspects of this labyrinthine system are explored: the types of questions, the style and form in which they were to be answered, the problem of cheating, and the psychological and financial burdens of the candidates, the rewards of the successful and the plight of those who failed. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including Chinese novels, short stories, and plays, this thought provoking and entertaining book brings to vivid life the testing structure that supplied China's government bureaucracy for almost fourteen hundred years. "Professor Miyazaki's informative work is concerned with a system. . . that was, in effect, . . . the basic institution of Chinese political life, the real pillar which supported the imperial monarchy, the effective vehicle for the aspirations and ambitions of the ruling class. Imperial China without the examination system for the past thousand years and more would have developed in an entirely different way and might not have endured as the continuing form of government over a huge empire."--Pacific Affairs "The most comprehensive narrative treatment in any language of [this] enduring achievement of Chinese civilization."--American Historical Review

Dynasty of the Holy Grail (Pb)

Dynasty of the Holy Grail (Pb) PDF Author: Vern Swanson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781462141814
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Servants of the Servant

Servants of the Servant PDF Author: Don N. Howell
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1592444229
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
Leadership is a subject that has gained impressive visibility in the past two decades. The number of books, monographs and articles, as well as seminars, devoted to the development of one's leadership skills has been almost exponential growth. This study is an attempt to forge a full-orbed theology of Christian leadership grounded in the teaching of Scripture. What emerges from tracing the theme of leadership through the biblical record is a servanthood pattern, one that is wholly distinct from prevailing secular models. Our exposition begins with the biblical language of the servant, the term of choice for those great leaders used of God to further his saving purposes in the world. Eleven Old Testament and five New Testament leaders are profiled. The portrait of Jesus Christ focuses on three motifs that governed his training of the twelve for kingdom ministry. The Pauline letters are mined for those convictions that governed Paul's practice of leadership, both of his mission team and of the faith communities that emerged from that mission. The treatment of each leader, from Joseph to Paul, begins with a series of preliminary questions and concludes with a mini-profile that correlates the biblical data with these questions. The final chapter offers a summary profile of the servant leader, one whose character, motives and agenda align with the divine purposes. Though designed as a textbook for upper level college and seminary courses on leadership, the book's readable format is ideal for churches and parachurch organizations in their leadership training programs. The author's prayer is that this work will serve as a catalyst to call God's people back to Scripture and thereby raise up a whole new generation of authentic servant-leaders.

Gender and Political Culture in Early Modern Europe, 1400-1800

Gender and Political Culture in Early Modern Europe, 1400-1800 PDF Author: James Daybell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134883919
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Gender and Political Culture in Early Modern Europe investigates the gendered nature of political culture across early modern Europe by exploring the relationship between gender, power, and political authority and influence. This collection offers a rethinking of what constituted ‘politics’ and a reconsideration of how men and women operated as part of political culture. It demonstrates how underlying structures could enable or constrain political action, and how political power and influence could be exercised through social and cultural practices. The book is divided into four parts - diplomacy, gifts and the politics of exchange; socio-economic structures; gendered politics at court; and voting and political representations – each of which looks at a series of interrelated themes exploring the ways in which political culture is inflected by questions of gender. In addition to examples drawn from across Europe, including Austria, the Dutch Republic, the Italian States and Scandinavia, the volume also takes a transnational comparative approach, crossing national borders, while the concluding chapter, by Merry Wiesner-Hanks, offers a global perspective on the field and encourages comparative analysis both chronologically and geographically. As the first collection to draw together early modern gender and political culture, this book is the perfect starting point for students exploring this fascinating topic.