Author: Louise Levathes
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504007360
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235
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Book Description
One hundred years before Columbus and his fellow Europeans began their voyages of discovery, fleets of giant junks commanded by the eunuch admiral Zheng He and filled with the empire’s finest porcelains, lacquerware, and silk ventured to the world’s “four corners.” Seven epic expeditions brought China’s treasure ships across the China Seas and Indian Ocean, from Japan to the spice island of Indonesia and the Malabar Coast of India, on to the rich ports of the Persian Gulf and down the East African coast, to China’s “El Dorado,” and perhaps even to Australia, three hundred years before Captain Cook’s landing. It was a time of exploration and expansion, but it ended in a retrenchment so complete that less than a century later, it was a crime to go to sea in a multimasted ship. In When China Ruled the Seas, Louise Levathes takes a fascinating and unprecedented look at this dynamic period in China’s enigmatic history, focusing on the country’s rise as a naval power that briefly brought half the world under its nominal authority. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, official Ming histories, and African, Arab, and Indian sources, many translated for the first time, Levathes brings readers inside China’s most illustrious scientific and technological era. She sheds new light on the historical and cultural context in which this great civilization thrived, as well as the perception of China by other contemporary cultures. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, When China Ruled the Seas is the fullest picture yet of the early Ming dynasty—the last flowering of Chinese culture before the Manchu invasion.
Author: Ann Martin Bowler
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462907903
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 46
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Book Description
Join the Chinese admiral and his crew as they battle pirates and raging storms in this beautifully illustrated Chinese history book for kids. Did you know that 85 years before Columbus discovered America, Chinese ships longer than a football field sailed thousands of miles through unknown oceans and visited more than 30 nations? It's true! Adventures of the Treasure Fleet: China Discovers that World is the amazing story of these seven epic voyages and their larger-than-life commander, Admiral Zheng He. Beginning in 1405, Admiral Zheng He led more than 300 gigantic, brightly-painted ships across the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean and all the way to the distant coast of Africa. The admiral and his crew battled pirates and raging storms and were amazed by the people and ways of life in distant lands. At each port, Chinese goods were traded for pearls, precious stones, herbs and medicines which were given as tribute to China's powerful emperor when the ships' returned home. Filled with historical facts, Adventures of the Treasure Fleet brings a fantastic piece of history to life. Gracefully told and beautifully illustrated, the story's fast pace will keep young ones captivated while offering enough information to satisfy curious readers of all ages.
Author: Marisa Fang
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789814806824
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 408
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Book Description
Building on the success of the first two volumes, Chinese Treasure Chest Volumes 3 and 4 contain an abundance of exciting activities to enhance any Chinese language program. These two new volumes include everything you could hope to have to enrich your teaching!
Author: Laurence Bergreen
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
ISBN: 1626721238
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 224
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Book Description
From New York Times bestselling author Laurence Bergreen and author Sara Fray comes this immaculately researched history for young readers detailing the life of Zheng He, his complex and enduring friendship with his emperor, and the epic Seven Voyages he led that would establish China as a global power. 1405. The central coast of China. At nearly seven feet tall, Admiral Zheng He looked out at the sea before him. For the next three decades, the oceans would be his home, as he would command over 1,500 ships and thousands of sailors in seven journeys that would predate the heart of the European Age of Exploration. Over his seven epic journeys, Zheng He explored the Northern Pacific and Indian Oceans, traveling as far as the east coast of Africa, expanding Chinese power globally, warring with pirates, and capturing enemies along the way in the name of his emperor, Zhu Di. But this giant figure was not always at the helm of a ship.
Author: Robert H. Sharf
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824861949
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 417
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Book Description
The issue of sinification—the manner and extent to which Buddhism and Chinese culture were transformed through their mutual encounter and dialogue—has dominated the study of Chinese Buddhism for much of the past century. Robert Sharf opens this important and far-reaching book by raising a host of historical and hermeneutical problems with the encounter paradigm and the master narrative on which it is based. Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism is, among other things, an extended reflection on the theoretical foundations and conceptual categories that undergird the study of medieval Chinese Buddhism. Sharf draws his argument in part from a meticulous historical, philological, and philosophical analysis of the Treasure Store Treatise (Pao-tsang lun), an eighth-century Buddho-Taoist work apocryphally attributed to the fifth-century master Seng-chao (374–414). In the process of coming to terms with this recondite text, Sharf ventures into all manner of subjects bearing on our understanding of medieval Chinese Buddhism, from the evolution of T’ang "gentry Taoism" to the pivotal role of image veneration and the problematic status of Chinese Tantra. The volume includes a complete annotated translation of the Treasure Store Treatise, accompanied by the detailed exegesis of dozens of key terms and concepts.
Author: Jenny Liu
Publisher: Running Press
ISBN: 9781561387854
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Open the chest's secret compartment to reveal a brush and ink set and instructions for making Chinese characters, I Ching coins used to tell the future, a Chinese fan to decorate, plus charts, stickers, and more.
Author: Corona Brezina
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
ISBN: 1508171459
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 114
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Book Description
Zheng He was the commander of a vast Chinese fleet known as the treasure fleet. In the early fifteenth century, he led the fleet on seven journeys throughout the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, serving as ambassador to the barbarian nations in need of a civilizing influence. Under Zheng He’s command, the Chinese treasure fleet achieved one of the most impressive maritime displays the world had ever seen. This engaging volume covers the fleet’s travels, which covered more than 40,000 miles and included sea routes along the Silk Road, to cities and kingdoms from southern Asia to east Africa.
Author: Edward L. Dreyer
Publisher: Longman Publishing Group
ISBN: 9780321084439
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 238
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Book Description
This new biography, part of Longman's World Biography series, of the Chinese explorer Zheng He sheds new light on one of the most important "what if" questions of early modern history: why a technically advanced China did not follow the same path of development as the major European powers. Written by China scholar Edward L. Dreyer, Zheng He outlines what is known of the eunuch Zheng He's life and describes and analyzes the early 15th century voyages on the basis of the Chinese evidence. Locating the voyages firmly within the context of early Ming history,itaddresses the political motives of Zheng He's voyages and how they affected China's exclusive attitude to the outside world in subsequent centuries.
Author: Huan Hsu
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307986314
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 396
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Book Description
A journalist travels throughout mainland China and Taiwan in search of his family’s hidden treasure and comes to understand his ancestry as he never has before. In 1938, when the Japanese arrived in Huan Hsu’s great-great-grandfather Liu’s Yangtze River hometown of Xingang, Liu was forced to bury his valuables, including a vast collection of prized antique porcelain, and undertake a decades-long trek that would splinter the family over thousands of miles. Many years and upheavals later, Hsu, raised in Salt Lake City and armed only with curiosity, moves to China to work in his uncle’s semiconductor chip business. Once there, a conversation with his grandmother, his last living link to dynastic China, ignites a desire to learn more about not only his lost ancestral heirlooms but also porcelain itself. Mastering the language enough to venture into the countryside, Hsu sets out to separate the layers of fact and fiction that have obscured both China and his heritage and finally complete his family’s long march back home. Melding memoir, travelogue, and social and political history, The Porcelain Thief offers an intimate and unforgettable way to understand the complicated events that have defined China over the past two hundred years and provides a revealing, lively perspective on contemporary Chinese society from the point of view of a Chinese American coming to terms with his hyphenated identity.
Author: Marisa Fang
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789814281577
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Teachers, you won't have to rack your brain trying to think of ways to keep your students motivated! Chinese Treasure Chest is an unprecedented collection of ready-to-use games, songs, craft projects, delightfully illustrated student worksheets and teacher-directed activities to help elementary students learn Chinese as a foreign language.This imaginative teaching resource (two-volume set) contains hundreds of reproducible pages of activities designed around themes in the elementary curriculum and organized into 12 monthly sections to fit the school year. Volume 1 covers September to December. Themes include Introduction, Greetings, Numbers, Family, Telling Time, Parts of the Body, Food, Colors, School, Hobbies, Animals, Weather and Feelings.Students learn the Chinese language and culture through games, songs, crossword puzzles, cut-outs, picture cards, TPR activities, role-play, chants and conversations. Also included are seasonal activities to help students celebrate special events and holidays of each month.Each section begins with teacher notes that states the learning objectives and difficulty level of each activity, and offers suggestions on how to implement an activity to get the best results.Chinese Treasure Chest is a joint effort of three experienced Chinese teachers, and encapsulates their years of teaching experience and innovative approaches to teaching young children. It will make the classroom experience more fun, more enriching and more rewarding for teachers and students alike!Presented in Traditional Character, Pinyin and English. Ages 5+.
