Falling in Love

Falling in Love PDF Author:
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824829957
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Falling in love, with all its accompanying problems, was a subject of obsessive interest among writers and readers in the Ming Dynasty, when society held strictly to arranged marriages. The stories in this engaging collection all deal with this theme in very different ways, sometimes comically, sometimes tragically. They portray young people choosing their own lovers, resorting to ingenious stratagems and risky escapades in defiance of contemporary mores. Chosen to represent the best works from the great age of the vernacular story, they offer an admirable introduction to the world of Chinese fiction in this era. All of the stories in Falling in Love have been translated especially for this volume, and most appear here in translation for the first time. They are taken from two works, Constant Words to Awaken the World (Xing shi heng yan) and a related collection, The Rocks Nod Their Heads (Shi dian tou), both published in the early seventeenth century.

Falling in Love

Falling in Love PDF Author:
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824829957
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Falling in love, with all its accompanying problems, was a subject of obsessive interest among writers and readers in the Ming Dynasty, when society held strictly to arranged marriages. The stories in this engaging collection all deal with this theme in very different ways, sometimes comically, sometimes tragically. They portray young people choosing their own lovers, resorting to ingenious stratagems and risky escapades in defiance of contemporary mores. Chosen to represent the best works from the great age of the vernacular story, they offer an admirable introduction to the world of Chinese fiction in this era. All of the stories in Falling in Love have been translated especially for this volume, and most appear here in translation for the first time. They are taken from two works, Constant Words to Awaken the World (Xing shi heng yan) and a related collection, The Rocks Nod Their Heads (Shi dian tou), both published in the early seventeenth century.

Ming

Ming PDF Author: Craig Clunas
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780714124841
Category : Art objects, Chinese
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Ask anyone what single object they associate with China and the most common answer will be a Ming vase. Probably without even knowing the dates of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), people are aware of the fragility of its porcelain, its rarity and value. But porcelain is just one part of the story of one of the most glorious epoques of China's past. By focusing on the significant years of the early Ming dynasty and through the themes of court people and their lives, extraordinary developments in culture, the military, religion, diplomacy and trade, this book brings the wider history of this fascinating period to colourful life.

The Handbook of Mummy Studies

The Handbook of Mummy Studies PDF Author: Dong Hoon Shin
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9789811533532
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1171

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Book Description
Owing to their unique state of preservation, mummies provide us with significant historical and scientific knowledge of humankind’s past. This handbook, written by prominent international experts in mummy studies, offers readers a comprehensive guide to new understandings of the field’s most recent trends and developments. It provides invaluable information on the health states and pathologies of historic populations and civilizations, as well as their socio-cultural and religious characteristics. Addressing the developments in mummy studies that have taken place over the past two decades – which have been neglected for as long a time – the authors excavate the ground-breaking research that has transformed scientific and cultural knowledge of our ancient predecessors. The handbook investigates the many new biotechnological tools that are routinely applied in mummy studies, ranging from morphological inspection and endoscopy to minimally invasive radiological techniques that are used to assess states of preservation. It also looks at the paleoparasitological and pathological approaches that have been employed to reconstruct the lifestyles and pathologic conditions of ancient populations, and considers the techniques that have been applied to enhance biomedical knowledge, such as craniofacial reconstruction, chemical analysis, stable isotope analysis and ancient DNA analysis. This interdisciplinary handbook will appeal to academics in historical, anthropological, archaeological and biological sciences, and will serve as an indispensable companion to researchers and students interested in worldwide mummy studies.

1587, a Year of No Significance

1587, a Year of No Significance PDF Author: Ray Huang
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300028843
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Creates a portrait of the world and culture of late imperial China by examining the lives of seven prominent officials and members of the Ming ruling class

Art of the Yellow Springs

Art of the Yellow Springs PDF Author: Wu Hung
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1861897189
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
We might think the Egyptians were the masters of building tombs, but no other civilization has devoted more time and resources to underground burial structures than the Chinese. For at least five thousand years, from the fourth millennium B.C.E. to the early twentieth century, the Chinese have been building some of the world’s most elaborate tombs and furnishing them with exquisite objects. It is these objects and the concept of the tomb as a “treasure-trove” that The Art of the Yellow Springs seeks to critique, drawing on recent scholarship to examine memorial sites the way they were meant to be experienced: not as a mere store of individual works, but as a work of art itself. Wu Hung bolsters some of the new trends in Chinese art history that have been challenging the conventional ways of studying funerary art. Examining the interpretative methods themselves that guide the study of memorials, he argues that in order to understand Chinese tombs, one must not necessarily forget the individual works present in them—as the beautiful color plates here will prove—but consider them along with a host of other art-historical concepts. These include notions of visuality, viewership, space, analysis, function, and context. The result is a ground-breaking new assessment that demonstrates the amazing richness of one of the longest-running traditions in the whole of art history.

The Art History of the Ming Dynasty

The Art History of the Ming Dynasty PDF Author: Li Shi
Publisher: DeepLogic
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
The book is the volume of “The Art History of the Ming Dynasty” among a series of books of “Deep into China Histories”. The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC) and the Bamboo Annals (296 BC) describe a Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BC) before the Shang, but no writing is known from the period The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley, which is commonly held to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. However, Neolithic civilizations originated at various cultural centers along both the Yellow River and Yangtze River. These Yellow River and Yangtze civilizations arose millennia before the Shang. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations, and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization.The Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) supplanted the Shang and introduced the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. The central Zhou government began to weaken due to external and internal pressures in the 8th century BC, and the country eventually splintered into smaller states during the Spring and Autumn period. These states became independent and warred with one another in the following Warring States period. Much of traditional Chinese culture, literature and philosophy first developed during those troubled times.In 221 BC Qin Shi Huang conquered the various warring states and created for himself the title of Huangdi or "emperor" of the Qin, marking the beginning of imperial China. However, the oppressive government fell soon after his death, and was supplanted by the longer-lived Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). Successive dynasties developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the emperor to control vast territories directly. In the 21 centuries from 206 BC until AD 1912, routine administrative tasks were handled by a special elite of scholar-officials. Young men, well-versed in calligraphy, history, literature, and philosophy, were carefully selected through difficult government examinations. China's last dynasty was the Qing (1644–1912), which was replaced by the Republic of China in 1912, and in the mainland by the People's Republic of China in 1949.Chinese history has alternated between periods of political unity and peace, and periods of war and failed statehood – the most recent being the Chinese Civil War (1927–1949). China was occasionally dominated by steppe peoples, most of whom were eventually assimilated into the Han Chinese culture and population. Between eras of multiple kingdoms and warlordism, Chinese dynasties have ruled parts or all of China; in some eras control stretched as far as Xinjiang and Tibet, as at present. Traditional culture, and influences from other parts of Asia and the Western world (carried by waves of immigration, cultural assimilation, expansion, and foreign contact), form the basis of the modern culture of China.

Atlas of World Heritage

Atlas of World Heritage PDF Author:
Publisher: LONG RIVER PRESS
ISBN: 1592650600
Category : Historic sites
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Take a photographic journey to these fantastic natural and cultural sites of China. Full-color photographs and highly detailed maps and background information make this an excellent gift book or reference volume.

The Ming Tombs

The Ming Tombs PDF Author: Ann Paludan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
Few visit Beijing without going to the Ming Tombs, the burial grounds of the Ming dynasty who ruled China from 1368 to 1644. This book gives a concise and up-to-date description of one of China's most important archaeological sites. It explains the beliefs underlying Chinese burial practices and the significant symbolism of the stone monuments lining the spirit road--the avenue leading to the first tomb in the valley--with its animals and stone officials in fifteenth-century court costume.

Ming

Ming PDF Author: Jessica Harrison-Hall
Publisher: British Museum Press
ISBN: 9780714124834
Category : Art, Chinese
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) is regarded as China's 'golden age', equivalent in British history to the Elizabethan era. Through the themes of people and places and a wealth of objects, this beautifully illustrated little book provides a concise and fascinating introduction to the Ming period. The colourful and rich nature of life for the emperors and their families within the vast palaces of Nanjing, Beijing and beyond is captured in the exquisite imperial portraits, paintings, costumes and jewellery. Beyond the courts, outdoor spaces were enjoyed by many people, and journeys into the countryside undertaken for different purposes. Parties were held in gardens with friends and sports such as football and golf kept people fit. Amongst other goods, Chinese porcelain and silk were highly regarded throughout the world at this time. The author looks at the main production centres, the extensive distribution networks, and the roles of craftsmen, salesmen and customers. As so much of our knowledge of Ming China derives from archaeology, tombs of royals and non-royals are featured and major finds from them illustrated. Religious sites - monasteries, temples and mosques - are also explored; rare surviving examples of architecture from the Ming period. The book concludes with an introduction to some of the imagined spaces of the Ming, including realms for various gods. Here are palaces and parks; tombs and temples; silk-production sites and sacred mountains; emperors and empresses; soldiers and salesmen; princes and potters: a visual feast that captures the flavour of the remarkable Ming dynasty.

Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China

Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China PDF Author: James L. Watson
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520060814
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
During the late imperial era (1500-1911), China, though divided by ethnic, linguistic, and regional differences at least as great as those prevailing in Europe, enjoyed a remarkable solidarity. What held Chinese society together for so many centuries? Some scholars have pointed to the institutional control over the written word as instrumental in promoting cultural homogenization; others, the manipulation of the performing arts. This volume, comprised of essays by both anthropologists and historians, furthers this important discussion by examining the role of death rituals in the unification of Chinese culture.