Download or read book Modern Chinese Scholars Rocks written by Kemin Hu and published by Floating World Editions. This book was released on 2006 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through descriptions and color photographs, Modern Chinese Scholars' Rocks introduces over 40 stone types, including their mineral compositions, typical colors, hardness on the Mohr scale, and where they are found or quarried. The qualities for which they are valued are explained as are other features for the stone connoisseur to look for. Separate chapters explain how to display stones to their best advant age and how to make display stands.
Download or read book Spirit Stones written by and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2014-01-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brilliant photographs of scholars' rocks, or Chinese ornamental stones, from a leading collection Shaped by nature and selected by man, scholars' rocks, or gongshi, have been prized by Chinese intellectuals since the Tang dynasty, and are now sought after by Western collectors as well. They are a natural subject for the photographer Jonathan Singer, most recently acclaimed for his images of those other remarkable hybrids of art and nature, Japanese bonsai. Here Singer turns his lens on some 150 fine gongshi, ancient and modern, from the world-class collection of Kemin Hu, a recognized authority on this art form. In his photographs, Singer captures the spiritual qualities of these stones as never thought possible in two dimensions; he shows us that scholars' rocks truly are, in Hu's words, "condensations of the vital essence and energy of heaven and earth." Hu contributes an introductory essay on the history and aesthetics of scholars' rocks, explaining the traditional terms of stone appreciation, such as shou (thin), zhou (wrinkled), lou (channels), and tou (holes). She also provides a narrative caption for each stone, describing its history and characteristics.
Download or read book Cultivated Stones Chinese Scholars Rocks from the Kemin Hu Collection written by and published by National Bonsai Foundation. This book was released on 2023-03-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The original readymade: a pioneering volume on the ancient tradition of the scholar's rock Lose yourself in the endlessly rich variety of Chinese scholars' rocks, or gongshi, in this catalog featuring a major gift of Chinese stones to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum. This gift from recognized authority on scholars' rocks Kemin Hu includes 50 types of stones, ranging from the traditional to the modern. Lingbi, taihu, ying and other stones have been collected from all over China and are presented here in nine thematic groupings. One hundred and seven stunning photographs allow readers to plumb the depths of this ancient yet dynamic art form. Phillip E. Bloom, curator of the Chinese Garden and director of the Center for East Asian Garden Studies at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, guides readers through gongshi's 2,000-year history and introduces them to some of China's most passionate "lithomaniacs." Featuring numerous illustrations and historical aficionados' own musings in both translation and the original Chinese, Bloom's essay cracks open gongshi's history for a Western audience. A collector's preface by Hu, as well as reflections on stone collecting by American enthusiasts, complete the catalog. Stone appreciation is on the rise in the United States, although the English-language literature remains slim. Cultivated Stones is a valuable contribution to this growing field, not just an introduction for the interested novice but a scholarly advancement in its own right.
Download or read book Contemporary Chinese Political Thought written by Fred Reinhard Dallmayr and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2012-06-21 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Westerners seem united in the belief that China has emerged as a major economic power and that this success will most likely continue indefinitely. But they are less certain about the future of China's political system. China's steps toward free market capitalism have led many outsiders to expect increased democratization and a more Western political system. The Chinese, however, have developed their own version of capitalism. Westerners view Chinese politics through the lens of their own ideologies, preventing them from understanding Chinese goals and policies. In Contemporary Chinese Political Thought: Debates and Perspectives, Fred Dallmayr and Zhao Tingyang bring together leading Chinese intellectuals to debate the main political ideas shaping the rapidly changing nation. Investigating such topics as the popular "China Model", the resurgence of Chinese Confucianism and its applications to the modern world, and liberal socialism, the contributors move beyond usual analytical frameworks toward what Dallmayr and Zhao call "a dismantling of ideological straitjackets." Comprising a broad range of opinions and perspectives, Contemporary Chinese Political Thought is the most up-to-date examination in English of modern Chinese political attitudes and discourse. Features contributions from Ji Wenshun, Zhou Lian, Zhao Tingyang, Zhang Feng, Liu Shuxian, Chen Ming, He Baogang, Ni Peimin, Ci Jiwei, Cui Zhiyuan, Frank Fang, Wang Shaoguang, and Cheng Guangyun.
Download or read book The Intellectual in Modern Chinese History written by Timothy Cheek and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vivid account of Chinese intellectuals across the twentieth century that provides a guide to making sense of China today.
Download or read book Ink Art written by Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) and published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book was released on 2013 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Featuring 70 works in various media--paintings, calligraphy, photographs, woodblock prints, video, and sculpture--that were created during the past three decades, Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China will demonstrate how China's ancient pattern of seeking cultural renewal through the reinterpretation of past models remains a viable creative path. Although all of the artists have transformed their sources through new modes of expression, visitors will recognize thematic, aesthetic, or technical attributes in their creations that have meaningful links to China's artistic past. The exhibition will be organized thematically into four parts and will include such highlights as Xu Bing's dramatic Book from the Sky (ca. 1988), an installation that will fill an entire gallery; Family Tree (2000), a set of vivid photographs documenting a performance by Zhang Huan in which his facial features--and his identity--are obscured gradually by physiognomic texts that are inscribed directly onto his face; and Map of China (2006) by Ai Weiwei, which is constructed entirely of wood salvaged from demolished Qing dynasty temples." --
Download or read book written by Kemin Hu and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gongshi is a Chinese term for a variety of rare rocks usually referred to in the West as "scholar's rock." This volume is a survey of Chinese scholar's rocks and rock paintings from important private collections in America and China. With a foreword by Wu Tung of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and essays on aspects of collecting and appreciation of Chinese scholar's rocks.
Download or read book Kingdom of Characters Pulitzer Prize Finalist written by Jing Tsu and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-01-18 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST A New York Times Notable Book of 2022 What does it take to reinvent a language? After a meteoric rise, China today is one of the world’s most powerful nations. Just a century ago, it was a crumbling empire with literacy reserved for the elite few, as the world underwent a massive technological transformation that threatened to leave them behind. In Kingdom of Characters, Jing Tsu argues that China’s most daunting challenge was a linguistic one: the century-long fight to make the formidable Chinese language accessible to the modern world of global trade and digital technology. Kingdom of Characters follows the bold innovators who reinvented the Chinese language, among them an exiled reformer who risked a death sentence to advocate for Mandarin as a national language, a Chinese-Muslim poet who laid the groundwork for Chairman Mao's phonetic writing system, and a computer engineer who devised input codes for Chinese characters on the lid of a teacup from the floor of a jail cell. Without their advances, China might never have become the dominating force we know today. With larger-than-life characters and an unexpected perspective on the major events of China’s tumultuous twentieth century, Tsu reveals how language is both a technology to be perfected and a subtle, yet potent, power to be exercised and expanded.
Download or read book Popular Protest And Political Culture In Modern China written by Jeffrey N Wasserstrom and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-07 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This innovative and widely praised volume uses the dramatic occupation of Tiananmen Square as the foundation for rethinking the cultural dimensions of Chinese politics. Now in a revised and expanded second edition, the book includes enhanced coverage of key issues, such as the political dimensions of popular culture (addressed in a new chapter on Chinese rock-and-roll by Andrew Jones) and the struggle for control of public discourse in the post-1989 era (discussed in a new chapter by Tony Saich). Two especially valuable additions to the second edition are art historian Tsao Tsing-yuan's eyewitness account of the making of the Goddess of Democracy, and an exposition of Chinese understandings of the term ?revolution? contributed by Liu Xiaobo, one of China's most controversial dissident intellectuals. The volume also includes an analysis (by noted social theorist and historical sociologist Craig C. Calhoun) of the similarities and differences between the ?new? social movements of recent decades and the ?old? social movements of earlier eras.TEXT CONCLUSION: To facilitate classroom use, the volume has been reorganized into groups of interrelated essays. The editors introduce each section and offer a list of suggested readings that complement the material in that section.
Download or read book Art of the Natural World written by Richard Rosenblum and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays by Valerie C. Doran, Richard Rosenblum.
Download or read book Places of Memory in Modern China written by Marc Andre Matten and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-12-09 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book offers a new approach to the discussion on the issue of Chinese national identity, providing new insights in how identity is constructed and contested. These issues are of vital concern for the understanding of contemporary China and its national consciousness.
Download or read book Contemporary Chinese Visual Culture written by Christopher Crouch and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines three overarching themes: Chinese modernity's (sometimes ambivalent) relationship to tradition at the start of the twentieth century, the processes of economic reform started in the 1980s and their importance to both the eradication and rescue of traditional practices, and the ideological issue of cosmopolitanism and how it frames the older academic generation's attitudes to globalisation. It is important to grasp the importance of these points as they have been an important part of the discourse surrounding contemporary Chinese visual culture. As readers progress through this book, it will become clear that the debates surrounding visual culture are not purely based on aesthetics--an understanding of the ideological issues surrounding the appearance of things as well as an understanding of the social circumstances that result in the making of traditional artifacts are as important as the way a traditional object may look. Contemporary Chinese Visual Culture is an important book for all collections dealing with Asian studies, art, popular culture, and interdisciplinary studies.
Download or read book The Search for Modern China written by Jonathan D. Spence and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 1990 with total page 1054 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this widely acclaimed history of modern China, Jonathan Spence achieves a fine blend of narrative richness and efficiency. The Search for Modern China offers a matchless introduction to China's history.
Download or read book Soft Rock Mechanics and Engineering written by Milton Kanji and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-11-24 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a practical reference guide to soft rock mechanics for engineers and scientists. Written by recognized experts, it will benefit professionals, contractors, academics, researchers and students working on rock engineering projects in the fields of civil engineering, mining and construction engineering. Soft Rock Mechanics and Engineering covers a specific subject of great relevance in Rock Mechanics – and one that is directly connected to the design of geotechnical structures under difficult ground conditions. The book addresses practical issues related to the geomechanical properties of these types of rock masses and their characterization, while also discussing advances regarding in situ investigation, safety, and monitoring of geotechnical structures in soft rocks. Lastly, it presents important case histories involving tunnelling, dam foundations, coal and open pit mines and landslides.
Download or read book Viewing Stones of North America written by Thomas S. Elias and published by . This book was released on 2014-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although firmly rooted in ancient East Asia cultures, stone appreciation has no necessary boundaries; around the mid-twentieth century it found a congenial reception in the West, where it slowly began to flourish. While after more than a half-century, Asian perspectives on connoisseurship of natural stones have become well established in the West, books on viewing stones still predominantly feature East Asian examples. This is the first book to feature outstanding North American viewing stones from private and institutional collections, and includes introductory essays on Native American stone appreciation and a brief history of stone collecting on the continent. North America has a rich and varied geological history that is yielding many types of beautiful and unusual stones. Some resemble natural features, plateaus or mountains with cascading rivulets, while others are figurative, portraying creatures real or mythical. Some are abstract in form, while others exhibit appealing shapes, beautiful colors, or fascinating surface patterns. However, all share one quality: an ability to elicit an emotional response in the viewer. They confront us with the beauty and diversity of the natural world and demand a response, while we are drawn, willingly, to comply. Sixty-three individuals and institutions participated in this project. From over 330 professional photographs submitted for consideration, 151 stones were selected for inclusion. A jury of stone enthusiasts evaluated each submission based on seven criteria, without knowing the identity of either collector or owner. The result is fabulous array of beautiful and unusual stones from a diverse group of collectors, demonstrating not only the richness and diversity of the continent's geological resources but also the vibrancy and enthusiasm of the North American collecting community.
Download or read book Carbon Technocracy written by Victor Seow and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2023-05-12 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A forceful reckoning with the relationship between energy and power through the history of what was once East Asia’s largest coal mine. The coal-mining town of Fushun in China’s Northeast is home to a monstrous open pit. First excavated in the early twentieth century, this pit grew like a widening maw over the ensuing decades, as various Chinese and Japanese states endeavored to unearth Fushun’s purportedly “inexhaustible” carbon resources. Today, the depleted mine that remains is a wondrous and terrifying monument to fantasies of a fossil-fueled future and the technologies mobilized in attempts to turn those developmentalist dreams into reality. In Carbon Technocracy, Victor Seow uses the remarkable story of the Fushun colliery to chart how the fossil fuel economy emerged in tandem with the rise of the modern technocratic state. Taking coal as an essential feedstock of national wealth and power, Chinese and Japanese bureaucrats, engineers, and industrialists deployed new technologies like open-pit mining and hydraulic stowage in pursuit of intensive energy extraction. But as much as these mine operators idealized the might of fossil fuel–driven machines, their extractive efforts nevertheless relied heavily on the human labor that those devices were expected to displace. Under the carbon energy regime, countless workers here and elsewhere would be subjected to invasive techniques of labor control, ever-escalating output targets, and the dangers of an increasingly exploited earth. Although Fushun is no longer the coal capital it once was, the pattern of aggressive fossil-fueled development that led to its ascent endures. As we confront a planetary crisis precipitated by our extravagant consumption of carbon, it holds urgent lessons. This is a groundbreaking exploration of how the mutual production of energy and power came to define industrial modernity and the wider world that carbon made.
Download or read book Performing Hybridity in Colonial Modern China written by S. Liu and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-03-20 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Shanghai in the early twentieth century, a hybrid theatrical form, wenmingxi, emerged that was based on Western spoken theatre, classical Chinese theatre, and a Japanese hybrid form known as shinpa. This book places it in the context of its hybridized literary and performance elements, giving it a definitive place in modern Chinese theatre.
