Download or read book Protecting the Dharma through Calligraphy in Tang China written by Pietro De Laurentis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-29 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a study of the earliest and finest collated inscription in the history of Chinese calligraphy, the Ji Wang shengjiao xu 集王聖教序 (Preface to the Sacred Teaching Scriptures Translated by Xuanzang in Wang Xizhi’s Collated Characters), which was erected on January 1, 673. The stele records the two texts written by the Tang emperors Taizong (599–649) and Gaozong (628–683) in honor of the monk Xuanzang (d. 664) and the Buddhist scripture Xin jing (Heart Sutra), collated in the semi-cursive characters of the great master of Chinese calligraphy, Wang Xizhi (303–361). It is thus a Buddhist inscription that combines Buddhist authority, political power, and artistic charm in one single monument. The present book reconstructs the multifaceted context in which the stele was devised, aiming at highlighting the specific role calligraphy played in the propagation and protection of Buddhism in medieval China.
Download or read book Beyond the Silk and Book Roads written by Michelle C. Wang and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-11-27 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Silk Road studies has often treated material artifacts and manuscripts separately. This interdisciplinary volume expands the scope of transcultural transmission, questions what constituted a “book,” and explores networks of circulation shared by material artifacts and manuscripts. Featuring new research in English by international scholars in Buddhist studies, art history, and literary studies, the essays in Beyond the Silk and Book Roads chart new and exciting directions in Silk Road studies. Contributors are: Ge Jiyong, George A. Keyworth, Ding Li, Ryan Richard Overbey, Hao Chunwen, Wu Shaowei, Liu Yi, Lan Wu, Sha Wutian, Michelle C. Wang, and Stephen Roddy.
Download or read book The History and Cultural Heritage of Chinese Calligraphy Printing and Library Work written by Susan M. Allen and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2010-03-26 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In China the tradition of a book society is longer than anywhere else in the world. Chinese paper making, calligraphy and woodblock printing date from very early ages, but have for a very long time remained almost unknown to the Western world. At the IFLA satellite meeting “Chinese Written and Printed Cultural Heritage and Library Work” in Hangzhou in 2006 the richness of present day book historical research and library activities in China has been presented by more than sixty papers. This fine selection reflects the width and depth of this extremely important and immense Chinese heritage.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature 1000 BCE 900 CE written by Wiebke Denecke and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 625 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume introduces readers to classical Chinese literature from its beginnings (ca. 10th century BCE) to the tenth century BCE through a conceptual framework centered on textual production and transmission. It focuses on recuperating historical perspectives for the period it surveys, and attempts to draw connections between the past and present.
Download or read book Donors of Longmen written by Amy McNair and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donors of Longmen is the first work in a Western language to re-create the history of the Longmen Grottoes, one of China's great stone sculpture treasure houses. Longmen, a UNESCO World Heritage site located near the old capital of Luoyang in modern Henan Province, consists of thousands of ancient cave chapels and shrines containing Buddhist icons of all sizes that were carved into the towering limestone cliffs from the fifth to the eighth centuries. Beyond its superb sculpture, Longmen also preserves thousands of engraved dedicatory inscriptions by its donors, who included emperors and empresses, aristocrats, court eunuchs, artisans, monks, nuns, lay societies, female palace officials, male civil and military officials, and ordinary lay believers. Based on wide reading of both Asian and Western-language scholarship and careful analysis of the architecture, epigraphy, and iconography of the site, Amy McNair provides a rich and detailed examination of the dynamics of faith, politics, and money at Longmen, beginning with the inception of the site at Guyang Grotto in 493 and concluding with the last major dated project, the forty-eight Amitabhas added to the Great Vairocana Image Shrine in 730. Through her sensitive and well-informed exploration of Longmen's huge repository of remarkable early sculpture, McNair gives voice to a wide array of medieval believers, many of them traditionally excluded from history. Hers will be the definitive work on Longmen for years to come.
Download or read book A General History of Chinese Art written by Xifan Li and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2022-10-03 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume covers Chinese art during the reign of the Sui and Tang Dynasties during which the various disciplines of plastic and performing arts all entered a stage of unprecedented prosperity and development. It also traces new explorations in calligraphy, painting, and mural art and highlights architectural achievements during the historic period. A General History of Chinese Art comprises six volumes with a total of nine parts spanning from the Prehistoric Era until the 3rd year of Xuantong during the Qing Dynasty (1911). The work provides a comprehensive compilation of in-depth studies of the development of art throughout the subsequent reign of Chinese dynasties and explores the emergence of a wide range of artistic categories such as but not limited to music, dance, acrobatics, singing, story telling, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, architecture, and crafts. Unlike previous reference books, A General History of Chinese Art offers a broader overview of the notion of Chinese art by asserting a more diverse and less material understanding of arts, as has often been the case in Western scholarship.
Download or read book China Between Empires written by Mark Edward Lewis and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-30 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the collapse of the Han dynasty in the third century CE, China divided along a north-south line. Mark Lewis traces the changes that both underlay and resulted from this split in a period that saw the geographic redefinition of China, more engagement with the outside world, significant changes to family life, developments in the literary and social arenas, and the introduction of new religions. The Yangzi River valley arose as the rice-producing center of the country. Literature moved beyond the court and capital to depict local culture, and newly emerging social spaces included the garden, temple, salon, and country villa. The growth of self-defined genteel families expanded the notion of the elite, moving it away from the traditional great Han families identified mostly by material wealth. Trailing the rebel movements that toppled the Han, the new faiths of Daoism and Buddhism altered every aspect of life, including the state, kinship structures, and the economy. By the time China was reunited by the Sui dynasty in 589 ce, the elite had been drawn into the state order, and imperial power had assumed a more transcendent nature. The Chinese were incorporated into a new world system in which they exchanged goods and ideas with states that shared a common Buddhist religion. The centuries between the Han and the Tang thus had a profound and permanent impact on the Chinese world.
Download or read book History of the World in 1 000 Objects written by DK and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the watch Napoleon used to synchronize with his generals at Waterloo and Chinese David vases believed to be the oldest example of blue and white porcelain to the US Constitution and the Mayan Dresden codex, the oldest book written in the Americas, History of the World in 1,000 Objects provides a completely fresh perspective on the history of the world. With objects revealing how our ancestors lived, what they believed and valued, and how these items helped shape civilization, History of the World in 1,000 Objects contains a treasure trove of human creativity from earliest cultures to the present day. Objects are grouped chronologically, under key themes, from art to the history of technology, and together help paint a unique picture that provides detailed insight into each culture. In addition to stunning specially-commissioned photographs, History of the World in 1,000 Objects includes timelines and maps that make it easy to compare how people lived at different times and in different parts of the world. Reviews of its print edition: "This vividly illustrated book provides a fresh perspective on world history by revealing how our ancestors lived through the objects they fashioned." - Longitude "[A] completely fresh perspective on the history of the world." - Releaselog "[A] treasure trove of human creativity from earliest cultures to the present day." - USA Today "Using human-made objects to explain world history is such a fun and interesting way to see how societies around the planet have evolved both culturally and technologically." - Winkbooks Award to its print edition: The National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children's Book Council's Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2015
Download or read book The Silk Road and Cultural Exchanges between East and West written by Xinjiang Rong and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-10-31 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Silk Road and Cultural Exchanges Between East and West, originally written in Chinese by Rong Xinjiang and now translated into English, provides insights into previously unresolved issues concerning the interactions among the societies, economies, religions and cultures of the “Western Regions”, and beyond, during the first millennium.
Download or read book A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks written by David Gibbins and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2024-04-02 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From renowned underwater archaeologist David Gibbins comes an exciting and rich narrative of human history told through the archaeological discoveries of twelve shipwrecks across time. The Viking warship of King Cnut the Great. Henry VIII's the Mary Rose. Captain John Franklin's doomed HMS Terror. The SS Gairsoppa, destroyed by a Nazi U-boat in the Atlantic during World War II. Since we first set sail on the open sea, ships and their wrecks have been an inevitable part of human history. Archaeologists have made spectacular discoveries excavating these sunken ships, their protective underwater cocoon keeping evidence of past civilizations preserved. Now, for the first time, world renowned maritime archeologist David Gibbins ties together the stories of some of the most significant shipwrecks in time to form a single overarching narrative of world history. A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks is not just the story of those ships, the people who sailed on them, and the cargo and treasure they carried, but also the story of the spread of people, religion, and ideas around the world; it is a story of colonialism, migration, and the indominable human spirit that continues today. From the glittering Bronze Age, to the world of Caesar's Rome, through the era of the Vikings, to the exploration of the Arctic, Gibbins uses shipwrecks to tell all. Drawing on decades of experience excavating shipwrecks around the world, Gibbins reveals the riches beneath the waves and shows us how the treasures found there can be a porthole to the past that tell a new story about the world and its underwater secrets.
Download or read book Embodying Data written by Qi Li and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-06-19 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates a new interactive data visualisation concept that employs traditional Chinese aesthetics as a basis for exploring contemporary digital technological contexts. It outlines the aesthetic approach, which draws on non-Western aesthetic concepts, specifically the Yijing and Taoist cosmological principles, and discusses the development of data-based digital practices within a theoretical framework that combines traditional Taoist ideas with the digital humanities. The book also offers a critique of the Western aesthetics underpinning data visualisation, in particular the Kantian sublime, which prioritises the experience of power over the natural world viewed at a distance. Taoist philosophy, in contrast, highlights the integration of the surface of the body and the surface of nature as a Taoist body, rather than promoting an opposition of mind and body. The book then explores the transformational potential between the human body and technology, particularly in creating an aesthetic approach spanning traditional Chinese aesthetics and gesture-based technology. Representing a valuable contribution to the digital humanities, the book helps readers understand data-based artistic practices, while also bringing the ideas of traditional Chinese aesthetics to Western audiences. In addition, it will be of interest to practitioners in the fields of digital art and data visualisation seeking new models.
Download or read book The Judge Dee Novels of R H van Gulik written by J.K. Van Dover and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-11-18 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From 1949 to 1968 author Robert van Gulick wrote 15 novels, two novellas and eight short stories featuring Judge Dee, a Chinese magistrate and detective from the Tang dynasty. In addition to providing the setting for riveting mysteries, Dee's world highlighted aspects of traditional Chinese culture through his personal relationships with his wives, his lieutenants and the citizens he served with dedication on the emperor's behalf. This book gives a synopsis of each Judge Dee story, along with commentary on plots, characters, themes and historical details. Exploring van Gulik's influence on Chinese and Western detective fiction and on the image of China in popular 20th century American literature, this study brings to light a significant contributor to the development of detective fiction.
Download or read book Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang written by Roderick Whitfield and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mogao grottoes in China, situated near the town of Dunhuang on the fabled Silk Road, constitute one of the world’s most significant sites of Buddhist art. The hundreds of caves carved into rock cliffs at the edge of the Gobi desert preserve one thousand years of exquisite art. Founded by Buddhist monks as an isolated monastery in the late fourth century, Mogao evolved into an artistic and spiritual mecca whose renown extended from the Chinese capital to the Western Kingdoms of the Silk Road. Among its treasures are miles of stunning wall paintings, more than two thousand statues, magnificent works on silk and paper, and thousands of ancient manuscripts, such as sutras, poems, and prayer sheets. In this new expanded edition, Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang, first published in 2000, combines lavish color photographs of the caves and their art with the fascinating history of the Silk Road to create a vivid portrait of this remarkable site. Chapters narrate the development of Dunhuang and the Mogao cave temples, the iconography of the wall paintings, and the extraordinary story of the rare manuscripts—including the oldest printed book in existence, a ninth-century copy of the Diamond Sutra. The book also discusses the collaboration between the Getty Conservation Institute and Chinese authorities in conservation projects at Mogao, and the ways in which the site can be visited today.
Download or read book Zen Masters Of China written by Richard Bryan McDaniel and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-10 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zen Masters of China presents more than 300 traditional Zen stories and koans, far more than any other collection. Retelling them in their proper place in Zen's historical journey through Chinese Buddhist culture, it also tells a larger story: how, in taking the first step east from India to China, Buddhism began to be Zen. The stories of Zen are unlike any other writing, religious or otherwise. Used for centuries by Zen teachers as aids to bring about or deepen the experience of awakening, they have a freshness that goes beyond religious practice and a mystery and authenticity that appeal to a wide range of readers. Placed in chronological order, these stories tell the story of Zen itself, how it traveled from West to East with each Zen master to the next, but also how it was transformed in that journey, from an Indian practice to something different in Chinese Buddhism (Ch'an) and then more different still in Japan (Zen). The fact that its transmission was so human, from teacher to student in a long chain from West to East, meant that the cultures it passed through inevitably changed it. Zen Masters of China is first and foremost a collection of mind-bending Zen stories and their wisdom. More than that, without academic pretensions or baggage, it recounts the genealogy of Zen Buddhism in China and, through koan and story, illuminates how Zen became what it is today.
Download or read book The World of Khubilai Khan written by James C. Y. Watt and published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book was released on 2010 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in conjunction with an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Sept. 28, 2010-Jan. 2, 2011.
Download or read book Possessing the Past written by 國立故宮博物院 and published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book was released on 1996 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major scholarly work, published in conjunction with the exhibition titled "Splendors of Imperial China: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei" (on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art during 1996, and scheduled for several other American cities during 1996-1997). Written by scholars of both Chinese and Western cultural backgrounds and conceived as a cultural history, the book synthesizes scholarship of the past three decades to present the historical and cultural significance of individual works of art and analyses of their aesthetic content, as well as reevaluation of the cultural dynamics of Chinese history. Includes some 600 illustrations, 436 in color. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book written by and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 736 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
