Download or read book The Art of Opium Antiques written by Steven Martin and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores an aspect of opium that has largely been ignored--the art and accoutrements associated with opium smoking that reached a pinnacle in nineteenth-century China and in Chinese communities abroad, from Saigon to Singapore to San Francisco.
Download or read book Opium Fiend written by Steven Martin and published by Villard. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A renowned authority on the secret world of opium recounts his descent into ruinous obsession with one of the world’s oldest and most seductive drugs, in this harrowing memoir of addiction and recovery. A natural-born collector with a nose for exotic adventure, San Diego–born Steven Martin followed his bliss to Southeast Asia, where he found work as a freelance journalist. While researching an article about the vanishing culture of opium smoking, he was inspired to begin collecting rare nineteenth-century opium-smoking equipment. Over time, he amassed a valuable assortment of exquisite pipes, antique lamps, and other opium-related accessories—and began putting it all to use by smoking an extremely potent form of the drug called chandu. But what started out as recreational use grew into a thirty-pipe-a-day habit that consumed Martin’s every waking hour, left him incapable of work, and exacted a frightful physical and financial toll. In passages that will send a chill up the spine of anyone who has ever lived in the shadow of substance abuse, Martin chronicles his efforts to control and then conquer his addiction—from quitting cold turkey to taking “the cure” at a Buddhist monastery in the Thai countryside. At once a powerful personal story and a fascinating historical survey, Opium Fiend brims with anecdotes and lore surrounding the drug that some have called the methamphetamine of the nineteenth-century. It recalls the heyday of opium smoking in the United States and Europe and takes us inside the befogged opium dens of China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The drug’s beguiling effects are described in vivid detail—as are the excruciating pains of withdrawal—and there are intoxicating tales of pipes shared with an eclectic collection of opium aficionados, from Dutch dilettantes to hard-core addicts to world-weary foreign correspondents. A compelling tale of one man’s transformation from respected scholar to hapless drug slave, Opium Fiend puts us under opium’s spell alongside its protagonist, allowing contemporary readers to experience anew the insidious allure of a diabolical vice that the world has all but forgotten.
Download or read book Things Chinese written by Ronald G. Knapp and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-03 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China's art objects and traditionally manufactured products have long been sought by collectors--from porcelains and silk fabrics to furniture and even the lacquered chopsticks that are a distant relation to ones found in most Chinese restaurants. Things Chinese presents sixty distinctive items that are typical of Chinese culture and together open a special window onto the people, history, and society of the world's largest nation. Many of the objects are collectibles, and each has a story to tell. The objects relate to six major areas of cultural life: the home, the personal, arts & crafts, eating & drinking, entertainment, and religious practice. They include items both familiar and unfamiliar--from snuff bottles and calligraphy scrolls to moon cake molds and Mao memorabilia. Ronald Knapp's evocative text describes the history, cultural significance, and customs relating to each object, while Michael Freeman's superb photographs illustrate them. Together, text and photographs offer a unique look at the material culture of China and the aesthetics that inform it.
Download or read book Fengshui in China written by Ole Bruun and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2003-03-31 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For well over a century, Chinese fengshui, or "geomancy," has interested Western laymen and scholars. Today, hundreds of popular manuals claim to use its principles in their advice on how people can increase their wealth, happiness, longevity, and so on. This study is quite different, approaching fengshui from an academic angle. The focus is on its significance in China, but the recent history of its reinterpretation in the West is also depicted. The author argues that fengshui serves as an alternative tradition of cosmological knowledge, which is used to explain a range of everyday occurrences in rural areas, such as disease, mental disorders, accidents, and common mischief. The study includes a historical account of fengshui over the last 150 years augmented by the results of anthropological fieldwork on contemporary practices in two Chinese rural areas.
Download or read book Opium Culture written by Peter Lee and published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. This book was released on 2006 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In "Opium Culture," Peter Lee presents a fascinating narrative that covers every aspect of the art and craft of opium use. The text is studded with gems of long forgotten opium arcana, dispelling many of the persistent myths about opium and its users, and includes information on the suppression of opium by the modern pharmaceutical industry.
Download or read book Dictionary of South Southeast Asian Art written by Gwyneth Chaturachinda and published by Silkworm Books. This book was released on 2004-04-01 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This basic dictionary of South and Southeast Asian art offers clear and concise explanations of hundreds of useful terms. With over 1,300 entries and 112 line illustrations, this volume makes a handy reference for anyone interested and engaged in South and Southeast Asia Entries range from terms encountered in South and Southeast Asian history, religion, mythology, literature, to those specific to art and architecture, and are drawn from the diverse religious traditions of the region.
Download or read book The China Collectors written by Karl E. Meyer and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thanks to Salem sea captains, Gilded Age millionaires, curators on horseback and missionaries gone native, North American museums now possess the greatest collections of Chinese art outside of East Asia itself. How did it happen? The China Collectors is the first full account of a century-long treasure hunt in China from the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion to Mao Zedong's 1949 ascent. The principal gatherers are mostly little known and defy invention. They included "foreign devils" who braved desert sandstorms, bandits and local warlords in acquiring significant works. Adventurous curators like Langdon Warner, a forebear of Indiana Jones, argued that the caves of Dunhuang were already threatened by vandals, thereby justifying the removal of frescoes and sculptures. Other Americans include George Kates, an alumnus of Harvard, Oxford and Hollywood, who fell in love with Ming furniture. The Chinese were divided between dealers who profited from the artworks' removal, and scholars who sought to protect their country's patrimony. Duanfang, the greatest Chinese collector of his era, was beheaded in a coup and his splendid bronzes now adorn major museums. Others in this rich tapestry include Charles Lang Freer, an enlightened Detroit entrepreneur, two generations of Rockefellers, and Avery Brundage, the imperious Olympian, and Arthur Sackler, the grand acquisitor. No less important are two museum directors, Cleveland's Sherman Lee and Kansas City's Laurence Sickman, who challenged the East Coast's hegemony. Shareen Blair Brysac and Karl E. Meyer even-handedly consider whether ancient treasures were looted or salvaged, and whether it was morally acceptable to spirit hitherto inaccessible objects westward, where they could be studied and preserved by trained museum personnel. And how should the US and Canada and their museums respond now that China has the means and will to reclaim its missing patrimony?
Download or read book Hmong Miao in Asia written by Nicholas Tapp and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents the most comprehensive collection of research on Hmong culture and life in Asia yet to be published. It compliments the abundant material on the Hmong diaspora by focusing instead on the Hmong in their Asian homeland. The contributors are scholars from a number of different backgrounds with a deep knowledge of Hmong society and culture, including several Hmong. The first group of essays addresses the fabric of Hmong culture by considering issues of history, language, and identity among the Hmong/Miao from Laos to China. The second part introduces the challenges faced by the Hmong in contemporary Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Nicholas Tapp is senior fellow in anthropology at the Australian National University. Jean Michaud is associate researcher in Asian studies at University de Montreal. Christian Culas is a member of the National Center for Scientific Research in Marseille. Gary Yia Lee is senior ethnic liaison officer for New South Wales.
Download or read book Opium Fiend written by Steven Martin and published by Villard Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authority on opium paraphernalia traces the history of opium use while recounting his descent into addiction, describing how his experiments while researching an article led to a dangerous habit that prompted numerous rehabilitation efforts.
Download or read book Woven Miniatures of Buddhist Art Sazigyo written by Ralph Isaacs and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Published with a grant from the James H. W. Thompson Foundation"--T.p. verso.
Download or read book Antique Boxes Tea Caddies Society 1700 1880 written by Antigone Clarke and published by Schiffer Pub Limited. This book was released on 2003 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The box represents great temptation. "Open me" it says. The human cannot resist it; its charm is overwhelming. So too, is the charm of this remarkable book, in which antique boxes and tea caddies - along with the people who inspired, made, and used them - dance gracefully through the pages. The reader is guided through the aesthetic, cultural, and social influences of the years covered, accumulating a deep understanding of the form, decoration, and purpose of eighteenth and nineteenth century boxes. The extensive text covers wooden, tortoiseshell, ivory, papier m*^ach*/e, and lacquer boxes. There are chapters on Anglo Indian, Scottish, Irish, Penwork, Straw work, and Tunbridge ware boxes, as well as on boxes made for special purposes. Captions include complete descriptions, values, and circa dates for all boxes shown. The 905 images include original drawings, magnificent photographs of complete pieces, and close-ups illustrating the structure and decoration of boxes. This is an indispensable companion for box collectors and reflects fascinating information about cultural forces that shaped the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Download or read book South Asian Ways of Silk written by Ole Zethner and published by Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Silk has a long history in South Asia, more than 4,000 years. Today sericulture and silk production provide a livelihood to millions of people, not least tribal women. Here India dominates, being the second largest producer of silk in the world after China. The history of mulberry silk is well known and much has been written on its cultivation and production, especially by and for specialists. The scope and purpose of this volume is quite different, however. Aimed at a broader readership, it presents the diversity and complexity of sericulture and silk production across South Asia and Myanmar within a single, richly illustrated book. Significantly, it explores new directions in sericulture, and suggests alternatives to mulberry silk, which is not without environmental and ethical issues. Special attention is paid to Eri silk, similar to soft cotton and regarded as the most world?s comfortable textile. The result is a fascinating exploration of the world of silk in South Asia, a volume that will interest and intrigue silk specialists and general readers alike.
Download or read book Mongolian Buddhism written by Michael K. Jerryson and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mongolian Buddhism is the first book to explore the development of Mongolia's state religion, from its formation in the thirteenth century around the time of Chinggis Qaan (Genghis Khan) until its demise in the twentieth century under the Soviet Union. Until its downfall, Mongolian Buddhism had served as a scientific, political, and medical resource for the Mongolian people. During the 1930s, Mongolian Buddhist monasticism, the caretaker of these resources, was methodically and systematically demolished. Lamas were forced to apostatize, and were either enslaved or executed. Now, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Mongolian Buddhism has reemerged in a country that has yet to fully confront its bloody past. Through historical analysis of Tibetan, Chinese, and Russian accounts of history, Michael Jerryson offers a much-needed religio-political perspective on the ebb and flow of Buddhism and the Sangha in Mongolia.
Download or read book Lao Buddha written by Somkiart Lopetcharat and published by Art Media Resources. This book was released on 2000 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discussed the origins of the art of Lao and Thai Buddha images cast in the Lanna periods, usually called "Chiang Saen Lao Art." The Lao Buddha images were found not only in Laos but also in Thailand, especially in the upper northeastern region that was once part of the Kingdom of Laos. This is the most comprehensive book available on the subject, illustrated with important pieces from museum and private collections.
Download or read book Of Gods Kings and Men written by T. S. Maxwell and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rich and evocative bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat have captured the imagination of travelers, artists, and scholars for centuries. Built for the Khmer king Suryavarman II in the twelfth century, the enormous temple complex consists of an outer enclosure surrounded by a moat, with three further concentric rectangular enclosures inside it. The bas-reliefs featured in this book are carved on the walls of the third enclosure. Jaroslav Poncar has brilliantly captured the detail of these huge reliefs, measuring more than two meters in height and five hundred meters in overall length, using the high-precision technique of slit-scan photography. One hundred full-page panoramic photographs bring readers within the very walls of Angkor. Scenes from the great Indian epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata are expansively explained and interpreted by Angkor expert Thomas S. Maxwell.
Download or read book Earth to Heaven written by Donald Gear and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comprised mainly of new and original information, this volume will be of value as a resource for both the specialist and non-specialist -- those who appreciate the region, its peoples, and their history; the artistic beauty and symbolism of its ancient weights; and the metrology and relations of the weights to the various kinds of currency formerly in use. In particular, the book will appeal to the historical metrologist, the oriental numismatist, the art historian, the symbolist, the ethnologist, the antiquarian, the dealer, the collector, the oriental museum curator, the specialist librarian, and the scholar of oriental studies. Earth to Heaven describes the physical characteristics of the weights and their relationships, their manufacture, standardization and usage as well as the various motifs, their origins and transference to Burma. It also includes a fascinating discussion of the different animal shapes and their symbolic significance.
Download or read book Catalogue of Tibetan Mandalas and Other Images written by Anne Burchardi and published by Comdc. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This visually stunning catalogue presents c. 300 iconographical materials and texts from the Tibetan collections of the Royal Library and the National Museum of Denmark. Most of the entries describe such iconographical materials as mandalas, elemental divination paintings, ritual "tsakli" cards and prayer flags. Unique handwritten meditation manuals, a Mongolian Book of the Dead, illuminated manuscripts as well as philosophical and medical works are also featured. These remarkable materials, which represent rare and unique forms of communication between man and nature in written and iconographical forms, play a central role in the performance of Buddhist and shamanistic rituals. In line with other volumes in the COMDC series, this catalogue is intended as a reference tool for scholars. It also supplements the Catalogue of Tibetan Manuscripts and Xylographs, COMDC 6.1 & 6.2. The catalogue includes over 250 colour illustrations.
