Download or read book What the Emperor Built written by Aurelia Campbell and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Yongle emperor (r. 1402-24), one of the most famous rulers in Chinese history, is perhaps best known as the builder of Beijing's magnificent Forbidden City and for reconstruction of the Grand Canal. This volume is both the first book-length study in a Western language of Ming dynasty (1368-1644) architecture and the first in any language devoted to the architectural projects of a single Chinese emperor. Focusing on Yongle's imperial palaces in Beijing, a Daoist architectural complex on Mount Wudang, and a Buddhist temple at the Sino-Tibetan frontier, it analyzes his empire-wide construction projects and demonstrates how the siting, design, and use of his palaces and temples established his authority and contributed to the legitimization of his usurpation of power. These architectural projects help us understand his sense of empire by the far-flung locations in which he built, the distant regions from which he extracted the construction materials, and the use of tens of thousands of craftsmen and other laborers. Through his constructions, Yongle connected himself to the divine, interacted with his subjects, established an imperial presence in regions far outside the capital, and shaped his imperial legacy-thus extending imperial influence across space and time. Spanning issues of architectural design and also of construction technologies, this analysis reveals the remarkable advancements in timber-frame construction as well as using an art-historical approach to examine patronage, audience, and reception, and to situate the buildings within their larger social, historical, and religious contexts"--
Download or read book What the Emperor Built written by Aurelia Campbell and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most famous rulers in Chinese history, the Yongle emperor (r. 1402–24) gained renown for constructing Beijing’s magnificent Forbidden City, directing ambitious naval expeditions, and creating the world’s largest encyclopedia. What the Emperor Built is the first book-length study devoted to the architectural projects of a single Chinese emperor. Focusing on the imperial palaces in Beijing, a Daoist architectural complex on Mount Wudang, and a Buddhist temple on the Sino-Tibetan frontier, Aurelia Campbell demonstrates how the siting, design, and use of Yongle’s palaces and temples helped cement his authority and legitimize his usurpation of power. Campbell offers insight into Yongle’s sense of empire—from the far-flung locations in which he built, to the distant regions from which he extracted construction materials, and to the use of tens of thousands of craftsmen and other laborers. Through his constructions, Yongle connected himself to the divine, interacted with his subjects, and extended imperial influence across space and time. Spanning issues of architectural design and construction technologies, this deft analysis reveals remarkable advancements in timber-frame construction and implements an art-historical approach to examine patronage, audience, and reception, situating the buildings within their larger historical and religious contexts.
Download or read book The Emperor Who Built the Great Wall written by Jillian Lin and published by . This book was released on 2016-11-28 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA...a 13-year-old boy became its first emperor and built the longest wall in the world. In this book, discover why he started building The Great Wall, how he made China the biggest country on earth and what treasures he hid in his secret tomb. Find out how he became one of the most important people in Chinese history ? and how China was named after him.
Download or read book Perpetual Happiness written by Shih-shan Henry Tsai and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The reign of Emperor Yongle, or “Perpetual Happiness,” was one of the most dramatic and significant in Chinese history. It began with civil war and a bloody coup, saw the construction of the Forbidden City, the completion of the Grand Canal, consolidation of the imperial bureaucracy, and expansion of China’s territory into Mongolia, Manchuria, and Vietnam. Beginning with an hour-by-hour account of one day in Yongle’s court, Shih-shan Henry Tsai presents the multiple dimensions of the life of Yongle (Zhu Di, 1360-1424) in fascinating detail. Tsai examines the role of birth, education, and tradition in molding the emperor’s personality and values, and paints a rich portrait of a man characterized by stark contrasts. Synthesizing primary and secondary source materials, he has crafted a colorful biography of the most renowned of the Ming emperors.
Download or read book China s First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors written by Frances Wood and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2008-06-10 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unifier or destroyer, law-maker or tyrant? China's First Emperor (258-210 BC) has been the subject of debate for over 2,000 years. He gave us the name by which China is known in the West and, by his unification or elimination of six states, he created imperial China. He stressed the rule of law but suppressed all opposition, burning books and burying scholars alive. His military achievements are reflected in the astonishing terracotta soldiers—a veritable buried army—that surround his tomb, and his Great Wall still fascinates the world. Despite his achievements, however, the First Emperor has been vilified since his death. China's First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors describes his life and times and reflects the historical arguments over the real founder of China and one of the most important men in Chinese history.
Download or read book The First Emperor written by Jane Portal and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rise of Qin and the military conquest of the warring states -- The First Emperor and the Qin empire -- Imperial tours and mountain inscriptions -- The First Emperor's tomb: the afterlife universe -- A two-thousand-year-old underground empire.
Download or read book Emperor Huizong written by Patricia Buckley Ebrey and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2014-01-06 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China was the most advanced country in the world when Huizong ascended the throne in 1100 CE. In his eventful twenty-six year reign, the artistically-gifted emperor guided the Song Dynasty toward cultural greatness. Yet Huizong would be known to posterity as a political failure who lost the throne to Jurchen invaders and died their prisoner. The first comprehensive English-language biography of this important monarch, Emperor Huizong is a nuanced portrait that corrects the prevailing view of Huizong as decadent and negligent. Patricia Ebrey recasts him as a ruler genuinely ambitious—if too much so—in pursuing glory for his flourishing realm. After a rocky start trying to overcome political animosities at court, Huizong turned his attention to the good he could do. He greatly expanded the court’s charitable ventures, founding schools, hospitals, orphanages, and paupers’ cemeteries. An accomplished artist, he surrounded himself with outstanding poets, painters, and musicians and built palaces, temples, and gardens of unsurpassed splendor. What is often overlooked, Ebrey points out, is the importance of religious Daoism in Huizong’s understanding of his role. He treated Daoist spiritual masters with great deference, wrote scriptural commentaries, and urged his subjects to adopt his beliefs and practices. This devotion to the Daoist vision of sacred kingship eventually alienated the Confucian mainstream and compromised his ability to govern. Readers will welcome this lively biography, which adds new dimensions to our understanding of a passionate and paradoxical ruler who, so many centuries later, continues to inspire both admiration and disapproval.
Download or read book Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty written by Victor Cunrui Xiong and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking at the life and legacy of Emperor Yang (569–618) of the brief Sui dynasty in a new light, this book presents a compelling case for his importance to Chinese history. Author Victor Cunrui Xiong utilizes traditional scholarship and secondary literature from China, Japan, and the West to go beyond the common perception of Emperor Yang as merely a profligate tyrant. Xiong accepts neither the traditional verdict against Emperor Yang nor the apologist effort to revise it, and instead offers a reassessment of Emperor Yang by exploring the larger political, economic, military, religious, and diplomatic contexts of Sui society. This reconstruction of the life of Emperor Yang reveals an astute visionary with literary, administrative, and reformist accomplishments. While a series of strategic blunders resulting from the darker side of his personality led to the collapse of the socioeconomic order and to his own death, the Sui legacy that Emperor Yang left behind lived on to provide the foundation for the rise of the Tang dynasty, the pinnacle of medieval Chinese civilization.
Download or read book The First Emperor written by Sima Qian and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-08-27 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reprint. Originally published: 2007. Reissued 2009.
Download or read book The Emperor s Blades written by Brian Staveley and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley, the emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and unmask the assassins. But each of them also has a life-path on which their father set them, destinies entangled with both ancient enemies and inscrutable gods. Kaden, the heir to the Unhewn Throne, has spent eight years sequestered in a remote mountain monastery, learning the enigmatic discipline of monks devoted to the Blank God. Their rituals hold the key to an ancient power he must master before it's too late. An ocean away, Valyn endures the brutal training of the Kettral, elite soldiers who fly into battle on gigantic black hawks. But before he can set out to save Kaden, Valyn must survive one horrific final test. At the heart of the empire, Minister Adare, elevated to her station by one of the emperor's final acts, is determined to prove herself to her people. But Adare also believes she knows who murdered her father, and she will stop at nothing—and risk everything—to see that justice is meted out. Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne The Emperor's Blades The Providence of Fire The Last Mortal Bond Other books in the world of the Unhewn Throne Skullsworn (forthcoming) At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Download or read book The Ruler s Guide written by Chinghua Tang and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An English-language translation of core principles by the seventh-century emperor popularly credited as China's greatest historical leader is comprised of his dialogues with his wisest advisors and critics and covers strategies in the arenas of government, business, the military, athletics, philanthropy and parenting. --Publisher.
Download or read book The Magnificent Emperor Wu written by Hung, Hing Ming and published by Algora Publishing. This book was released on 2020-05-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hing Hing Ming reviews some of the major episodes of the Han Dynasty, from its founding by Liu Bang to the Lü Clan Disturbance and subsequent diplomatic overtures and military campaigns against the minor Chinese kingdoms, the Mongols, and Gojoseon (the ancient Korean Kingdom).
Download or read book Jade Emperor A Chinese Zodiac Myth written by Anita Yasuda and published by ABDO Publishing Company. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Chinese people often told stories that taught the listener about their culture. In this zodiac myth, the emperor names the years of the zodiac after the animals who win a race. The Chinese zodiac myth is retold in this brilliantly illustrated Chinese Myth. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Short Tales is an imprint of Magic Wagon, a division of ABDO.
Download or read book A Monument to Dynasty and Death written by Nathan T. Elkins and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Go behind the scenes to discover why the Colosseum was the king of amphitheaters in the Roman world—a paragon of Roman engineering prowess. Early one morning in 80 CE, the Colosseum roared to life with the deafening cheers of tens of thousands of spectators as the emperor, Titus, inaugurated the new amphitheater with one hundred days of bloody spectacles. These games were much anticipated, for the new amphitheater had been under construction for a decade. Home to spectacles involving exotic beasts, elaborate executions of criminals, gladiatorial combats, and even—when flooded—small-scale naval battles, the building itself was also a marvel. Rising to a height of approximately 15 stories and occupying an area of 6 acres—more than four times the size of a modern football field—the Colosseum was the largest of all amphitheaters in the Roman Empire. In A Monument to Dynasty and Death, Nathan T. Elkins tells the story of the Colosseum's construction under Vespasian, its dedication under Titus, and further enhancements added under Domitian. The Colosseum, Elkins argues, was far more than a lavish entertainment venue: it was an ideologically charged monument to the new dynasty, its aspirations, and its achievements. A Monument to Dynasty and Death takes readers on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Colosseum from the subterranean tunnels, where elevators and cages transported gladiators and animals to the blood-soaked arena floor, to the imperial viewing box, to the amphitheater's decoration and amenities, such as fountains and an awning to shade spectators. Trained as an archaeologist, an art historian, and a historian of ancient Rome, Elkins deploys an interdisciplinary approach that draws on contemporary historical texts, inscriptions, archaeology, and visual evidence to convey the layered ideological messages communicated by the Colosseum. This engaging book is an excellent resource for classes on Roman art, architecture, history, civilization, and sport and spectacle.
Download or read book China s Terracotta Warriors written by Yang Liu and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With contributions from leading scholars, this fully illustrated catalogue represents a panoramic view of Qin artistic, military, and administrative achievements under the powerful First Emperor, who unified China in 221 BCE. In addition, it examines the period of Chinese history preceding the emperor's reign and the role of earlier Qin rulers in the evolution of a small state into a superpower."--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book From the Mongols to the Ming Dynasty written by Hing Ming Hung and published by Algora Publishing. This book was released on 2016 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A beggar, an itinerant monk, leapt to greatness during a tumultuous epoch and went on to found the Ming Dynasty of China (1368--1644). As a destitute peasant with nothing to lose, he started a local rebellion; success built on success. Defeating local warlords, Zhu Yuan Zhang conquered all the southern part of China, then sent his army north and took the rest. By unifying many Chinese lands, he brought peace and prosperity after a long period of tumult. He is honored with the temple name of Ming Taizu, Grand Ancestor of Ming.
Download or read book The Chinese Emperor s New Clothes written by Ying Chang Compestine and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2017-12-26 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ming Da is only nine years old when he becomes the emperor of China, and his three advisors take advantage of him by stealing his stores of rice, gold, and precious stones. But Ming Da has a plan. With the help of his tailors, he comes up with a clever idea to outsmart his devious advisors: He asks his tailors to make “magical” new clothes for him. Anyone who is honest, the young emperor explains, will see the clothes’ true splendor, but anyone who is dishonest will see only burlap sacks. The emperor dons a burlap sack, and the ministers can’t help but fall for his cunning trick.
