Customer Reviews (1)

A Must Purchase
The Construction of Space in Early China (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture)
Without opening "The Construction of Space in Early China," this reader immediately knew of the outstanding scholastic caliber of its author, Mark Edward Lewis, not to mention the publishing caliber of the State University of New York Press (SUNY) and its excellent SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture. Consequently, my expectations were high and I am very pleased to say they were not disappointed in the least. This is a must purchase for those interesting in obtaining a more thorough appreciation and understanding of the Chinese quest for a harmonious union between themselves and their biophysical and socio-anthropological environment that gave rise to a Weltanschauung, or "world view." This study describes their way of reasoning and how they conceived of themselves as being an integral part of the imaged cosmos and intrinsically interjoined with its spiritual, physical, and moral "influences." This is a must purchase for those interesting in obtaining a more thorough grasp of this dimension of Chinese civilization how the Chinese conceived of space and time in relation to themselves and, in turn,their governance of themselves and those other cultures around them. My only regret is that this important study does not have a glossary of relevant terms and words, along with their corresponding ideograms, for the convenience of its readers. ... Read more

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Belief in portents, omens and systems of prognostication have kept dream imagery and its interpretation very much in the mainstream of Chinese popular culture. This volume presents an extensive alphabetical compilation of Chinese dream images and their meanings, as explained both in classical texts and by noted dream analysts throughout Chinese history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Journeys into Chinese Culture
"Journeys into Chinese Culture" describes some of the culture that meets the eye in Taiwan. It is a book for the newcomer, the traveler, or the Overseas Chinese visitor. There are illustrated chapters about customs, holidays, the horoscope, acupunture, Confucius, Kwan Yin and Matsu, the Eight Immortals, Writing, Porcelains, and Jade, and many more...Some extras include a page of useful Chinese expressions for the traveler, and Chinese proverbs.

The author, Betty Bailey Henderson, lived in Taipei with her husband, Brig. General John M. Henderson for 6 years. She was a volunteer for two years at the National Palace Museum and was Chairman and committee member of the Y.W.C.A. "Journeys" for five years. The information for this book was obtained at the "Journeys".
--- from book's dustjacket ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Really Nice Book about Chinese American Culture
This is a nice very detailed book about Chinese American culture.The book covers such items as food, staying healthy, Reading and Writing, math, Holidays, family, religion, art, performing arts, and Chinatown Today.I found the information relevant, well detailed and interesting to read and look at.Kids will find this book fun too.I liked the overall view of Chinese culture that the book provided. ... Read more

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Southeast Asia has a population of more than half a billion, yet its economy is dominated by about 40 families, most of Overseas Chinese descent. Their conglomerates span sectors as diverse as real estate, telecommunications, hotels, industrial goods, computers and sugar plantations. New Asian Emperors shows how and why Overseas Chinese companies continue to dominate the region and have extended their reach in East Asia, despite the Asian financial and SARS crises of the past decade. The authors base their conclusions on in-depth structured interviews spanning a decade with the often elusive Overseas Chinese CEOs including Li Ka-shing, Stan Shih, Victor Fung, Stephen Riady and Sukanto Tanoto, as well as on the strategic information that their companies use.

The analysis of the New Asian Emperors’ present-day management techniques and practices draws on the history, culture and philosophical perspectives of the Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. In the midst of today’s global economic crisis, this book also takes a fresh look at the role and management practices of the Overseas Chinese as they continue to create some of Asia’s wealthiest and most successful companies.

New Asian Emperors explains:

• The sources and characteristics of Overseas Chinese management
• Whether Overseas Chinese management practices will spread in the same way that Japanese management did in the 1970s
• Whether Western management technologies have found themselves outmaneuvered in Asia’s post-crisis arena
• The Overseas Chinese managers’ strategies for the informational black hole of Southeast Asia and what Western managers can learn from them
• The New Asian Emperors’ unique strategic perspectives and management styles revealed through exclusive, in-depth interviews
• The implications for successfully co-operating and competing with the Overseas Chinese of Southeast Asia

New Asian Emperors offers key insights into the Overseas Chinese and the important role that cultural roots play in their dominance of Southeast Asian business. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A remarkable study of the Overseas Chinese business firms after the Asian financial turbulence
Haley et al maintain that the informational black hole remains to exist, although there have been significant evolutionary changes of the Overseas Chinese business firms in terms of business strategies after the two major crises, including the Asian financial turbulence in 1997 and the SARS crisis between 2002 and 2004.

To Haley et al, there are two important factors that affect business strategies of the Overseas Chinese family firms in South East Asia. The first one is Confucianism and the second one is the institutional environment. Analogous to other management research scholars such as Redding, Kao, and Hofstede, Haley et al suggest that traditional Chinese cultural values are influential in the Overseas Chinese communities in South East Asia. The key tenets of Confucianism praise frugal lives, diligence, social harmony, reconciliation and compromise, place emphasis on family as the basis of society, respect for authority, and personal trust but frown on perception of merchant classes and profit motives. Because of the cultural influence, it is not uncommon that the Overseas Chinese business firms are family-owned, authoritarianism and paternalism in management practices, diversified in investments in terms of geography and industry, and favor of illiquid assets. Since the overall institutional environment in South East Asia is less well-established than other more information-rich developed economies, the Overseas Chinese business firms make use of their business networks to detect discontinuities and garner "insider" qualitative information so that they can react to any changes in a speedy manner. According to Haley et al, this informational black hole weakens competitive advantage of Multinationals in South East Asia's domestic markets, yet they are still dominant in the global level playing field. In order to cope with the informational black hole and uncertain institutional environment, key decision makers in the Overseas Chinese family firms adopt different strategies in managing and growing their businesses, including speedy decision making process, emphasis of tacit knowledge/hands-on experience instead of explicit knowledge/pure research data, as well as establishment of trust-based relationships in their networks.

This book dispels the widely-held belief that business strategies of the Overseas Chinese business firms should follow their counterparts in Japan or Anglo-Saxon countries as economy becomes more globalized and governments in South East Asia continues to improve their governance level. Rather than viewing the Overseas Chinese business firms as dilettantism, Haley et al believe that they continue to preserve their successful business strategies and adopt the best management practices from the western world to maintain and grow their businesses. The last chapter of the book provides general and specific guidelines to managers from Multinationals about how to compete against and partner with the Overseas Chinese family firms.

This book provides great insights to managers and management researchers from the Western world about business strategies in non-western world. What this book remains unanswered pertinent to business strategies of the Overseas Chinese business firms is that for the recent 10 years, more and more sizeable players such as Lippo Group and Salim Group from Indonesia, Hong Leong Group from Singapore, and Kuok's Group from Malaysia have utilized their experience in the informational black hole to capture untapped and ample market opportunities in Mainland China. Diversification of their investments into the China market can compensate for their constrained market size in South East Asia's domestic markets and it can also be viewed as a viable business strategy to expand their businesses in a less information-rich but culturally-familiar markets which is not riskier than information-rich developed economies.

This book is highly recommended to readers who are interested in knowing more about business strategies of the Overseas Chinese business firms and the overall business environment in South East Asia. ... Read more

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Explores the rewriting of early Chinese texts in the wake of new archaeological evidence. ... Read more

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The film Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou and released in 2002, is widely regarded as the first globally successful indigenous Chinese blockbuster. A big expensive film with multiple stars, spectacular scenery, and astonishing action sequences, it touched on key questions of Chinese culture, nation and politics, and was both a domestic sensation and an international hit. This book explores the reasons for the film’s popularity with its audiences, discussing the factors which so resonated with those who watched the film. It examines questions such as Chinese national unity, the search for cultural identity and role models from China’s illustrious pre-communist past, and the portrayal of political and aesthetic values, and attitudes to gender, sex, love, and violence which are relatively new to China. The book demonstrates how the film, and China’s growing film industry more generally, have in fact very strong international connections, with Western as well as Chinese financing, stars recruited from the East Asian region more widely, and extensive interactions between Hollywood and Asian artists and technicians. Overall, the book provides fascinating insights into recent developments in Chinese society, popular culture and cultural production.

Product Description
In this book, Jing Luo provides a comprehensive introduction of Chinese life and culture. Designed for use as a college text, Luo's examination combines traditional culture, contemporary culture and communicative protocols in daily life and business to provide a broad context that helps the reader gain a theoretical and practical understanding of the Chinese world. ... Read more

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A detailed study of the history and usage of opium

• Explores the use of opium as a major healing herb and a popular relaxant

• Details the opium practices adhered to in the Chinese tradition

• Includes information on the suppression of opium by the modern pharmaceutical industry

Opium. The very sound of the word conjures images of secret rooms in exotic lands, where languid smokers lounge dreamily in a blue haze of fragrant poppy smoke, inhaling from long bamboo pipes held over the ruby flame of the jade lamp. Yet today very little accurate information is available regarding a substance that for 300 years was central to the lives of millions of people throughout the world.

In Opium Culture Peter Lee presents a fascinating narrative that covers every aspect of the art and craft of opium use. Starting with a concise account of opium’s long and colorful history and the story of how it came to be smoked for pleasure in China, Lee offers detailed descriptions of the growing and harvesting process; the exotic inventory of tools and paraphernalia required to smoke opium as the Chinese did; its transition from a major healing herb to a narcotic that has been suppressed by the modern pharmaceutical industry; its connections to the I Ching, Taoism, and Chinese medicine; and the art, culture, philosophy, pharmacology, and psychology of this longstanding Asian custom. Highlighted throughout with interesting quotes from literary and artistic figures who were opium smokers, such as Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Herman Melville, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the text is studded with gems of long forgotten opium arcana and dispels many of the persistent myths about opium and its users.

Customer Reviews (6)

Very Helpful!
I work for Asia Galleries in San Francisco where we sell a lot of Antique Opium Artifacts. This book is one of books we use to identify our dampers, pipes, lams, and scrapers. This book is really helpful.

A Chinese Tradition Revealed...
The scholar Peter Lee has written the best book to date on the subject of opium use from a Chinese perpective.Opium paraphernalia is widely collected today and it's artistic qualities are now appreciated.Mr. Lee book covers all aspects of opium use,it's history, it's repression and the reasons, it's rituals, and it's potential benifits as well as it's addictive properties.For anyone who finds the lure of this ancient herb interesting, this is a great read.Mr Lee brings this once hidden subject into the light with great insight and knowledge.

A Simple introduction to the history of Opium trade w/interviews
The book is good as an introduction to opium use for the novice, who know nothing about the subject. The beginning chapters speak of the history and trade. The middle chapters are interesting, filled with question & answer interviews and poetry.However, they occupy way too much space in this book.
The remaining chapters explain the "how to", which is factual and seems to be from personal experience.

In my opinion ONLY, the book doesn't remind me of a Chinese author/scholar, but more of an American writing on the subject, one who certainly does have the knowledge and experience to do so.

Summed up, it is a decent book for a reader's initiation to the subject of opium.

Sometimes almost too detailed
Peter Lee's Opium Culture - which just as its title says tells of more or less every single little detail that has to do with the Chinese opium culture - is an extremely thorough and detailed book. Well, is that a good or a bad thing? It's both, actually.

But let's start with what's good. Lee doesn't only describe opium the drug, but also the great importance it has had for especially Chinese culture (even though the Chinese definitely weren't the first ones to realize its narcotic and medicinal potentials; those things were known thousands of years before the Chinese caught on), how national and international politics have been affected by it, all the savage wars started because of it, and much, MUCH, more. The books is simply packed with interesting and often quite disturbing information, and Lee makes sure to give equal space to both the negative as well as the positive sides of opium use.

So, what's bad, then? Well, the fact that it from time to time becomes almost too detailed, especially the long and very thorough instructions on how to prepare the opium pipe, the different tools used and how to use them, what material they're made of, and so on.

But then again, Lee set out to paint a complete picture, and that's exactly what he did. However, it's quite likely that many people will be upset, since what he's talking about and describing is, after all, something that the Man has decided to be criminal. And many of those complaining will most likely accuse Lee of trying to make his readers into devoted opium smokers.

But that's not fair at all. And why not? Because Opium Culture has tons of information about the horrible aspects of drug addiction. Lee thinks anyone should be allowed to smoke, that much is true, but not without knowing exactly what they're getting themselves into. Most Westerners have a flawed take on how the use of opium was a part of Eastern traditions for many centuries (and still is), and I don't doubt for a second that people would be more than pissed off if they know the truth about opium politics and how the pharmaceutical companies in the West function.

In the end, Opium Culture is a true eye-opener with tons of history, politics, ethnology, anthropology, and more, and if you after reading it still want to accuse Peter Lee of being a junkie who got lost in the opium haze a long time ago, well, then you're just being narrow-minded and lacking a tolerance for cultures that happen to be different from our own.

Every aspect of opium is covered
The Chinese art and culture of smoking opium is covered in a survey which includes addiction, withdrawal and medical issues as well as cultural insights and a social history. The result is a well-rounded survey in OPIUM CULTURE: THE ART & RITUAL OF THE CHINESE TRADITION. Every aspect of opium is covered, from how it came to be smoked for pleasure in China to its connections to Taoism, Chinese medicine and traditional Asian custom. Add quotes and insights from literary and artistic figures and you have a text which is packed with sociological insights.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch
... Read more

Product Description
All cultures and times have their own notions of time and space. Being oneof the fundamental ideas in every society they influence virtually everyaspect of society. In this book the authors explain the notions of time andspace in China, how culturally concrete and particularly Chinese they are andhow significant such Chinese cultural-ness of these notions is. Seventeenscholars of various disciplinary backgrounds have treated topics within thisgeneral perspective in a comprehensive way. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Prodigious work
A great resource for anyone interested in the Chinese American experience or the development of the INS (Immigration & Naturalization Services).Many defining aspects of the American Chinatown culture and psychology is surprisingly the result of the Paper Family subtefuge.This unique journey of the early Chinese immigrants is recounted with clarity, scholarship and understanding. ... Read more

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Covers: Palace, Altar and Temple, Tomb, Religious, Garden, Local and Other Kinds of Architecture. ... Read more

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A consideration of China's Mount Emei, long important in Chinese culture and history and of particular significance to Buddhists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Worth the Journey -- A Landmark Work in the History of Chinese Religion
James Hargett in his Stairway to Heaven - a Journey to the Summit of Mount Emei, writes an outstanding work introducing the reader to the physical, spiritual, and political geography that has shaped one of the greatest holy mountains of China.Mount Emei, or Emei Shan in Chinese, is a vast mountain in the heart of Sichuan Province in southwestern China and is now recognized as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.The mountain, however, is full of paradoxes.Home to many varieties of "precious lights," the ten-thousand foot tall mountain did not enter into the realm of Chinese history -- when the poet Zuo Si wrote a rhapsody about the mountain in the third century.It was not until the time of the tenth or eleventh centuries that the mountain was even summitted.

Rather than merely relying on just a chronological approach to writing a biography of this magnificent mountain, Hargett centers his work on the account left by the Song Dynasty official and Buddhist pilgrim Fan Cheng Da (1126-1193) who climbed the mountain in 1177.Using Fan's work as a compass and road map to the mountain, Hargett takes us through a physical and historical journey to Mount Emei.As we gain in elevation and perspective, he also presents an astonishing amount of research collected from poetry, travelogues, and national histories regarding this wonderful place on the western frontier of the Middle Kingdom.Hargett then layer upon layer skillfully weaves in the accounts left by the Tang Dynasty poet, Li Bo, the Ming Dynasty Buddhist and Daoist gazetteers, and, the actions taken by the Emperors and national officials to endow, control, suppress, or revive access to the mountain.Hargett, who is a Professor of Chinese at the University at Albany State University of New York, has also personally climbed the mountain and this experience intimately illuminates his subject and infuses his writing with a delicate and subtle flavor.

One of the remarkable strengths of Hargett's work is his balance.Rather than getting caught up in a secondary debate as to how to classify the mountain and its boundaries, he shows us how Chinese aesthetics, natural geography, Buddhism, Daoism, and ethnic consciousness all have contributed to creating the identify of Emei Shan.Emei Shan is as much a peak, a range, a tourist attraction, and a place that is as much visited in the mind as well as on foot.

The core of his work revolves around revealing -- in ascending steps -- the nature of Emei Shan.The mountain is shown first as that distant range in a faraway place on the periphery of the Chinese heartland.Like the first Chinese visitors, Hargett shows us Emei as a home to extraordinary physical beauty that would later attracts Daoists who discover Emei's capacity to serve as a bridge from the mundane to immortality.Once established as a holy place, Buddhist monks rediscover Emei Shan who not only use its topography to retell the virtues of the Buddha, but also transform it into a home for the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Puxian Pusa).In effect, they create a new physical and metaphysical history.Now triply endowed by its nature, its holiness, and its history, Emei Shan becomes the focal point of national political interest as emperors bestow their prestige upon the mountain and monks and nuns offer their intentions for the benefit of the State.This social, natural, and metaphysical symbiosis now consciously matures and becomes a center of gravity for other holy mountain ranges and -- by implication -- for China as a whole.

Although this was not the conscious intention of Hargetts' work to compare Western vs. East Asian concepts of time and place, his study of the temporal, physical, and metaphysical space that shapes Emei Shan provides a rich exploration into the essence of the Chinese world view.Carefully documenting and qualifying his observations, he shows how Emei Shan itself is a simile for the transition from center to periphery and a bridge between heaven and earth, a galaxy without boundaries.Unlike the linear view of creator vs. created and measured vs. unmeasured that are the driving concerns of the Western approach to reality, Hargett richly reveals the Chinese ideal of the action and interaction between man, society, and universe, an interaction that spirals out and back, looping again and again, and where there is distance, but never an edge.

Despite the density of information on geography, personalities, and events that have shaped the 2,000-year human history of the mountain, Hargett's writing remains lucid and well framed, carefully guiding the reader from stage to stage and place to place.His translation of Chinese terms is superb.He introduces the reader to dozens of unique Chinese concepts, such as "Zhengshi" or "official historical works" and "Dao Shi" or "Daoist adepts."His English renderings ring true to their original Chinese meanings but are concrete and easily assimilated.I never once had to, as the Chinese put it, "zhou mei tou" or "furrow my brow" in reading this excellent work.That being said, there were two, minor oversights.On page 131 there is a typo, "hot bowels" instead of "hot bowls" and the two photos of famous paintings of Emei Shan on pages 62 and 174 were so dark as to make render them ineffective as illustrations of the mountain's beauty.

While one can use Hargetts' Stairway to Heaven as a physical and historical roadmap to Emei Shan, it is my hope that Hargett in future editions of the work would take more time to explain two very interesting side trails.These two observations are given with the realization that side trails can be difficult, for side trails by their nature can just as readily delay as well as shorten one's approach to the summit.

The first side trail is regarding the role of one major visitor to the mountain, the Daoist Hu Shi An (1593-1663).Hargett many times refers to his works, especially the tome Yi E Lai.Perhaps his closeness to Hu's reflections led Hargett to omit by accident a translation of the work's title, which I would render as "Translating the Tones of [Mount] E." More importantly, we never get a full sense of who Hu Shi An was and why his Yi E Lai was so influential to the development of Emei Shan's identity, especially as Hu Shi An apparently wanted to promote his particular, if not entirely historically reliable, vision of the great mountain.

The second side trail that I would encourage Hargett to explore is the place and meaning of Sheshen Yai or Suicide Cliff.Although Suicide Cliff does overlook a near 5,000-foot drop, he writes, "it is not difficult to imagine how a zealous pilgrim might, in a moment of ecstatic frenzy, attempt the leap directly to the 'Pure Land.'"(See page 184.)My concern here is that while mentioning this dark yet significant tradition of suicide by Buddhist pilgrims a number of times, he does not provide any historical context for it.Although Buddhist suicides by fire are first documented as becoming widespread in the 5th century in the Lives of Eminent Monks (Gao Seng Zhuan) and Lives of the Nuns (Biqiuni Zhuan), both works of the early sixth century, the ties with Pure Land, China's earliest indigenous Buddhist Tradition (Zong), are only contemporaneous at best.Speaking on broader, ethical terms, suicide is considered to be the taking of life in Buddhism and since the creation of the first monastic communities in Eastern India, it is also a parajika, or major transgression, the attempt of which is grounds for immediate expulsion from the Sangha or Buddhist monastic community.I point out the significance of this side trail, not so much as to raise questions concerning the evolution of this peculiar Chinese tradition, but to point out that such exploration may have also led the author to consider Emei Shan's role in the development of Buddhist philosophy. However, as there are already many fine works on the history of Buddhist ideas in China, I am more than satisfied to have enjoyed such a well-written and well-constructed history, demography, and economy of one of the greatest natural and spiritual wonders of the world.

Through Hargett, we are able to truly visit this great mountain and like Li Bo, we are invited to transcend the earthly realm and join the Immortals.This brief review cannot do justice to the scope, vision, and depth of learning that Hargett brings to the fields of Chinese history and Chinese religion.In short, I can think of no one better to guide me on this "journey of 10,000 miles." ... Read more

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Presents the intellectual milieu of mid-Tang China, particularly the conservative defense of literary pursuits and cultural tradition in the face of political and social uncertainty. ... Read more

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This magnificent book, written by a team of eminent international scholars, is the first to recount the history of Chinese painting over a span of some three thousand years. Both accessible to the general reader and revelatory for the scholar, the book provides the most up-to-date and detailed history of China`s pictorial art available today.Amazon.com Review
This book is a rare feat: seldom is an art history--much less an ambitious, 400-page chronicle of one of the great cultural achievements of the last three millennia--as much a delight for the amateur lover of art as it is indispensable for the student of the field. Written by three eminent specialists in the United States and three in China, Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting combines the best of both countries' scholarly approaches with new discoveries and illustrations of numerous paintings located in China and previously little known abroad.

Insightful, often lively discussions tell the story in six chapters, mostly dynastic, after briefly giving two "approaches" to Chinese painting. History, politics, biography, and training get their proper due and are complemented by often-detailed analyses of individual artworks. Close attention to the text and the 300 color and 25 black-and-white illustrations enable the reader to "see" these paintings--which are often constructed on different perceptual and cultural premises than the post-Renaissance and photographic images by which most Westerners structure their visual vocabulary. The glossary and other tools are welcome aids; the list of artists is organized by period and offers their names in the two most common romanization systems as well as in Chinese characters. And to read James Cahill on the Ni Zan paintings that may at first appear uninviting, or Lang Shaojun on the proportionally numerous 20th-century painters, is a real adventure for both the eye and the mind.

Anyone with more than a passing interest in one of the world's most esteemed art traditions--be they a Sunday museumgoer or a confirmed lover of the gnarly pines set amidst the towering mountains of the Song-period masters--will want this book in their library. --Joseph N. Newland ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Best overview of the chinese painting history
I can only recommend this book. There is described the whole chinese painting history, about all artists, their paintings and so on. In addition to the descriptions, there are many illustrations, many famous works related to the painters so that you can connect the written facts with the paintings. They are wonderful big and colored pictures.
In the beginning of the book there is even a choronology, a list of all the emperors and a map of China; as in the back of the book there is a list of the artists assorted by period, the names displayed in pinyin, Gade-Wales, other transciptions and even with the chinese characters.
For me this was one of the best purchases I ever made, to get such a great book is nearly priceless. Right now I use it for my studies, but I will use it forever.

If you want to have an academic book of the chinese painting or just now more about them, then buy it!

Excellent
This work is chronologically done that covers a comprehensive history of the development of Chinese painting from prehistoric age to modern times. The writings in the book are derived from several renowned scholars from both China and the Western scholarship, therefore, it offers balanced analysis and viewpoints. It is worth reading for both the general readers or for specialists.

uneven writing, great reproductions of Chinese Paintings
With one exception, the essays in this compilation suffer from a problem that seems to crop up in many books on art history, namely the essays move from fact to fact saying little in between about the ideas behind the art. The exception is the last chapter which is on Chinese painting in the 20th century. I greatly enjoyed this essay as its author talked about the ideas and techniques behind the art as well as giving a fact based history of Chinese painting in the 20th century. I recommend this book for the last essay and also for the stunning full color reproductions of the Chinese painting that populate the book.

A Promising Introduction
I was looking for a book on Chinese painting with plenty of illustrations.In the Amazon reviews this book was praised for it's ample examples of paintings.I ordered this book and the pictures did not let me down.
But the essays written by five experts were a surprising bonus of enjoyable informative commentaries providing concise but comprehensive introductions to painters and their works.This is just the book for a new comer to Chinese painting.
One book hasn't made me an authority, but I now know about the southern and northern schools, recognize some Daoist and Buddhist influences on painting, and I've seen an example of Guanxiu's distorted visages, have wondered at Gou Xi's 'Early Spring', have seen Fan Kuan's massive mountain reduce humans to paltry piddling beings verging on non-entities, have appreciated bird, animal, and delicate plant portraits and Liang Kai's distinct images as well as many other worthies.
Some of the most fascinating and aestheticly moving paintings to me are Wang Shen's 'Serried Hills Over a Misty River', Ma Lin's 'Sunset Landscape' and Xia Gui's 'Twelve Landscapes'; all paintings that elevate emptiness to an integral part of the scene giving outlined forms a vulnerable lonliness.These paintings take Miles Davis's advice a thousand years before he spoke it "Don't play[paint] what's there, play[paint] what's not there.
After being introduced to some of the artists and their works, I wish more of their art had been included, butthen what better accolade can an introductory book receive than it leaves you wanting more.

Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting
THE BOOK IS VERYDETAILED WITH LARGE LITERATURE, VERY USEFULL ALSO FOR COLLECTORS, BUT THE CRONOLOGICAL INDEX I ONLY ORDERED
BY CHINESE DYNASTY AND NOT ALFABETIC. ... Read more

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Explores the development of the Chinese martial arts novel. ... Read more