City of Lingering Splendour

City of Lingering Splendour PDF Author: John Blofeld
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Beijing (China)
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
The author spent many years in China, particularly Peking, where he came to know the language and people well. He became intimate with all sorts of colourful people - silk-clad scholars, Buddhist monks, Taoist sages, actors, countless other strange and delectable dishes.

City of Lingering Splendour

City of Lingering Splendour PDF Author: John Blofeld
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Beijing (China)
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
The author spent many years in China, particularly Peking, where he came to know the language and people well. He became intimate with all sorts of colourful people - silk-clad scholars, Buddhist monks, Taoist sages, actors, countless other strange and delectable dishes.

City of Lingering Splendor

City of Lingering Splendor PDF Author: John Blofeld
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1570626375
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
In his early twenties, John Blofeld spent what he describes as "three exquisitely happy years" in Peking during the era of the last emperor, when the breathtaking greatness of China's ancient traditions was still everywhere evident. Arriving in 1934, he found a city imbued with the atmosphere of the recent imperial past and haunted by the powerful spirit of the late Dowager Empress Tzu Hsi. He entered a world of magnificent palaces and temples of the Forbidden City, of lotus-covered lakes and lush pleasure-gardens, of bustling bazaars and peaceful bathhouses, and of "flower houses" with their beautiful young courtesans versed in the arts of pleasing men. With a novelists' command of detail and dialogue, Blofeld vividly re-creates the magic of these years and conveys to the reader his appreciation and nostalgia for a way of life long vanished.

Sunflower Splendor

Sunflower Splendor PDF Author: Wuji Liu
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253355805
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 708

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Book Description
A comprehensive anthology of Chinese poetry from the 12th century B.C. to the present. "This magnificent collection has the effect of a complete library rather than of an anthology of poetry.... A lyric quality comes through into our own language... Every page is alive with striking and wonderful things, immediately accessible." -- Publishers Weekly "Sunflower Splendor is the largest and, on the whole, best anthology of translated Chinese poems to have appeared in a Western language." -- The New York Times Book Review "This remarkably fine anthology should remain standard for a long time." -- Library Journal ..". excellent translations by divers hands. Open to any page and listen to the still, sad music... " -- Washington Post Bookworld

Bodhisattva of Compassion

Bodhisattva of Compassion PDF Author: John Blofeld
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1590307356
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
She is the embodiment of selfless love, the supreme symbol of radical compassion, and, for more than a millennium throughout Asia, she has been revered as “The One Who Hearkens to the Cries of the World.” Kuan Yin is both a Buddhist symbol and a beloved deity of Chinese folk religion. John Blofeld’s classic study traces the history of this most famous of all the bodhisattvas from her origins in India (as the male figure Avalokiteshvara) to Tibet, China, and beyond, along the way highlighting her close connection to other figures such as Tara and Amitabha. The account is full of charming stories of Blofeld’s encounters with Kuan Yin’s devotees during his journeys in China. The book also contains meditation and visualization techniques associated with the Bodhisattva of Compassion, and translations of poems and yogic texts devoted to her.

The Search for a Vanishing Beijing

The Search for a Vanishing Beijing PDF Author: M.A. Aldrich
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
ISBN: 9789622097773
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
"The Search for a Vanishing Beijing weaves the genres of travel essays and travel guides into a comprehensive narrative about the cultural mosaic of the capital of China.

My Journey in Mystic China

My Journey in Mystic China PDF Author: John Blofeld
Publisher: Inner Traditions
ISBN: 9781594771576
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
The only English translation of John Blofeld’s memoirs as a Westerner living in China prior to the Communist Revolution • Paints an intimate portrait of the grace and refinement of ancient Chinese civilization • Originally written in Chinese for Chinese readers, revealing a rare glimpse of Blofeld’s private Chinese side and uncensored views • The last book by the great English sinologist, translator of the I Ching and author of Taoist Mystery and Magic The reveries and remembrances contained in the travel diaries of John Blofeld cover every aspect of his life in China--from visits to opium dens and sing-song houses to sojourns in the Buddhist monasteries and Taoist hermitages of China’s sacred mountains. Here is a vivid glimpse of “old” China as it existed in elegance and grace for three thousand years before China’s Communist Revolution. Originally written in Chinese for a Chinese audience, Blofeld’s travel diary reveals a rare, uncensored view of pre-communist China to which few westerners have been exposed.

Interracial Lovers in Revolutionary China

Interracial Lovers in Revolutionary China PDF Author: D. E. Mungello
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538176270
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
In the twentieth century, China underwent a monumental dynastic change and was transformed from an outmoded monarchy into a modern communist state. This century of revolutionary change was marked by political upheaval and social chaos. It was a period in which Chinese began to go abroad to study and conduct business while foreigners came to China for economic opportunity and adventure. In the process, Chinese and foreigners began to meet and form romantic relationships. These love affairs (fengliu yunshi 風流韻事) are notable because they coincided with the last phase of Western imperialism, including its lingering racial prejudices and even laws against interracial sexual relationships. Conversely in China, there were periodic outbreaks of hostility and violence against foreigners. This book explores the interracial relationships of twenty-two people who, transcended these obstacles to cross color lines and fall in love.

The Chinese Art of Tea

The Chinese Art of Tea PDF Author: John Blofeld
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000292819
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
First published in 1985, The Chinese Art of Tea is an exploration into the history of tea and the Chinese art of tea, known as ch’a-shu. The book begins by delving into the history and legends surrounding tea before moving on to a study of the Emperor Hui Tsung’s treatise on tea and approaches to tea during the Ming Dynasty. It discusses tea gardens, teahouses, the relationship between tea and ceramics, and the connection between tea and health. The book also features a detailed manual for practising the art of drinking tea, including advice for choosing tea, buying tea, different types of infusion and drinking vessels, and the attitude required for obtaining the fullest satisfaction from tea. The Chinese Art of Tea is ideal for anyone with an interest in the history and art of drinking tea, and the social and cultural history of China.

Peking Story

Peking Story PDF Author: David Kidd
Publisher: Eland Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
A haunting and delicately observed description of the last days of Mandarin culture before the revolution, 'Peking Story' is a testimony to a way of life, a culture, an aesthetic and a civilisation which has since completely disappeared.

Amare

Amare PDF Author: Sheila Wright
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 144014172X
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Award-winning author Sheila Wright weaves a sensuous tale of love and longing in southern Italy. Insightful, humorous, warm and confiding, Amare evokes a true portrait of life in a land both breathtaking and heartbreaking. Sheila Wright takes us beyond the tourist trails and describes in detail the natural beauty and chaos of Italy. Wright passionately illustrates that 'Amare' to love means accepting the good as well as the not so perfect. Licia Canton, Author of Almond Wine and Fertility and editor-in-chief of Accenti Magazine Amare is lyrical, articulate, suspenseful, and intimate. Emotions running deep through the narrative cast a spell over the reader. Wright's gentle humor balances with moments of serious doubt, fear, and longing. Her love of the land breathes through the prose. Patricia Calder, Author in Changing Ways When Sheila Wright travels to Sorrento, Italy, on a whim, she knows from the moment she arrives that she has found an extraordinary place. With a certainty even she doesn't understand at first, Sheila throws herself wholeheartedly into an enchanting yet chaotic country. Amare is a magical memoir of an odyssey that began as a trip around the world and transformed into an unforgettable journey into the heart and soul of southern Italy. In lyrical, often humorous prose, Wright describes the adventure of living the life of a foreigner in Sorrento. From hunting wild mushrooms to learning a new language, she shares moments full of promise and discovery. When Italian authorities throw her out of the country, she returns, undaunted and determined to make Italy her own. A glorious romance ensues, not only with a tall, dark, and handsome Italian, but with the land itself. Join Wright on a fabulous adventure as she snorkels along the Amalfi coast, camps on the island of Sardinia, devours pizza in Naples, and to her surprise, falls madly and passionately, in love.