This guide to chinese rugs is a classic work of art history and of enormous importance to collectors, artists and casual readers alike.First published in the famous rug-making city of Tientsin more than fifty years ago in a limited edition, Chinese Carpets and Rugs has unjustly been out of print for far too long. It has been the object of eager and futile search by many collectors, and its reappearance here in a faithful photographic reprint is certain to ...

'Enjoyable and illuminating . . . Rob Schmitz writes with great affection' GuardianShanghai: a global city in the midst of a renaissance, where dreamers arrive each day to partake in a mad torrent of capital, ideas and opportunity. Rob Schmitz is one of them. He immerses himself in his neighbourhood, forging relationships with ordinary people who see a brighter future in the city's sleek skyline. There's Zhao, whose path from factory floor to shopkeeper is...

The antique Silk Road that connected the Chinese and Mediterranean Worlds for more than a millennium, facilitating the exchange of both goods and cultures, is widely known and celebrated. Less familiar is its more southerly equivalent, the ‘Ancient Tea-Horse Road’ that once linked the lush gardens of southwest China with the frigid wastelands of Tibet and – beyond – the torrid plains of northern India. The latter is also sometimes called the ‘Southern Silk Road’, though this is something o...

Robert Fortune, His second journey to China was for the East India company to obtain the finest tea plants to establish plantations in India. Once again he disguised himself as Chinese 'from a distant province', hired an interpreter, and headed into the tea growing regions of the country. His efforts resulted in the shipment of well over 20,000 plants and seedlings, in Wardian cases, to the Himalayas. Thus was established the tea industry in India.

Why do dragons dance during Chinese New Year? Allow your children to find the right answers on their own with the help of this very informative book. The great thing about this book is that it’s been specifically designed for children. Therefore, you can see colors, pictures and as few texts as possible. This formula is surefire way of boosting the interest for knowledge. Grab a copy now!

Hong Kong has always been something of an anomaly, and an outpost of empire, whether British or Chinese. Once described as a barren island, the former fishing community has been transformed by its own economic miracle into one of Asia's World Cities, taking in its stride the territory's 1997 return to Chinese sovereignty. Beneath the surface of Hong Kong's clichéd self-image as Pearl of the Orient and Shopping Paradise, Michael Ingham reveals a city rich in history, myth, and cultural dive...

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE!The only nonfiction work by Krasznahorkai available in English, a bracing account of traveling through China at the turn of the 21st centuryKnown for his brilliantly dark fictional visions, László Krasznahorkai is one of the most respected European writers of his generation and the winner of the 2015 Man Booker International Prize. Here, he brings us on a journey through China at the dawn of the new millennium. On ...

Originally published in 1898. INTRODUCTION: Since the time when I made my first journey into Cambodia to examine its ancient cities, it has been my constant endeavour to show how the explorer may add not only to the interest but to the permanent value of his work by the use of photography. To those of my readers interested in photography I may add a note on my method of working. All my negatives were taken by the wet collodion process, a process most exacting in its chemistry, especially i...

It is an interesting reflection for those to make who think that we must necessarily have been the aggressive party, that the far-distant primary cause of all our attempts at intercourse with the Tibetans was an act of aggression, not on our part, not on the part of an ambitious Pro-consul, or some headstrong frontier officer, but of the Bhutanese, neighbours, and then vassals, of the Tibetans, who nearly a century and a half ago committed the first act—an act of aggression—which brought u...

Juan González de Mendoza (circa 1540–1617) was the author of the first Western history of China to publish Chinese characters. Published by him in 1586, "Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno de la China" is an account of observations several Spanish travelers in China. An English translation by Robert Parke appeared in 1588 and was reprinted by the Hakluyt Society in two volumes, edited by Sir George T. Staunton, Bart. (London, 1853...

Elibron Classics. Replica of 1899 edition by John Murray, London.This book includes maps available as a free download.This is an Illustrated edition.Isabella Lucy Bird (15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904) was one of the greatest travelers and travel writers of all time, and this is her last major book, a sympathetic look at inland China and beyond into Tibet at the end of the 19th century. In describing the journey, Isabella provides a rich mix of observations and descri...

For every fan of kung fu, steamed dumplings, Confucius and giant skyscrapers, A Geek in China is a hip, smart and concise guide to the Middle Kingdom.Packed with photographs and short articles on all aspects of Chinese culture, past and present, A Geek in China introduces readers to everything from Taoism and Confucianism to pop music and China's new middle class. A mix of traditional culture, such as highlights of Chinese history, great historica...