The purpose of this publication is to place before students interested in Eastern art reproductions of select specimens from among the great collection of ancient Buddhist paintings which in the course of the explorations of my second Central-Asian journey, carried out in 1906–8 under the orders of the Government of India, I had the good fortune to recover from a walled-up chapel at the ‘Caves of the Thousand Buddhas’ near Tun-huang. The essential facts concerning their discovery will be f...

"The Thousand Buddhas" by Sir Aurel Stein is a remarkable exploration of ancient Buddhist art and culture. This work documents Stein's extensive travels along the Silk Road, where he discovered numerous caves adorned with exquisite murals and sculptures. His meticulous observations and photographs provide invaluable insights into the spiritual and artistic heritage of Buddhism. The book serves as both a travelogue and an academic study, highlighting the significance of these sites in under...

On Alexander's Track to the Indus, first published in 1929, is Aurel Stein's account of the expeditions he mounted following in the footsteps of Alexander the Great during the triumphant invasion that, interestingly, left not a trace in Indian literature or tradition.Stein's account has justifiably achieved cult status for the dangers and hardships encountered during his own expeditions; for the light it sheds on Alexander's invasions, and the wonders of Stein's discoveries (such as...

RUINS OF DESERT CATHAY (Published 1912)PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF EXPLORATIONS IN CENTRAL ASIA AND WESTERNMOST CHINA IN 1912 BY M. AUREL STEIN.WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS, COLOUR PLATES, PANORAMAS, AND MAPS FROM ORIGINAL SURVEYS IN TWO VOLUMES - VOL. 1This is the complete and unabridged version and includes every image that appears in the original printed version. This is NOT a scanned copy with unreadable, missing or jumbled text, but, other than ...

January, 1937: Peking is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, lavish cocktail bars and opium dens, warlords and corruption, rumours and superstition – and the clock is ticking down on all of it.In the exclusive Legation Quarter, the foreigners are jumpy. Japanese troops are poised to attack, and word has it the Chinese government is about to cut a deal with Tokyo, leaving Peking to its fate. Fear reigns inside the ancient city walls, on one of which, not far from the nefarious Bad...

In his new book on China, Henry Kissinger turns for the first time at book-length to the country he has known intimately for decades, and whose modern relations with the West he helped shape. Drawing on historical records as well as his conversations with Chinese leaders over the past forty years, Kissinger examines how China has approached diplomacy, strategy, and negotiation throughout its history, and reflects on the consequences for the 21st-century world.As Kissinger underscor...

In contrast to the economic and cultural dominance by the south and the east coast over the past several centuries, influence in China in the early Middle Ages was centered in the north and featured a significantly multicultural society. Many events that were profoundly formative for the future of East Asian civilization occurred during this period, although much of this multiculturalism has long been obscured due to the Confucian monopoly of written records. Multicultural China in the...

Established in 221 BCE, the Chinese empire lasted for 2,132 years before being replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. During its two millennia, the empire endured internal wars, foreign incursions, alien occupations, and devastating rebellions--yet fundamental institutional, sociopolitical, and cultural features of the empire remained intact. The Everlasting Empire traces the roots of the Chinese empire's exceptional longevity and unparalleled political durability, and shows h...

This illuminating work examines the social, cultural, political, and economic dimensions of the Communist takeover of China. Instead of dwelling on elite politics and policy-making processes, Dilemmas of Victory seeks to understand how the 1949-1953 period was experienced by various groups, including industrialists, filmmakers, ethnic minorities, educators, rural midwives, philanthropists, stand-up comics, and scientists. A stellar group of authors that includes Frederic Wakeman, Elizabeth...

Jewish Wayfarers in Modern China focuses on the many extraordinary contacts between East and West in China during the 20th century. Through a collection of short biographies situated in the context of Chinese and Western history, it offers a panoramic view of China as experienced by many different persons of Jewish origins during their sojourn in the Middle Kingdom. The book offers a journey across vast reaches of space and back through time. Our impressions of visits to China have often b...

This book traces the emergence of the modern Chinese press from its origins in the western Christian missionary press in the late nineteenth century.It shows how the western missionaries and their evangelical/educational newspapers changed the long-standing traditional practices, styles, content, print culture and printing technology of Chinese newspapers and, in the process, introduced some of the key ideas of western modernity which were to have a profound effect on Chinese socie...

Marco Polo’s famous book about his journey to China, written in 1298, continues to be a subject of considerable controversy. One recent work on the subject argues that Marco Polo never went to China at all, and other scholars have pointed out apparent mistakes and important omissions in Marco’s writings, including his failure to mention the Great Wall, and his apparently erroneous description of the course of the Yellow River.Haw re-examines Marco Polo’s writings. The main argument...