Kunqu, recognized by UNESCO in 2001 as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, is among the oldest and most refined traditions of the family of genres known as xiqu (music-drama or “Chinese opera”). Today, the art form’s musical and performance traditions are being passed on by senior artists. This book consists of twelve explanatory narrations in English, selected and translated from among an expansive collective endeavour in Chinese. Each performer narration sheds light on ...

The publication in 1934 of Yang Chengfu's book, Essence and Applications of Taijiquan (Taijiquan Tiyong Quanshu) marked a milestone in the modern evolution of the art of taijiquan. Using what is best-termed demonstration narrative, the author presents form postures and suggested applications from his own perspective, as he performed them. This methodology renders Yang Chengfu's direct, hands-on teaching of the art with such immediacy and liveliness that the reader experiences the master’s ...

What makes a good Chinese name and how does the name shape destinies and character? How do you ensure that the name is meaningful, elegant and auspicious at the same time?This book provides all the knowledge you need for devising a good Chinese name for your child.This book covers:- Creative Methods For Naming: Number of Strokes Theory, Chinese Horoscope, The Five Elements, The Eight Characters Theory, The Chinese Zodiac Theory, Chinese Idioms, Chinese Symbols and ma...

In this "guided" anthology, experts lead students through the major genres and eras of Chinese poetry from antiquity to the modern time. The volume is divided into 6 chronological sections and features more than 140 examples of the best shi, sao, fu, ci, and qu poems. A comprehensive introduction and extensive thematic table of contents highlight the thematic, formal, and prosodic features of Chinese poetry, and each chapter is written by a scholar who specializes in a particular period or...

This book presents Chinese short-short stories in English and Chinese, integrating language learning with cultural studies for intermediate to advanced learners of Mandarin Chinese and students of contemporary Chinese literature. Each chapter begins with a critical introduction, followed by two or more stories in parallel Chinese and English texts; each story is followed by a vocabulary list, discussion questions, and a biography of the author.The chapters are organized around cent...

A Narrative on Calligraphy (Shu Pu, 書譜) was written in 687AD by the renowned Tang dynasty calligrapher Sun Guoting (孫過庭) of the seventh century and is regarded to be one of the most important narratives in examining the traditional art of Chinese calligraphy. Yet, there is currently no satisfactory English translation of it. This book provides readers an accurate, annotated, line-by-line, consistent and comprehensive English translation of A Narrative ...

Chinese opera embraces over 360 different styles of theatre that make one of the richest performance arts in the world. It combines music, speech, poetry, mime, acrobatics, stage fighting, vivid face-painting and exquisite costumes. First experiences of Chinese opera can be baffling because its vocabulary of stagecraft is familiar only to the seasoned aficionado. Chinese Opera: The Actor’s Craft makes the experience more accessible for everyone. This book uses breath-taking images of Chine...

In recent years, three ancient manuscripts relating to the Yi jing (I Ching), or Classic of Changes, have been discovered. The earliest—the Shanghai Museum Zhou Yi—dates to about 300 B.C.E. and shows evidence of the text's original circulation. The Guicang, or Returning to Be Stored, reflects another ancient Chinese divination tradition based on hexagrams similar to those of the Yi jing. In 1993, two manuscripts were found in a third-ce...

Chinese Calligraphy is a discipline between art, language and meditation that trains memory and spatial coordination.It can be done by everyone – even those who do not speak Chinese.In China, Calligraphy is considered as an art, side by side with painting and invites to modesty and admiration.Writing with ink and a paint brush is also a meditation technique as it brings instantaneous well-being to the calligrapher.It is furthermore an original way to have a ...

Sources show Qu Yuan (?340–278 BCE) was the first person in China to become famous for his poetry, so famous in fact that the Chinese celebrate his life with a national holiday called Poet's Day, or the Dragon Boat Festival. His work, which forms the core of the The Songs of Chu, the second oldest anthology of Chinese poetry, derives its imagery from shamanistic ritual. Its shaman hymns are among the most beautiful and mysterious liturgical works in the world. The religious milieu...

In late imperial China, opera transmitted ideas across the social hierarchy about the self, family, society, and politics. Beijing attracted a diverse array of opera genres and audiences and, by extension, served as a hub for the diffusion of cultural values.It is in this context that historian Andrea S. Goldman harnesses opera as a lens through which to examine urban cultural history. Her meticulous yet playful account takes up the multiplicity of opera types that proliferated at ...

Women and Gender in Chinese Martial Arts Films of the New Millennium, by Ya-chen Chen, is an excavation of underexposed gender issues focusing mainly on contradictory and troubled feminism in the film narratives. In the cinematic world of martial arts films, one can easily find representations of women of Ancient China released from the constraints of patriarchal social order to revel in a dreamlike space of their own. They can develop themselves, protect themselves, and even defeat or con...