In The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature, two of the world's leading sinologists, Victor H. Mair and Mark Bender, capture the breadth of China's oral-based literary heritage. This collection presents works drawn from the large body of oral literature of many of China's recognized ethnic groups-including the Han, Yi, Miao, Tu, Daur, Tibetan, Uyghur, and Kazak-and the selections include a variety of genres. Chapters cover folk stories, songs, rituals, and dra...

"On your feet, soldier!” Colonel Bender is going to see if you've got what it takes to excel—at work, in your personal life, and in any area where you're not reaching your full potential. If the strategies presented in this book can mean the difference between life and death in a battle situation—and they often do—then you can bet that they're powerful enough to help you achieve spectacular success in everyday challenges.What can the military teach you? Plenty. Military success dem...

Open-access edition: DOI 10.6069/9780295745701The Nuosu people, who were once overlords of vast tracts of farmland and forest in the uplands of southern Sichuan and neighboring provinces, are the largest division of the Yi ethnic group in southwest China. Their creation epic plots the origins of the cosmos, the sky and earth, and the living beings of land and water. This translation is a rare example in English of Indigenous ethnic literature from China.Transmitted in oral ...

Chineasy, the brainchild of entrepreneur ShaoLan Hsueh, has been a publishing phenomenon. Its special building-block learning method brought to life by highly recognizable and appealing graphic illustrations has attracted a substantial online following and has been published in fifteen languages. But it marks only the beginning of a larger ambition to educate the world about the richness and character of China's people, its customs and its heritage.The first volume of Chineasy intr...

In this first volume of The Masks of God — Joseph Campbell’s major work of comparative mythology — the preeminent mythologist looks at the wellsprings of myth. From the earliest expressions of religious awe in pre-modern humans to the rites and art of contemporary primal tribes, myth has informed humankind's understanding of the world, seen and unseen. Exploring these archetypal mythic images and practices, Campbell examines the basic concepts that underlie all human myth, even to this day...

Unmatched in scope and literary quality, this landmark anthology spans three thousand years, bringing together more than six hundred poems by more than one hundred thirty poets, in translations–many new and exclusive to the book–by an array of distinguished translators.Here is the grand sweep of Chinese poetry, from the Book of Songs–ancient folk songs said to have been collected by Confucius himself–and Laozi’s Dao De Jingto the vividly pictorial ...

Available for the first time in English, Azaleas is a captivating collection of poems by a master of the early Korean modernist style. Published in 1925, Azaleas is the only collection Kim Sowol (1902-1934) produced during his brief life, yet he remains one of Korea's most beloved and well-known poets. His work is a delightful and sophisticated blend of the images, tonalities, and rhythms of traditional Korean folk songs with surprisingly modern forms and themes. Sowol is...

The dynamic relationship between the individual and society has been a central concern of Taoism from its ancient beginnings—which is perhaps why certain Taoist classics, like Sun Tzu’s Art of War, are so often consulted these days for leadership advice. This anthology presents a wide range of texts revealing the processes of integrating personal spirituality with social responsibility central to Taoist tradition across the centuries and throughout the schools. There are a wealth ...

The eminent China scholar delivers a landmark study of Chinese culture's relationship to the natural environment across thousands of years of history.Spanning the three millennia for which there are written records, The Retreat of the Elephants is the first comprehensive environmental history of China. It is also a treasure trove of literary, political, aesthetic, scientific, and religious sources, which allow the reader direct access to the views and feeli...

The origins of Chinese ideographs were not known until 1899, when a scholar went to an apothecary for some medicine made of "dragon bone." To his surprise, the bone, which had not yet been ground into powder, contained a number of carved inscriptions. Thus began the exploration of the 3000-year-old sources of the written characters still used in China today. In this unparalleled and deeply researched book, Cecilia Lindqvist tells the story of these characters and shows how their shapes and...

This is the first complete, one-volume English translation of the ancient Chinese text Xunzi, one of the most extensive, sophisticated, and elegant works in the tradition of Confucian thought. Through essays, poetry, dialogues, and anecdotes, the Xunzi articulates a Confucian perspective on ethics, politics, warfare, language, psychology, human nature, ritual, and music, among other topics. Aimed at general readers and students of Chinese thought, Eric Hutton’s translation makes the full t...

The strokes used in Chinese characters were originally fashioned after bird tracks and shadows cast by trees. They are beautifully expressive even to those who do not understand their meaning. To the Chinese, writing is not only a means of communication, it also has the force to transform reality. This book introduces the history of Chinese writing and gives many examples of the way in which simple brush strokes are combined to convey not only words but also complete ideas.