‎Chine‎

‎Leung Vincent S.‎

‎The Politics of the Past in Early China‎

‎8vo, br. ed. Why did the past matter so greatly in ancient China? How did it matter and to whom? This is an innovative study of how the past was implicated in the long transition of power in early China, as embodied by the decline of the late Bronze Age aristocracy and the rise of empires over the first millenium BCE. Engaging with a wide array of historical materials, including inscriptional records, excavated manuscripts, and transmitted texts, Vincent S. Leung moves beyond the historiographical canon and explores how the past was mobilized as powerful ideological capital in diverse political debate and ethical dialogue. Appeals to the past in early China were more than a matter of cultural attitude, Leung argues, but were rather deliberate ways of articulating political thought and challenging ethical debates during periods of crisis. Significant power lies in the retelling of the past.‎

‎Terzi Lodovico‎

‎L'imperatore Timido‎

‎In-16°, leg. in tutta tela e sop.c. edit., pp. 153(7‎

‎Dunlop Fuchsia‎

‎The Food of Sichuan‎

‎4to, original cloth, 496pp. 'No one explains the intricacies of Sichuan food like Fuchsia Dunlop. This book remains my bible for the subject' Jay Rayner A fully revised and updated edition of Fuchsia Dunlop's landmark book on Sichuan cookery. Almost twenty years after the publication of Sichuan Cookery, voted by the OFM as one of the greatest cookbooks of all time, Fuchsia Dunlop revisits the region where her own culinary journey began, adding more than 50 new recipes to the original repertoire and accompanying them with her incomparable knowledge of the dazzling tastes, textures and sensations of Sichuanese cookery. At home, guided by Fuchsia's clear instructions, you will be able to recreate Sichuanese classics such as Mapo tofu, Twice-cooked pork and Gong Bao chicken, or try your hand at a traditional spread of cold dishes comprising Bang bang chicken, Numbing-and-hot dried beef, Spiced cucumber salad and Green beans in ginger sauce. With spellbinding writing on the culinary and cultural history of Sichuan and accompanied by gorgeous travel and food photography, The Food of Sichuan is a captivating insight into one of the world's greatest cuisines. Fuchsia Dunlop is a cook and food-writer specialising in Chinese cuisine. She was the first Westerner to train as a chef at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine, and has spent much of the last two decades exploring China and its food. Her first book, 'Land of Plenty' (published in the UK as 'Sichuan Cookery') won the Jeremy Round Award for best first book, and was listed in the top ten of the Observer's '50 Best Cookbooks of All Time'. 'Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province' was shortlisted for two major awards, while 'Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China' won the IACP Jane Grigson Award and the Kate Whiteman Award for writing on food and travel. 'Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking', published in 2012, won the James Beard Foundation International Award and the Kate Whiteman Award for writing on food and travel.‎

‎Szonyi, Michael‎

‎The Art of Being Governed: Everyday Politics in Late Imperial China‎

‎8vo, br. ed. An innovative look at how families in Ming dynasty China negotiated military and political obligations to the state How did ordinary people in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) deal with the demands of the state? In The Art of Being Governed, Michael Szonyi explores the myriad ways that families fulfilled their obligations to provide a soldier to the army. The complex strategies they developed to manage their responsibilities suggest a new interpretation of an important period in China’s history as well as a broader theory of politics. Using previously untapped sources, including lineage genealogies and internal family documents, Szonyi examines how soldiers and their families living on China’s southeast coast minimized the costs and maximized the benefits of meeting government demands for manpower. Families that had to provide a soldier for the army set up elaborate rules to ensure their obligation was fulfilled, and to provide incentives for the soldier not to desert his post. People in the system found ways to gain advantages for themselves and their families. For example, naval officers used the military’s protection to engage in the very piracy and smuggling they were supposed to suppress. Szonyi demonstrates through firsthand accounts how subjects of the Ming state operated in a space between defiance and compliance, and how paying attention to this middle ground can help us better understand not only Ming China but also other periods and places. Combining traditional scholarship with innovative fieldwork in the villages where descendants of Ming subjects still live, The Art of Being Governed illustrates the ways that arrangements between communities and the state hundreds of years ago have consequences and relevance for how we look at diverse cultures and societies, even today. From the Back Cover: "This astute and powerful blend of micro- and macrohistory pursued over the longue durée explores how resistance infuses apparent compliance. The magnifying lens of this book focuses on conscription throughout the Ming Dynasty, but the intellectual quarry is nothing less than the illumination of the strategic maneuvering between subject and state."--James C. Scott, Yale University "This is state-of-the-art Sinology: a work that combines the old-school erudition needed to sift through thousands of pages of documents and decipher obscure stele, with the ability to sit down and talk to people in a remote part of China, listen to their stories, and triangulate this oral history with the written record. Szonyi gives us not only an absorbing new take on Ming military history, but also a parable for how the Chinese have dealt with the state for centuries--through negotiation."--Ian Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Souls of China "In this pioneering book on military service during the Ming dynasty, Szonyi opens a window on life during imperial China, revealing a fascinating world where families creatively bent the government's rules in order to survive. This ground-up view of how the Chinese coped constitutes an enormously significant and relevant contribution to the field."--John Pomfret, author of The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom "The Art of Being Governed looks at the relationship between the military households of southeastern China and the Ming state, with an emphasis on how individuals negotiated their obligations to the government. With a brilliant use of sources, this illuminating book links the past to the present in creative ways and is one of the most sophisticated and vivid descriptions of social relations in late imperial China published in recent years."--Peter C. Perdue, Yale University "This ambitious book probes the ways in which military households engaged the state. Szonyi shows how people registered in these households used their status to take advantage of differing regulatory schemes in Ming China, and how these efforts shaped social relations, politics, and culture--in some cases even down to the present. Based on extensive fieldwork, primary sources, and engaging scholarship, this is a major contribution to the field."--Joe Dennis, University of Wisconsin-Madison‎

‎Enduran‎

‎La Chine et Les Français En 1860‎

‎8vo, br. ed. Ce livre est la reproduction fidele d une oeuvre publiee avant 1920 et fait partie d une collection de livres reimprimes a la demande editee par Hachette Livre, dans le cadre d un partenariat avec la Bibliotheque nationale de France, offrant l opportunite d acceder a des ouvrages anciens et souvent rares issus des fonds patrimoniaux de la BnF. Les uvres faisant partie de cette collection ont ete numerisees par la BnF et sont presentes sur Gallica, sa bibliotheque numerique. En entreprenant de redonner vie a ces ouvrages au travers d une collection de livres reimprimes a la demande, nous leur donnons la possibilite de rencontrer un public elargi et participons a la transmission de connaissances et de savoirs parfois difficilement accessibles. Nous avons cherche a concilier la reproduction fidele d un livre ancien a partir de sa version numerisee avec le souci d un confort de lecture optimal. Nous esperons que les ouvrages de cette nouvelle collection vous apporteront entiere satisfaction.‎

‎Lynteris Christos‎

‎Ethnographic Plague: Configuring Disease on the Chinese-Russian Frontier (ISBN:9781349955626)‎

‎8vo, br. ed. Challenging the concept that since the discovery of the plague bacillus in 1894 the study of the disease was dominated by bacteriology, Ethnographic Plague argues for the role of ethnography as a vital contributor to the configuration of plague at the turn of the nineteenth century. With a focus on research on the Chinese-Russian frontier, where a series of pneumonic plague epidemics shook the Chinese, Russian and Japanese Empires, this book examines how native Mongols and Buryats came to be understood as holding a traditional knowledge of the disease. Exploring the forging and consequences of this alluring theory, this book seeks to understand medical fascination with culture, so as to underline the limitations of the employment of the latter as an explanatory category in the context of infectious disease epidemics, such as the recent SARS and Ebola outbreaks. About the Author: Christos Lynteris is a social anthropologist working on biopolitical and visual aspects of infectious disease epidemics. He is Senior Research Associate at CRASSH, University of Cambridge, UK, and Principal Investigator of the European Research Council funded project Visual Representations of the Third Plague Pandemic. He is also the author of The Spirit of Selflessness in Maoist China (2012).‎

‎Lufrano Richard John‎

‎Honorable Merchants: Commerce and Self-Cultivation in Late Imperial China (Studies of the East Asian Institute)‎

‎8vo, orig.cloth in dj 15cm, xii,241 pp Contents: Introduction; The Late Imperial World: Commerce, Education & Society; The Confucian Origins of Apprentice's Education; The Apprentice's Education Begins; Relations with Government & Community; Personal Relations in the Marketplace; The Market, Management, Money & Finance; Travel & Crime; Conclusion: Self-Cultivation in Mid-level Merchant Culture;Appendix: The Maoyi xuzhi Manual. In light of East Asia's current economic success, it has become increasingly clear that Confucian social thought, long assumed in Western scholarship to be a major stumbling block to economic development, can, under the proper circumstances, have exactly the opposite effect. Lufrano's study is the most sustained and sophisticated of recent reevaluations of Confucianism's role in the rapid commercial development in the late Ming to mid-Qing period. It will be of great interest and value to scholars in the growing field of Chinese business history and should be welcomed by those interested in the Confucian roots of Pacific Rim business practice. About the Author: Richard Lufrano is assistant professor of history at Barnard College.‎

‎Dott Brian R.‎

‎The Chile Pepper in China: A Cultural Biography (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)‎

‎8vo, hardcover in dj. 296pp. Chinese cuisine without chile peppers seems unimaginable. Entranced by the fiery taste, diners worldwide have fallen for Chinese cooking. In China, chiles are everywhere, from dried peppers hanging from eaves to Mao's boast that revolution would be impossible without chiles, from the eighteenth-century novel Dream of the Red Chamber to contemporary music videos. Indeed, they are so common that many Chinese assume they are native. Yet there were no chiles anywhere in China prior to the 1570s, when they were introduced from the Americas. Brian R. Dott explores how the nonnative chile went from obscurity to ubiquity in China, influencing not just cuisine but also medicine, language, and cultural identity. He details how its versatility became essential to a variety of regional cuisines and swayed both elite and popular medical and healing practices. Dott tracks the cultural meaning of the chile across a wide swath of literary texts and artworks, revealing how the spread of chiles fundamentally altered the meaning of the term spicy. He emphasizes the intersection between food and gender, tracing the chile as a symbol for both male virility and female passion. Integrating food studies, the history of medicine, and Chinese cultural history, The Chile Pepper in China sheds new light on the piquant cultural impact of a potent plant and raises broader questions regarding notions of authenticity in cuisine.‎

‎Cahen Gaston‎

‎Histoire Des Relations De La Russie Avec La Chine Sous Pierre Le Grand 1689-1730‎

‎extremely rare anastatic chinese reprint of the alcan paris 1912 ed. wraps, very good 8vo gr.br. pp. 274-ccxix‎

‎Gerth Karl‎

‎China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation (Harvard East Asian Monographs 224)‎

‎8vo, br. "Chinese people should consume Chinese products!" This slogan was the catchphrase of a movement in early twentieth-century China that sought to link consumption and nationalism by instilling a concept of China as a modern "nation" with its own "national products." From fashions in clothing to food additives, from museums to department stores, from product fairs to advertising, this movement influenced all aspects of China's burgeoning consumer culture. Anti-imperialist boycotts, commemorations of national humiliations, exhibitions of Chinese products, the vilification of treasonous consumers, and the promotion of Chinese captains of industry helped enforce nationalistic consumption and spread the message--patriotic Chinese bought goods made of Chinese materials by Chinese workers in factories owned and run by Chinese.In China Made, Karl Gerth argues that two key forces shaping the modern world--nationalism and consumerism--developed in tandem in China. Early in the twentieth century, nationalism branded every commodity as either "Chinese" or "foreign," and consumer culture became the place where the notion of nationality was articulated, institutionalized, and practiced. Based on Chinese, Japanese, and English-language archives, magazines, newspapers, and books, this first exploration of the historical ties between nationalism and consumerism reinterprets fundamental aspects of modern Chinese history and suggests ways of discerning such ties in all modern nations.ed.‎

‎Barzini Luigi‎

‎Parigi Pechino in sessanta giorni. Con introduzione del Principe Scipione Borghese. 126 illustrazioni nel testo, 13 tavole colorate ed una carta itineraria.‎

‎4th ed. 8vo gr. br, ed. xxv, 523p + fold-out map; illus. copetina originale usurata, altrimenti ottomo. Original card covers, soiled and worn, still a very good and tight copy.‎

‎Chavannes, Edouard‎

‎Le T'ai Chan.: Essai de Monographie d'un Culte Chinois. Appendice. Le Dieu du Sol dans la Chine Antique. Annales du Musee Guimet, Bibliotheque d'Etudes, Tome 21. 1910‎

‎8vo, br. ed. pp.591 pp.591, chinese reprint rarer than the original 60 illustrations. folding map. bound chinese style . A classic study of the role the taishan sacred mountain and its role in Chinese religion, with an appendix on the sun god. scarce.‎

‎Brook Timothy‎

‎Mr. Selden's Map of China: Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer‎

‎8vo, 240pp. ex library but in excellent condition with its mylar protected dj. no internal marks, as new.‎

‎Elvin Mark‎

‎The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China‎

‎8vo, br. ed. 564pp. This is the first environmental history of China during the three thousand years for which there are written records. It is also a treasure trove of literary, political, aesthetic, scientific, and religious sources, which allow the reader direct access to the views and feelings of the Chinese people toward their environment and their landscape. Elvin chronicles the spread of the Chinese style of farming that eliminated the habitat of the elephants that populated the country alongside much of its original wildlife; the destruction of most of the forests; the impact of war on the environmental transformation of the landscape; and the re-engineering of the countryside through water-control systems, some of gigantic size. He documents the histories of three contrasting localities within China to show how ecological dynamics defined the lives of the inhabitants. And he shows that China in the eighteenth century, on the eve of the modern era, was probably more environmentally degraded than northwestern Europe around this time. Indispensable for its new perspective on long-term Chinese history and its explanation of the roots of China?s present-day environmental crisis, this book opens a door into the Chinese past.‎

‎Bortone Fernando‎

‎Il Saggio d'Occidente‎

‎8vo, Il P. Matteo Ricci S. J. (1552 - 1610) un grande italiano nella Cina impenetrabile. Illustrazione in antiporta a piena pagina con ritratto del P. Ricci in abito di letterato cinese. Molte illustrazioni in nero a piena pagina su carta lucida e illustrazioni in nero nel testo. Carte geografiche in nero e a colori. Esemplare perfetto. Brossura editoriale illustrata, pp. 235, con fascetta editoriale.‎

‎Wilson Dick‎

‎China's Revolutionary War‎

‎8vo, br. ed.‎

‎Segalen Victor‎

‎OEUVRES I ET II SOUS COFFRET‎

‎2 tomes, 16mo reliure, jaquette coffret. Volumes 1 et 2. Segalen, médecin de la Marine, ausculte le monde comme un grand corps. Faire de ce monde une part de soi, tel est pour lui l’enjeu de la littérature. Plus que d’autres, il a le don de percevoir la multiplicité du visible, l’instabilité des choses, la variété du sensible. L’exotisme est son affaire, mais pour en aborder les thèmes il a soin, précaution rare en son temps, de se débarrasser du poncif « palmier, chameau, casque colonial ». Son appétence pour le divers n’est pas d’ordre ethnographique. Ce qu’il vise, c’est « une Esthétique du Divers ».À sa mort à quarante et un ans, en 1919, trois livres seulement avaient paru : Les Immémoriaux, Stèles et Peintures. Des milliers de feuillets manuscrits attendent éditeurs et lecteurs. Les efforts d’Annie Joly-Segalen font peu à peu sortir de l’ombre cet édifice virtuel, « poésie encore ignorée et au sein de laquelle vit un mystère » (Pierre Jean Jouve, 1955). C’est sans doute cette lente maturation qui a fait de l’oeuvre de Segalen notre contemporaine inattendue. La nature des manuscrits, lieu d’un dialogue de l’auteur avec soi-même, interroge la notion même d’oeuvre et rend illusoire toute idée d’exhaustivité. Les genres, fiction, poésie, journal, essai, sont soit combinés, comme dans Le Fils du Ciel, projet d’art total, soit déjoués : « J’étouffe dans le Roman ! »En respectant comme jamais la présentation des documents autographes (images comprises), la présente édition ne renouvelle pas seulement la lecture du Fils du Ciel ou de l’Essai sur l’exotisme elle rend aux textes leur mouvement propre, celui d’une marche vers l’idée grandiose, et chimérique, que l’auteur se faisait de l’oeuvre à laquelle il les destinait. Édition de Christian Doumet avec la collaboration d'Adrien Cavallaro, Jean-François Louette, Andrea Schellino et Maud Schmitt. Préface et notes de Christian Doumet 183x118x70mm 1022g.‎

‎Hao Jingfang‎

‎Pechino Pieghevole‎

‎8vo, br. ed. Pechino è divisa in tre spazi e le ventiquattr’ore di ogni giorno sono state accuratamente organizzate per salvaguardare il tempo e l’aria che respira l’élite, composta da cinque degli ottanta milioni di persone che abitano la metropoli. Tutti gli altri, incastrati nella rigida stratificazione urbana, si spartiscono quello che rimane. Lao Dao è nato nella città pieghevole e lavora in discarica come suo padre. Vive nel sottosuolo, ma per consegnare una lettera in cambio di denaro si intrufolerà negli spazi della classe media e di quella alta, scoprendo l’esistenza di mondi diversi dal suo. Catastrofe ecologica, tecnologie di sorveglianza e disuguaglianze sociali stravolgono il tempo e lo spazio in Pechino pieghevole, l’emblematico racconto che dà il titolo a questa raccolta folgorante, un caso letterario che si inserisce nell’«ultra-irrealismo» (chaohuan), il nuovo genere letterario ispirato dalla realtà allucinata della Cina odierna. Negli undici racconti, Hao esplora la fragilità umana alle prese con gli spettri del cambiamento e del possibile, l’intelligenza artificiale e l’automazione, costruendo una narrazione pervasa di sensibilità per quest’epoca di incertezza, solitudine e disorientamento. Se la science fiction è il realismo dei nostri tempi, Hao Jingfang rivela angolazioni inattese ed estreme da cui osservare il mondo futuro in cui già viviamo. L’ultra-irrealismo di Hao Jingfang ci restituisce un futuro cinese sempre più simile al nostro. – Simone Pieranni L’opera cinese di fantascienza che svela il presente in cui viviamo. – New York Times Dopo questa lettura la realtà non è più la stessa. Teoria scientifica e riflessione politica si uniscono in uno sguardo tagliente sul conflitto di classe e il mondo che abitiamo. – Uncanny Magazine‎

‎Han Song‎

‎I mattoni della rinascita‎

‎8vo, br. ed. pp.464, Considerato dalla critica come il “Kafka cinese”, Han Song estrapola scenari grotteschi e personaggi surreali direttamente dall’analisi della realtà. Attraverso una critica sofferta ma spietata, la sua visione del presente somiglia a un gigantesco mostro scaturito dal rapporto ambiguo tra l’innovazione tecnologica odierna e una tradizione che in Cina perdura da cinquemila anni. Che si tratti di viaggiatori di un misterioso aereo-mondo, di ignari cittadini controllati da un fantomatico Comitato delle Tenebre o di feti senzienti e organizzati in una società super-cosciente, in queste storie il processo di modernizzazione cinese, la globalizzazione e lo “spirito orientale” s’incontrano, contorcendosi e dibattendosi alla ricerca di un nuovo senso. Pare quasi che Han Song sia spinto a raccontare dal desidero di comprendere il futuro di quest’entità tanto concreta quanto invisibile – riflesso della Cina e del mondo – che si annida nelle pieghe dell’oggi.“Io scrivo fantascienza bidimensionale, mentre la produzione di Han Song è tridimensionale. Se la fantascienza cinese fosse una piramide, potremmo considerare la mia come le fondamenta del monumento e la sua come la vetta.” Liu CixinHan Song, nato a Chongqing, si è laureato all’Università di Wuhan nel 1991, è direttore del Comitato fantascientifico dell’associazione degli scrittori di scienza popolare, è membro dell’associazione degli scrittori cinesi e lavora presso l’agenzia di stampa Xinhua. Con la sua produzione ha ottenuto il premio Galaxy per la fantascienza cinese, il premio Nebula della lingua cinese e il premio letterario Jingdong. Le sue opere principali includono Metropolitana, Ospedale, Oceano rosso, Marte brilla sugli Stati Uniti, Le tombe del cosmo, I mattoni della rinascita, etc. È stato tradotto in inglese, francese, giapponese, italiano e altre lingue.‎

‎Wright Teresa‎

‎Party and State in Post-Mao China‎

‎8vo, br. ed. 221pp. In recent decades, China has become a quasi-capitalist economic powerhouse. Yet it continues to be ruled by the same Communist Party-dominated government that has been in power since 1949. But how has China&;s political system achieved such longevity? And what does its stability tell us about the future of authoritarian versus liberal democratic governance?     In this detailed analysis of the deeply intertwined relationship between the ruling Communist Party and governing state, noted China expert Teresa Wright provides insightful answers to these important questions.  Though many believe that the Chinese party-state has maintained its power despite its communist and authoritarian features, Wright argues that the key to its sustained success lies in its careful safeguarding of some key communist and authoritarian characteristics, while simultaneously becoming more open and responsive to public participation.  She contends that China&;s post-Mao party-state compares well to different forms of political rule, including liberal democratic government.  It has fulfilled the necessary functions of a stable governing regime: satisfying key demographic groups and responding to public grievances; maintaining economic stability and growth; and delivering public services - without any real reduction in CCP power and influence.    Questioning current understandings of the nature, strengths, and weaknesses of democracy and authoritarianism, this thought-provoking book will be essential reading for all students and scholars of Chinese politics and international relations.‎

‎Chang K. C.‎

‎Art, Myth, and Ritual : The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China‎

‎Role of urbanization, writing, shamanism, art in the rise of political authority in ancient China. Hardcover, xii + 142 pages. 47 illustr. .x, [2], 142 pp.'Chang demonstrates that political power in the Three Dynasties Period, 2200-200 BC was accumulated by particular dynastic families because they controlled what they claimed was access to the gods . . . they practised divination and shamanism . . .and with their newly invented tool of writing recorded messages of communication with the gods.'‎

‎Ma Jian‎

‎Il Sogno Cinese‎

‎8vo, br. ed.‎

‎Mattis Peter and Matthew Brazil‎

‎Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer‎

‎8vo, br. ed- 359pp. This is the first book of its kind to employ hundreds of Chinese sources to explain the history and current state of Chinese Communist intelligence operations. It profiles the leaders, top spies, and important operations in the history of China's espionage organs, and links to an extensive online glossary of Chinese language intelligence and security terms. Peter Mattis and Matthew Brazil present an unprecedented look into the murky world of Chinese espionage both past and present, enabling a better understanding of how pervasive and important its influence is, both in China and abroad.‎

‎Endicott-West Elizabeth‎

‎Mongolian Rule in China, Local Administration in the Yuan Dinasty (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series #29)‎

‎8vo, hardcover in dj. perfect condition‎

‎Richardson, Hugh E.‎

‎Tibet and Its History‎

‎8vo, 5.75 x 8.75". Cloth. Fine/Good. (two small tears at the edges) First Shambhala Edition. 6" x 8.75". DJ shows shelf-wear, bending & slight tears on top & bottom edges. "This is the only complete history of Tibet in English, a lucid and straightforward history of the country from its beginnings in the sixth century A.D., to the present day. As the official representative of the British and Indian governments at Lhasa for long periods between 1936 and 1950, Hugh Richardson writes from firsthand knowledge of Tibet and its people." Sir Hugh Richardson was well ahead of any Westerner on his day in his knowledge and understanding of Tibetan culture. Certainly he knew more than Tucci, Harrer and Govinda combined about the history of Tibet and its political institutions. 327 pp. incl. index and maps. ISBN: 0877732922‎