This book tells the story from three perspectives: of the Japanese soldiers who performed it, of the Chinese civilians who endured it, and of a group of Europeans and Americans who refused to abandon the city and were able to create a safety zone that saved many.

    Back in 1644, his great-uncle Dorgon broke through the Great Wall from Manchuria in the north-east and took the Imperial capital, Peking. Now twenty years later, the Manchus are quelling the last sparks of Chinese resistance, hounding down members of the underground movement known as the Triad Secret Society. But deep in the innermost recesses of the Forbidden City, with its maze of countless eunuchs, and the redoubtable troops of the Imperial Guard, a sinister conspiracy is brewing.Into this historical setting bursts a young teenage scamp by the name of Trinket. Born in a whorehouse in the southern Chinese city of Yangzhou, Trinket is an unlikely (and reluctant) kungfu practitioner, whose underhand tricks earn him many a harsh word from his masters. Foul-mouthed, lazy, opportunistic, but ultimately likeable and unforgettable, it is Trinket who holds together the picaresque episodes of this last (and many say best) Martial Arts novel by Hong Kong's master storyteller, Louis Cha.As the poet and critic Stephen Soong has said, this is 'a roller-coaster of a novel, packed with thrills, with fun, rage, humour, and abuse, written in a style that flows and flashes like quicksilver.'

    Mao Haijian, one of the most distinguished and well-known historians working in China, presents the culmination of more than ten years of research in a revisionist reading of the conflict and its main Chinese protagonists. Mao examines the Qing participants in terms of the moral standards and intellectual norms of their own time, demonstrating that actions which have struck later observers as ridiculous can be understood as reasonable within these individuals' own context. This English-language translation of Mao's work offers a comprehensive response to the question of why the Qing Empire was so badly defeated by the British in the first Opium War - an answer that is distinctive and original within both Chinese and Western historiography, and supported by a wealth of hitherto unknown detail.

    In her enthralling memoir, she weaves together her personal history with the larger history of Mao's China to create a tale both intimate and epic, colored by deep family bonds and the constant foreboding presence of a totalitarian government.Ye's father, a successful factory owner, had his business taken away at the outset of the Cultural Revolution. His death in 1962, followed by his wife's two years later, left behind a family of five children, a beloved servant known as "Great-Aunt," and the potentially fatal tag of "capitalist." In telling her story, Ye gracefully combines idyllic memories of her childhood on Purple Sunshine Lane with harrowing tales of harassment by the feared Red Guards. As a teen, Ye was sentenced to a prison farm; the book traces her journey from prisoner to university student, her work as a police agent and a translator, and the love affair that led to her dramatic defection to the West.Already a bestseller in Australia, "A Leaf in the Bitter Wind "is a true story with all the characteristics of a great novel-danger, romance, smart social commentary, and a liberal dose of wry humor. Anyone seeking out an intimate view of Asian culture will find it in this "rare uncensored glimpse of life in China during one of the worst times in its history."-"Calgary Sun""A gifted narrator with a photographic memory, Ye records, in riveting detail, the capricious existence of the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution."-"Bloomsbury Review""Compelling . . . laced with irony and surprising twists of fate."-"Maclean's"

    There is a need to define a sense of place through buildings and other means, at the moment when such a sense of place (fragile to begin with) is being threatened with erasure by a more and more insistently globalizing space".On June 30, 1997, Hong Kong as we know it will disappear, ceasing its singular and ambiguous existence as a colonial holdover and becoming part of the People's Republic of China. In an intriguing and provocative exploration of its cinema, architecture, photography, and literature, Ackbar Abbas considers what Hong Kong, with its unique relations to decolonization and disappearance, can teach us about the future of both the colonial city and the global city.The culture of Hong Kong encompasses Jackie Chan and John Woo, British colonial architecture and postmodern skyscrapers. Ironically, it was not until they were faced with the imposition of Mainland power -- with the signing of the Sino British Joint Agreement in 1984 -- that the denizens of the colony began the search for a Hong Kong identity. According to Abbas, Hong Kong's peculiar lack of identity is due to its status as "not so much a place as a space of transit", whose residents think of themselves as transients and migrants on their way from China to somewhere else.Abbas explores the way Hong Kong's media saturationchanges its people's experience of space so that it becomes abstract, dominated by signs and images that dispel memory, history, and presence.Hong Kong disappears through simple dualities such as East/West and tradition/modernity. What is missing from a view of Hong Kong as merely a colony is the paradox that Hong Kong has benefited from and made a virtue of its dependent colonial status, turning itself into a global and financial city and outstripping its colonizer in terms of wealth.Combining sophisticated theory and a critical perspective, this rich and thought-provoking work captures the complex situation of the metropolis that is contemporary Hong Kong. Along the way, it challenges, entertains, and makes an important contribution to our thinking about the surprising processes and consequences of colonialism.

    He shows how Western and Chinese strategies work in several domains (the battlefield, for example) and analyzes two resulting acts of war. The Chinese strategist manipulates his own troops and the enemy to win a battle without waging war and to bring about victory effortlessly. Efficacity in China is thus conceived of in terms of transformation (as opposed to action) and manipulation, making it closer to what is understood as efficacy in the West.Jullien's brilliant interpretations of an array of recondite texts are key to understanding our own conceptions of action, time, and reality in this foray into the world of Chinese thought. In its clear and penetrating characterization of two contrasting views of reality from a heretofore unexplored perspective, A Treatise on Efficacy will be of central importance in the intellectual debate between East and West.

    The subversive yet truthful nature of the message stung the top Communist leadership in Beijing. Incredibly, the writer, Yang Xiguang, was only nineteen years old, a star high school pupil and the son of high-ranking Hunan officials. Denounced as a 'counterrevolutionary' by Chairman Mao himself, Yang was hunted down, arrested in 1968, and sentenced to ten years in prison. Captive Spirits is his remarkable story of life in the Chinese gulag during one of the most tumultuous periods of modern Chinese history.

    With stunning honesty and a lively, sly humor, Rae Yang records her life from her early years as the daughter of Chinese diplomats in Switzerland, to her girlhood at an elite middle school in Beijing, to her adolescent experience as a Red Guard and later as a laborer on a pig farm in the remote northern wilderness. She tells of her eventual disillusionment with the Maoist revolution, how remorse and despair drove her almost to suicide, and how she struggled to make sense of conflicting events that often blurred the line between victim and victimizer, aristocrat and peasant, communist and counterrevolutionary. Moving gracefully between past and present, dream and reality, the author artfully conveys the vast complexity of life in China as well as the richness, confusion, and magic of her own inner life and struggle.Much of the power of the narrative derives from Yang's multi-generational, cross-class perspective. She invokes the myths, legends, folklore, and local customs that surrounded her and brings to life the many people who were instrumental in her life: her nanny, a poor woman who raised her from a baby and whose character is conveyed through the bedtime tales she spins; her father; her beloved grandmother, who died as a result of the political persecution she suffered.Spanning the years from 1950 to 1980, Rae Yang's story is evocative, complex, and told with striking candor. It is one of the most immediate and engaging narratives of life in post-1949 China.

    This magnificent book, written by a team of eminent international scholars, is the first to recount the history of Chinese painting over a span of some three thousand years. Drawing on museum collections, archives, and archaeological sites in China—including many resources never before available to Western scholars—as well as on collections in other countries, the authors present and analyze the very best examples of Chinese painting: more than 300 of them are reproduced here in color. Both accessible to the general reader and revelatory for the scholar, the book provides the most up-to-date and detailed history of China’s pictorial art available today. In this book the authors rewrite the history of Chinese art wherever it is found—in caves, temples, or museum collections. They begin by grounding the Western reader in Chinese traditions and practices, showing in essence how to look at a Chinese painting. They then shed light on such topics as the development of classical and narrative painting, the origins of the literati tradition, the flowering of landscape painting, and the ways the traditions of Chinese painting have been carried into the present day. The book, which concludes with a glossary of techniques and terms and a list of artists by dynasty, is an essential resource for all lovers of, or newcomers to, Chinese painting.Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting is the inaugural volume in a new series, The Culture & Civilization of China, a joint publishing venture of Yale University Press and the American Council of Learned Societies with the China International Publishing Group in Beijing. The undertaking will ultimately result in the publication of more than seventy-five volumes on the visual arts, classical literature, language, and philosophy, as well as several comprehensive reference volumes.

    A Chinese painting is often reduced to the image it bears;its material form is dismissed; its intimate connection with socialactivities and cultural conventions neglected.A screen occupies a space and divides it, supplies an ideal surface forpainting, and has been a favorite pictorial image in Chinese art sinceantiquity. Wu Hung undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the screen,which can be an object, an art medium, a pictorial motif, or all threeat once. With its diverse roles, the screen has provided Chinesepainters with endless opportunities to reinvent their art.The Double Screen provides a powerful non-Western perspective onissues from portraiture and pictorial narrative to voyeurism,masquerade, and political rhetoric. It will be invaluable to anyoneinterested in the history of art and Asian studies.

    

    Wakeman shows how prevailing rural discontent, urban riots, secret society activity, and the imbalance of class and clan affected the mechanisms of regional power and gentry control, demonstrating the progression of rebellion and the historical inevitability of revolution.

    Wei Jingsheng, who has spent nearly two decades in prison for counterrevolutionary activities, confirms his status as a symbol for Chinese democracy, as he eloquently and fearlessly confronts a regime that not only fails to protect basic human rights but actively violates them. Devoid of ideological rant, the letters to Deng Xiaoping and other officials capture the verve, intelligence, audacity, and mordant humor of a man obstinately struggling to bring freedom to the world's most populous country. Also included are touching letters to his family, excerpts of his groundbreaking political essays, and his moving defense statement at trial.

    Sungwan So's evocative photographs combine with simple, informative text to present a colourful portrait of Chinese culture, craft and custom. Informative, enlightening and entertaining.

    Its southern reaches are home to nomadic herders, but most of the region is the exclusive domain of a unique community of spectacular and rare mammals - such as wild yak and Tibetan antelope - most of which have seldom been seen, much less studied. For years, world-renowned wildlife biologist George Schaller longed to explore the Chang Tang, but Tibet's doors were closed. Finally, in 1988, Schaller became the first Westerner permitted to enter this uninhabited region. He sought to answer many basic questions about these unstudied animals. Largely as a result of the work of Schaller and his local colleagues, the Chinese government has set aside more than 125,000 square miles of this high-altitude terrain as a reserve - the second largest in the world. Profusely illustrated with Schaller's haunting photographs, Tibet's Hidden Wilderness is a unique record of one of the earth's most remote and least-known regions. It introduces us to the Chang Tang's majestic landscape, extraordinary wildlife, and traditional nomadic society and concludes with a hopeful plan that would allow the people and animals there to continue to live in harmony.

    

    The book introduces the reader to this unique theatrical form and tells the traditional stories that are its narrative foundation. Siu Wang-Ngai's extraordinary images, taken in existing light during performances, lovingly reveal the visual excitement of Chinese opera and point to the differences in costuming and presentation that distinguish each regional style and character type. Through Peter Lovrick's engaging text, Chinese Opera provides a brief anecdotal history of the development of Chinese opera and introduces a language of theatrical convention entirely new to the Westerner. It also identifies the hallmarks of the dozen or so regional opera styles found in this collection. As well, the book arranges the stories in a rough chain of being, from heaven, through the whole social structure on earth from emperor to outlaw, to ghosts in the nether world, offering a revealing view of Chinese social tradition and experience. Chinese opera has a rich repertoire drawn from history, legends, myths, folk tales, and classic novels. These stories are full of colourful characters and surprising turns. Chinese Opera opens a door onto the wealth of Chinese traditional drama in a way that will interest drama aficionados, admirers of theatrical photography, students of Chinese drama, those interested in the culture of China, and everyone who enjoys a lively story. It is not necessary to be knowledgeable about the dramatic tradition to sit back, like the Chinese audience of a regional opera, and enjoy a good yarn. Siu Wang-Ngai's record of opera performancemakes these stories come alive.

    It continues the comparative discussions by focusing upon three concepts--self, truth, transcendence--which best illuminate the distinctive characters of the two cultures. "Self" specifies the meaning of the human subject, "truth" considers that subject's manner of relating to the world of which it is a part, and "transcendence" raises the issue as to whether the self/world relationship is grounded in something other than the elements resourced immediately in self and world. Considered together, the discussions of these concepts advertise in a most dramatic fashion the intellectual barriers currently existing between Chinese and Western thinkers. More importantly, these discussions reformulate Chinese and Western vocabularies in a manner that will enhance the possibilities of intercultural communication.

    In this book you will learn about ShangDi, the border sacrifice, and the oracle bone characters.

    In this path-breaking study, Anthony Yu goes beyond the customary view of Hongloumeng as a vivid reflection of late imperial Chinese culture by examining the novel as a story about fictive representation. Through a maze of literary devices, the novel challenges the authority of history as well as referential biases in reading. At the heart of Hongloumeng, Yu argues, is the narration of desire. Desire appears in this tale as the defining trait and problem of human beings and at the same time shapes the novel's literary invention and effect. According to Yu, this focalizing treatment of desire may well be Hongloumeng's most distinctive accomplishment.Through close readings of selected episodes, Yu analyzes principal motifs of the narrative, such as dream, mirror, literature, religious enlightenment, and rhetorical reflexivity in relation to fictive representation. He contextualizes his discussions with a comprehensive genealogy of qing--desire, disposition, sentiment, feeling--a concept of fundamental importance in historical Chinese culture, and shows how the text ingeniously exploits its multiple meanings. Spanning a wide range of comparative literary sources, Yu creates a new conceptual framework in which to reevaluate this masterpiece.

    

    Exploring not only how events shape television, but how TV can shape the news as it unfolds, Chinoy describes his personal and professional journey through key political dramas, from armed conflict in Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Indochina, and Afghanistan, to the "people power" revolution in the Philippines and the ongoing crisis in North Korea. The core of the book is Chinoy's lifelong involvement with China. As CNN's first Beijing bureau chief, Chinoy recounts a riveting tale of covering the China beat, especially the momentous events in Tiananmen Square in 1989. CNN's unprecedented live broadcasts of the student uprising and army crackdown marked a turning point in modern journalism and played a critical role in shaping international perceptions of China. Revised and updated to include such recent events as the death of Deng Xiaoping, the handover of Hong Kong, the turmoil in Indonesia, and the continuing debate over the legacy of Tiananmen, China Live remains a compelling account of the life of an award-winning foreign correspondent and a revealing glimpse inside the world of television news."

    THE END OF EMPIRE...and of cartoons as we know them!Find out what really happened during those final days as the countdown clock ticked, in this special 20th anniversary edition: * Pre-handover supermarket specials * Last-minute pregnancies before the one-child policy kicks in * The great tacky souvenir epidemic * The invasion of the foreign reporters * Britain lifts a finger for Hong Kong...plus the Talks, the Banquet, and an international cast of characters.Includes the entire series of “Lily Wong” cartoons written during the last 100 days, plus: Feign’s cartoon essay for Time Magazine The Post-Handover Weather Report from German magazine Geo Other previously-unpublished cartoons A Politically Incorrect View of the HandoverTwenty years after the event, see how many of Feign’s predictions came true.You’ll laugh at this book almost as loud as Chinese leaders laugh at Hong Kong people’s calls for democracy!"Feign has a piercing sense of irony and is laugh-out-loud funny."-Nury Vittachi, Far Eastern Economic Review"Gratuitous cracks at po faced pontifications on the territory."-Geremie Barme, The Australian"I was furious!"-Allen Lee, HK politician, commenting on Feign's cartoons in "The Last Governor" by Jonathan Dimbleby

    This book argues that signs of reform and innovation can be discerned long before May Fourth, and that as China entered the arena of modern, international history in the late Qing, it was already developing its own complex matrix of incipient modernities. It demonstrates that late Qing fiction nurtured a creative, innovative poetics, one that was spurned by the reformers of the May Fourth generation in favor of Western-style realism.The author recognizes that a full account of modern Chinese fiction needs to ask why so many genres, styles, themes, and figures found in late imperial fiction were repressed by "modern" Chinese literary discourse. He focuses on four genres of late Qing fiction that have been either rudely dismissed in pejorative terms or simply ignored: depravity romances, court-case and chivalric cycles, grotesque exposés, and scientific fantasies. The author shows that in spite of the realist orthodoxy that has dominated Chinese literature since the May Fourth movement, these unwelcome genres have continually found their way back into mainstream discourse, their influence being increasingly evident in recent decades.This first comprehensive study of late Qing fiction discusses more than sixty works, at least half of which have rarely or never been dealt with by Western or Chinese scholars. Richly informed by contemporary literary theory, this book constitutes a polemical rethinking of the nature of Chinese literary and cultural modernity.

    Examines the original composition of China's oldest books, the Classic of Changes, the Venerated Documents, and the Classic of Poetry, and attempts to restore their original meanings.

    It never presents sex in a crude or pornographical way, but within a framework of beauty and harmony, enhanced with details of a profound or symbolic nature. Dreams of Spring presents for the first time the treasures of the Bertholet Collection, one of the world's most important surviving collections of Chinese erotic art. Many of the pictures reproduced are unique in their style and content, and have never been published before.

    Young widower Ning Caichen thinks he can never love again, but then he meets Nie Xiaoqian, and his life becomes very strange. Vampires, severed arms, swordplay, and lots of action, along with a decidly progressive attitude toward marriage in feudal Chinese society, make this story an enduring classic.

    Following the enshrinement of the Mencius (an edited compilation of his thought by disciples or disciples of disciples) as one of the Four Books by Sung neo-Confucianists, he was studied by all educated Chinese.This study begins a reassessment of Mencius by studying his ethical thinking (how one should live) in relation to that of other early Chinese thinkers, including Confucius, Mo Tzu, the Yangists, and Hsün Tzu. It is the first of three planned studies on Mencius: the second volume will examine the reception and development of Mencian ideas by later thinkers, and the third will be a general philosophical discussion of Confucian ethics.

    Commonly referred to as the Dixie Mission, the unit sent to Yenan was responsible for transmitting weather information, assisting the Communists in their rescue of downed American flyers, and laying the groundwork for an eventual rapprochement between the Communists and Nationalists, the two sides struggling in the ongoing Chinese Civil War. With extensive use of archival sources and numerous interviews with the men who traveled and served in Yenan, Carolle Carter argues that while Dixie fulfilled its assignment, the members steered the mission in different directions from its original, albeit loosely described, intent. As the months and years passed, the Dixie Mission increasingly emphasized intelligence gathering over evaluating their Communist hosts' contribution to the war effort against Japan. Carter strips away simplistic portrayals to reveal a diverse and dedicated collection of soldiers, diplomats, and technicians who had ongoing contact with the Chinese Communists longer than any other group during World War II, but who were destined to be a largely ignored resource during the Cold War.

    Another result of economic reform has been the creation of a new class—China's new business elite. Margaret M. Pearson considers the impact that this new class is having on China's politics. She concludes that, contrary to the assumptions of Westerners, these groups are not at the forefront of the emergence of a civil society; rather, they are part of a system shaped deliberately by the Chinese state to ensure that economic development will not lead to democratization.

    This book examines thinkers from the period 1890-1920 in modern China, and shows how China might forge a modern society with a political citizenry.

    Depending on the source, the prisons are described as nonexistent, enlightened institutions, or hellish places that subject the inmates to degradation and misery. The system is commonly thought of (by admirers and critics alike) as having a measurable impact on the national economy and providing significant resources to the state. Based on research in classified documents and extensive interviews with former prisoners, judicial personnel, and other insiders, and featuring case studies dealing with the three northwestern provinces, this book examines such assertions on the basis of the facts about this underexamined subject in order to arrive at a detailed, objective, and realistic picture of the situation. In the case of each province under study, the authors discuss the history of the provincial prison system and the impact that each has had at the macro, meso, and micro levels.

    Book by Yao, Tao-Chung, Liu, Yuehua, Ge, Liangyan, Chen, Yea-Fen, Bi, Nyan-Ping

    He was sent to the steppes to live with Mongolian herdsmen. The studious, gentle, city boy had much to learn: he had to memorize the faces of his cattle; he had to learn to ride with the greatest horsemen in the world; he had to adjust to food, clothing, and scenery wildly different from anything he had ever known.Despite the hard life, he grew to love Mongolia. His respect for the people who befriended him and his admiration for them were recorded in his diaries.Song Nan Zhang’s gorgeous paintings are the perfect complement to an unforgettable true story.

    Dai Qing, an investigative journalist and author with a wide audience in China and abroad, compiled this book of essays and field reports assessing the impact of the Three Gorges megadam now under construction at Sandouping in China's Hubei province at great risk to her own freedom. This book is an effort to prevent history from repeating itself ten-fold (a reference to the great floods in 1975 during which over 60 dams collapsed and at least 100,000 people lost their lives) if the 39 billion cubic metres of water in the Three Gorges reservoir ever escapes by natural or man-made catastrophes. These comprehensive essays reveal the deep rooted problems presented by the Three Gorges project that the government is attempting to disguise or suppress. The main concerns are population resettlement and human rights, the irreversible environmental and economic impact, the loss of cultural antiquities and historical sites, military considerations, and hidden dam disasters from the past. Opponents of the dam are attempting to kill the project or at least reduce the size of the megadam now planned to be the biggest, most expensive and, incidentally, the most hazardous of all hydro-electric projects on this planet.

    The book introduces the reader to this unique theatrical form and tells the traditional stories that are its narrative foundation. Siu Wang-Ngai's extraordinary images, taken in natural light during performances, lovingly reveal the visual excitement of Chinese opera and point to the differences in costuming and presentation that distinguish each regional style and character type.Through Peter Lovrick's engaging text, Chinese Opera provides a brief anecdotal history of the development of Chinese opera and introduces a language of theatrical convention entirely new to the Westerner. It also identifies the hallmarks of the dozen or so regional opera styles found in this collection. As well, the book arranges the stories in a rough chain of being, from heaven, through the whole social structure on earth from emperor to outlaw, to ghosts in the nether world, offering a revealing view of Chinese social tradition and experience. Chinese opera has a rich repertoire drawn from history, legends, folk tales, and classic novels.Chinese Opera opens a door onto the wealth of Chinese traditional drama in a way that will interest drama aficionados, admirers of theatrical photography, students of Chinese drama, those interested in the culture of China, and everyone who enjoys a lively story. Siu Wang-Ngai's photographic record of opera performances makes these stories come alive.

    The fairness and wisdom he displayed in the numerous judicial cases he dealt with as well as his honesty and incorruptibility have made him a household name. Stories about Lord Bao were largely based on the life of Bao Zhen (999-1062), a native of Hefei in Luzhou Prefecture (present day Anhui Province) in the Northern Song Dynasty. After passing the civil service examination he held a series of government posts, including county magistrate, edict attendent of Shengtianzhang Pavilion, auxiliary academician of Longhu Pavilion, prefect of Luzhou, prefect of Kaifeng and deputy director of the Ministry of Rites. The eight stories included in this book are characterized by tightly-knit plots often leading to an unexpected final solution. The readers will be deeply impressed by Lord Bao's ingenuity in cracking complicated cases as well as his honesty and determination in upholding the law on behalf of the common people.

    The personal stories of fourteen great women of God and their commitment to the cause of Christ.

    By addressing the issues that decimated China's monolithic elite in the late 1960s, this text illuminates not only the life and fate of Liu Shaoqi, but also the policy-making process of a revolutionary state facing the diverting exigencies of economic modernization and political development.

    This study provides an analysis of the role the United States alliance with Nationalist China played in US strategy to contain first the Sino-Soviet alliance and then China during the 1950s and 1960s.

    Bedside stories told to children by mothers or grannies contained a great deal of fables. Fables are made up of amusing anecdotes which are interesting, educational, thought-provoking, delightful and enjoyable to people of all ages. Ancient these fables may seem, but when they are summarized into their pithy titles, they become idioms of common usage among the people even to these modern days. This book contains more than 70 Chinese Fables that have been handed down from ancient times, told with lively comic illustrations by Chinese cartoonist Tian Hengyu who is renowned for his expressive illustrations with crisp and clear-cut lines. You are sure to be amused as you go through all these ancient stories and you will also be amazed by the subtlety and succinctness of meaning conveyed by them. CONTENTS OF THE BOOK Prologue The Journey of Your Life! Go South by Driving North (南辕北辙) A Man of Lu Moves to Yue (鲁人徙越) Yi Misses the Target (羿射不中) Unwilling to Give Up Even a Hair (一毛不拔) Puzi's Wife Makes a Pair of Pants (卜妻为裤) Chop and Change (朝三暮四) The Man From Zheng Buys Shoes (郑人买鞋) A Man in Qi Saves His Father (齐人救父) Waiting for Hares to Come (守株待兔) Dragon Slaying (屠龙术) Reflection: Your Itinerary Learning Go (学弈) Dongshi Imitates Xishi (东施效颦) Huizi Crosses a River (惠子渡河) Good at Yelling (善呼者) Learning the Handan Walk (邯郸学步) Blind Men Try to Size Up an Elephant (盲人摸象) Reflection: Who Am I? Cut off One's Own Flesh and Eat It (割肉相啖) The Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains (愚公移山) Grind an Iron Rod into a Needle (铁杵磨针) Ji Chang Learns Archery (纪昌学箭) An Owl Moves East (枭将东徙) The Proverbial Donkey (黔之驴) The Conceited Driver (车夫自满) Two Boys Argue about the Sun (两小儿辩日) The Bashful Ghost (羞鬼) Reflection: All About Me! The Easiest Thing to Paint is a Ghost (画鬼最易) Pulling Up Shoots to Help Them Grow (拔苗助长) The Prince Of Chu Prefers Tiny Waists (楚王好细腰) Play the Lute to a Cow (对牛弹琴) Zhi Gong's Beloved Cranes (支公好鹤) Dilemma (进退两难) A Child Chasing Chickens (孺子驱鸡) To Obtain the Best Horse (求千里马) Celebrity Endorsement (一顾价十倍) The Magpie's Strategy (鹊巢扶枝) The Inverted Fur Coat (反裘负刍) Reflection: Becoming a Leader Jue, Kong Kong and Ju Xu (无题) Three Bloodsucking Lice (三虱聚嘬) When the City Gate Catches Fire (城门失火) If the Lips Are Gone, the Teeth Will Be Cold (唇亡齿寒) A Fish Trapped in a Dry Rut (涸辙之鲋) Fighting (二人相斗) To Leave an Alternative Route (预留后路) Seagulls (海鸥) The Stonemason and His Trick (匠石运斤) Yang Bu Beats the Dog (杨布打狗) Reflection: With Friends as Companions A Man from Yue and a Dog (越人遇狗) To Dye Silk (染丝) The Story of the Foxes and the Leopards (丰狐文豹) Evil Neighbours (恶人为邻) The Way to Immortality (不死之道) The Fox Borrows the Tiger's Fierceness (狐假虎威) Suspecting Someone of Stealing One's Axe (疑人偷斧) A Fox Catching a Chicken (狐捕鸡) Reflection: Beware of Dog Prince Xuan of Qi is Fond of Archery (齐宣王好射) Thrusting One's Spear at One's Own Shield (自相矛盾) Whipping a Horse or a Goat (殴骥与殴羊) The Use of Talking a Lot (多言何益) Zeng Sen Kills a Man (曾参杀人) The Strategy of Covering Up One's Nose (掩鼻计) Selling One's Mother Humanely (卖母) Reflection: With Words in Mind Taking a Stone for a Treasure (宝贝石头) To Catch a Bird and Set it Free (捕鸟放生) Fifty Paces Mocking a Hundred (五十步笑百步) Beneath One's Notice (目中无人) The Tale of the Greedy Beetle ( 传) Plug One's Ears while Stealing a Bell (掩耳盗铃) The Man of Qi Fears that the Sky Might Fall (杞人忧天) Dreading the Shadow and Loathing Footprints (畏影恶迹) Reflection: Are You Possessed? A Pheasant and a Phoenix (山鸡与凤凰) An Upright Man (直躬者) Zeng Zi Kills a Pig (曾子杀猪) Zihan Does Not Value Jade (子罕不贵玉) Epilogue: The End of the Road?

    Coming from the fields of literature, history, art history, and comparative literature, the fourteen contributors to this volume apply a range of methodologies to this new material and to other sources concerning women writers in China from 1600 to 1900.An opening section on courtesans details the lives of individual women and their male admirers—contemporary and subsequent—who imposed an array of meaning on the category of woman writer. The works treated in this section are mainly poetry, although drama also enters in. The second section focuses on the writings of gentrywomen who, confined to the inner quarters of their residences, turned out a body of poetry impressive both for its volume and for the number of authors involved.The third section takes up the issue of contextualization: how male writers situated women's poetry in their essays, stories, and travelogues. The fourth section pursues the same issue, but with reference to China's greatest work of fiction, Dream of the Red Chamber, first published in 1792, most of whose leading characters are talented gentrywomen. The volume concludes with a chapter by a specialist in comparative literature, who relates the concerns of the other chapters to literary and feminist studies outside the China field.