What threw me, though, was the urgency of the diplomats in Beijing. They live it, they get it. And they wanted me out.'Bill Birtles was rushed out of China in September 2020, forced to seek refuge in the Australian Embassy in Beijing while diplomats delicately negotiated his departure in an unprecedented standoff with China's government. Five days later he was on a flight back to Sydney, leaving China without any Australian foreign correspondents on the ground for the first time in decades.A journalist's perspective on this rising global power has never been more important, as Australia's relationship with China undergoes an extraordinary change that's seen the detention of a journalist Cheng Lei, Canberra's criticism of Beijing's efforts to crush Hong Kong's freedoms, as well as China's military activity in the South China Sea and its human rights violations targeting the mostly Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang province. Chronicling his five-year stint in China as he criss-crossed the country, Birtles reveals why the historic unravelling of China's relations with the West is perceived very differently inside the country.The Truth About China is a compelling and candid examination of China, one that takes a magnifying glass to recent events, and looks through a telescope at what is yet to come.

    Rudhyar explains their meaning as "fields of experience". 20th anniversary publication.

    Her mother was a gifted psychic but highly unstable, unable to control the dark forces her powers unleashed or to look after Michele. When she was six her beloved father died and the last shreds of normality were gone forever. From then on Michele was at the mercy of sexual predators and her mother's violent lovers. Evil surrounded her! But Michele wasn't alone. The presence of her twin sister Lucy was constantly at her side, comforting and inspiring her. Lucy had died when the twin girls were babies. But her spirit stayed behind to watch over her little sister. Time and again, when Michele reached her darkest hour, Lucy reached out with a deep sense of love and gently guided her to safety. This is the heartbreaking, but ultimately inspirational story of a little girl, who was beaten, raped, neglected, and despised, but rescued from despair by her faith in the power of love.

    Did you ever wonder why some people are afraid of commitment and others always put work before love? Is the woman you met last night right for you? Why does your spouse put household chores before sex? Why is your best friend an incurable romantic? The newly discovered fortune telling system in Love Cards offers explanations for why we are the way we are and reveals the secret truths about our love life. First, use your birthdate to find your birth card. Discover everything from karma you might be carrying from a past life to which celebrities share your card. Then check out your lovers', family's and friends' cards. Your compatibility chart will tell you who is destined to be your soulmate and who will break your heart. --Find out exactly who you are compatible with in love, sex, romance & marriage.--Learn quickly how to do a complete relationship reading between any two people.--Find out how your Karma and Past Life cards affect your present relationships.--Discover why you have chosen past partners and learn to make better decisions.--Explore the real reasons for your attractions--it's really card chemistry!

    Also included are simple techniques for doing energy readings, plus instructions on keeping a synchronicity journal and using tarot as a tool to communicate with spirit guides or loved ones on the other side.

    After five days under consular protection, Smith was evacuated from a very different China to the country he first visited 23 years earlier.The visit marked a new twist in Australia’s 50-year diplomatic relationship with China which was now coming apart at the seams. But it also symbolised the authoritarianism creeping into every aspect of society under President Xi Jinping over the last three years.From Xinjiang’s re-education camps to the tear-gas filled streets of Hong Kong, Smith’s account of Xi Jinping’s China documents the country’s spectacular economic rise in the years leading up to the coronavirus outbreak.Through first-person accounts of life on the ground and interviews with friends as well as key players in Chinese society right up to the country’s richest man, The Last Correspondent explores what China’s rise to become the world’s newest superpower means for Australia and the rest of the world.

    The poet Donald Davie writes: 'Vikram Seth's poems should have an impact far beyond much noisier pieces; for when did we last see a volume in which the poet's eye is on what is objectively before him, rather than on the intricacies of his own sensibility?'

    But the "poison dragons" of misfortune shatter his orderly existence. First, when his village is threatened by a vicious civil war, his family stability is threatened by his second son, a brutal rebel officer. Meanwhile, Yun Cai struggles to free an old friend, P'ei Ti, from a hellish prison—no easy task when P'ei Ti is the rebels' most valuable hostage, and Yun Cai sees himself only as a frightened old man. Throughout his ordeals, Yun Cai draws from the glittering memories of his youth, when he journeyed to the capital to study poetry, joined the upper ranks of the civil service, and secured the friendship of P'ei Ti. Above all, he reflects Su Lin, a great love he won and lost, and for which he paid with his freedom and almost his life. Yun Cai is forced to reconsider all that he is and all that he has ever been in order to summon the wit and courage to confront the warlord General An-Shu and his beautiful but cruel consort, the Lady Ta-Chi.

    Horoscope Symbols takes the beginner beyond cookbook interpretations to genuine insight, beyond superficial keywords to the fundamental principles that underlie astrology, beyond overemphasis on signs to the primacy of planets and angles. Although Hand assumes little prior knowledge of astrology, the more you know, the more you will get out of this book. Hand takes the expert beyond the fatalism of tradition to a deep understanding of the role of personal choice in the life of the individual, beyond fortune telling to the true source of human experience.

    Here, Anthony Louis, famous for Tarot Plain & Simple, shares decades of insights and information that can help you become an advanced practitioner. Not merely "more of the same," Louis provides real world examples of how to use your intuition to improve your readings, how to understand tarot reversals and how to include the meanings of numbers, the elements, and the tarot's court cards.Louis reveals the common background of astrology and tarot, explaining astrology for tarot readers clearly and in a way that makes sense. Then he shows how to use the tarot with astrological concepts to give advanced readings that change people's lives.

     She is desperately excited to explore not only the foreign land with all its alien culture but also the role of a wife and all the pleasures that come with it… In no time at all Constance is shocked on both accounts. China stuns her with its barbaric and improper behaviour which, almost against her will, begins to tease her imagination. At the same time, Mr Henry Baird, despairing of his sinful desires, proves unable to indulge Constance’s wishes. The marriage, failing from the beginning, spirals further and further out of control as Constance, aided by her only ally Kate, inadvertently becomes a famous ‘Devil Woman’ throughout the region and faces an audience with the Empress herself. As her new life unfolds, Constance finds herself tortured by desire, teetering on the edge of love and caught up in a dangerous whirlwind of international politics. She ricochets between the Chinese extremes of complete intimacy and deadly violence as they head slowly into war. What does ‘The Crimson Pagoda’ promise? ‘The Crimson Pagoda’ is a gripping and engaging historical romance by a master of the genre. Praise for Christopher Nicole: ‘Well-researched…Evocative descriptions of scenery and edifices, and exact period dialogue’ – Historical Novels Society Christopher Nicole was born and brought up in British Guyana and the West Indies. His output of books has been prolific and many of his novels are historical with a Caribbean background.

    You'll learn how each Moon phase affects your spellwork, including the seldom-discussed energies of the true Blue Moon, the Black Moon, the void-of-course moon, and the lunar eclipse. Follow the Moon as she traverses each sign of the zodiac, and discover how each astrological phase affects magic, mundane events, and gardening--and how your personal Moon sign affects your magical work. This guide by popular author Dorothy Morrison includes more than 140 spells, chants, and rituals, along with Esbat celebrations for the Full Moon.

    Everyone has a motive behind their actions and by the end of this book you will see past their actions and truly understand what each sign’s motive is. You will get a better sense of which types of people you are more compatible with, furthermore you’ll have an insight into how to approach people based on their personality. You will realize where your strengths and weaknesses lie, why you feel a certain way and what are your biggest flaws.

    Written by one of the worlds most popular contemporary astrologers, and filled with magnificent illustrations, it covers both traditional and modern forms in a way that beginners can easily understand. The zodiac, elements, qualities, polarities, planets, house, and aspects all receive detailed attention, along with advice on putting it all together and creating a chart. Theres plenty of practical guidance for every aspect of life: on how to live in harmony with a particular zodiac partner, identify the career that fits an astrological personality, and use astrology to recognize health problems and find appropriate remedies.

     It also explores the circumstances surrounding the true-life event of my grandmother's gift of a concubine to my grandfather on his birthday to enhance the chance of an heir to the Family.