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A startling, eye-opening account of a fascinating and decisive moment in Chinese history, packed with evocative stories. Jasper Becker tells the story of why and how China's leaders set about to destroy and rebuild one of the world's greatest cities and how many of the residents tried to stop it and protect their great architectural legacy.
The great city of Beijing, capital of China from the ninth century, and given its form for five hundred years by the Ming Dynasty, was for a millennium one of the most extraordinary places on earth. At a time when London, Paris, or Rome had only several hundred thousand residents, Beijing held over a million. This book tells the history of this great city, and through it provides a highly engaging summary history of China. In the summer of 1997, President Jiang Zemin made a decision to destroy the old city. There was no announcement, no explanation given, nor any attempt made to justify his decision. Even those working as architects only became aware of what was happening when it was already too late. Expertly moving between historical analysis and reportage, Jasper Becker describes the impact of this systematic destruction, a unique telling of the history of Beijing that encapsulates both the grandeur of its creation and the tragedy of its current transformation.
Under Kublai Khan, the Mongols conquered the Southern Song Dynasty and established rule over China. The ensuing Yuan Dynasty, though in power for less than a century, was notable for its blending of Mongol and Chinese culture in drama, music, and painting, as well as government reform and public-works projects. In this riveting account, readers will learn about daily life in the Yuan Dynasty for both the upper classes and the common people, and they will join Kublai Khan on some of his ill-fated later invasion attempts.
The Mongols, their khans, and the empire they built and ruled in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries exert an enduring fascination. Caricatured as a marauding horde that ravaged surrounding peoples, in reality the Mongols created institutions, trading networks, economic systems, and intellectual and technological exchanges that shaped the early modern world. However, the centuries after the waning of Mongol power remain overlooked in comparison to the days of Chinggis Khan. The Precious Summary is the most important work of Mongolian history on the three-hundred-year period before the rise of the Manchu Qing dynasty. Written by Sagang Sechen in 1662, shortly after the Mongols’ submission to the Qing, it chronicles the fall of the Yuan dynasty in China, the Mongol-Oirat wars, and the revival of Mongol power during the reign of Dayan Khan in the sixteenth century. Sagang Sechen’s masterful account spans Buddhist cosmology, Chinggis Khan, the post-Yuan Mongols, Chinese history, and the Mongols’ conversion to Buddhism—and throughout, it attempts to come to terms with the new Manchu state. Featuring extensive and accessible annotations and explanations of historical context, Johan Elverskog’s translation of the Precious Summary offers invaluable perspective on Inner Asian and Chinese history, Mongolian historiography, and the history of Buddhism in Asia.
DK Eyewitness Top 10: Beijing will lead you straight to the best attractions this rewarding and vibrant city has to offer. Whether you want to explore the Forbidden City, visit Tian'an Men Square, rickshaw around the back lanes of Hou Hai, or walk the Great Wall of China, this travel guide is packed with essential information, whatever your budget. There are dozens of Top 10 lists, including the Top 10 restaurants, Top 10 liveliest bars and clubs, the Top 10 places to stay in Beijing, plus there's even a Top 10 list of Things to Avoid. DK Eyewitness Top 10: Beijing is packed with beautiful illustrations and detailed cutaways of the greatest attractions of this intriguing city, with comprehensive reviews and recommendations of Beijing's best hotels, markets, festivals, and shopping to ensure you don't miss a thing. Your guide to the Top 10 best of everything in Beijing.
The Rough Guide to Beijing is the ultimate travel guide to China's remarkable capital city. From the majestic Forbidden City and maze-like hutong alleys to gorgeous lake-filled parks and the exquisite Summer Palace, this vibrant book - packed full of stunning photography and clear, colour-coded maps - reveals the city's best sights and attractions. And if you fancy taking a trip outside of Beijing, you'll be pointed in the right direction: incredible treks around the Great Wall, ancient villages, imperial hunting parks and fascinating, offbeat museums are all part of the mix. Comprehensive sections detail the very best places to sleep, eat, drink, shop and unwind: check out our author picks and "Beijing's Best" boxes, selecting atmospheric courtyard hotels, stylish bars, edgy art galleries, lively antiques markets, and much more. Expert reviews on film, literature and live music create a rounded and exciting picture of modern Beijing. However long you're staying, and whatever your budget, The Rough Guide to Beijing has you covered.
"Impossible!" "Indiscernible!" "Too mystical!" "Beyond us!" These are just some of the discouraging comments typically made about the Book of Revelation. Yet every believer, pastor, and scholar needs to understand this vital book that consummates the Bible and all its prophecies. And everyone can - given the right interpretation. This commentary provides it. In lay-friendly terms and with informational entries, thought-provoking footnotes, and inspirational "additional gleanings," it walks the reader through each chapter and verse of John's apocalypse, explaining its context, language, and principles for Christian living. Anyone who reads it with an open mind will come away with a clear, life-changing understanding of John's awesome vision of Jesus, Jesus' timely messages to this Church Age, and the wondrous Kingdom Age and Eternal World yet to come. And, with delight, they will realize Revelation is . . . "Possible!" "Discernible!" "Not too mystical!" "Not beyond our grasp!"
In the contemporary world the meeting of Buddhism and Islam is most often imagined as one of violent confrontation. Indeed, the Taliban's destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 seemed not only to reenact the infamous Muslim destruction of Nalanda monastery in the thirteenth century but also to reaffirm the stereotypes of Buddhism as a peaceful, rational philosophy and Islam as an inherently violent and irrational religion. But if Buddhist-Muslim history was simply repeated instances of Muslim militants attacking representations of the Buddha, how had the Bamiyan Buddha statues survived thirteen hundred years of Muslim rule? Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road demonstrates that the history of Buddhist-Muslim interaction is much richer and more complex than many assume. This groundbreaking book covers Inner Asia from the eighth century through the Mongol empire and to the end of the Qing dynasty in the late nineteenth century. By exploring the meetings between Buddhists and Muslims along the Silk Road from Iran to China over more than a millennium, Johan Elverskog reveals that this long encounter was actually one of profound cross-cultural exchange in which two religious traditions were not only enriched but transformed in many ways.
Manchuria is a historical region, which roughly corresponds to Northeast China. The Manchu people, who established the last dynasty of Imperial China (the Qing, 1644–1911) originated there, and it has been the stage of turbulent events during the twentieth century: the Russo-Japanese war, Japanese occupation and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo, Soviet invasion, and Chinese civil war. This innovative and accessible historical survey both introduces Manchuria to students and general readers and contributes to the emerging regional perspective in the study of China.
Glossy television images of happy, industrious, and increasingly prosperous workers show a bright view of life in twenty-first-century China. But behind the officially approved story is a different reality. Preparing this book Gerard Lemos asked hundreds of Chinese men and women living in Chongqing, an industrial mega-city, about their wishes and fears. The lives they describe expose the myth of China's harmonious society. Hundreds of millions of everyday people in China are beleaguered by immense social and health problems as well as personal, family, and financial anxieties--while they watch their communities and traditions being destroyed.Lemos investigates a China beyond the foreigners' beaten track. This is a revealing account of the thoughts and feelings of Chinese people regarding all facets of their lives, from education to health care, unemployment to old age, politics to wealth. Taken together, the stories of these men and women bring to light a broken society, one whose people are frustrated, angry, sad, and often fearful about the circumstances of their lives. The author considers the implications of these findings and analyzes how China's community and social problems threaten the ambitious nation's hopes for a prosperous and cohesive future. Lemos explains why protests will continue and a divided and self-serving leadership will not make people's dreams come true.