This seven-volume set of previously out-of-print books focuses on the arts in China. With books on the country’s literature, folk tales, ballads, theatre and art, this reference resource spans Chinese traditions and artforms to provide in-depth analysis of some of China’s great cultural treasures.
By Alan Ayling, Duncan Mackintosh
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1965, covers a period of one thousand years and collects together some of the best examples of Chinese Lyrics (tz’u). The authors reflect in translation not only the spirit of the original, but also something of its poetical ornamentations and lyric pattern. The ...
By Alan Ayling, Duncan Mackintosh
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1969, builds on the authors’ first selection and contains a selection of Chinese lyrics (tz’u) mainly from Sung Dynasty poets who made this verse-form lastingly popular. Two of these poets, Su Shih and Hsin Ch’i Chi, add a fresh and robust note to the traditional theme...
By Roberta Helmer Stalberg, Ruth Nesi
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1981, provides a comprehensive appraisal of China’s crafts. Its historical approach and numerous illustrations not only reveal the ancient origins of many of China’s arts, but also offer the means for evaluating modern crafts in light of past achievements....
By Ping-Chiu Yen
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1990, is a thematic analysis of five tales of early vernacular Chinese literature. Interest in vernacular stories is increasing in the study of Chinese literature, as their importance is being recognised as a key part of the oral traditional narrative. From the ...
By Wolfram Eberhard
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1937, collects together traditional Chinese fairy tales, taken down word for word as they were related to the author by one of China’s foremost scholars....
Edited
By Robert Payne
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1947, is an anthology of Chinese poetry from a period when it was entering an entirely new world, where all or nearly all the ancient poetic traditions were being cast aside. No longer could Chinese poetry be regarded as the graceful accomplishment of retired sages: ...
By Roger Howard
October 15, 2023
Chinese theatre underwent a great experiment under the cultural revolution. Using the reformed Beijing operas as models, the whole range of theatre arts, from straight plays to acrobatics and from ballet to ballads saw a profound transformation. Alongside the professional theatre, an upsurge of ...
Edited
By Charles R. Metzger, Richard F.S. Yang
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1967, gives us a rich sampling of ch’ü, the characteristic poem of the time of Yüan, when China was under Mongol rule. The ch’ü was a popular form of poetry in the sense that although it was written by literati, they wrote in the vernacular rather than in Classical ...
Edited
By Anne Birrell
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1982, was the first translation of the Chinese classic Yü-t-‘ai hsin-yung – the unique anthology of love poems, compiled in AD 545. This traces the development of love poetry from the second century BC to its full flowering in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Dr ...
By Anne Birrell
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1988, compiles 77 songs and ballads (yüeh-fu) of early imperial China (200 BC – AD 300). Each song-text is newly translated and fully annotated and explicated. Dr Birrell deals systematically with problems of the earliest sources, dating, attribution, textual variants,...
By Robert Tung
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1976, is a collection of essays by Chinese scholars, all of whom have been criticised by the Chinese Communist Party or by the Government. The work of these authors constitutes an important part of Chinese literature, and these essays are placed in context by ...
By Da Liu
October 15, 2023
This book, first published in 1974, explains the connections between T’ai Chi Ch’uan and I Ching and shows that they are the keys by which the theoretical philosophy of Taoism can be converted to a practical way of knowledge. This careful and helpful guide is designed for all those who want to know...