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Celebrity in China
by Louise EdwardsCelebrity is a pervasive aspect of everyday life and a growing field of academic inquiry. This is the first book-length exploration of celebrity culture in the People's Republic of China and its interaction with international norms of celebrity production. The book comprises case studies from popular culture (film, music, dance, literature, internet); official culture (military, political, and moral exemplars) and business celebrities. This breadth illuminates the ways capitalism and communism converge in the elevation of particular individuals to fame in contemporary China. The book will interest scholars and students in media, popular culture and China studies. Journalists may find the book useful for their analysis of famous figures in China and people working in creative industries area may appreciate these insights into 'image management' in China. --Louise Edwards is professor of modern China studies at the University of Hong Kong. -Elaine Jeffreys is a senior lecturer in China studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. ---
China Bound and Unbound
by Frances WongIn this first-hand account of an early returnee's life in communist China, Frances Wong relates her personal experiences in China from 1949 to the present, detailing numerous political movements, including the devastating experiences of the Anti-Rightist Movement and the Cultural Revolution. After her husband was labelled a 'Rightist,' they were banished to the countryside for eight long years, while their four children were sent to different parts of the country to do manual labor. 'China Bound and Unbound' recounts how one woman's hope of building a new China gradually turned to disappointment, disillusionment and despair, reflecting the minds of China's intellectuals at the time.
John Woo's A Better Tomorrow
by Karen Fang'A Better Tomorrow' has always been hailed as a milestone in Hong Kong cinema. This book describes the different responses to the movie in Hong Kong and later in its reception worldwide, which paved the way for the promotion of John Woo and Chow Yun-fat to their current prominence in Hollywood. Fang examines the different notions of the genre of action cinema in Asian and Western film industries. She tracks the connections between ying shung pian, or "hero" movie, the term by which Woo's film became famous in Hong Kong, and the spectacle of violence emphasized in the term "heroic bloodshed," the category in which the film was known in the West. Finally, she concludes with a discussion of the status of the film and its huge success in the current globalized industry.
Carl Crow - A Tough Old China Hand
by Paul FrenchCarl Crow arrived in Shanghai in 1911 and made the city his home for the next quarter of a century, working there as a journalist, newspaper proprietor, and groundbreaking adman. He also did stints as a hostage negotiator, emergency police sergeant, gentleman farmer, go-between for the American government, and propagandist. As his career progressed, so did the fortunes of Shanghai. The city transformed itself from a dull colonial backwater when Crow arrived, to the thriving and ruthless cosmopolitan metropolis of the 1930s when Crow wrote his pioneering book - 400 Million Customers - that encouraged a flood of businesses into the China market in an intriguing foreshadowing of today's boom. Among Crow's exploits were attending the negotiations in Peking that led to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, getting a scoop on Japanese interference in China during the First World War, negotiating the release of a group of Western hostages from a mountain bandit lair, and being one of the first Westerners to journey up the Burma Road during the Second World War. He met most of the major figures of the time, including Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, the Soong sisters, and Mao's second-in-command Zhou En-lai. During the Second World War, he worked for American intelligence alongside Owen Lattimore, coordinating US policies to support China against Japan. The story of this one exceptional man gives us a rich view of Shanghai and China during those tempestuous years. This is a book for all with an interest in Shanghai and China of this period, and those with an interest in the development of journalism and business there.
The Dragon and the Crown: Hong Kong Memoirs
by Stanley S. K. KwanWhile Hong Kong's spectacular economic growth and political development have been well documented, the social and cultural lives of the ordinary people swept up in the changes have not found a significant voice. Through the personal experiences of Stanley Kwan and those around him, this book gives such a voice to people whose lives have been profoundly affected by the dramatic changes, as Hong Kong transitioned to an international financial centre, and from a colony to become a part of China. Wedged between the East and the West - the Dragon and the Crown - Stanley Kwan's life experiences reflect the forces pulling at Hong Kong. He was born into a traditional Chinese banking family but attended King's College under the British colonial system. Fired up by patriotism during the war, he joined the Nationalist Chinese army and served as an interpreter for American forces in southwest China. In 1949, two of his brothers went to the Mainland to join the socialist revolution. Although tempted to join, he stayed in Hong Kong, worked for a British firm and became a China watcher at the American Consulate General. He finally joined a local Chinese bank - Hang Seng Bank where, as head of the Research Department, he launched the Hang Seng Index and witnessed the dramatic cycles of the Hong Kong economy. With the prospect of 1997, Stanley Kwan deliberated on his future and decided to retire to Canada in 1984, joining the tide of immigrants from Hong Kong. The book contributes to the ongoing search for Hong Kong identity in the Special Administrative Region and will resonate among people in Hong Kong as well as those interested in the fate of the former colony.
John Woo's The Killer
by Kenneth E. HallA classic tale of loyalty and bloody betrayal, John Woo's 'The Killer' (1989) was centrally important to the growth of Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s and 1990s. It helped launch the international stardom of Woo and lead actor Chow Yun-fat, who plays a disllusioned hitman taking his fatal final assignment to help a lounge singer he accidentally blinded. Illustrating the film's place in the chivalric tradition of Chinese and Hong Kong cinema, where cops and noble villains sometimes join forces in defense of traditional virtues and personal honor, Kenneth Hall documents the strong influence of Woo's mentor Chang Cheh as well as Jean-Pierre Melville and other film noir pioneers. Hall also analyzes the film's influence on other directors, including Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.
Confessions of a Gypsy Yogini
by Tulku Thondup Marcia Dechen WangmoConfessions of a Gypsy Yogini is a collection of teachings taken from the author's own life, gained from "experience through mistakes, learning the hard way." After an early life as a "quasiradical, hippie, horse trainer, and environmentalist," Marcia Dechen Wangmo became a Buddhist. Over the next three decades, through encounters with respected Tibetan masters and an enduring student-teacher relationship with a famed yogi, she moved deep into the hidden world of Vajrayana Buddhism.Written as a guidebook for others and presented within a Buddhist framework, Confessions offers a fresh approach to traditional teachings. The author turns an unflinching eye on her own shortcomings and painful experiences in a series of revelations proving that, despite appearances to the contrary, she has been a far from ideal student. "I confess to not eradicating ignorance from the core," she begins. Interweaving insights gained from her personal experience, step by step she draws readers closer to the fruits of Buddhist practice: the ability to see things as they truly are.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Confessions of a Gypsy Yogini
by Thondup Tulku Marcia SchmidtConfessions of a Gypsy Yogini is a tale of experience through mistakes, learning the hard way. It is a guidebook to help find ourselves, offering a fresh approach to traditional teachings in a non-adulterated way, adapted to modern characters. Presented within the Buddhist framework, it will draw the reader closer to seeing things as they truly are, assisting in ascertaining and validating our inherent beauty and combating any feeling of worthlessness while acknowledging anxiety as a part of the path. To overcome negative perceptions, we need to study our confusion and find tools to clear some of it away. Learning how to meditate begins the road to healing and training in various simple formulas directs us to becoming better people. We can meet life's challenges with humor and triumph over them.Included are several opinions of major Tibetan Teachers:Confessions of a Gypsy Yogini is a vivifying account of the ambrosia-like Buddhist path with brilliant imagery and clear voices of many renowned Masters recorded by the author, who lived at the feet of one of the greatest Tibetan Masters of meditation for 17 years at the epicenter of unfolding events of Dharma that crossed many oceans. May this volume reach many to ignite the light of love and wisdom - the true meaning of Dharma - in the hearts of many.Tulku Thondup RinpocheMarcia [Dechen Wangmo] has followed many great lamas, some of the best of this century. Her account of her experience as an American amidst this older generation of lamas is quite important for Dharma students from the West.Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Freedom In Bondage
by Tsoknyi Rinpoche Adeu RinpocheAdeu Rinpoche's story is not about the horrors he endured under the Communist takeover of Tibet--he himself notes that many other people underwent much worse hardships, not to mention all those that died--but rather the way in which he told his tale. While describing what happened to him and many others, how he survived and finally his release from prison he spoke in a straightforward, dignified manner without any resentment, anger or sadness. He never added mental anguish on top of an already untenable experience. He viewed what happened to him as a ripening of his own individual karma, he accepted responsibility for the abuse he suffered; in fact, he repeatedly stated that each person suffered according to their own karma, as he said, "I felt that whatever befalls you is a ripening of the specific karma that you created in the past."Adeu Rinpoche took the trauma and suffering as an opportunity not only to accept the vicissitudes of life without bitterness but also to transcend the unjust treatment by not harboring ill-will against the perpetrators, instead developing compassion for them. In the end he turned suffering into happiness, for even while imprisoned he was able to meet many great masters, receive teachings from them and even do some serious practice. It is truly inspiring that people exist in our world with such profound realization and accomplishment-they are examples to us all.This tale together with wonderful teachings presents a compassionate and wise face to the hardship Adeu Rinpoche and so many others endured and triumphed over. It is a banquet of realization, pith instructions and dignity.
Victor Kugler: The Man Who Hid Anne Frank
by Rick Kardonne Eda ShapiroOf all the personalities associated with Anne Frank, the most important figure, without whom Anne Frank would never have been able to write her diary, is perhaps the least known. He is Victor Kugler, the Mr. Kraler of the diary. The principal business partner of Otto Frank, Victor Kugler assumed managerial control of the Franks' Amsterdam spice-importing business when Nazi persecution forced the Frank family into hiding. It was Victor Kugler who kept the business going and obtained food rations under what was the harshest German wartime occupation in all of Western Europe. Without Victor Kugler, Anne Frank and her family would have starved to death a month after going into hiding.
$950 Million in 40 Minutes
by Meshulam RiklisWhat makes a world-class financial genius tick? Enter the mind of a financial mastermind who started from scratch to build a world-wide business empire. Meshulam Riklis invites you on his amazing roller coaster ride to meteoric heights, providing valuable tips for life, for success, and for survival.
The Mirage: A Modern Arabic Novel
by Naguib Mahfouz Nancy RobertsA psychological study of the first order with a subtly Freudian flavor, The Mirage is the autobiographical account of Kamil Ruâ ba, a tortured soul who finds himself struggling unduly to cope with life's challenges. The internal torment and angst that dog him throughout his life and the tragic, ironic turns of events that overtake him as a young man are, to a great extent, the outworkings of his faulty upbringing. At the same time, they work together to drive home the novel's underlying theme: the illusory, undependable nature of the world in which we live and the call to seek, beyond the outward and the ephemeral, that which is inward and enduring. The narrative, full of pathos, draws the reader unwittingly into a vicarious experience of Kamil's agonies and ecstasies. As such, it is a specimen of Mahfou's prose at its finest.
The Days: His Autobiography in Three Parts
by Taha HusseinFor the first time, the three-part autobiography of one of modern Egypt's greatest writers and thinkers is available in a single paperback volume. The first part, An Egyptian Childhood (1929), is full of the sounds and smells of rural Egypt. It tells of Hussein's childhood and early education in a small village in Upper Egypt, as he learns not only to come to terms with his blindness but to excel in spite of it and win a place at the prestigious Azhar University in Cairo. The second part, The Stream of Days: A Student at the Azhar (1939), is an enthralling picture of student life in Egypt in the early 1900s, and the record of the growth of an unusually gifted personality. More than forty years later, Hussein published A Passage to France (1973), carrying the story on to his final attainment of a doctorate at the Sorbonne, a saga of perseverance in the face of daunting odds.
Always Young and Restless: My Life On and Off Daytime's #1 Drama
by Melody Thomas ScottMelody Thomas Scott admits she is nothing like her Young and the Restless role, who has seen it all in her forty-year tenure on America’s highest-rated daytime serial. But the high drama, angst, and catastrophes aren’t confined to her character’s plotlines. In this captivating memoir, Melody reveals behind-the-scenes tales of her own riveting journey to stardom. <P><P> As Nikki went from impoverished stripper to resourceful, vivacious heroine―with missteps as gripping as her triumphs―Melody became a household name, enthralling global audiences. Her road to stardom was also her road to personal freedom, marked by an escape fit for cinema. In Always Young and Restless, Melody tells of her troubled, untraditional upbringing for the first time. <P><P> Learn how she suffered at home with her grandmother, a compulsive hoarder, whose cruelty as her guardian is shockingly extreme, and endured abuse at the hands of industry men; what it was like to act in feature films with Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne, and Clint Eastwood; and how she took control of her life and career in a daring getaway move. And of course, Melody divulges juicy on-and-off-set details of what it’s like to be one half of the show’s most successful supercouple, “Niktor.” In witty, warm prose, meet the shining, persevering heart of an American icon―and prepare to be moved by a life story fit for a soap opera star.
A Paradise Lost: The Imperial Garden Yuanming Yuan (China Academic Library)
by Young-Tsu WongThis book is aimed at readers and researchers who are interested in Chinese garden architecture, the rise and fall of Yuanming Yuan and the history of the Qing dynasty. It is the first comprehensive study of the palatial garden complex in a Western language, and is amply illustrated with photographs and original drawings. Wong Young-tsu's engaging writing style brings 'the garden of perfect brightness' to life as he leads readers on a grand tour of its architecture and history.
Love for a Deaf Rebel: Schizophrenia On Bowen Island
by Derrick KingLove for a Deaf Rebel is the true story of a tumultuous romance. <P><P> With pathos and nostalgia, the author recounts his roller-coaster ride with Pearl, a vivacious deaf maverick, who, unknown to him, had paranoid schizophrenia. <P><P> We follow their encounters through actual notes written before Derrick learns sign language; we go on their motorcycle ride to Mexico and Guatemala; we watch as the happy couple moves to Bowen Island, a British Columbia community with just three paved roads. <P><P> Pearl and the author marry and build their dream home and hobby farm. They encounter one obstacle after another while building their life together as Pearl's perception of reality-and, crucially, their perception of each other-begins to change. <P><P> The author learns what it means to be deaf, what it means to struggle with mental health, and what it means to love such a woman unconditionally-the ecstasy and the agony. <P><P> A love story and memoir that touches on deafness, schizophrenia, and roughing it in isolated British Columbia.
Cultural Heritage in Japan and Italy: Perspectives for Tourism and Community Development (Creative Economy)
by Nobuko Kawashima Guido FerilliThis edited book represents one of the first scholarly research through an international collaboration project between Japan and Italy to address economic and social values of cultural heritage beyond its inherent—historic, archaeological, or aesthetic—values. Cultural policies in the world have over the decades expanded to include non-cultural purposes such as economic development and social inclusion. Japanese cultural policy for heritage is catching up on this trend: we have seen major shifts of emphasis from preservation for its sake to the utilisation of cultural heritage for the purposes of tourism, place branding, local vitalization and community-building, whilst Italy has long thrived on the economy of heritage tourism and more cases are being seen for urban and regional development with the use of cultural assets. The recent outbreak of Covid-19 and the problem of over-tourism that preceded it have challenged tourism policy and practice in the two countries.This book identifies emerging trends, issues, and problems in such policy shifts. The book breaks a new ground in the bourgeoning studies of tourism, heritage, and cultural policy by adopting an international, inter-disciplinary approach. The chapters on Japan in particular make an original contribution to these fields in the English literature in which discussion of Japan despite its economic and cultural presence on the globe has hitherto been less available.
Roman Tmetuchl: A Palauan Visionary
by Donald R. ShusterBiography of Roman Tmetuchl, a Palauan political leader and businessman.
Contra Bush
by Carlos Fuentes"La insolencia pierde a los hombres y a las naciones." Esta obra reúne reflexiones sobre la crisis política estadounidense y global provocada por la administración de George W. Bush y su círculo más próximo. En un planeta donde miles de millones de seres humanos reclaman por trabajo y salud, educación y techo, los Estados Unidos, única potencia mundial, imponen hoy intereses ajenos y opuestos a esas necesidades. Olvidando que todos somos descendientes de encuentros de civilizaciones, Bush y su equipo exaltan los fundamentalismos violentos en vez de promover, como incumbe al fuerte, políticas constructivas que eliminen los focos de tensión que atraen a insatisfechos y fanáticos. En Contra Bush, Carlos Fuentes formula un deseo que es a la vez convocatoria a los ciudadanos estadounidenses: que recuperen la voluntad de emplear la extraordinaria fuerza de su país para cooperar en favor de la legalidad internacional, el desarrollo económico y el respeto a las culturas. Sólo así el terrorismo podrá ser vencido.
El Pez en el Agua
by Mario Vargas Llosa«Se escribe para llenar vacíos, para tomarse desquites contra la realidad, contra las circunstancias.» La obra del escritor peruano se sustenta en numerosos acontecimientos personales que transcurrieron en su juventud. La difícil relación con un padre duro y violento, el nacimiento de la vocación de escritor como oposición a esa autoridad, los años del colegio militar Leoncio Prado, la precoz vida bohemia, la precipitada boda con «la tía Julia» o la existencia real de «La casa verde». Además, y a modo de contrapeso, conocemos la corta pero intensa carrera política del escritor. Esos tres años que transcurrieron desde la improvisada movilización popular de la Plaza de San Martín en oposición a la política de Alan García hasta la definitiva derrota ante Fujimori. Un libro cargado de experiencias que se nos muestran desnudas y sinceras, sin recurrir a la ficción, acompañadas tan sólo de la prosa hipnótica, reveladora y magistral de Mario Vargas Llosa.
Mr. China
by Tim ClissoldLa increíble historia de un banquero de Wall Street que viaja a China con cuatrocientos millones de dólares y aprende, de la manera más dura, que ese país no juega con las mismas reglas de Occidente. A principios de los noventa, cuando China abrió finalmente sus puertas a los negocios, Wall Street de inmediato quiso entrar. La llegada de los banqueros de Nueva York, con sus especializaciones en Harvard, sus camisas de rayas y sus mocasines con borlas, listos para negociar con los viejos amos chinos, crea el escenario perfecto para un choque entre los billones de Wall Street y la cultura más antigua del mundo. Tomada de la vida real, ésta es la historia de un recio banquero que se traslada a China buscando la gloria. Decidido a montarse en la gran ola de la inversión, se une con un ex guardia rojo y un inglés que habla mandarín. Entre los tres consiguen cuatrocientos millones de dólares y compran fábricas por todo el país. Pero cuando creen que con los contratos que han firmado tienen todo bajo control, comienzan a darse cuenta de que en China las cosas no funcionan de la manera que ellos conocen y son testigos de cómo desaparecen sus millones. "Ésta es una historia increíble... bien escrita, que absorbe completamente la atención y es muy divertida." Literary Review "Todas las compañías que tienen sede en China deberían armar a sus ejecutivos con una copia de esta sorprendente, divertida y culturalmente comprensiva historia de los peligros de hacer negocios en el salvaje oeste asiático". "Los libros del año" de The Economist
Corazones cautivos. La vida en la cárcel de mujeres
by Marta DillonEn 1998, la periodista Marta Dillon comenzó a visitar periódicamente el penal de mujeres de Ezeiza. Recorrió el laberinto de oficinas, requisas, pabellones, patios, aulas, y, sobre todo, conoció a un grupo heterogéneo de mujeres recluidas. Las razones por las que ellas "cayeron" son variadas: por estafa, por robar un restaurante con un arma descargada, por transportar droga, por prenderle fuego al marido, por asaltar un banco, por error, por reincidir o, simplemente, por estar en el lugar incorrecto en el momento menos indicado. Mujeres pobres, mujeres de clase media, adolescentes, mayores. Casi todas, madres cuyos hijos crecen lejos, al cuidado de otras mujeres, o se pierden a su suerte. Corazones cautivos describe una vida cotidiana que en nada se parece a los estereotipos y prejuicios que suelen prevalecer en la imaginación de la mayoría, un verdadero mundo paralelo que tiene lenguaje propio, reglas cambiantes, una escala de valores tallada a la fuerza, prioridades incomprensibles para los que viven afuera, relaciones íntimas, historias de amor entre las mismas reclusas o con hombres ausentes. Con sensibilidad e inteligencia, Marta Dillon elude tanto la conmiseración como la condena y expone los pormenores de esa realidad inquietante que sucede ahora mismo y a pocos pasos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Una crónica que, sin acallar ni violentar el hilo de la voz de cada una de estas mujeres, narra historias privadas, presenta escenas y escenarios, y sabe dejar el silencio imprescindible para que los lectores formulen sus propias hipótesis y se pregunten qué posibilidades de reinserción social ofrece el sistema penitenciario en la Argentina de hoy. Una lectura necesaria para todos aquellos que sospechan que en este mundo hay más de lo que está a la vista.
El bastardo, La vida de Roberto de las Carreras y su madre Clara
by Carlos María DomínguezUn guapo del 900 La biografía novelada de Carlos María Domínguez recrea uno de los personajes más atractivos y poco difundidos de la literatura rioplatense: el dandismo, la anarquía y la prepotencia creativa se conjugaron en la figura de Roberto de las Carreras, el escritor orgulloso de ser un bastardo. Dandy y poeta maldito, amigo de Horacio Quiroga, Julio Herrera y Reissig, Natalio Botana y Florencio Sánchez, e hijo bastardo de una mujer independiente y transgresora, el uruguayo Roberto de las Carreras sacudió los cimientos del matrimonio y de la familia con sus acciones y sus escritos. Este libro revela el costado íntimo de la historia de la sociedad rioplatense del 1900, la hipocresía de buena parte de los hombres públicos y la intromisión del Estado en la vida privada de las personas. El lector descubrirá las cartas en las que Rosas mendigaba dinero para sostenerse en Inglaterra, verá a Urquiza apropiarse de las tierras de sus amigos y a Mitre intervenir en asuntos familiares. Biografía narrada en clave de novela, El bastardo es también la historia de los primeros intelectuales ofuscados con las tradiciones del Río de la Plata, y una historia sexual del patriciado. Sus polémicas, duelos y conflictos amorosos fueron investigados por el autor a lo largo de tres años en archivos personales, judiciales y literarios.
Firmenich
by Pablo Waisberg Felipe CelesiaFelipe Celesia y Pablo Waisberg develan los incontables mitos, polémicas y verdades a medias que fueron construyendo la leyenda de Mario Eduardo Firmenich. Pocas figuras de nuestro pasado reciente están envueltas en una atmósfera de sobreentendidos, silencios y suposiciones tan tupida como la que aún rodea a la imagen de Mario Eduardo Firmenich. En más de un sentido, el líder de Montoneros aparece como un "hombre maldito", a tal punto que, hasta este libro, no se concretaron los proyectos de publicar una biografía integral sobre su persona. Encumbrado, cuando aún no había cumplido 25 años, a la conducción de la principal organización armada de entonces, en poco más de una década su nombre se convirtió en uno de los rostros del "demonio" de esa violenta Argentina de los setenta, denostado por propios y extraños. "Asesino", "traidor", "elitista", "cruel", "militarista", "cobarde" y muchos otros calificativos similares suelen componer el rompecabezas de quien aparece como la "bestia negra" de la política argentina de los tiempos, por cierto totalitarios y extremos, en que tuvo alto protagonismo. ¿Qué hizo Firmenich para merecer esa condena? Felipe Celesia y Pablo Waisberg tienen una respuesta para esa pregunta. Para encontrarla, reconstruyeron el derrotero personal y político de este hombre que cuando tuvo que hablar calló y que, en más de una ocasión, habló cuando debía callar. Con una minuciosa investigación que recurre a extensas fuentes documentales y testimonios originales, los autores develan los incontables mitos, polémicas y verdades a medias que fueron construyendo una leyenda. Al hacerlo, no sólo indagan en la trayectoria y la personalidad del líder montonero, sino que además contribuyen con un valiosísimo aporte para la comprensión de una época conflictiva y, lo que es de tanta o mayor relevancia, para la memoria colectiva de los argentinos sobre un tiempo muy cercano, cuyas huellas aún siguen candentes.