Author: Shambaugh Elliot, Jeannette File Type: pdf The Odyssey of Chinas Imperial Art Treasures traces the three-thousand-year history of the emperors imperial collection, from the Bronze Age to the present. The tortuous story of these treasures involves a succession of dynasties, invasion and conquest, and civil war, resulting in valiant attempts to rescue and preserve the collection. Throughout history, different Chinese regimes used the imperial collection to bolster their own political legitimacy, domestically and internationally.The narrative follows the gradual formation of the Peking Palace Museum in 1925, then its hasty fragmentation as large parts of the collection were moved perilously over long distances to escape wartime destruction, and finally its formal division into what are today two Palace Museums-one in Beijing, the other in Taipei.Enlivened by the personalities of those who cared for the collection, this textured account of the imperial treasures highlights magnificent artworks and their arduous transit through politics, war, and diplomatic reconciliations. Over the years, control of the collections has been fiercely contested, from early dynasties through Mongol and Japanese invaders to Nationalist and Communist rivals- a saga that continues today.This first book-length investigation of the imperial collections will be of great interest to China scholars, historians, and Chinese art specialists. Its tales of palace intrigue will fascinate a wide variety of readers.

Author: David Román File Type: pdf Performance in America demonstrates the vital importance of the performing arts to contemporary U.S. culture. Looking at a series of specific performances mounted between 1994 and 2004, well-known performance studies scholar David Roman challenges the belief that theatre, dance, and live music are marginal art forms in the United States. He describes the crucial role that the performing arts play in local, regional, and national communities, emphasizing the power of live performance, particularly its immediacy and capacity to create a dialogue between artists and audiences. Roman draws attention to the ways that the performing arts provide unique perspectives on many of the most pressing concerns within American studies questions about history and politics, citizenship and society, and culture and nation. The performances that Roman analyzes range from localized community-based arts events to full-scale Broadway productions and from the controversial works of established artists such as Tony Kushner to those of emerging artists. Roman considers dances produced by the choreographers Bill T. Jones and Neil Greenberg in the mid-1990s as new aids treatments became available and the aids crisis was reconfigured a production of the Asian American playwright Chay Yews A Beautiful Country in a high-school auditorium in Los Angeless Chinatown and Latino performer John Leguizamos one-man Broadway show Freak. He examines the revival of theatrical legacies by female impersonators and the resurgence of cabaret in New York City. Roman also looks at how the performing arts have responded to 911, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, and the second war in Iraq. Including more than eighty illustrations, Performance in America highlights the dynamic relationships among performance, history, and contemporary culture through which the past is revisited and the future reimagined. **

Author: David Graff File Type: pdf Shortly after 300 AD, barbarian invaders from Inner Asia toppled Chinas Western Jin dynasty, leaving the country divided and at war for several centuries. Despite this, the empire gradually formed a unified imperial order. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 explores the military strategies, institutions and wars that reconstructed the Chinese empire that has survived into modern times.Drawing on classical Chinese sources and the best modern scholarship from China and Japan, David A. Graff connects military affairs with political and social developments to show how Chinas history was shaped by war.ReviewThis is an important addition to the rapidly growing literature in English on Chinese warfare. - The Journal of Asian StudiesA superlative history of medieval China ... the best historical account in English available. - War in HistoryAbout the AuthorDavid A. Graff is Associate Professor of History at Kansas State University. He received his PhD in East Asian Studies from Princeton University in 1995.

Author: Htnet File Type: pdf