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They were the most powerful rulers on earth. The mighty Qin Shi Huangdu (r. 221-210 BC), who began the construction of the Great Wall. The long-lived Han emperor Wudi (r. 141-87 BC), who developed China as a centralized Confucian state. The soldier-scholar Yongle (r. 1402-24 AD), who raised the Ming dynasty to its military peak. The dowager empress Cixi (r. 1861-1908 AD), who rose from humble Manchu origins to rule over all China. In The Dragon Throne, Jonathan Fenby tells the extraordinary story of imperial China through its 157 emperors, from Qin Shi Huangdu, who crushed his rivals to take supreme power as the first emperor in 221BC, until the final collapse of the faltering Manchu dynasty amidst the revolutionary chaos of the early twentieth century. The final emperor, the infant Puyi (r. 1908-12) ended his days as an assistant gardener in the very palace where he had been enthroned.
One hundred years before Columbus and his fellow Europeans began their voyages of discovery, fleets of giant junks commanded by the eunuch admiral Zheng He and filled with the empire’s finest porcelains, lacquerware, and silk ventured to the world’s “four corners.” Seven epic expeditions brought China’s treasure ships across the China Seas and Indian Ocean, from Japan to the spice island of Indonesia and the Malabar Coast of India, on to the rich ports of the Persian Gulf and down the East African coast, to China’s “El Dorado,” and perhaps even to Australia, three hundred years before Captain Cook’s landing. It was a time of exploration and expansion, but it ended in a retrenchment so complete that less than a century later, it was a crime to go to sea in a multimasted ship. In When China Ruled the Seas, Louise Levathes takes a fascinating and unprecedented look at this dynamic period in China’s enigmatic history, focusing on the country’s rise as a naval power that briefly brought half the world under its nominal authority. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, official Ming histories, and African, Arab, and Indian sources, many translated for the first time, Levathes brings readers inside China’s most illustrious scientific and technological era. She sheds new light on the historical and cultural context in which this great civilization thrived, as well as the perception of China by other contemporary cultures. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, When China Ruled the Seas is the fullest picture yet of the early Ming dynasty—the last flowering of Chinese culture before the Manchu invasion.
Toward the end of nearly 2,000 years of imperial rule in China, the last dynasty, designated Qing, was led by the ethnically and culturally distinct Manchu people. The Manchu established a political organization using clothing fashioned after their nomadic roots to signify status and identity. Author John E. Vollmer details the characteristics of Manchu dynasty costume and its political, social, and cultural significance and influence in Chinese history. Included are descriptions of the various designs and symbology on the cloth, as well as diagrams illustrating garment-making technology and construction features, comprehensive notes, a bibliography, map, and chronology. A fascinating look at clothing and its strategic role in the politics of conquest, this book is an invaluable resource for scholars and collectors alike. Illustrated throughout, including private collection pieces photographed for the first time.
A fresh, new Canadian author, who is comparable to Marion Zimmer Bradley, debuts a brand new fantasy trilogy for all ages. The quest is on to find the coveted Stone of the Stars on the mystical isle of Trynisia, once a place where humans dwelt side by side with dragons. Four have set off on their journey to reach it-Ailia, a daydreaming bookworm; Damion, a devoted missionary; Jomar, a half-breed soldier-slave; and Lorelyn, quite possibly a prophesied savior, who will one day guide her people ina battle against the Dark God. But can they reach the isle and the Stone of the Stars before the tyrannical God-King Khalazar finds it and uses it to rule the world?
Five royal houses will hear the call to compete in the Trial for the dragon throne. A liar, a soldier, a servant, a thief, and a murderer will answer it. Who will win? Three Dark Crowns meets The Breakfast Club with DRAGONS. When the Emperor dies, the five royal houses of Etrusia attend the Call, where one of their own will be selected to compete for the throne. It is always the oldest child, the one who has been preparing for years to compete in the Trial. But this year is different. This year these five outcasts will answer the call... THE LIAR: Emilia must hide her dark magic or be put to death. THE SOLDIER: Lucian is a warrior who has sworn to never lift a sword again. THE SERVANT: Vespir is a dragon trainer whose skills alone will keep her in the game. THE THIEF: Ajax knows that nothing is free--he must take what he wants. THE MURDERER: Hyperia was born to rule and will stop at nothing to take her throne.
Whispers of war become a battle cry in this epic series finale.Invasion is imminent. Skirmishes have erupted all across Alveria's borders, but the lingering effects of the sickness have left the dragon guard weakened. Unprepared for a strike at the heart of the kingdom, difficult alliances must now be made to protect them all.Circumstances at the Akademy are no better. Kaelan Younger's attempts to learn more about her renegade father and the Terra dragon fighting for the enemy are complicated by tapestries that refuse to reveal their secrets. And when the queen's efforts to stop the war involve Prince Lasaro, Kaelan is forced to confront the growing feelings she has for her dragon.Their only hope to stem the tide of war is to find the long-forgotten Standing Stones and harness its ancient power. It is there that Kaelan and Lasaro's love will face the greatest test.And one will make the ultimate sacrifice.
FRONT FLAP Art takes many forms and serves many functions. In this selection of Chinese court dress dating from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the phrase "you are what you wear" resonates. Vollmer journeys back to thirteenth-century Jin dynasty Chinese empire, where ancestors of the Manchu conquerors dressed fittingly. These beautiful garments remind us that although royalty once set fashion standards in the way that celebrities do today, these robes also promoted distinct national and political messages that helped to keep a ruling minority in power for nearly three hundred years. Over fifty colour photographs, including details of exquisitely wrought robes for members of the imperial Qing court, period portraits, and details from a rare hand scroll illustrating the Chinese emperor's tour of cities along the Grand Canal, bring Dressed to Rule: 18th Century Court Attire in the Mactaggart Art Collection to life. Vollmer's text illuminates the history of the political, cultural, and social developments behind the pageantry, deepening our appreciation for the rich and complex history of China. Dressed to Rule is a guide to the exhibition of the same name--the first public showing of the University of Alberta's magnificent Mactaggart Art Collection. BACK COVER "This selection of Qing dynasty imperial robes and accessories from the Mactaggart Art Collection, dating from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, is most closely connected in time to the Qianlong emperor's court dress reforms. In them we can discern and deconstruct the workings of the Manchu state over a century and a half in its efforts to strike a balance between issues of national identity and the imperatives of a universal image of Chinese imperial authority. The flexibility, expediency, and diligence that we observe in the Manchu search for identity, and the willingness to adjust that image, resulted in a remarkably stable and powerful dynasty, which held sway over the most expansive and diverse empire ever achieved in Chinese history." --John Vollmer BACK FLAP John E. Vollmer is an internationally recognized curator and scholar in the fields of Asian art, textiles and costumes, decorative arts, and design. He is author of thirty museum exhibition catalogues and numerous academic and popular books and articles. He has held curatorial appointments at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, and at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. He served as director of the Kent State University Museum, Kent, Ohio and was the founding executive director of the Design Exchange in Toronto. Since 1991, he has worked as a consultant and President of Vollmer Cultural Consultants Inc., which specializes in exhibition design and gallery and museum planning. He has advised, studied and written about the Mactaggart textile and costume collection for over thirty years.