The Yao, a non-Han minority moved from the Yang Tse basin centuries ago to south of China before migrating some seven to eight centuries ago to Northern Vietnam, Laos and Thailand in small groups. Some 10 centuries ago they also became Taoists and its hierarchy of numerous gods and saints, illustrated in their magnificent paintings, helped them survive as a society based on 12 clans with strong traditions, with no country of its own, and no greater administrative and social borders than the village. Their distinctive dress and exquisite silver jewellery also helped to define the various sub-groups to which they belonged. This book covers all aspects of Yao culture based on 12 years fieldwork and research in the region.

The Yao : The Mien and Mun Yao in China, North Vietnam, Laos and Thailand

Politics & Social Sciences

Jess G. Pourret

Social Sciences

Art Media Resources Ltd

The Silk Road: Art and History

Tucker, Jonathan

Arts & Photography

A long-awaited catalog to the British Museum's large and important collection of Gandhara sculpture. Formed mainly from early unsystematic acquisitions by soldiers garrisoning the Northwest Frontier and further enriched from some of the first excavations, the British Museum's collection is - with the collections at Peshawar, Lahore, Taxila, Chandigarh, Calcutta, Paris, Rome and Berlin - one of the principal sources for widespread academic activity that Gandhara studies have become. This catalog is the first publication by a museum of so large a body of the material: besides cult images and reliefs, it also includes reliquaries. After a substantial introduction, 680 objects, all illustrated, are individually described, where possible with comparisons and literary references. The book also contains an exhaustive bibliography, as well as concordances and indexes.

Catalogue of the Gandhara Sculpture in the British Museum.

Zwalf, Wladimir

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

The Chinese have revered the mystery and magic of jade since ancient times. This authoritative book provides an up-to-date and comprehensive survey of six thousand years of development, from the earliest cultures to the twentieth century. The author describes and assesses the variety of roles and functions, ritual and ceremonial, which jade has played in China. Recent discoveries from hitherto little known neolithic cultures of around 3000 BC have highlighted the extraordinary skills of the craftsmen and the complexity of the cultures that supported them. Other remarkable finds include the precursors of the famous jade suits, which range from jade plaques and shrouds dating from about 900 BC to superb pendants and sword fittings carved for a king buried near Canton in around 122 BC.  This catalogue describes over 300 outstanding pieces from Sir Joseph Hotung's collection, which spans the history of jade in China. Drawing upon the very latest archaeological research to set jade in its historical and artistic context, this work will stand as a definitive reference for many years to come. In her wide-ranging introduction to the catalogue the author analyses the arguments and sets out new views, supplementing this major essay with a series of shorter introductions to the chronological sections into which the jades of different types, shapes and functions have been divided. The book is fully illustrated throughout with specially commissioned photographs of each piece from the collection, all in color, along with comparative examples from the rich collection of the British Museum.

Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing

Rawson, Jessica

History & Criticism

The British Museum holds the world's broadest collection of Ming ceramics, now published for the first time in its entirety. Nearly a thousand items are here illustrated, identified, dated and discussed, incorporating the most up-to-date archaeological discoveries and new scientific research previously available only in Chinese or specialist journals. Five introductory essays provide an accessible framework. Each of the catalogue's twenty chapters is then introduced with a brief summary of its defining characteristics. A wealth of additional information, much of it never before gathered together, is clearly interpreted and presented in a series of appendices, tables and maps for ease of reference and research by collectors, students and scholars.

Ming Ceramics in the British Museum

Harrison-Hall, Jessica

Reference

Some of the most striking and evocative artistic and archaeological objects ever found in China date from the Tang Dynasty, which spanned three centuries (AD 618-906). Regarded by the Chinese as one of their most glorious periods, when their empire was the richest and most powerful political unit in the world, it was characterized by cultural brilliance, territorial expansion and great prosperity. The Tang capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), marking the easternmost end of the Silk Routes, was a great cosmopolitan city, benefiting from the flourishing trade in exotic foods, textiles, furs and fine horses via oasis towns of the Taklamakan Desert. Persian and Turks, Jews and Muslims all lived and worked in the capital, and the eclectic motifs and technical virtuosity of Tang craftsmen is shown in the splendid gold and silver vessels and jewellery found buried in local tombs, hoards and crypts. Buddhism was one of the most pervasive of the many foreign influences, and many precious ritual objects, donated by generations of the imperial family, were recently discovered in an underground palace below the famous Famensi Buddhist temple. This book brings to lie a succession of fascinating golden ages in Chinese history, from the reign of the First emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, in the early third century BC through the Han (contemporaries of the Romans) to the Tang. An illustrated historical introduction is followed by a catalogue in which every object - some never before seen outside China - is illustrated in colour on a page of its own.

Gilded Dragons: Buried Treasures from China's Golden Ages

Michaelson, Carol

Frank Kingdon-Ward, the last of the great plant hunters, undertook 25 major expeditions over a period of nearly 50 years and collected and numbered more than 23,000 plants. Not only a plant hunter, he was one of the greatest of all Himalayan explorers, filling in what would otherwise remain to this day a blank space on the map. This volume is an anthology of Kingdon-Ward's best writing on his plant-hunting and geographical exploration in Himalaya. It balances the botanical side of Kingdon-Ward's activities with his interest in the geographical terrian where he worked, its birds, beasts, insects and its variegated inhabitants, not only Tibetan and Chinese, but also the hill tribes - Abors, Darus, Dulengs, Kachins, Lisus, Lutzus, Marus, Mishimis, Nungs and others - in whose life he took such an affectionate interest.

Himalayan Enchantment: An Anthology

Kingdon-Ward, Frank

Fascinating and adventurous true story of a Japanese agent in disguise as a Mongolian pilgrim. After a year's detention, he continued to Tibet and India where he was recruited by British Intelligence to gather information on Chinese intentions in Eastern Tibet.

Japanese Agent in Tibet: My Ten Years of Travel in Disguise

Biographies & Memoirs

BERRY, Scott

Kimura, Hisao

Community & Culture

This bibliography, over ten years in the making and numbering over seven hundred items, attempts to provide for the first time a comprehensive listing in chronological sequence of Tibetan-language works belonging to the typical historical genres that have evolved between the 11th century and the present. Included are not only the dates and details of composition or publication, authorship and title, but also references to the burgeoning secondary literature in other languages.

Tibetan Histories: A Bibliography of Tibetan-Language Historical Works

Martin, Dan

The Toledo Museum of Art has an outstanding collection of more than 250 netsuke. Fifty examples are highlighted. Chapter One relates the history of netsuke. Chapter Two illustrates the most popular types using additional examples in the collection. Chapter Three explores materials, some information about the carvers, and techniques. Selected bibliography. Index.

Japanese Treasures: The Art of Netsuke Carving in the Toledo Museum of Art

Putney, Carolyn M.

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