A detailed look inside the community of the fastest growing minority group in the United States.

A political directory of over 4,000 Asian Pacific American elected and major appointed officials at the federal, state, and local levels for 39 states, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and Virgin Islands. Includes essays by prominent political scientists, commentators, and community-based electoral activists; voter exit polls; census data, and policy research reports. This issue is dedicated to the late Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.

This study shall explore the social and political significance of the so-called kyureki, the Japanese lunisolar calendar that was abolished by the Meiji government in 1872. This calendar was the principal method of timekeeping in Japan from 604 to 1872, but has received little attention from English speaking scholars. This study argues that the study of the lunisolar calendar is essential to gaining a comprehensive understanding of pre-Meiji society and political history. Chapter 1 uses a detailed analysis of an actual lunisolar calendar coupled with passages from pre-Meiji historical and literary texts to show that the lunisolar calendar reflects the value pre-Meiji society placed on minute seasonal changes, the phases of the moon, and divination controlled by various directional deities. It shall also demonstrate how an understanding of the lunisolar calendar is vital to fully comprehend classical Japanese texts. Chapter 2 explores how calendar reform has been enacted throughout Japanese history to promote the values of new political regimes. Chapter 3 discusses the state of the lunisolar calendar in modern Japan, first analyzing how the calendar survived the Meiji government's attempt to obliterate it and the effect the Meiji calendar reform had on how the lunisolar calendar is understood today. It then discusses how the current revival of interest in the lunisolar calendar reflects the value modern society places on nostalgia for the past, which has arisen as part of the modernization process.

Endymion Wilkinson's bestselling manual of Chinese history has long been an indispensable guide to all those interested in the civilization and history of China. In this latest edition, now in a bigger format, its scope has been dramatically enlarged by the addition of one million words of new text. Twelve years in the making, the new manual introduces students to different types of transmitted, excavated, and artifactual sources from prehistory to the twentieth century. It also examines the context in which the sources were produced, preserved, and received, the problems of research and interpretation associated with them, and the best, most up-to-date secondary works. Because the writing of history has always played a central role in Chinese politics and culture, special attention is devoted to the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese historiography.

Despite efforts by Chinese governments to suppress their popularity, and the influence of Western ideas and science, almanacs have been one of the most widely distributed and read publications in Chinese societies all over the world. Perhaps no other single class of artifacts reflects more clearly the essence of inherited culture and its evolution in China in late imperial and modern times. Beautifully illustrated with block-prints and full-color covers, Chinese almanacs provide a unique insight into the structure, beliefs, hopes, and concerns of Chinese societies around the world. This perceptive introduction traces the almanacs' links with traditional calendars, astrology, and divination, and examines their importance as indexes of continuity and change, popular hopes and fears, aesthetic preferences, ethical concerns, and symbolic expression from the Tang dynasty to the present day.

An almanac with information about famous events and celebrations for each dayof the year and related children's book recommendations.

It has been said that "a modern arrogance has blocked our access to the history of the Muslim calendar in Southeast Asia". Without at least the outlines of that history, we simply do not understand the basis of dates found in Malay sources. Also, without a history of Malay calendars we are denied an understanding of the context from which the Javanese Muslim calendar arose. This volume, the result of combining empirical evidence with a sound understanding of the structural requirements of calendar-making, and of the mechanisms through which these needs could be met, for the first time explains how these old octaval calendars actually worked. It traces the history of Muslim calendars in Southeast Asia, and attempts to put them into their historical and cultural context. Understanding the old calendars will at last throw light on a number of essential aspects of older Malay science and culture. An accompanying interactive CD-ROM presents the reader with a tool for converting Malay and Javanese dates, with access to the range of variant calendars.