This all-encompassing volume offers a comprehensive look at the contemporary culture that defines this Southeast Asian country of Laos, examining everything from Buddhist traditions to Laotian cuisine. Coverage includes a brief history of the nation followed by in-depth narrative chapters on religion, literature, visual and performing arts, fashion, gender roles, everyday social customs, and more. Through illustrative descriptions of daily life, students will learn how traditional customs have shaped contemporary life in Laos today. Few other resources provide the same extensive coverage on current culture in Laos. Ideal for high school students as well as general readers, Culture and Customs of Laos is a must-have for all library shelves. The Southeast Asian country of Laos, one of the world's last-standing communist nations, has often been overshadowed in the international newsroom by its more dominant neighbors, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Among one of the most bombed countries in the world, one that suffered much during and after the Vietnam War, Laos has been struggling economically and politically for decades. In spite of these challenges, a rich, beautiful culture has survived in Laos. This exhaustive volume offers a comprehensive look at the contemporary culture that defines this seemingly quiet country, from Buddhism to Laotian cuisine. Coverage includes a brief history of the nation followed by in-depth narrative chapters on religion, literature, visual and performing arts, fashion, gender roles, everyday social customs, and more. Through illustrative descriptions of daily life, students will learn how traditional customs have shaped contemporary life in Laos today. Few other resources provide the same extensive coverage on current culture in Laos. Ideal for high school students as well as general readers, Culture and Customs of Laos is a must-have for all library shelves.

This book introduces Trainers and Fighters to the philosophy and application of Western Tai Chi Ch'uan for Amateur Fighting Competitors.Western Tai Chi Ch'uan is the merging of its 13 Strategies into the basic tactics of Western Boxing, Kickboxing and Grappling. The result is an Amateur Fighter with a savage and intimidating defense and a calculated and deliberate offense.You will learn the essential principles, objectives and obstacles of an Amateur Fighting Competitor, including breathing techniques, proper understanding of form and function, intense multi-discipline sparring techniques, and the practical use of meditation processes. Also included is a section for Trainers, with an example of a complete course outline as well as a section that presents classical Tai Chi treatise and definitive striking points on the human anatomy.Producing over 20 (Amateur) champions from 2007 to 2009 at the State and Regional levels, Western Tai Chi Ch'uan is emerging as a dynamic and effective fighting system used for Martial Art competition in the Southeast Region of the United States.Gurjot K. Singh, M Ed. (Retired, U.S. Army Ranger, S.E.R.E. & Drill Instructor) holds graduate degrees in Educational Technology & International Relations from Troy University and has several academic and professional publications. He received his rank of Master from renowned Grandmaster & Dr. Ibraham Ahmed. Master Singh is a certified American Tai Chi & Qigong Association professional (Level II of III.) He is the Owner of Angel's Gym in Fayetteville, North Carolina which is a training facility for the MMA Promotion group, Elite Fighting Challenge. Learn more at www.angelsgym.com or www.youtube.com/ANGELSGYMSINGH.Publisher's website: http: //www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TheArtOf WesternTaiChiChuan.html

This volume is the first tangible result of an international project initiated by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) with the aim of compiling a bibliographic database documenting publications on South and Southeast Asian art and archaeology. The bibliographic information, over 1,300 records extracted from the database, forms the principal part of this publication. It is preceded by a list of periodicals consulted and followed by three types of indexes which help users to find their way in the ABIA South and Southeast Asian Art and Archaeology Index (ABIA Index). The detailed bibliographic descriptions, controlled keywords and many elucidating annotations make this reference work into an indispensable guide to recent scholarly work on the prehistory and arts of South/Southeast Asia.

This extensively illustrated primer is the first English edition of Sun's classic 1919 book which explores both the theory and practice of the style, with emphasis on movements and postures. Tim Cartmell's translation provides both a standard by which practitioners can judge themselves and valuable information relevant to all versions of taijiquan. Tim Cartmell has done the American Taijiquan community a great service translating Sun Lutang's books into English.

This interdisciplinary study promotes the thesis that some contemporary Chinese ink artists succeed in using principles of traditional Chinese aesthetics to convey the union of self with nature, others and the universe. The investigation is a case study of the writings and paintings of Jizi, an ink-wash artist in Beijing, who combines images of icy mountains, Tibetan landscapes, cosmic vistas, and enclosures of personal existence. Jizi’s success in expressing the unification of these dimensions is confirmed by developing and applying an interpretation of Jing Hao’s classic description of the authentic image, which resonates with the vitality of nature. To find words for resonance with visible nature, the inquiry extends to such writers as Li Zehou, Arthur Danto and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. In short, an account of authenticity in Chinese ink painting is offered experimentally as a means for assessing whether contemporary Chinese artworks are expressive of Chinese philosophy and culture. The text includes stylistic comparisons with artists such as E.C. Escher, Guo Xi, Jia Youfu, Liu Guosong, Rene Magritte, Piet Mondrian, and Xu Bing. The result is an appreciation of the healing influence of Chinese ink art in a global culture that is vibrant, complex, diverse and affirming of the present. In this rigorous, far-reaching, and original analysis of contemporary ink art painting, Brubaker and Wang focus our attention on the work of one independent painter, Jizi, whose work exemplifies an uncanny marriage between ink art and contemporary concerns. In the central chapters, Brubaker persuasively argues that in this work Jizi captures principles essential to traditional Chinese aesthetics articulated in terms of wholeness, emptiness, and visibility that enable the works to express the unification of the self with nature and the universe as a whole. It does this through forms that are innovative and part of artistic practices and discourses that are becoming increasingly global. Mary Wiseman, The City University of New York This important publication focuses on the evocative ink wash paintings of an artist who has, over the course of decades, demonstrated an unwavering commitment to exploring the technical, formal, philosophical and experiential dimensions of his chosen medium. The essays, commentaries and critical reflections collected in this volume present unique perspectives on Jizi's practice, significantly contributing to the growing body of scholarship on the continuing vitality of the ink wash tradition in the global contemporary. Dr. Wenny Teo, The Courtauld Institute of Art Through an in-depth study of the ink painting practice of contemporary Chinese artist Jizi, the authors discover Chinese ink painting’s philosophical perspectives, cosmic foundations, and contemporary possibilities. They also uncovered a way to enter into the artist’s rich and profound spiritual world; through Jiazi’s expansive visual patterning and refined spiritual imagery, he activates a long and great cultural tradition. Yu Yang, Central Academy of Fine Arts

"The Princess of the Flaming Womb," the Javanese legend that introduces this pioneering study, symbolizes the many ambiguities attached to femaleness in Southeast Asian societies. Yet despite these ambiguities, the relatively egalitarian nature of male–female relations in Southeast Asia is central to arguments claiming a coherent identity for the region. This challenging work by senior scholar Barbara Watson Andaya considers such contradictions while offering a thought-provoking view of Southeast Asian history that focuses on women’s roles and perceptions. Andaya explores the broad themes of the early modern era (1500–1800)—the introduction of new religions, major economic shifts, changing patterns of state control, the impact of elite lifestyles and behaviors—drawing on an extraordinary range of sources and citing numerous examples from Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, Philippine, and Malay societies. In the process, she provides a timely and innovative model for putting women back into world history Andaya approaches the problematic issue of "Southeast Asia" by considering ways in which topography helped describe a geo-cultural zone and contributed to regional distinctiveness in gender construction. She examines the degree to which world religions have been instrumental in (re)constructing conceptions of gender— an issue especially pertinent to Southeast Asian societies because of the leading role so often played by women in indigenous ritual. She also considers the effects of the expansion of long-distance trade, the incorporation of the region into a global trading network, the beginnings of cash-cropping and wage labor, and the increase in slavery on the position of women. Erudite, nuanced, and accessible, The Flaming Womb makes a major contribution to a Southeast Asia history that is both regional and global in content and perspective.

The book presents a range of articles and discussions that offer critical insights into the development of contemporary Chinese art, both within China and internationally. It brings together selected writings, both published and unpublished, by Paul Gladston, one of the foremost international scholars on contemporary Chinese art. The articles are based on extensive first-hand research, much of which was carried out during an extended residence in China between 2005 and 2010. In contrast to many other writers on contemporary Chinese art, Gladston analyses his subject with specific reference to the concerns of critical theory. In his writings he consistently argues for a “polylogic” (multi-voiced) approach to research and analysis grounded in painstaking attention to local, regional and international conditions of artistic production, reception and display.

Health Humanities in contemporary times has enabled exploration of the unexplored chartered terrains in literary paradigms. Scholars in the field of Humanities and Sciences have been engaging with the praxis of applying concepts from both disciplines revising the approach towards Health Care and Humanities. Due to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methodologies of reading literary texts, they have been reinforcing a paradigm shift from the conventional understanding of narratives in Literature and Health Care. Traditional discursive boundaries between the disciplines of Health and Humanities are collapsing due to a comprehensive and nuanced interpretation of the shared ontological foundation between the two – Humanism. Terminologies like Displacement, Dislocation, and Disjunction unite Health and Humanities and they also make the unknown, known. Health Humanities explores the different multitudes of narration in the literary arena and it represents diverse voices of literature. It also showcases the importance of re-reading a text owing to its autotelic status. The authors who have contributed chapters for this book have meticulously selected diverse texts and contexts, embedded in the dynamism of Health Humanities. This book is an impetus for academicians from the field of Humanities and Sciences who desire to venture into new epistemes towards Health Humanities.

This imaginative and innovative study by Daniel Miles Amos, begun in 1976 and completed in 2020, examines sociocultural changes in the practices of Chinese martial artists in two closely related and interconnected southern Chinese cities, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The initial chapters of the book compare how sociocultural changes from World War II to the mid-1980s affected the practices of Chinese martial artists in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and neighboring Guangzhou in mainland China. An analysis is made of how the practices of Chinese martial artists have been influenced by revolutionary sociocultural changes in both cities. In Guangzhou, the victory of the Chinese Communist Party lead to the disappearance in the early 1950s of secret societies and kungfu brotherhoods. Kungfu brotherhoods reappeared during the Cultural Revolution, and subsequently were transformed again after the death of Mao Zedong, and China’s opening to capitalism. In Hong Kong, dramatic sociocultural changes were set off by the introduction of manufacturing production lines by international corporations in the mid-1950s, and the proliferation of foreign franchises and products. Economic globalization in Hong Kong has led to dramatic increases both in the territory’s Gross Domestic Product and in cultural homogenization, with corresponding declines in many local traditions and folk cultures, including Chinese martial arts. The final chapters of the book focus on changes in the practices of Chinese martial arts in Hong Kong from the years 1987 to 2020, a period which includes the last decade of British colonial administration, as well as the first quarter of a century of rule by the Chinese government.