Throughout the twentieth century, Beijing University (or Beida) has been at the center of China's greatest political and cultural upheavals-from the May Fourth Movement of 1919 to the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s to the tragic events in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Why this should be-how Beida's historical importance has come to transcend that of a mere institution of higher learning--is a question at the heart of this book. A study of intellectuals and political culture during the past century's tumultuous early decades, The Power of Position is the first to focus on Beida, China's oldest and best-known national university. Timothy B. Weston portrays the university as a key locus used by intellectuals to increase their influence in society. Weston analyzes the links between intellectuals' political and cultural commitments and their specific manner of living. He also compares Beijing's intellectual culture with that of the rising metropolis of Shanghai. What emerges is a remarkably nuanced and complex picture of life at China's leading university, especially in the decades leading up to the May Fourth Movement.

Does the Gospel fulfill the deepest truths of the ancient, endlessly fascinating Chinese culture? When first published, David Marshall's micro-classic kicked up a small cloud of controversy, as evidenced in reviews below, some calling Marshall a "fundamentalist," others a "syncretist," and at least one critic complaining that his imagination runs away with him. No one who loves China and who is open to loving Jesus will want to miss this book, however. Marshall, who has written for orthodox (though not "fundamentalist") Christian publications like Christianity Today, First Things, and Books and Culture (mostly on China), shows a deep sensitivity both to the insights of the historical Christian tradition, and to Chinese religion, art, landscape, custom, and language. This second edition includes added material that goes far to answering some of the objections made to the first edition. Marshall adds several pages of evidence that in fact the ancient Chinese were aware of the Supreme God, including quotes from leading Christian and non-Christian scholars. He expands on his comparison between the Analects and the Gospels (based on research for his new book, Why the Jesus Seminar can't find Jesus, and Grandma Marshall Could), and updates the book in other ways.

China is the first country to grow, produce and drink tea. Over the long history of drinking tea, a special Chinese tea culture came into being. Tea is indispensable in the life of the Chinese people. It is not simply a type of drink, but a transmitter of culture, representing the philosophy, aesthetic views and way of life of the Chinese people, from which the spiritual world of the Chinese people can be discerned. This book relates the rich knowledge about Chinese tea and Chinese tea culture in terms of the origin of tea, its history, the methods and customs of drinking tea and tea drinking vessels. It explains the Chinese tea ceremony in depth and with an easy-to-understand approach and introduces the colorful teahouse culture, legends about tea, and the literature and art closely connected with tea.

Aimed at westerners who wish to do business with the Chinese, this is a practical text with authentic examples organized by topic.

Wenxin diaolong by Liu Xie (ca. 465-ca. 521) is arguably the most complex and comprehensive work of literary criticism in ancient China. For centuries it has intrigued and inspired Chinese literati, and modern English-speaking scholars have also found it an important source for inquiries into traditional Chinese poetics and aesthetics. The present volume of ten essays is the first book-length study in English of this classic work. The first two parts of the book focus on cultural traditions, showing how Liu canonized the Chinese literary tradition, assessing where Liu's work stands in that tradition, and demonstrating his debts to the intellectual currents of his time. The third part explores Liu's theory of literary creation by using contemporary critical perspectives to analyze Liu's conception of imagination. The fourth part presents three detailed studies of Liu's views on rhetoric: a close reading of his chapter on rhetorical parallelism, a discussion of his own use of parallelism as a means of analysis and textual production, and an investigation of his views on changes and continuities in Chinese literary styles. The book concludes with a critical survey of Asian-language scholarship onWenxin diaolong in this century. The contributors are Zong-qi Cai, Kang-i Sun Chang, Ronald Egan, Wai-yee Li, Shuen-fu Lin, Richard John Lynn, Victor H. Mair, Stephen Owen, Andrew H. Plaks, Maureen Robertson, and Zhang Shaokang.