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C.V. Starr East Asian Library
The C.V. Starr East Asian Library is a library at Columbia University, holding collections for the study of East Asia in the United States. It is one of the largest East Asian libraries in North America, consisting of over one million volumes of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Mongolian, Manchu, and Western-language materials, almost 7,500 periodical titles, and extensive special collections. It is located in Kent Hall, on the university's Morningside Heights campus. History The library was established in 1902. Seth Low, president of Columbia University at the time, wished to start a Chinese library. The foundation for the library and the Chinese collection began with a donation by Empress Dowager Cixi of the 5,044 volume encyclopedia ''Gujin Tushu Jicheng,'' one of three copies of the book currently located outside of China. The Japanese collection began in 1927 by Professor Ryūsaku Tsunoda, who acquired some 5,000 volumes from the Japanese Imperial Household Agency, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Library Of China
The National Library of China (; NLC) is the national library of the People's Republic of China and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It contains over 41 million items as of December 2020. It holds the largest collection of Chinese literature and historical documents in the world and covers an area of 280,000 square meters. The National Library is a public welfare institution sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The collections of the National Library have inherited the royal collections since the Southern Song Dynasty and private collections since the Ming and Qing dynasties. The oldest collections can be traced back to the oracle bones of Yin Ruins more than 3,000 years ago. The National Library is a major research and public library, with items in 123 languages and in many formats, both print and digital: books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, videos, play-scripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kōbō Abe
, pen name of , was a Japanese writer, playwright, musician, photographer, and inventor. He is best known for his 1962 novel '' The Woman in the Dunes'' that was made into an award-winning film by Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1964. Abe has often been compared to Franz Kafka for his modernist sensibilities and his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society. Biography Abe was born on March 7, 1924 in Kita, Tokyo, Japan and grew up in Mukden (now Shenyang) in Manchuria. Abe's family was in Tokyo at the time due to his father's year of medical research in Tokyo. His mother had been raised in Hokkaido, while he experienced childhood in Manchuria. This triplicate assignment of origin was influential to Abe, who told Nancy Shields in a 1978 interview, "I am essentially a man without a hometown. This may be what lies behind the 'hometown phobia' that runs in the depth of my feelings. All things that are valued for their stability offend me." As a child, A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jade
Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of minerals), or jadeite (a silicate of sodium and aluminium in the pyroxene group of minerals). Jade is well known for its ornamental use in East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian art. It is commonly used in Latin America, such as Mexico and Guatemala. The use of jade in Mesoamerica for symbolic and ideological ritual was influenced by its rarity and value among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Olmecs, the Maya, and other ancient civilizations of the Valley of Mexico. Etymology The English word ''jade'' is derived (via French and Latin 'flanks, kidney area') from the Spanish term (first recorded in 1565) or 'loin stone', from its reputed efficacy in curing ailments of the loins and kidneys. ''Nephrite'' is der ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oracle Bone
Oracle bones () are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. ''Scapulimancy'' is the correct term if ox scapulae were used for the divination, ''plastromancy'' if turtle plastrons were used. Diviners would submit questions to deities regarding future weather, crop planting, the fortunes of members of the royal family, military endeavors, and other similar topics. These questions were carved onto the bone or shell in oracle bone script using a sharp tool. Intense heat was then applied with a metal rod until the bone or shell cracked due to thermal expansion. The diviner would then interpret the pattern of cracks and write the prognostication upon the piece as well. Pyromancy with bones continued in China into the Zhou dynasty, but the questions and prognostications were increasingly written with brushes and cinnabar ink, which degraded over time. The oracle bones be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edo Period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, perpetual peace, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture. The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo), where on March 24, 1603, the shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War, which restored imperial rule to Japan. Consolidation of the shogunate The Edo period or Tokugawa period is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's regional '' daimyo''. A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate, which existed with the Tennō's court, to the Tok ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornelius Vander Starr
Cornelius Vander Starr (October 15, 1892 – December 20, 1968), sometimes known as Neil Starr, was an American businessman and founder of C.V. Starr & Co. (later known as Starr Companies) in Shanghai, China, which became AIG. AIG grew from an initial market value of $300 million to $180 billion, becoming the largest insurance company in the world. Early life Starr was born to parents of Dutch ancestry. His father was a railroad engineer. Starr attended University of California, Berkeley from 1910 to 1911 before dropping out and returning to his hometown of Fort Bragg, California. There he began his first business venture, selling ice cream, at the age of nineteen. He joined the U.S. Army in 1918 but was never deployed overseas because World War I had ended. Unable to resist a strong urge to travel and understand the world, he joined the Pacific Mail Steamship Company as a clerk in Yokohama, Japan. Later that year, he traveled to Shanghai where he worked for several insurance b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Starr Foundation
The Starr Foundation was established in 1955 by Cornelius Vander Starr, an insurance entrepreneur who founded C.V. Starr & Co. and other companies later combined by his successor, Maurice R. Greenberg, into what became the American International Group. Starr, a pioneer of globalization, set up his first insurance venture in Shanghai in 1919. Upon his death in 1968 his estate was passed on to the foundation. Today, it gives between US$100 million and $200 million each year to charities and causes globally. The foundation, once one of the largest in the country with an endowment of some $6 billion in 2000, has disbursed over $3.8 billion since its founding. As of 2019, it had assets of $1.5 billion. It specializes in Asian arts and cultural philanthropy, but also makes grants in other areas, including education, medicine and healthcare, and public policy. The foundation is no longer affiliated with AIG. See also * List of grants by the Starr Foundation * List of wealthiest found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Printing In East Asia
Printing in East Asia originated from the Han dynasty (220 BCE – 206 CE) in China, evolving from ink rubbings made on paper or cloth from texts on stone tables used during the Han. Printing is considered one of the Four Great Inventions of China that spread throughout the world. A specific type of printing called mechanical woodblock printing on paper started in China during the Tang dynasty before the 8th century CE. The use of woodblock printing spread throughout Asia, and the idea of printing perhaps spread to Europe, where German publisher and inventor Johannes Gutenberg improved on the design with the introduction of the mechanical press in the mid-15th century. As recorded in 1088 by Shen Kuo in his ''Dream Pool Essays'', the Chinese artisan Bi Sheng invented an early form of movable type using clay and wood pieces arranged and organized for written Chinese characters. The use of metal movable type was known in Korea by the 13th century during the Goryeo period. In Korea the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Li Hanhun
Li Hanhun (; 7 October 1895 – 30 June 1987), courtesy name Bohao (伯豪) and assumed name Nanhua (南華) was a Chinese (Kuomintang) general from Wuchuan, Guangdong. He participated in the Northern Expedition and Second Sino-Japanese War, in which he served with distinction. A portrayal of his conduct as a frontline commander in 1938 can be found in chapter 3 of Freda Utley’s ''China at War''. For the later War years 1939-1945, he served as Chair (governor) of the Guangdong provincial government. His last role in public life was as Interior Minister during the acting-presidency of Li Zongren, the last Kuomintang administration in mainland China Biography At age 17 Li joined the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance), the Society chiefly instrumental in the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty and establishment of a Republican government in China in 1911. He became a career military officer on graduating from the Baoding Military Academy in the Academy’s sixth graduating cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beijing Review
''Beijing Review'' (), previously ''Peking Review'', is China's only national news magazine in English, published by the Chinese Communist Party-owned China International Publishing Group. In 2006 it claimed a per-issue circulation of 70,000 and distribution "throughout China and 150 countries and regions worldwide." Beijing Review has two overseas branches: the North America Bureau in New York, U.S.A., and the CHINAFRICA Media and Publishing (Pty) Ltd in Johannesburg, South Africa. In addition to the English print edition, Beijing Review also publishes online editions in Chinese, English, French, German and Japanese. Overview Founded in March 1958 as the weekly ''Peking Review'', it was an important tool for the Chinese government to communicate to the rest of world. The first issue included an editor's note explaining that the magazine was meant to "provide timely, accurate, first-hand information on economic, political and cultural developments in China, and her relations with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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