Empresses of China's Forbidden City

Empresses of China's Forbidden City PDF Author: Daisy Yiyou Wang
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300237085
Category : ART
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
"Empresses of China's Forbidden City: 1644-1912 accompanies the exhibition of the same title organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, the Freer]Sackler, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC, and the Palace Museum, Beijing, China."

Empresses of China's Forbidden City

Empresses of China's Forbidden City PDF Author: Yiyou Wang
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780875772356
Category : ART
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
"Empresses in the Qing dynasty played an influential role in in the imperial court and the cosmopolitan culture of their time. Offering compelling insights into the material culture, activities, and living spaces of Qing empresses, this lavishly illustrated book features over one hundred spectacular works of art from the Palace Museum in Beijing-including large-scale portraits, court robes, and richly decorated Buddhist sutras-that bring the splendor of the Qing court to life. A series of in-sightful essays examines the fascinating ways that key imperial women engaged with art, religion, and politics. This unprecedented exploration of the Qing court from the perspective of its top-ranked women is an important new contribution to our understanding of Chinese art and history"--

Two Years in the Forbidden City

Two Years in the Forbidden City PDF Author: Princess Der Ling
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 221

Book Description
Two Years in the Forbidden City is the memoir by Princess Der Ling about her life in the service of Empress Dowager Cixi, where she was the First lady-in-waiting, as well as interpreter for her when she received foreign visitors. The book provides unique insights into life at the Manchu court and the character of the Empress, a world that ended abruptly with the 1911 revolution that overthrew the Manchu or Qing dynasty.

Two Years in The Forbidden City

Two Years in The Forbidden City PDF Author: Princess Der Ling
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Beijing (China)
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
The author of the following narrative has peculiar qualifications for her task. She is a daughter of Lord Yü Keng, a member of the Manchu White Banner Corps, and one of the most advanced and progressive Chinese officials of his generation. -- Foreword.

Empress Orchid

Empress Orchid PDF Author: Anchee Min
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547347200
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
“A fascinating novel, similar to Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha . . . A revisionist portrait of a beautiful and strong-willed woman” (Houston Chronicle). A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year From Anchee Min, a master of the historical novel, Empress Orchid sweeps readers into the heart of the Forbidden City to tell the fascinating story of a young concubine who becomes China’s last empress. Min introduces the beautiful Tzu Hsi, known as Orchid, and weaves an epic of the country girl who seized power through seduction, murder, and endless intrigue. When China is threatened by enemies, she alone seems capable of holding the country together. In this “absorbing companion piece to her novel Becoming Madame Mao,” readers and reading groups will once again be transported by Min’s lavish evocation of the Forbidden City in its last days of imperial glory and by her brilliant portrait of a flawed yet utterly compelling woman who survived, and ultimately dominated, a male world (The New York Times). “Superb . . . [An] unforgettable heroine.” —People “A sexually charged, eye-opening portrayal of the Chinese empire . . . with heart-wrenching scenes of desperate failure and a sensuality that rises off its heated pages.” —Elle

Mad Scenes and Exit Arias

Mad Scenes and Exit Arias PDF Author: Heidi Waleson
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
ISBN: 1627794972
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
From the Wall Street Journal's opera critic, a wide-ranging narrative history of how and why the New York City Opera went bankrupt—and what it means for the future of the arts In October 2013, the arts world was rocked by the news that the New York City Opera—“the people’s opera”—had finally succumbed to financial hardship after 70 years in operation. The company had been a fixture on the national opera scene—as the populist antithesis of the grand Metropolitan Opera, a nurturing home for young American talent, and a place where new, lively ideas shook up a venerable art form. But NYCO’s demise represented more than the loss of a cherished organization: it was a harbinger of massive upheaval in the performing arts—and a warning about how cultural institutions would need to change in order to survive. Drawing on extensive research and reporting, Heidi Waleson, one of the foremost American opera critics, recounts the history of this scrappy company and reveals how, from the beginning, it precariously balanced an ambitious artistic program on fragile financial supports. Waleson also looks forward and considers some better-managed, more visionary opera companies that have taken City Opera’s lessons to heart. Above all, Mad Scenes and Exit Arias is a story of money, ego, changes in institutional identity, competing forces of populism and elitism, and the ongoing debate about the role of the arts in society. It serves as a detailed case study not only for an American arts organization, but also for the sustainability and management of nonprofit organizations across the country.

The Emperor's Private Paradise

The Emperor's Private Paradise PDF Author: Nancy Zeng Berliner
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN:
Category : Beijing (China)
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
This exhibition catalogue offers a magnificent, thorough study of 90 objects from the Qianlong Garden in Beijing's Forbidden City. Objects include wall paintings, furniture, architectural fittings, ceramics, and stone. They have been on public view infrequently and only in the Qianlong Garden, which is now undergoing a 20-year restoration under the lead of the World Monuments Fund and Beijing's Palace Museum. The garden is a two-acre tract consisting of 27 buildings, their contents, and a mature landscape--the whole complex is characterized as a "multi-layered artwork." Following an introduction by Elliott (Harvard), Berliner (Peabody Essex Museum) presents the general characteristics of scholar and emperor gardens, and the early gardens of Emperor Qianlong, along with a minute analysis of the Qianlong Garden. Yuan Hongqi (Palace Museum), Liu Chang (Tsinghua Univ., Beijing), and Henry Tzu Ng (World Monuments Fund) treat the garden's subsequent history. Interlaced throughout are superb illustrations of the objects and the garden, followed by a catalogue with small illustrations of objects, and their curatorial data; a chronology; a comparative, annotated time line; maps; glossary; and Chinese pronunciation guide. This must-buy publication is a model of sensitive scholarship that places the garden and its objects in an understandable, universal context. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. General Readers; Lower-division Undergraduates; Upper-division Undergraduates; Graduate Students; Researchers/Faculty; Professionals/Practitioners. Reviewed by D. K. Haworth.

2 Years in the Forbidden City

2 Years in the Forbidden City PDF Author: Princess Der Ling
Publisher: e-artnow
ISBN: 802724692X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Book Description
This eBook has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Two Years in the Forbidden City is the memoir by Princess Der Ling about her life in the service of Empress Dowager Cixi, where she was the First lady-in-waiting, as well as interpreter for her when she received foreign visitors. The book provides unique insights into life at the Manchu court and the character of the Empress, a world that ended abruptly with the 1911 revolution that overthrew the Manchu or Qing dynasty.

Empress Dowager Cixi

Empress Dowager Cixi PDF Author: Jung Chang
Publisher: Random House Canada
ISBN: 0307363120
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 431

Book Description
From the beloved, internationally bestselling author of Wild Swans, and co-author of the bestselling Mao: The Unknown Story, the dramatic, epic biography of the unusual woman who ruled China for 50 years, from concubine to Empress, overturning centuries of traditions and formalities to bring China into the modern world. A woman, an Empress of immense wealth who was largely a prisoner within the compound walls of her palaces, a mother, a ruthless enemy, and a brilliant strategist: Chang makes a compelling case that Cixi was one of the most formidable and enlightened rulers of any nation. Cixi led an intense and singular life. Chosen at the age of 12 to be a concubine by the Emperor Xianfeng, she gave birth to his only male heir who at four was designated Emperor when his father died in 1861. In a brilliant move, the young woman enlisted the help of the Emperor's widow and the two women orchestrated a coup that ousted the regents and made Cixi sole Regent. Untrained and untaught, the two studied history and politics together, ruling the huge nation from behind a curtain. When her boy died, Cixi designated a young nephew as Emperor, continuing her reign till her death in 1908. Chang gives us a complex, riveting portrait of Cixi through a reign as long as that of her fellow Empress, Victoria, whom she longed to meet: her ruthlessness in fighting off rivals; her curiosity to learn; her reliance on Westerners who she placed in key positions; and her sensitivity and desire to preserve the distinctiveness of China's past while overturning traditions (she, as Chang reveals--not Mao, as he claimed--banned footbinding) and exposing its culture to western ideas and technology.

The Last Empress

The Last Empress PDF Author: Anchee Min
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408828995
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 282

Book Description
'Vivid and entertaining ... this is history as it plays upon the emotions. Empires crumble, hearts are broken' THE TIMES From the bestselling author of Red Azalea comes the much-anticipated sequel to Empress Orchid At the end of the nineteenth century China is rocked by foreign attacks and local rebellions. The only constant is the power wielded by one woman, Tzu Hsi, also known as Empress Orchid, who must face the perilous condition of her empire and devastating personal losses. In this sequel to the bestselling Empress Orchid, Anchee Min brings to life one of the most important figures in Chinese history, a very human leader who sacrifices all she has to protect both those she loves and her doomed empire.