In Chinese and Indian Merchants in Modern Asia, the contributors put together an important and lucid study of overseas Chinese and Indian merchants and their impacts on the emerging global economy from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries. In contrast to the conventional focus on the merchants' networks per se, the chapters of this volume uncover their "networking," the process in which they constructed and utilized linkages based on the shared concepts such as caste, kin alliances, and religion. By analyzing the interactions between the merchants and the European and Japanese empires, along with Asian states, this volume provides the critical insights into the configuration of the regional economic order in the past and at present.

Shanghai Sanctuary assesses the plight of the European Jewish refugees who fled to Japanese-occupied China during World War II. This book is the first major study to examine the Nationalist government's policy towards the Jewish refugee issue and the most thorough and subtle analysis of Japanese diplomacy concerning this matter. Gao demonstrates that the story of the wartime Shanghai Jews is not merely a sidebar to the history of modern China or modern Japan. She illuminates how the "Jewish issue" complicated the relationships among China, Japan, Germany, and the United States before and during World War II. Her groundbreaking research provides an important contribution to international history and the history of the Holocaust. Chinese Nationalist government and the Japanese occupation authorities thought very carefully about the Shanghai Jews and how they could be used to win international financial and political support in their war against one another. The Holocaust had complicated repercussions extending far beyond Europe to East Asia, and Gao shows many of them in this tightly argued book. Her fluency in both Chinese and Japanese has permitted her to exploit archival sources no Western scholar has been able to fully use before. Gao brings the politics and personalities that led to the admittance of Jews to Shanghai during World War II together into a rich and revealing story.

The early Christian presence in Inner Mongolia forms the subject of this book. These Nestorian remains must primarily be attributed to the OEngut, a Turkic people closely allied to the Mongols. Writing in Syriac, Uighur and Chinese scripts and languages, the Nestorian OEngut drew upon a variety of religions and cultures to decorate their gravestones with crosses rising from lotus flowers, dragons and Taoist imagery. This heritage also portrays designs found in the Islamic world. Taking a closer look at the discovery of this material and its significance for the study of the early Church of the East under the Mongols, the author reconstructs the Nestorian culture of the OEngut. The reader will find many newly discovered objects not published before. At the same time this study demonstrates how many remaining objects were appropriated and, in many cases, vanished after their discovery. 'I find myself obliged to make a special effort to avoid over-praising this book, a treasure-house of information, drawn on a comprehensive array of sources, some of them hitherto untapped, and splendidly presented on the important subject of Christian presence in East Asia.' DENIS SINOR, (Indiana University), Journal of Asian History, 43/1 (2009)

This volume provides a history of how "the human" has been constituted as a subject of scientific inquiry in China from the seventeenth century to the present. Organized around four themes-"Parameters of Human Life," "Formations of the Human Subject," "Disciplining Knowledge," and "Deciphering Health"-it scrutinizes the development of scientific knowledge and technical interest in human organization within an evolving Chinese society. Spanning the Ming-Qing, Republican, and contemporary periods, its twenty-four original, synthetic chapters ground the mutual construction of "China" and "the human" in concrete historical contexts. As a state-of-the-field survey, a definitive textbook for teaching, and an authoritative reference that guides future research, this book pushes Sinology, comparative cultural studies, and the history of science in new directions.

While there is much discussion on Africa-China relations, the focus tends to lean more on the Chinese presence in Africa than on the African presence in China. There are numerous studies on the former but, with the exception of a few articles on the presence of African traders and students in China, little is known of the latter, even though an increasing number of Africans are visiting and settling in China and forming migrant communities there. This is a phenomenon that has never happened before the turn of the century and has thus led to what is often termed Africa's newest Diaspora. This book focuses on analyzing this new Diaspora, addressing the crucial question: What is it like to be an African in China? Africans in China is the first book-length study of the process of Africans travelling to China and forming communities there. Based on innovative intermingling of qualitative and quantitative research methods involving prolonged interaction with approximately 800 Africans across six main Chinese cities--Guangzhou, Yiwu, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau--sociolinguistic and sociocultural profiles are constructed to depict the everyday life of Africans in China. The study provides insights into understanding issues such as why Africans go to China, what they do there, how they communicate with their Chinese hosts, what opportunities and problems they encounter in their China sojourn, and how they are received by the Chinese state. Beyond these methodological and empirical contributions, the book also makes a theoretical contribution by proposing a crosscultural bridge theory of migrant-indigene relations, arguing that Africans in China act as sociopolitical, socioeconomic, and sociocultural bridges linking Africa to China. This approach to the analysis of Diaspora communities has consequences for crosscultural and crosslinguistic studies in an era of globalization. Africans in China is an important book for African Studies, Asian Studies, Africa-China relations studies, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, international studies, and migration and Diaspora studies in an era of globalization.

Hawi l-Funun (Encompasser of the Arts) of Ibn al-Tahhan (d. ca. 1057) is a medieval Arabic music dictionary that complements other sources because of the practical knowledge of the author who was an accomplished singer, lutenist and composer. The first part in 80 chapters deals with compositions; voice production and characteristics, unison and duet singing, taking care of the voice; preludes, ornaments, tarab; the importance of tonality; approaches to teaching; musical and extra-musical behavior at the court; names of Syrian Fatimid and Ishshidid singers. The second part in 22 chapters includes lute manufacturing, frets placement, stringing and tuning; 47 rhythmic ornaments, names and definitions of rhythmic and melodic modes; types of dances; descriptions of 12 instruments.

The leaders of the oil-rich rentier states of the Middle East, and in particular in the Gulf, have hitherto often predicated their legitimacy on a tacit social contract with their (much poorer) populations. This social contract consists of little or no direct taxation, with some sort of subsidized living. But the casualty of this tacit agreement is often political participation, an issue which has come to the forefront in the Middle East following the 'Arab Spring' of 2011. Here, Sulaiman Al-Farsi looks at the impact the rentier nature of the Gulf States has on political participation, focusing on the nexus between tribe, religion and a new generation of young, highly educated citizens that is present in Oman. Specifically exploring the concept of shura (consultation), and how nascent concepts of democracy in the practice of shura have impacted and shaped the process of democratization, Al-Farsi's book is vital in the examination of the political discourse surrounding democratization across one of the most strategically important, but little understood states in the Middle East.

A ferocious conflict between Mongol and Samurai
The Japanese word 'Ghenko' is the term employed for the Mongol invasion of Japan. The event was an immensely significant one for the Japanese and it remained so for centuries because, in part, the defeat of the invaders was attributed to divine intervention. There can be little doubt that Japan's salvation had much to do with the fact that they are an island race and in that they have much in common with other islanders, Great Britain among them, who on more than one occasion might claim the sea as their principal and most powerful ally. Indeed. the author of this book draws parallels with Britain and the Spanish Armada. The Mongols had rapidly risen to power during the 13th century and had created an unstoppable empire that spread over huge areas of land from the Yellow Sea of Asia to the Danube in Europe. Although massively stronger than the Japanese, the Mongols attacked the Japanese islands, attempting domination by invasion and yet were repulsed with finality. To modern students of military history the contents of this book has a compelling allure, since there can be no doubt that in the Mongol warrior and the Japanese Samurai there resided a martial spirit and expertise which, perhaps inevitably, could not both exist in the same sphere, but which in collision could not fail to instigate conflict of the most singular kind. This account of the clash between the ultimate warriors of their day analyses this time of warfare in superb detail. An essential addition to the library of anyone interested in the warfare of the East.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

Paul and the Gentile Problem provides a new explanation for the apostle Paul's statements about the Jewish law in his letters to the Romans and Galatians. Paul's arguments against circumcision and the law in Romans 2 and his reading of Genesis 15-21 in Galatians 4:21-31 belong within a stream of Jewish thinking which rejected the possibility that gentiles could undergo circumcision and adopt the Jewish law, thereby becoming Jews. Paul opposes this solution to the gentile problem because he thinks it misunderstands how essentially hopeless the gentile situation remains outside of Christ. The second part of the book moves from Paul's arguments against a gospel that requires gentiles to undergo circumcision and adoption of the Jewish law to his own positive account, based on his reading of the Abraham Narrative, of the way in which Israel's God relates to gentiles. Having received the Spirit (pneuma) of Christ, gentiles are incorporated into Christ, who is the singular seed of Abraham, and, therefore, become materially related to Abraham. But this solution raises a question: Why is it so important for Paul that gentiles become seed of Abraham? The argument of this book is that Paul believes that God had made certain promises to Abraham that only those who are his seed could enjoy and that these promises can be summarized as being empowered to live a moral life, inheriting the cosmos, and having the hope of an indestructible life.

This volume approaches the topic of mobility in Southeast Europe by offering the first detailed historical study of the land route connecting Istanbul with Belgrade. After this route that diagonally crosses Southeast Europe had been established in Roman times, it was as important for the Byzantines as the Ottomans to rule their Balkan territories. In the nineteenth century, the road was upgraded to a railroad and, most recently, to a motorway. The contributions in this volume focus on the period from the Middle Ages to the present day. They explore the various transformations of the route as well as its transformative role for the cities and regions along its course. This not only concerns the political function of the route to project the power of the successive empires. Also the historical actors such as merchants, travelling diplomats, Turkish guest workers or Middle Eastern refugees together with the various social, economic and cultural effects of their mobility are in the focus of attention. The overall aim is to gain a deeper understanding of Southeast Europe by foregrounding historical continuities and disruptions from a long-term perspective and by bringing into dialogue different national and regional approaches.

The `refugee crisis' and the recent rise of anti-immigration parties across Europe has prompted widespread debates about migration, integration and security on the continent. But the perspectives and experiences of immigrants in northern and western Europe have equal political significance for contemporary European societies. While Turkish migration to Europe has been a vital area of research, little scholarly attention has been paid to Turkish migration to specifically Sweden, which has a mix of religious and ethnic groups from Turkey and where now well over 100,000 Swedes have Turkish origins. This book examines immigration from Turkey to Sweden from its beginnings in the mid-1960s, when the recruitment of workers was needed to satisfy the expanding industrial economy. It traces the impact of Sweden's economic downturn, and the effects of the 1971 Turkish military intervention and the 1980 military coup, after which asylum seekers - mostly Assyrian Christians and Kurds - sought refuge in Sweden. Contributors explore how the patterns of labour migration and interactions with Swedish society impacted the social and political attitudes of these different communities, their sense of belonging, and diasporic activism. The book also investigates issues of integration, return migration, transnational ties, external voting and citizenship rights. Through the detailed analysis of migration to Sweden and emigration from Turkey, this book sheds new light on the situation of migrants in Europe.

This volume contains annotated translations of anecdotes, on musicological and socio-cultural topics, from al-Isbahani's The Grand Book of Songs. Includes music theory and treatises; instruments; composition techniques; education and transmission; vocal and instrumental performances; solo and ensemble music; improvisations; emotions; dances; social status.