From "China's foremost literary satirist" (Financial Times) comes a captivating new novel set at a religious training center in Beijing, focusing on the unlikely love story of a Buddhist nun and a Daoist priestAt the Religious Training Center on the campus of Beijing's National Politics University, disciples of China's five main religions--Buddhism, Daoism, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Islam--gather for a year of intensive study and training. In this hallowed yet jovial atmosphere, the institute's two youngest disciples--Yahui, a Buddhist jade nun, and Gu Mingzheng, a Daoist master--fall into a fast friendship that might bloom into something more.This year, however, the worldly Director Gong has an exciting new plan: he has organized tug-of-war competitions between the religions. The fervor of competition offers excitement for the disciples, as well as a lucrative source of fundraising, but Yahui looks on the games with distrust: her beloved mentor collapsed after witnessing one of these competitions. Gu Mingzheng, meanwhile, has his own mission at the institute, centering on his search for his unknown father. Soon it becomes clear that corruption is seeping ever more deeply into the foundation of the institute under Director Gong's watch, and Yahui and Gu Mingzheng will be forced to ask themselves whether it is better to stay committed to an increasingly fraught faith or to return to secular life forever--and nothing less than the fate of the gods itself is at stake.Illustrated throughout with beautiful original papercuts, animated by Yan Lianke's characteristically incisive sense of humor, Heart Sutra is a stunning and timely novel that highlights the best and worst in mankind and interrogates the costs of division.

The contributors to New World Orderings demonstrate that China's twenty-first-century rise occurs not only through economics and state politics but equally through the mutual entanglements of overlapping social, economic, and cultural worlds in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. They show how the Chinese state has sought to reconfigure the nation's position in the world and the centrality of trade, labor, religion, migration, gender, race, and literature to this reconfiguration. Among other topics, the contributors examine China's post-Bandung cultural diplomacy with African nations, how West African "pastor-entrepreneurs" in China interpreted and preached the prosperity doctrine, the diversity of Chinese-Argentine social relations in the soy supply chain, and the ties between China and India within the complex history of inter-Asian exchange and Chinese migration to Southeast Asia. By examining China's long historical relationship with the Global South, this volume presents a non-state-centric history of China that foregrounds the importance of transnational communicative and imaginative worldmaking processes and interactions. Contributors. Andrea Bachner, Luciano Damian Bolinaga, Nellie Chu, Rachel Cypher, Mingwei Huang, T. Tu Huynh, Yu-lin Lee, Ng Kim Chew, Lisa Rofel, Carlos Rojas, Shuang Shen, Derek Sheridan, Nicolai Volland

Through an analysis of a wide array of contemporary Chinese literature from inside and outside of China, this volume considers some of the ways in which China and Chineseness are understood and imagined. Using the central theme of the way in which literature has the potential to both reinforce and to undermine a national imaginary, the volume contains chapters offering new perspectives on well-known authors, from Jin Yucheng to Nobel Prize winning Mo Yan, as well as chapters focusing on authors rarely included in discussions of contemporary Chinese literature, such as the expatriate authors Larissa Lai and Xiaolu Guo. The volume is complemented by chapters covering more marginalized literary figures throughout history, such as Macau-born poet Yiling, the Malaysian-born novelist Zhang Guixing, and the ethnically Korean author Kim Hak-ch'ol. Invested in issues ranging from identity and representation, to translation and grammar, it is one of the few publications of its kind devoting comparable attention to authors from Mainland China, authors from Manchuria, Macau, and Taiwan, and throughout the global Chinese diaspora. Reading China Against the Grain: Imagining Communities is a rich resource of literary criticism for students and scholars of Chinese studies, sinophone studies, and comparative literature

The contributors to New World Orderings demonstrate that China's twenty-first-century rise occurs not only through economics and state politics but equally through the mutual entanglements of overlapping social, economic, and cultural worlds in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. They show how the Chinese state has sought to reconfigure the nation's position in the world and the centrality of trade, labor, religion, migration, gender, race, and literature to this reconfiguration. Among other topics, the contributors examine China's post-Bandung cultural diplomacy with African nations, how West African "pastor-entrepreneurs" in China interpreted and preached the prosperity doctrine, the diversity of Chinese-Argentine social relations in the soy supply chain, and the ties between China and India within the complex history of inter-Asian exchange and Chinese migration to Southeast Asia. By examining China's long historical relationship with the Global South, this volume presents a non-state-centric history of China that foregrounds the importance of transnational communicative and imaginative worldmaking processes and interactions. Contributors. Andrea Bachner, Luciano Damian Bolinaga, Nellie Chu, Rachel Cypher, Mingwei Huang, T. Tu Huynh, Yu-lin Lee, Ng Kim Chew, Lisa Rofel, Carlos Rojas, Shuang Shen, Derek Sheridan, Nicolai Volland

This book demonstrates the social, historical, and environmental framework within which humans have developed a relationship with the forest and its resources. Starting from the biological basis that permits the existence of forests to the use of forest resources in a modern human context, this book summarizes the interaction between humans and forest ecosystems. Designed for readers from a broad range of disciplines and interests including those from environmental sciences, environmental economics, sociology, anthropology, biology, forestry and human ecology and other related disciplines, the book evokes interest in the development of an integrated approach towards forest ecosystems and natural resources in the context of sustainability.

Through an analysis of a wide array of contemporary Chinese literature from inside and outside of China, this volume considers some of the ways in which China and Chineseness are understood and imagined. Using the central theme of the way in which literature has the potential to both reinforce and to undermine a national imaginary, the volume contains chapters offering new perspectives on well-known authors, from Jin Yucheng to Nobel Prize winning Mo Yan, as well as chapters focusing on authors rarely included in discussions of contemporary Chinese literature, such as the expatriate authors Larissa Lai and Xiaolu Guo. The volume is complemented by chapters covering more marginalized literary figures throughout history, such as Macau-born poet Yiling, the Malaysian-born novelist Zhang Guixing, and the ethnically Korean author Kim Hak-ch'ol. Invested in issues ranging from identity and representation, to translation and grammar, it is one of the few publications of its kind devoting comparable attention to authors from Mainland China, authors from Manchuria, Macau, and Taiwan, and throughout the global Chinese diaspora. Reading China Against the Grain: Imagining Communities is a rich resource of literary criticism for students and scholars of Chinese studies, sinophone studies, and comparative literature

Over the past twenty years, Chinese novelist Yan Lianke has emerged as one of the most important writers in the world. In Discovering Fiction, Yan offers insights into his views on literature and realism, the major works that inspired him, and his theories of writing. He juxtaposes discussions of the high realism of Leo Tolstoy and Lu Xun against Franz Kafka's modernism and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's magical realism, charting the relationship between causality, truth, and modes of realism. He also discusses his approach to realism, which he terms "mythorealism"-a way of capturing the world's underlying truth by relying on the allegories, myths, legends, and dreamscapes that emerge from daily life. Revealing and instructive, Discovering Fiction gives readers an unprecedented look into the mind and art of a literary giant.

Through analyses of a wide range of Chinese literary and visual texts from the beginning of the twentieth century through the contemporary period, the thirteen essays in this volume challenge the view that canonical and popular culture are self-evident and diametrically opposed categories, and instead argue that the two cultural sensibilities are inextricably bound up with one another.

An international line up of contributors present detailed analyses of literary works and other cultural products that have previously been neglected by scholars, while also examining more familiar authors and works from provocative new angles.The essays include investigations into the cultural industries and contexts that produce the canonical and popular, the position of contemporary popular works at the interstices of nostalgia and amnesia, and also the ways in which cultural texts are inflected with gendered and erotic sensibilities while at the same time also functioning as objects of desire in its own right.

As the only volume of its kind to cover the entire span of the 20th century, and also to consider the interplay of popular and canonical literature in modern China with comparable rigor, Rethinking Chinese Popular Culture is an important resource for students and scholars of Chinese literature and culture.

Through analyses of a wide range of Chinese literary and visual texts from the beginning of the twentieth century through the contemporary period, the thirteen essays in this volume challenge the view that canonical and popular culture are self-evident and diametrically opposed categories, and instead argue that the two cultural sensibilities are inextricably bound up with one another.

An international line up of contributors present detailed analyses of literary works and other cultural products that have previously been neglected by scholars, while also examining more familiar authors and works from provocative new angles.The essays include investigations into the cultural industries and contexts that produce the canonical and popular, the position of contemporary popular works at the interstices of nostalgia and amnesia, and also the ways in which cultural texts are inflected with gendered and erotic sensibilities while at the same time also functioning as objects of desire in its own right.

As the only volume of its kind to cover the entire span of the 20th century, and also to consider the interplay of popular and canonical literature in modern China with comparable rigor, Rethinking Chinese Popular Culture is an important resource for students and scholars of Chinese literature and culture.

Myxomycetes: Biology, Systematics, Biogeography and Ecology, Second Edition provides a complete collection of general and technical information on myxomycetes microorganisms. Its broad scope takes an integrated approach, considering a number of important aspects surrounding their genetics and molecular phylogeny. The book treats myxomycetes as a distinct group from fungi and includes molecular information that discusses systematics and evolutionary pathways. Written and developed by an international team of specialists, this second edition contains updated information on all aspects of myxomycetes. It incorporates relevant and new material on current barcoding developments, plasmodial network experimentation, and non-STEM disciplinary assimilation of myxomycete information. This book is a unique and authoritative resource for researchers in organismal biology and ecology disciplines, as well as students and academics in biology, ecology, microbiology, and similar subject areas. Cover image used with permission from Steve Young Photography

Gao Aijun is a son of the soil of Henan's Balou Mountains, and after a service in the Army, he is on his way back to his ancestral village, feeling like a hero. Close to his arrival, he sees a strikingly attractive woman walking barefoot alongside a railway track in the warm afternoon sun, and he is instantly smitten. She is Xia Hongmei and lives up to her name of "beautiful flower." Hiding their relationship from their spouses, the pair hurl themselves into the struggle to bring revolution to their backwater village. They spend their days and nights writing pamphlets, organizing work brigades, and attending rallies, feeling they are the vanguard for the full-blown revolution that is waiting in the wings. Emboldened by encouragement from the Party, the couple dig a literal "tunnel of love" between their homes, where underneath the village their revolutionary and sexual fervor reaches a boiling point. While the unsuspecting villagers sleep, they sing revolutionary songs and compete in shouting-matches of Maoist slogans before making earth-moving love. But when their torrid relationship is finally discovered, and they have to answer to Hongmei's husband, their dreams of a bright future together begin to fray. Will their great revolutionary energy save their skins, or will they too fall victim to the revolution that is swallowing up the country?A novel of rare emotional force and surprising humor, Hard Like Water is an operatic and brilliantly plotted human drama about power's corrupting nature and the brute force of love and desire.

Over the past twenty years, Chinese novelist Yan Lianke has emerged as one of the most important writers in the world. In Discovering Fiction, Yan offers insights into his views on literature and realism, the major works that inspired him, and his theories of writing. He juxtaposes discussions of the high realism of Leo Tolstoy and Lu Xun against Franz Kafka's modernism and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's magical realism, charting the relationship between causality, truth, and modes of realism. He also discusses his approach to realism, which he terms "mythorealism"-a way of capturing the world's underlying truth by relying on the allegories, myths, legends, and dreamscapes that emerge from daily life. Revealing and instructive, Discovering Fiction gives readers an unprecedented look into the mind and art of a literary giant.

Multi-prizewinning and internationally acclaimed Yan Lianke -- 'China's most controversial novelist' (New Yorker) -- returns with a campus novel like no other following a young Buddhist as she journeys through worldly temptation To tell the truth, religious faith is really just a matter of believing stories. The world is governed by stories, and it is for the sake of stories that everyone lives on this earth. Yahui is a young Buddhist at university. But this is no ordinary university. It is populated by every faith in China: Buddhists, Daoists, Catholics, Protestants and Muslims who jostle alongside one another in the corridors of learning, and whose deities are never far from the classroom. Her days are measured out making elaborate religious papercuts, taking part in highly charged tug-of-war competitions between the faiths and trying to resist the daily temptation to return to secular life and abandon the ascetic ideals that are her calling. Everything seems to dangle by a thread. But when she meets a Daoist student called Mingzheng, an inexorable romance of mythic proportions takes hold of her. In this profoundly otherworldly novel, Chinese master Yan Lianke remakes the campus novel in typically visionary fashion, dropping readers into an allegorical world ostensibly far from our own, but which reflects our own questions and struggles right back at us. ** Beautiful edition illustrated throughout with beautiful original papercuts ** 'One of China's greatest living authors' Guardian 'His talent cannot be ignored' New York Times 'China's foremost literary satirist' Financial Times

Yan Lianke has secured his place as contemporary China's most essential and daring novelist, "with his superlative gifts for storytelling and penetrating eye for truth" (New York Times Book Review). His newest novel, The Day the Sun Died--winner of the Dream of the Red Chamber Award, one of the most prestigious honors for Chinese-language novels--is a haunting story of a town caught in a waking nightmare. In a little village nestled in the Balou mountains, fourteen-year-old Li Niannian and his parents run a funeral parlor. One evening, he notices a strange occurrence. Instead of preparing for bed, more and more neighbors appear in the streets and fields, carrying on with their daily business as if the sun hadn't already set. Li Niannian watches, mystified. As hundreds of residents are found dreamwalking, they act out the desires they've suppressed during waking hours. Before long, the community devolves into chaos, and it's up to Li Niannian and his parents to save the town before sunrise. Set over the course of one increasingly bizarre night, The Day the Sun Died is a propulsive, darkly sinister tale from a world-class writer.

Contributors to this special issue examine a wide-ranging body of literature produced by ethnically Chinese populations of Southeast Asia. While much previous work on Chinese literature from that region has tended to focus on literature from Malaysia and former British Malaya, and particularly Chinese-language literature, the authors also consider literature from regions that are now Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The issue features analyses of works written in various Sinitic languages and creoles by authors with links to diasporic or post-diasporic Chinese communities. The contributors to the issue propose a set of interpretive methodologies for analyzing this post-national cultural formation, including inter-imperiality, posthumanism, and mesology—the study of the mutual relationships between living creatures and their biosocial environments. To this end, the authors examine not only canonical works but also genres that have often received less critical attention such as popular literature, flash fiction, genre fiction, and Sino-Malay poetry. Contributors. Brian Bernards, Cheow Thia Chan, Ng Kim Chew, Ko Chia-cian, Khor Boon Eng, Tom Hoogervorst, Shirley O. Lua, Carlos Rojas, Shuang Shen, Josh Stenberg, Nicolai Volland, David Der-wei Wang, Nicholas Y. H. Wong

Even as China is central to the contemporary global economy, its socialist past continues to shape its capitalist present. This volume's contributors see contemporary China as haunted by the promises of capitalism, the institutional legacy of the Maoist regime, and the spirit of Marxist resistance. China's development does not result from historical imperatives or deliberate economic strategies, but from the effects of discrete practices the contributors call protocols, which stem from an overlapping mix of socialist and capitalist institutional strategies, political procedures, legal regulations, religious rituals, and everyday practices. Analyzing the process of urbanization and the ways marginalized communities and migrant workers are positioned in relation to the transforming social landscape, the contributors show how these protocols constitute the Chinese national imaginary while opening spaces for new emancipatory possibilities. Offering a nuanced theory of contemporary China's hybrid political economy, Ghost Protocol situates China's development at the juncture between the world as experienced and the world as imagined. Contributors. Yomi Braester, Alexander Des Forges, Kabzung, Rachel Leng, Ralph A. Litzinger, Lisa Rofel, Carlos Rojas, Bryan Tilt, Robin Visser, Biao Xiang, Emily T. Yeh

Even as China is central to the contemporary global economy, its socialist past continues to shape its capitalist present. This volume's contributors see contemporary China as haunted by the promises of capitalism, the institutional legacy of the Maoist regime, and the spirit of Marxist resistance. China's development does not result from historical imperatives or deliberate economic strategies, but from the effects of discrete practices the contributors call protocols, which stem from an overlapping mix of socialist and capitalist institutional strategies, political procedures, legal regulations, religious rituals, and everyday practices. Analyzing the process of urbanization and the ways marginalized communities and migrant workers are positioned in relation to the transforming social landscape, the contributors show how these protocols constitute the Chinese national imaginary while opening spaces for new emancipatory possibilities. Offering a nuanced theory of contemporary China's hybrid political economy, Ghost Protocol situates China's development at the juncture between the world as experienced and the world as imagined. Contributors. Yomi Braester, Alexander Des Forges, Kabzung, Rachel Leng, Ralph A. Litzinger, Lisa Rofel, Carlos Rojas, Bryan Tilt, Robin Visser, Biao Xiang, Emily T. Yeh

In 1960, Japanese scholar of Chinese literature Takeuchi Yoshimi gave a pair of lectures titled "Asia as Method," in which he considered how one might engage with Western theory from an East Asian perspective. Since then, it has been fashionable to use the "X as method" formulation to take what might have otherwise been an object of analysis and use it to elaborate an innovative methodology. Drawing inspiration from the numerous recent books and articles built around that formulation, contributors to this issue propose breaking the linkage between methodologies and objects or phenomena that inspired them and then applying them to a broader array of topics. Essays address the meanings that get left out in the process of translation, artistic representations of garbage, indigenous eco-fiction from Inner Mongolia, the role of cannibalism in a popular Hong Kong television series, and the implications of Taiwan legalizing same-sex marriage. The issue focuses on topics related to China in hopes of reassessing the assumptions that have come to define the concept of "China" and its relationship to the West. Contributors. Yomi Braester, Hsiao-hung Chang, Margaret Hillenbrand, Chun-kit Ko, Belinda Kong, Petrus Liu, Laikwan Pang, Christopher Rea, Carlos Rojas, Shuang Shen, Robin Visser, Lorraine Wong

Myxomycetes: Biology, Systematics, Biogeography, and Ecology is a comprehensive overview of the body of accumulated knowledge that now exists on myxomycetes. Its broad scope takes an integrated approach to the knowledge of this organismal group, considering a number of important aspects of their genetics and molecular phylogeny. It also treats myxomycetes as a distinct group from fungi, and includes molecular information that discusses the systematics and evolutionary pathways of the group. Additionally, biomedical and engineering applicability is discussed, thus expanding the audience and use of the book in a multidisciplinary context. The book provides an authoritative resource for students, researchers and educators interested in the fields of protistology, microbial ecology, molecular microbiology, biogeography, mycology, biodiversity, and evolutionary biology, and will also interest the amateur naturalist and biologist.

This book demonstrates the social, historical, and environmental framework within which humans have developed a relationship with the forest and its resources. Starting from the biological basis that permits the existence of forests to the use of forest resources in a modern human context, this book summarizes the interaction between humans and forest ecosystems. Designed for readers from a broad range of disciplines and interests including those from environmental sciences, environmental economics, sociology, anthropology, biology, forestry and human ecology and other related disciplines, the book evokes interest in the development of an integrated approach towards forest ecosystems and natural resources in the context of sustainability.

Yan Lianke has secured his place as contemporary China's most essential and daring novelist, "with his superlative gifts for storytelling and penetrating eye for truth" (New York Times Book Review). His newest novel, The Day the Sun Died--winner of the Dream of the Red Chamber Award, one of the most prestigious honors for Chinese-language novels--is a haunting story of a town caught in a waking nightmare. In a little village nestled in the Balou mountains, fourteen-year-old Li Niannian and his parents run a funeral parlor. One evening, he notices a strange occurrence. Instead of preparing for bed, more and more neighbors appear in the streets and fields, carrying on with their daily business as if the sun hadn't already set. Li Niannian watches, mystified. As hundreds of residents are found dreamwalking, they act out the desires they've suppressed during waking hours. Before long, the community devolves into chaos, and it's up to Li Niannian and his parents to save the town before sunrise. Set over the course of one increasingly bizarre night, The Day the Sun Died is a propulsive, darkly sinister tale from a world-class writer.

This new title covers the extensive cruising area of Galicia in the north west of Spain from Ribadeo to Bayona, where the beautiful rias provide shelter from the Atlantic in picturesque harbours and remote anchorages. The authors have spent several seasons cruising in the area and making use of their local connections have produced a modern guide that provides in-depth information necessary for yachts spending time visiting the rias and ports of Galicia. Annotated town plans covering over 90 destinations show shore-side facilities and recommended restaurants and side panels provide advice on interesting places to visit, local customs and features of interest. Carlos Rojas has sailed yachts since 2000, a short but intensive career during which he has crossed the Atlantic, cruised in the Pacific, made several passages across Biscay and sailed to Ireland and France. His professional involvement in technology companies as an engineer, manager and director has given him an insight into design and usability that he applies to his pilot books. Carlos has lived most of his life in Britain but he is originally from Spain, a country that he knows well, naming Galicia as one of his favourite areas. Robert Bailey was brought up in a sailing family. Over a period of 35 years, and with the aid of a Nicholson 32 and Rustler 36, much of the coastline of the north western approaches to Europe, from the Faroe Islands in the north to the Morbihan in the south, were avidly explored. In 2001 he adopted a more flexible approach to his career as an aerospace engineer and this allowed him to take up cruising instruction. He is now a Yachtmaster Instructor.

Start developing single-page applications (SPAs) with modern architecture. This book shows you how to create, design, and publish native web components, ultimately allowing you to piece together those elements in a modern JavaScript framework. Building Native Web Components dives right in and gets you started building your first web component. You'll be introduced to native web component design systems and frameworks and discuss component-driven development to understand its importance in large-scale companies. You'll then move on to building web components using templates and APIs, and custom event lifecycles. Techniques and best practices for moving data, customizing, and distributing components are also covered. Throughout, you'll develop a foundation to start using Polymer, Vue.js, and Firebase in your day-to-day work. Confidently apply modern patterns and develop workflows to build agnostic software pieces that can be reused in SPAs. Building Native Web Components is your guide to developing small and autonomous web components that are focused, independent, reusable, testable, and works with all JavaScript frameworks, modern browsers, and libraries. What You Will Learn Incorporate component-driven development (CDD) and design systems into your workflow Build apps with reusable UI components that are agnostic to JavaScript frameworks Utilize Polymer and Vue.js in your day-to-day work Publish your UI components in npm (Node Package Manager) Who This Book Is For The book is intended for Intermediate-Advanced level readers interested in single-page applications (SPAs), as well as Polymer, Vue.js, and Firebase.