|
Product Description
The Tang Dynasty (618-907), traditionally regarded as the golden age of China, was a time of patricians and intellectuals, Buddhist monks and Taoist priests, poetry and music, song and dance. In China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty, Charles Benn paints a vivid picture of the lifestyle behind the grandeur of the Tang culture.All aspects of day-to-day life are presented, including crime,entertainment, fashion, marriage, food, hygiene, dwellings, and transportation. Attend an ancient feast to celebrate an imperial birthday, where ale was served in elaborate pitchers before a meal of fourteen hors d'oeuvres and twenty-three courses. Learn which colors concubines used for their eye makeup and beauty marks, and what jealous wives did to discourage such enhancement. See the similarities between today's pubs and the Tang alehouses, where women were hired to dance and sing to encourage patrons to stay longer and spend more money. Decide for yourself why Yangzhou, a city on the Grand Canal close to the Yangtze River, was considered one of the greatest cities in the Tang Dynasty.
Benn translates and paraphrases his classical Chinese sources from the Tang era with fresh and polished prose. He also includes his own illustrations of everything from tools and hairstyles to musical instruments and courtyard dwellings. A history of the rise and fall of the dynasty is presented, as is a look at the societal structure of the aristocracy, bureaucracy, eunuchs, clergy, peasants, artisans, merchants, and slaves. This thorough explanation provides fascinating insight into a culture and time that is often misunderstood by Westerners and brings alive both the everyday routine and the timeless splendor of this intellectually and artistically powerful epoch. Enjoy your journey in China's Golden Age, and come back to the present with a greater understanding of this amazing time.
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
- The Description of the World
- Early China: A Social And Cultural History (New Approaches to Asian History)
- Images of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings from the Pre-Qin Period through the Song Dynasty
- In the Wake of the Mongols: The Making of a New Social Order in North China, 1200-1600 (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series)
- The Cambridge Illustrated History of China
- Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276
- Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, 2nd Ed
- China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty (History of Imperial China)
- Bound Feet & Western Dress: A Memoir
- This Is China: The First 5,000 Years (This World of Ours)
*If this is not the "China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty" product you were looking for, you can check the other results by clicking this link. Details were last updated on Nov 2, 2024 22:31 +08.