Hidden Transcripts

For readers interested in China depicted by western travellers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this set focuses on the theme "The Silk Road" and features five books written by explorers from various walks of life, including:Through Hidden Shensiby Francis H. Nichols, 1902In Forbidden China: The D'Ollone Mission 1906–1909;China—Tibet—Mongoliaby Vicomte d'Ollone, 1911Across China on Foot: Life in the Interior andthe Reform Movementby Edwin J. Dingle, 1911Among the Celestials: A Narrative of Travelsin Manchuria, Across the Gobi Desert,Through the Himalayas to Indiaby Francis Younghusband, 1898In the Footsteps of Marco Polo: Being the Accountof a Journey Overland from Simla to Pekinby Clarence Dalrymple Bruce, 1907Each volume of the collection aims to reignite interest and also to allow readers to explore how these books relate to the region today.

A Touch of Zen is one of the first Chinese-language films to gain recognition in an international film festival (the Grand Prix at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival), creating the generic mould for the "crossover" success of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in 2000. The film has achieved a cult status over the years but little has been written about it. This first book-length study of the classic martial arts film therefore redresses its critical neglect, and explores its multi-leveled dimensions and mysteries. One of the central features of the film is the enigmatic knight-lady (xia nü) whose quest for revenge leads her to cross paths with a poor scholar whose interest in military strategy seals their alliance. Teo discusses the psychological manifestations and implications of this relationship and concludes that the film's continuing relevance lies in its portrait of sexuality and the feminist desires of the heroine. Teo also analyzes the film's form as an action piece and the dir

In this stunning reassessment, Nicole T. C. Chiang argues that the famous Qianlong art collection is really ‘the collection of the imperial household in the Qianlong reign’. The distinction is signifi

In this new study, Peter ten Hoopen reveals levels of virtuosity in the work of Sumbanese textile artists that remained overlooked for over a century of Indonesian textile research. Their richly decorated men’s wraps, hinggi, have commonly been described as symmetric along both axes. But as ten Hoopen’s investigation at Leiden University uncovered, this supposed canon only survived because crucial design elements were overlooked. Sumba’s noble weavers managed to create asymmetry by hiding tiny visual elements that disrupted symmetry and were made to be overlooked. They exploited insights in the way we process visual information by simulating regularity, while deceitfully tying in elements that break it. Ironically, they were so good at hiding these design elements that they remained unnoticed for generations. This virtuosity was a product of Sumba’s competitive culture, suffused by an ancient headhunting ethos and marked by secrecy. As the artists strove to outsmart each other, natural