Introduction To The Geometry Of Complex Numbers

This book offers a glimpse into the wide-ranging 50-year career of the internationally renowned Hong Kong photographer/designer through his work in collages and photomontages. From his early album covers when he was an art director/designer for the music industry in New York, Los Angeles and London in the 1970’s, through his diverse international assignments and personal works, to his most recent exhibition in Hong Kong. The story encompasses the long journey from cut-and-paste collages to the computer-composited photomontages of dreamscapes in this Carnival of Dreams.In his introduction titled ‘The Man from Everywhere’, Pico Iyer writes: “For decades now, Basil Pao has been the global eye through which I’ve taken in almost every country, as clearly as the world within… I never know where to place Basil; I can’t get my head around him. Album-designer, loving father, covert Chan master—21st century Renaissance man—Basil is always bringing the many worlds inside him together to create so

Co-published with HKU LibrariesOn the Steppes of Dreams is the latest collection of ‘dreamscapes’ by Basil Pao. Designed as a companion piece to his previous book Carnival of Dreams (2023) - which chronicled, from his first album cover and early cut & paste collages to the current CGI enhanced digital images of his photomontage work over a period of 50 years. The new book completes the circle and concludes the story of his surrealist/magic-realism imagery with a chapter of tributes to the group of artists who had inspired and influenced his work. The book is also intended as a celebration and a momento for the 100th anniversary of Surrealism.In his introduction, Terry Gilliam wrote: “His stunningly beautiful composite images surprise us by combining opposites, juxtaposing unlikely imagery and ideas that ask questions, make us smile, make us think, releasing us from the rigid restrictions of Reason. The portal is in your hands. Turn the page and float off into Basil’s endless univer

In ancient times, scholars such as Confucius and Aristotle expounded on the virtue of the “middle way” or “intermediate,” an ideal point of moderation or balance between the extremes of human behavior. Adam Smith, widely considered the father of modern economics as we know it, also encouraged propriety in his first work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Since then, different schools of economics have continued to incorporate the idea of propriety into their theories, for example in such concepts as equilibrium and bounded rationality, though few economists have defined it explicitly. In light of growing uncertainty and polarization around the world, propriety economics offers alternative solutions for markets, governments, and everyday citizens.This book embarks on a thorough review of Eastern and Western philosophies of propriety over the past 2,500 years, followed by an investigation of the ideas of propriety found in five key schools of economics: classical, neoclassical, institution

This book offers a glimpse into the wide-ranging 50-year career of the internationally renowned Hong Kong photographer/designer through his work in collages and photomontages. From his early album covers when he was an art director/designer for the music industry in New York, Los Angeles and London in the 1970’s, through his diverse international assignments and personal works, to his most recent exhibition in Hong Kong. The story encompasses the long journey from cut-and-paste collages to the computer-composited photomontages of dreamscapes in this Carnival of Dreams.In his introduction titled ‘The Man from Everywhere’, Pico Iyer writes: “For decades now, Basil Pao has been the global eye through which I’ve taken in almost every country, as clearly as the world within… I never know where to place Basil; I can’t get my head around him. Album-designer, loving father, covert Chan master—21st century Renaissance man—Basil is always bringing the many worlds inside him together to create so

China—Art—Modernity provides a critical introduction to modern and contemporary Chinese art as a whole. It illuminates what is distinctive and significant about the rich range of art created during th

China―Art―Modernity provides a critical introduction to modern and contemporary Chinese art as a whole. It illuminates what is distinctive and significant about the rich range of art created during th

On the Steppes of Dreams is the latest collection of ‘dreamscapes’ by Basil Pao. Designed as a companion piece to his previous book Carnival of Dreams (2023) - which chronicled, from his first album cover and early cut & paste collages to the current CGI enhanced digital images of his photomontage work over a period of 50 years. The new book completes the circle and concludes the story of his surrealist/magic-realism imagery with a chapter of tributes to the group of artists who had inspired and influenced his work. The book is also intended as a celebration and a momento for the 100th anniversary of Surrealism.In his introduction, Terry Gilliam wrote: “His stunningly beautiful composite images surprise us by combining opposites, juxtaposing unlikely imagery and ideas that ask questions, make us smile, make us think, releasing us from the rigid restrictions of Reason. The portal is in your hands. Turn the page and float off into Basil’s endless universe of wondrous possibilities.”

The widely acclaimed films of Wong Kar-wai are characterized by their sumptuous yet complex visual and sonic style. Bettinson argues that Wong’s films—from Days of Being Wild and Chungking Express to In the Mood for Love and The Grandmaster—are permeated by an aesthetic of sensuousness and “disturbance” achieved through techniques such as narrative disruptions, jarring cuts, the blocking of facial access, and other complex strategies. The effect is to jolt the viewer out of complete aesthetic absorption. This tenth-anniversary edition of The Sensuous Cinema of Wong Kar-wai includes a substantial new afterword bringing the story of Wong’s career up to date (including reflections on the mainland Chinese drama Blossoms Shanghai). Bettinson revisits and extends the arguments of the first edition, surveys the recent key debates on Wong’s filmmaking, and introduces fresh lines of critical investigation.

This volume is a translated and edited collection of studies on the Shi ji (Records of the historian) by SimaQian, authored by the prestigious Japanese sinologist Miyazaki Ichisada. Providing a pathbreaking analysis of the structure and formation of the Shi ji, it serves not only as an excellent introduction to Sima Qian’s masterpiece but also offers historiographical and methodological insights that will stimulate further debate and research.In this volume, Miyazaki presents fascinating evidence of the influence of narrative fiction and drama in Sima Qian’s recreation of the entire length and breadth of Chinese history right up to his own time. By establishing a foundational model for writing comprehensive histories in China, Sima Qian’s work is essential for understanding the subsequent tradition of historical writing. This volume offers readers valuable insights into how Sima Qian constructed his seminal work.A monument of Japanese scholarship on the Shi ji, Prof. Miyazaki Ichisada’

During the nineteenth century, the transpacific world underwent profound transformation, due to the transition from sail to steam navigation that was accompanied by a concomitant reconfiguration of power. This book explores the ways in which diverse Mexican, British, Chinese, and Japanese interests participated, particularly during Porfirio Díaz’s presidency at the peak of Mexico’s participation in the steam network: from its 1860s outset through a time of many revolutionary changes ending with the World War, the Mexican Revolution, the opening of the Panama Canal, and the introduction of a new maritime technology based on vessels run by oil. These transoceanic exchanges, generated within these new geographies of power, contributed not only to the formation of a transpacific region but also to refashioning the Mexican national imaginary. With transnationalism, global and migration studies as its main framework, this study draws upon a dazzling array of primary sources to center Mexico’

For over 20 years, Basil Pao followed Michael Palin (and his BBC crew) around the world. He documented their journeys from the North to South Pole and around the Pacific Rim. They retraced the footsteps of Hemingway, traversed deep into the Sahara, and trekked up and down across the Himalayas. They crisscrossed post-Iron Curtain Eastern Europe and surveyed Brazil from the Amazon to Iguazu Falls. Their collaborations resulted in 11 bestselling illustrated books. In between the Palin journeys, Pao travelled extensively for a variety of clients that took him to remote and exotic locations across the globe, including an epic journey through every province across the length and breadth of China to create the classic China Revealed.OM2—Ordinary Moments+ is the distilled essence of all the miles travelled and the tens of thousands of pictures captured. This anthology of 140 photographs illuminates the purity of Pao’s vision and contains some of the maestro’s personal favourite repor

This concise and authoritative work offers the latest guidance on journalism ethics for students and media professionals and will help empower news consumers to make informed decisions about the trustworthiness of their sources of information. It offers advice on all aspects of journalism ethics including accuracy and seeking the truth, representation of women, LGBTQ coverage, climate change, mental health, use of images, conflict reporting, elections, and how to use artificial intelligence. The author brings a unique perspective and depth of knowledge to the complex challenges facing journalists and news consumers in this era of fake news, disinformation, and artificial intelligence.

Form Follows Fever is the first in-depth account of the turbulent early years of settlement and growth of colonial Hong Kong across the 1840s. During this period, the island gained a terrible reputation as a diseased and deadly location. Malaria, then perceived as a mysterious vapour or miasma, intermittently carried off settlers by the hundreds. Various attempts to arrest its effects acted as a catalyst, reconfiguring both the city’s physical and political landscape, though not necessarily for the better. Caught in a frenzy to rebuild the city in the devastating aftermath, this book charts the complex interplay between a cast of figures, from military surveyors, naval doctors, Indian sepoys, and corrupt and paranoid officials to opium traders, arsonists, Chinese contractors, and sojourner architects and artists. However, Hong Kong’s ‘construction’ was not just physical but also imagined. Architecture, cartography, epidemiology, and urban infrastructure offer a critical forensic l

The introduction of elections to district advisory bodies during the early 1980s was expected to improve the public delivery of services. However, as time passed, electoral politics led to party politics, elite fragmentation and political struggles. Politicization and hyper-politicization in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has brought about a fluctuating pattern between administrative recentralization, the Tsang administration’s attempts at decentralization, and the post-2019 administrative recentralization.The purpose of this book is to study the intertwining relationship between district administration and electoral politics. It also examines the political transformation of District Councils after the promulgation of the National Security Law in late June 2020. Written by experts in the field, this book is a good reference source for readers interested in district elections, politics, and administration in Hong Kong.

Dazzled by the twilight of 17th-century painter Aert van der Neer’s Moonlit Landscape with a Road beside a Canal (1645–1650), contemporary Spanish artist Alberto Reguera created twenty three paintings as an homage to the celebrated artist of the Dutch Golden Age.This new series of paintings examines and connects directly to Van der Neer’s masterpiece, and the important painterly achievements of the Dutch painter’s generation.The exhibition and accompanying publication is the second collaboration between the University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) and Alberto Reguera. While the first exhibition Blue Expansive Landscape (2015) was notable for the display of the painter’s two- and three-dimensional works, and his innovative ways of painting beyond the canvas, Homage to Aert van der Neer is a similarly complex endeavour that has been achieved through a successful partnership with UMAG, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the artist.當代西班牙藝術家 Alberto Reguera 艾拔圖‧雷古拉 傾慕於十七世紀荷蘭畫家 Aert v

In On Saving Face, Michael Keevak traces the Western reception of the Chinese concept of “face” during the past two hundred years, arguing that it has always been linked to nineteenth-century colonialism. “Lose face” and “save face” have become so normalized in modern European languages that most users do not even realize that they are of Chinese origin. “Face” is an extremely complex and varied notion in all East Asian cultures. It involves proper behavior and the avoidance of conflict, encompassing every aspect of one’s place in society as well as one’s relationships with other people. One can “give face,” “get face,” “fight for face,” “tear up face,” and a host of other expressions. But when it began to become known to the Western trading community in China beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, it was distorted and reduced to two phrases only, “lose face” and “save face,” both of which were used to suggest distinctly Western ideas of humiliation, embarrassment, honor, a

Traversing from the rapidly urbanising county-level city of Fuqing to the remote mountainous kingdom of Lesotho in Southern Africa, Searching for Sweetness is one of the first and most extensive ethnographies linking rural-to-urban migration in China with Chinese migration to Africa. Against the backdrop of China’s national struggle for modernity and globalisation, Sarah Hanisch examines Chinese migrant women’s complex and ever-shifting struggles for upward social mobility across different generations and localities in China and Lesotho. Embedding the women’s individual portraits into larger historical contexts, Hanisch illustrates how these women interpret and narrate their migratory and everyday experiences through and beyond powerful state metanarratives on ‘sweetness’ and ‘bitterness’. In her exploration of migratory identities and projects that have been overlooked by previous studies, Hanisch brings uniquely gendered, multi-sited, and intergenerational perspectives to existing sc

Almost right from the introduction of baseball to Japan the sport was regarded as qualitatively different from the original American model. This vision of Japanese baseball associates the sport with s

The main objective of Chinese-English Contrastive Grammar: An Introduction is to familiarize the reader with a subset of the learning difficulties and common errors in ESL/EFL pronunciation and lexico

The essays in this volume address a diverse range of issues in China’s narrative art and visual culture mainly from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) to the present. These studies attend to the complex way

Effective since China's resumption of sovereignty on July 1, 1997, the Hong Kong Basic Law lays down the general policies and system of government for Hong Kong under the "one country, two systems" fo

Within this text, the contributors provide a historical perspective on the development of anthropology and sociology since their introduction to Chinese thought and education in the early twentieth ce

An essential text for anyone interested in crime, law and justice in Hong Kong, this book offers the only comprehensive survey of all the major parts of Hong Kong’s criminal justice system. It also pr

Ikat Textiles of Timor offers an in-depth overview of regional textile styles from both West and East Timor, while also contributing significant new insights into their design traditions. In academic literature, the ikated men’s wraps from Timor have long been described as symmetrical. However, Dr Peter ten Hoopen’s examination of early examples from museums and private collections reveals that, historically, two thirds of these textiles were actually asymmetrical. This discovery challenges an academic consensus that has persisted since 1912, and highlights a previously overlooked level of creative ingenuity—inviting greater admiration for the women who wove these complex designs.Today’s ikat weavers on Timor, like many foreign scholars before them, seem unaware that asymmetry was once a dominant design principle. Many continue to assert that perfect symmetry has always been the tradition. Yet the historical textiles tell a different story. Ten Hoopen’s groundbreaking findings justify

History remembers Du Fu (712–70) as the Confucian poet-sage, but why would he abandon his official post to wander the remote fringes of the Tang empire? This exploration of Du Fu’s late wanderings reveals the restless spiritual and intellectual journey that mirrored his seemingly directionless, perplexing physical travels. Moving beyond traditional portrayals, it uncovers a complex figure torn between north and south, service and retreat, and the truths of the Three Teachings.A close reading of the poems from his last, prolific decade follows Du Fu as he confronts the brilliance and collapse of his dynasty, transforming all he experienced into poetry that became both his autobiography and his apology. Through his verse, a man who refused to settle for a single answer emerges, one whose constant wavering was a part of his greatness and ultimately redefined the possibilities of Chinese poetry.

Although the arts have been firmly planted in the Hong Kong school system since the 1950s, they are often sacrificed in place of core subjects and preparation for examinations. Drawing on over fourteen years of exploration and experience, Yau makes the case that arts are critical to cultivating creative mindsets, which are our best resource for innovating and responding to challenges in this complex world of sudden changes. Through case studies and conversations with practising artists and educators, this book demonstrates why arts and education, two normally discrete disciplines, should be broadly integrated into the local Hong Kong curriculum, and how this can be – and has been – achieved.This book is intended for policymakers, educators, arts heads, and artists. The volume will also appeal to readers curious about how and why the arts should be foundational to education and capacity building in the twenty-first century.

Battle of the Artisans tells the story of Tangtun, a conflicted, artistic twelve-year-old in 5th-century BCE China, who sets out to save his father from a killer. He crosses wits with his macho father and a vengeful king, armed thieves, and disgruntled villagers, and in the process, discovers new powers that rock his Bronze-Age world. In the end, what matters most is not Tangtun’s artistic abilities or his father’s muscles and might but that they realize the strength of acting together.This novel portrays the making of the very real Bells of Marquis Yi, a 2500-year-old National Treasure of China. No one knows exactly why these bells were made, but Bennett provides a well-researched and persuasive solution to the mystery through her story of Tangtun and his village on the Yangtze River.Every historical novel is an imagined introduction to a topic and a time. Battle of the Artisans invites readers to explore further the world and the science of the bells of Marquis Yi, to learn more abou

Set against the backdrop of regional and international post–Second World War tensions, Grounded at Kai Tak is the most comprehensive account of the complex legal struggle for ownership of 71 airplanes belonging to the two main Chinese airlines, which were stranded at Kai Tak airfield in Hong Kong at the end of the Chinese civil war. The resulting contest for possession of them took place in the courts and among politicians and diplomats on three continents. In the process, the struggle became entangled with the anti-communist policies of the United States in the emerging ‘Cold War’, British hopes for restoration of her pre-war commercial position in China, disagreements between nations about recognition of the new government in Peking, and the delicate balance that the colonial government of Hong Kong had to keep to preserve that colony’s interests.Merry tells the tale of this legal saga by weaving together archival documents and news reports of the day, revealing the international ali

Essentials of Contract Drafting and Negotiation for Construction Professionals is a practical and user-friendly guide to common practical contractual matters and is intended for construction professionals involved in contract drafting and negotiating. Knowing how to draft an effective contract is crucial in construction, particularly because of the complex and technical nature of construction projects. Divided into six chapters, this guide will enhance and refresh essential knowledge for lawyers and construction professionals who need to understand the principles of drafting and interpreting construction contracts, how to clearly identify and include key elements in these contracts, as well as how to avoid legal traps and pitfalls in contract negotiations and enforcement.

Essentials of Contract Drafting and Negotiation for Construction Professionals is a practical and user-friendly guide to common practical contractual matters and is intended for construction professionals involved in contract drafting and negotiating. Knowing how to draft an effective contract is crucial in construction, particularly because of the complex and technical nature of construction projects. Divided into six chapters, this guide will enhance and refresh essential knowledge for lawyers and construction professionals who need to understand the principles of drafting and interpreting construction contracts, how to clearly identify and include key elements in these contracts, as well as how to avoid legal traps and pitfalls in contract negotiations and enforcement.

Jonathan Stalling’s experimental approach to bridging art, poetics, and linguistics imagines a world where individual value systems are no longer translated into the language of other mediums, but foster conscious “interlanguages.” Stalling writes, “Meeting in the middle, ‘interlanguages’ are spaces where one learns a new language without having left one’s home fully behind; these situations can result in richly generative interlingual and intercultural estuaries which provide new ways of imagining.” Stalling’s conceptual language art fuses Classical Chinese poetics and linguistics with modern algorithms to create art installations and poetry that transform Chinese into English and English into Chinese in new and surprising ways.With a visual gallery of Stalling’s work, an interview with the artist, a critical introduction by the editor, and critical chapters written by the comparative literature scholar Timothy Billings and Chinese Linguist Liu Nian, the volume provides readers with a

Appropriate for use by students at varying levels of competence, Burmese: A Cultural Approach provides a thorough and systematic introduction to the Burmese writing system in Part One and a series of

The main objective of this book is to familiarize the reader with a subset of the learning difficulties and common errors in ESL/EFL pronunciation and lexico-grammatical structures encountered by Chin

This is one in a series of introductory books providing readers with an overview of the most frequently encountered legal principles. This book presents an introduction to contract principles that app

This is one in a series of introductory books providing readers with an overview of the most frequently encountered legal principles. This book presents an introduction to contract principles that app

This book provides a general introduction to the basic principles of shipping and logistics law in Hong Kong. It contains many practical examples and illustrations from case law. Extracts of the relev

This book provides a general introduction to the basic principles of shipping and logistics law in Hong Kong. It contains many practical examples and illustrations from case law. Extracts of the relev

C. T. Hsia studies in depth the six landmarks of Chinese fiction: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Water Margin, Journey to the West, Chin P'ing Mei, The Scholars, and Dream of the Red Chamber.

Before the opening of the treaty ports in the 1840s, Canton was the only Chinese port where foreign merchants were allowed to trade. The Golden Ghetto takes us into the world of one of this city's mos

Brush and Shutter: Early Photography in China explores the introduction of photography to China and the cultural shifts that heralded the technology's arrival. The essays examine photography's recepti