Contested Boundaries

In The Heart Sūtra: Revisiting Its Texts, History, and Meaning, Henry C. H. Shiu investigates the historical origins of the Heart Sūtra, a significant Buddhist scripture. He compares the Sanskrit texts with their Chinese and Tibetan translations to analyse whether the Heart Sūtra might be a Chinese apocryphon, through detailed linguistic examination. To achieve this goal, Shiu thoroughly examines the primary sources from which the scripture was extracted. He emphasises the necessity of reading the Heart Sūtra in the larger context of the Perfection of Wisdom literature, which contains the essence of Mahāyāna Buddhist teaching. In this monograph, Shiu successfully transcends the boundaries between the Chinese, Indian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions and provides a revisionist interpretation of the Heart Sūtra.

Surrealism in China initially gained a foothold in Shanghai’s former French concession during the early 1930s, disseminated by returning Chinese students who had directly encountered the movement in Paris and Tokyo. Shanghai surrealism adopted a dialectical form, resonating with the modus operandi of the Parisian movement as well as China’s traditional belief system of Daoism. Reconciling the thought of Freud and Marx, Surrealism subsumed the multiple contradictions that divided Republican Shanghai, East and West, colonial and cosmopolitan, ancient and modern, navigating the porous boundaries that separate dream and reality. Shanghai surrealists were not rigid followers of their Parisian counterparts. Indeed, they commingled Surrealist techniques with elements of traditional Chinese iconography. Rather than revolving around a centralized group with a leader, Shanghai Surrealism was a much more diffuse entity, disseminated across copious different periodicals, avant-garde groups, and th

The Boundless Treasures of the Mountains and the Seas People often use the term "treasures" to describe the lives and resources existing in the mountains and the seas; however, they do not keep or care for the treasures carefully like they treat precious gemstones. Overconsumption is what humans do to the treasures. With the aim of preventing the treasures from being completely depleted in the near future, the Summer Edition's cover stories will continue the spirit of this year's theme "Grand Perspectives with no Boundaries" by sharing stories about a group of people who are committed to protecting the boundless treasures of the mountains and the seas through transnational, interagency, and intersectoral exchange and collaboration for the concept of conservation to prevail in different corners of the world. Cover Story I took the "2023 International Conservation Symposium" as a starting point to explore how international exchanges can create more opportunities for conservation practi

Chinese Diaspora Charity and the Cantonese Pacific, 1850–1949 sheds new light on the history of charity among Chinese overseas and its place in the history of charity in China and in the wider history of global philanthropy. It finds that diaspora charity, besides serving traditional functions of helping the sick and destitute and supporting development in China, helped to build trust among dispersed hometown networks while challenging color boundaries in host societies by contributing to wider social causes. The book shows that charitable activities among the “Gold Rush” communities of the Pacific rim—a loosely integrated émigré network from Guangdong Province perhaps better known for its business acumen and hard work among English-speaking settler societies in North America and Australasia—also led the way with social innovations that helped to shape modern charity in China. Fitzgerald and Yip’s volume demonstrates that charity lay at the heart of community life among Chinese commu

成功與成長，不等於一個人奮戰。 真正的力量，來自健康的人際連結。 一條線容易斷，一張網能接住你。 用真實的連結建立信任， 善用人脈打造高效合作， 讓個人與組織在變局中持續領先。 本書作者亨利‧克勞德（Dr. Henry Cloud）是知名的領導顧問，也是一位暢銷作家，他以界線（boundary）系列著作聞名，包括《立界線得自由》（Boundaries）、《為領導立界線》（Boundaries for Leaders）等書。 克勞德認為，人的成長與成功，從來不只是個人奮鬥的結果，而是深深依賴於「信任他人的力量」。作者透過心理學、神經科學與真實案例，闡述人際連結如何塑造我們的生命，並提出具體方法，幫助讀者學會善用人際關係，建立支持網絡，走得更穩、更遠。 書中將人際關係劃分為四種「角落」：第一是「斷了連線」，意指孤立無援；第二是「壞的聯繫」，會帶來消耗與傷害；第三是「表面上看似良好的聯繫」，往往是短暫、虛假的安慰；唯有第四種「真正的聯繫」才是健康而正向的，它能讓人表達需求、彼此信任、共同承擔挑戰。作者指出，成功的秘訣不在孤軍奮戰，而是學會進入「第四號角落」，透過真誠的互動汲取能量，才能突破個人極限。 本書不僅談心理層面的支持，也結合了實務案例，說明突破往往來自於團隊合作與人際網絡的互助。此外，他也分享了在家庭、職場與治療現場中，真實的「他人力量」如何幫助個人走過低潮，重新獲得勇氣與動能。 當我們願意敞開心胸，勇敢求助，學會信任與合作，就能把斷裂的線編織成牢固的網，讓自己走得更遠、更自由，也幫助彼此活出潛能。這本書既是心理學的應用指南，也是一本人生的行動手冊，適合想改善人際關係、追求長遠成長的讀者。 ｜本書金句｜ ☑一條線容易斷裂，但一張網卻能接住跌落的你。 ☑一個人或許能走得快，但唯有一群人才能走得遠。 ☑孤立會讓人萎縮，連結能讓人茁壯。 ☑成功不是孤軍奮戰，而是連結的力量。 ☑真正的聯繫，是你敢於表達需求，也願意傾聽他人。 ☑沒有人能單靠自己突破極限。 ☑信任是所有合作的基礎。 ☑好的關係會幫你省下十年的彎路。 ☑真正的強大，是敢於示弱並求助。 ☑孤單或許能走得快，但連結才能走得遠。 ☑他人的力

「為解放而戰的青蛙們，唯有蹲坐在陰暗的半個椰殼底下不動才會失敗。 全世界的青蛙團結起來！」 《想像的共同體》作者班納迪克．安德森學術人生自述 是什麼樣的社會、政治、文化與時代背景，孕育、教育並養成了《想像的共同體》（Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism）的作者班納迪克．安德森(Benedict Anderson)？ 班納迪克．安德森終其一生都在挑戰他那個時代的紀律、文化、學術和政治的界限。在《椰殼碗外的人生》（A Life Beyond Boundaries）這本書裡，他記述自己人生中智識形成的歷程，如何迎向寬廣的世界，從中感受探索學習語言的樂趣，以及田野調查的重要性、新左派對全球思維的影響力、教書帶來的滿足感和對世界文學的熱愛。安德森同時在書中敘述一九六五年印尼發生流產政變後，他揭發軍方所扮演的角色，結果遭到蘇哈托政權驅逐出境。此外，他也重溫自己最知名，改變了民族主義研究的著作--《想像的共同體》背後的構思與靈感。 二○一五年安德森修改完本書的校樣後不久，便在爪哇與世長辭，旋即從亞洲湧來大量向他致敬的悼文，顯示安德森的作品將會繼續啟發和鼓舞年輕與年長世代的心靈。