Martial Culture and Historical Martial Arts in Europe and Asia

This open access book is the first publication to provide a comparative framework for the study of martial culture and historical martial arts in Europe and Asia, in particular in Italy and China. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of martial studies, contributors to this volume include historians, archeologists, art historians, scholars of fencing literature, metallurgists, as well as contemporary master swordsmiths and masters-of-arms in historical martial arts. Assembling researchers from these diverse fields, this book offers a multi-perspectival and dynamic view of martial culture across time and space. The cross-cultural and interdisciplinary significance of this book cannot be overemphasized. Whereas a number of contributors are internationally recognized and, indeed, leading authorities in their respective fields; for example, Jeffrey Shaw has been a world-leading new media artist and scholar since the 1970s, while Ma Mingda is a well-known historian and the contemporary founder of Chinese martial studies; and while there are significant overlaps in their research interests, this book brings their research within a single volume for the first time. Equally significant, the book is structured in such a way to reflect the various core aspects of martial studies, particularly in relation to the study of historic sword culture, including history, culture, philosophy, literature and knowledge transmission, material culture, as well as the technical aspects of historical fencing. As one of the first titles on martial studies, this book becomes a reference not only for scholars taking an interest in this subject, but also for historians; scholars with interest in Chinese and/or Italian history (particularly of the Medieval or early modern periods), the history of international relations in Asia / Far East; anthropologists; scholars of martial (arts) studies and researchers in sword-making and/or historic metallurgy

Martial Culture and Historical Martial Arts in Europe and Asia

This open access book is the first publication to provide a comparative framework for the study of martial culture and historical martial arts in Europe and Asia, in particular in Italy and China. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of martial studies, contributors to this volume include historians, archeologists, art historians, scholars of fencing literature, metallurgists, as well as contemporary master swordsmiths and masters-of-arms in historical martial arts. Assembling researchers from these diverse fields, this book offers a multi-perspectival and dynamic view of martial culture across time and space. The cross-cultural and interdisciplinary significance of this book cannot be overemphasized. Whereas a number of contributors are internationally recognized and, indeed, leading authorities in their respective fields; for example, Jeffrey Shaw has been a world-leading new media artist and scholar since the 1970s, while Ma Mingda is a well-known historian and the contemporary founder of Chinese martial studies; and while there are significant overlaps in their research interests, this book brings their research within a single volume for the first time. Equally significant, the book is structured in such a way to reflect the various core aspects of martial studies, particularly in relation to the study of historic sword culture, including history, culture, philosophy, literature and knowledge transmission, material culture, as well as the technical aspects of historical fencing. As one of the first titles on martial studies, this book becomes a reference not only for scholars taking an interest in this subject, but also for historians; scholars with interest in Chinese and/or Italian history (particularly of the Medieval or early modern periods), the history of international relations in Asia / Far East; anthropologists; scholars of martial (arts) studies and researchers in sword-making and/or historic metallurgy

Re-presenting China in Digital Immersive Art: Virtual Reality, Imaginaries, and Cultural Presence

The thesis explores how digital technology, in particular virtual reality and augmented reality, is playing a role in China’s rejuvenation, especially in relation to cultural displays, performances, and art exhibitions. This project examines how audiences, both in China and globally, respond to ‘Digital China’, a concept describing how people’s everyday lives in China are becoming superconnected by digital technology. Qualitative methodology with a multi-perspectival approach is applied to advance the aim of the project

The Future of the Bamiyan Buddha Statues

This Open Access book explores heritage conservation ethics of post conflict and provides an important historical record of the possible reconstruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues, which was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in Danger in 2003 as “Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley”. With the condition that most surface of the original fragments of the Buddha statues were lost due to acts of deliberate destruction, this publication explores a reference point for conservation practitioners and policy makers around the world as they consider how to respond to on-going acts of destruction of cultural heritage. Whilst there has been an emerging debate to the ethics and nature of heritage reconstruction, this volume provides a plethora of ideas and approaches concerning the future treatment of the Bamiyan Buddha statues. It also addresses a number of fundamental questions on potential heritage reconstruction: how it will be done; who will decide; and what it should be done for. Moreover when it comes to the inscribed World Heritage properties, how can reconstructed heritage using non-original materials be considered to retain authenticity? With a view to serving as a precedent for potential decisions taken elsewhere in the world for cultural properties impacted by acts of violence and destruction, this volume introduces academic researches, experiences and observations of heritage conservation theory and practice of heritage reconstruction. It also addresses the issue not merely from the point of a material conservation philosophy but within the context of holistic strategies for the protection of human rights and promotion of peace building

Buddhist Encounters and Identities Across East Asia

Buddhist Encounters and Identities across East Asia offers a fascinating picture of the intricacies of regional and cross-regional networks and the complexity of Buddhist identities emerging across Asia.; Readership: All those interested in the history of Buddhism in East Asia and in East Asian Buddhist cultural practices, and anyone with an interest in the diffusion and transformation of Buddhism

Buddhist Encounters and Identities Across East Asia

Buddhist Encounters and Identities across East Asia offers a fascinating picture of the intricacies of regional and cross-regional networks and the complexity of Buddhist identities emerging across Asia.; Readership: All those interested in the history of Buddhism in East Asia and in East Asian Buddhist cultural practices, and anyone with an interest in the diffusion and transformation of Buddhism

Early Silk Road Photography: An Analysis of Dr. Maynard Owen Williams’ Photographs taken during the Citroën-Haardt Trans-Asiatic Expedition (1931-1932)

This thesis provides the first overview of the genre of Early Silk Road Photography and the first in-depth study of a key figure who contributed to it, Maynard Owen Williams. It analyses Williams’ photographs taken during the Citroën-Haardt Trans-Asiatic Expedition of 1931-32. The expedition sought to retrace and document the route taken by Marco Polo, whose travels are synonymous with the Silk Road. Williams’ photographs taken during the expedition were published in the US-based National Geographic Magazine (NGM), which was a pioneer in the field of photojournalism. Williams was the Head of NGM’s International Division at the time of the expedition. Research for the dissertation was undertaken at the Citroën archives in France, the NGM archives in Washington D.C. and at the Kalamazoo College archives in Michigan. The first part of the thesis analyses the factors that shaped Williams’ decisions about what objects and people to photograph on the expedition, and how he chose to photograph them. These involve influences that were common to the whole genre of Early Silk Road Photography (ch.1), including pre-photographic visual imagery, literary output relating to the Silk Road, perceptions of the Silk Road in popular culture, the impact of mass circulation magazines using photographs, the emergence of the ‘science’ of ethnography, and the growth of the ‘salvage’ concept in representations of the non-Western world. They also involve influences that were specific to Williams and his photographs on the Citroën-Haardt Expedition, including Williams’ relationship with his employer, the NGM and the objectives that the parties involved had for the expedition (ch. 2). Moreover, they involve his own and the NGM’s interactions with the interests and objectives of Citroën, as well as Williams’ relationship with the members of the expedition (ch. 3). The factors examined in chs.1-3 combined to shape the photo-journalistic outcome of the expedition and thus the NGM’s presentation of Asia and the Silk Road to its audience. They provide the analytical framework for the detailed examination undertaken in the second part of the dissertation of Williams’ photographs taken during the Citroën-Haardt Expedition. The photographs are examined around a set of themes: iconic images of the Silk Road, including means of transport, landscapes and commercial activity (ch,4); photographs that emphasise the difference between ‘them and us’, including photographs of religion and festivities, different “ethnic types” and the closely-related subject of their clothing and headdress (ch. 5); and photographs concerning the difficult subjects of opium and childhood (ch.6). This dissertation provides the first in depth examination of Early Silk Road Photography. It contributes to a deeper understanding of Western conceptions and photographic representations of the Silk Road and the West’s relationship with the region. Early Silk Road Photography helped to perpetuate and promote to a wide audience notions of Asia which had been created in previous centuries through non-photographic imagery. Unlike other visual media, photographs could be replicated on an infinite scale and distributed to a mass audience through numerous channels. Very few late 19th and early 20th century Westerners had travelled along the Silk Road. The wide availability of photographic material helped to shape Western perceptions of the Silk Road long after the era of Early Silk Road Photography ended in the 1940