Asia – Page 23 – UH Press

Ascetics and Social Memory in Early Medieval China

Posted on February 19, 2009 by stephchun

By the middle of the third century B.C.E. in China there were individuals who sought to become transcendents (xian)—deathless, godlike beings endowed with supernormal powers. This quest for transcendence became a major form of religious expression and helped lay the foundation on which the first Daoist religion was built. Both xian and those who aspired to this exalted status in the centuries leading up to 350 C.E. have traditionally been portrayed as secretive and hermit-like figures. Making Transcendents: Ascetics and Social Memory in Early Medieval China, by Robert Ford Campany, offers a very different view of xian-seekers in late classical and early medieval China. It suggests that transcendence did not involve a withdrawal from society but rather should be seen as a religious role situated among other social roles and conceived in contrast to them. Robert Campany argues that the much-discussed secrecy surrounding ascetic disciplines was actually one important way in which practitioners presented themselves to others. He contends, moreover, that many adepts were not socially isolated at all but were much sought after for their power to heal the sick, divine the future, and narrate their exotic experiences.

“This pioneering study overturns conventional wisdom about ancient Chinese religious traditions by vividly portraying the social processes by which adepts could achieve recognition and legitimacy as transcendents (immortals). Campany convincingly demonstrates that some forms of self-cultivation and asceticism were culturally scripted performances that could have a profound impact on the audiences who observed or read about them, and that both adepts and the individuals they encountered were involved in constructing narratives about transcendence. Making Transcendents succeeds in bringing these seemingly ephemeral beings down from the summits and the clouds by locating them where they have always belonged: in the hearts of their worshippers and acquaintances. This eloquently written book should prove an invaluable resource for both teaching and research.” —Paul R. Katz, Academia Sinica

February 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3333-6 / $48.00 (CLOTH)

Socially Engaged Buddhism

Posted on February 19, 2009 by stephchun

Socially Engaged Buddhism, is an introduction to the contemporary movement of Buddhists, East and West, who actively engage with the problems of the world—social, political, economic, and environmental—on the basis of Buddhist ideas, values, and spirituality. Sallie B. King, one of North America’s foremost experts on the subject, identifies in accessible language the philosophical and ethical thinking behind the movement and examines how key principles such as karma, the Four Noble Truths, interdependence, nonharmfulness, and nonjudgmentalism relate to social engagement.

Dimensions of Asian Spirituality
February 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3351-0 / $16.00 (PAPER)

In Memoriam – John DeFrancis (1911-2009)

Posted on January 7, 2009 by stephchun

Distinguished China scholar and author John DeFrancis passed away on January 2 in Honolulu.

Chinese Intergenerational Relations in Modern Singapore

Posted on December 29, 2008 by stephchun

Since gaining independence in 1965, Singapore has become the most trade-intensive economy in the world and the richest country in Southeast Asia. This transformation has been accompanied by the emergence of a deep generational divide. More complex than simple disparities of education or changes in income and consumption patterns, this growing gulf encompasses language, religion, and social memory. The Binding Tie: Chinese Intergenerational Relations in Modern Singapore, by Kristina Göransson, explores how expectations and obligations between generations are being challenged, reworked, and reaffirmed in the face of far-reaching societal change.

Southeast Asia: Politics, Meaning, and Memory
January 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3352-7 / $26.00 (PAPER)

A Japanese Robinson Crusoe

Posted on December 29, 2008 by stephchun

First published in 1898 and long out of print, A Japanese Robinson Crusoe, by Jenichiro Oyabe, (1867–1941) is a pioneering work of Asian American literature. It recounts Oyabe’s early life in Japan, his journey west, and his education at two historically Black colleges, detailing in the process his gradual transformation from Meiji gentleman to self-proclaimed “Japanese Yankee.” Like a Victorian novelist, Oyabe spins a tale that mixes faith and exoticism, social analysis and humor. His story fuses classic American narratives of self-creation and the self-made man (and, in some cases, the tall tale) with themes of immigrant belonging and “whiteness.” Although he compares himself with the castaway Robinson Crusoe, Oyabe might best be described as a combination of Crusoe and his faithful servant Friday, the Christianized man of color who hungers to be enlightened by Western ways.

“This is a fascinating memoir by a young Japanese who spent thirteen years (1885–1898) traveling to all parts of the world: the Kurile islands, China, Okinawa, Hawaii, the United States, Britain, Portugal, etc., before returning to his native country as a teacher and a Christian minister. Few in the world, least of all Japanese, would have seen so much of the world on their own. What he saw—and, even more revealing, how he described what he saw—adds to our understanding not only of late nineteenth-century Japan’s encounter with distant lands, in particular the United States, but also of the history of international travels, a history that constitutes an essential part of the phenomenon of globalization.” —Akira Iriye, Harvard University

Intersections: Asian and Pacific American Transcultural Studies
January 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3247-6 / $28.00 (PAPER)

From Enlightenment Ideals to Socialist Realities

Posted on December 29, 2008 by stephchun

The idea of eliminating undesirable traits from human temperament to create a “new man” has been part of moral and political thinking worldwide for millennia. During the Enlightenment, European philosophers sought to construct an ideological framework for reshaping human nature. But it was only among the communist regimes of the twentieth century that such ideas were actually put into practice on a nationwide scale. In Creating the “New Man”: From Enlightenment Ideals to Socialist Realities, Yinghong Cheng examines three culturally diverse sociopolitical experiments—the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, China under Mao, and Cuba under Castro—in an attempt to better understand the origins and development of the “new man.”

“There is no comparative study of the critically important and remarkably similar ‘new man’ creation programs of China and Cuba that is comparable in insights to this one. But this book speaks to still wider audiences, from students of the Marxist and other dogmatic, utopian ideologies that have so often consumed the resources and lives of people worldwide throughout the history of mankind, to analysts of development and anti-development experiences in general.” —William Ratliff, Stanford University

Perspectives on the Global Past
January 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3074-8 / $60.00 (CLOTH)

Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era

Posted on December 17, 2008 by stephchun

Envisioning Eternal Empire: Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era, by Yuri Pines, is an ambitious work that looks into the reasons for the exceptional durability of the Chinese empire, which lasted for more than two millennia (221 BCE–1911 CE). Pines identifies the roots of the empire’s longevity in the activities of thinkers of the Warring States period (453–221 BCE), who, in their search for solutions to an ongoing political crisis, developed ideals, values, and perceptions that would become essential for the future imperial polity. In marked distinction to similar empires worldwide, the Chinese empire was envisioned and to a certain extent “preplanned” long before it came into being. As a result, it was not only a military and administrative construct, but also an intellectual one. Pines makes the argument that it was precisely its ideological appeal that allowed the survival and regeneration of the empire after repeated periods of turmoil.

December 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3275-9 / $55.00 (CLOTH)

Choice Magazine’s Outstanding Academic Titles for 2008 Announced

Posted on December 16, 2008 by stephchun

Each year Choice Magazine, the official publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries, compiles a distinguished list of Outstanding Academic Titles. The following three UH Press books were recognized for 2008. A complete list of titles will be available in Choice’s January 2009 issue.

Herself an Author: Gender, Agency, and Writing in Late Imperial China
by Grace S. Fong

“Takes the discussion in an exciting new direction. . . . The greatest contributions of this book . . . are the introductions of various women writers and the translations into English of their compositions, many discovered by the author and not heretofore translated into English. . . . Essential.” —Choice (November 2008)

Nippon Modern: Japanese Cinema of the 1920s and 1930s by Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano

“Since English-language scholars have rarely dealt with Japanese film of the 1920s and 1930s, outside the work of canonical directiors like Kenji Mizoguchi, this study is welcome. . . . Wada-Marciano offers groundbreaking analyses of such genres as the ‘middle-class’ film and the woman’s film. A final chapter provides a rich study of the links between national identity, modernity, and the signature style of Shochiku film studio. The end result is sure to stand as a definitive work for years to come. Essential.” —Choice (October 2008)

The Sociology of Southeast Asia: Transformations in a Developing Region by Victor T. King

“Victor King has produced a lucid, comprehensive, and challenging analysis of the state-of-the-art of Southeast Asian sociology. The book is not only an excellent textbook for courses on Southeast Asia or development sociology, but also ‘required reading’ for all social scientists embarking on research on the area. I am certain that it will become a long-lasting addition to the standard literature on Asia.” —Hans-Dieter Evers, University of Bonn

Japan’s Motorcycle Wars

Posted on December 8, 2008 by stephchun

For decades a crown jewel of Japan’s postwar manufacturing industry, motorcycles remain one of Japan’s top exports. Japan’s Motorcycle Wars: An Industry History, by Jeffrey W. Alexander, assesses the historical development and societal impact of the motorcycle industry, from the influence of motor sports on vehicle sales in the early 1900s to the postwar developments that led to the massive wave of motorization sweeping the Asia-Pacific region today.

“Reading this book is a revelation and a thrill. It is an excellent example of business history done right. Alexander’s contribution here is thoroughly original; he gives us a rare look into the experiences of the losers as well as the winners in Japanese business. He will open the eyes of everyone in the field to the significance of the motorcycle industry on Japan’s economic and technological development.” —William Tsutsui, author of Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan

December 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3328-2 / $28.00 (PAPER)

Important Buddhist Scripture Now in Paperback

Posted on November 26, 2008 by stephchun

The Suramgamasamadhisutra / The Concentration of Heroic Progress is an early Mahayana Buddhist scripture. Within a narrative framework provided by a dialogue between the Buddha and the bodhisattva Drdhamati, it airs central issues of Mahayana Buddhism by means of philosophical discussion, edifying anecdote, marvelous feat, and drama. At its core is a description of the seeming conversion of Mara, the embodiment of all malign tendencies that obstruct advancement, and the prediction that he too will become a Buddha.

The present volume comprises the first full English translation of Kumarajiva’s Chinese translation of the Suramgamasamdhisutra, with an extensive explanatory introduction and annotations. Etienne Lamotte’s French version appeared in 1965 and now Sara Boin-Webb’s English rendering of this work gives the English-speaking world access both to an important Buddhist scripture and a classic work of Buddhist studies scholarship.

“This English rendering has been done by Ms. Boin-Webb with the same deftness, accuracy, and attention to detail seen in her translations of Lamotte’s L’Enseignement de Vimalakirti and his Histoire du bouddhisme indien, des origines à l’ére Saka. . . . In French this book was a gem of thoroughgoing and wholly admirable scholarship. It is no less so in its English setting.” —Journal of the American Oriental Society

Published in association with The Buddhist Society, London (TBSLL)
November 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3353-4 / $25.00 (PAPER)

The Role of Contact in the Origins of Japanese and Korean

Posted on November 20, 2008 by stephchun

Despite decades of research on the reconstruction of proto-Korean-Japanese (pKJ), some scholars still reject a genetic relationship. The Role of Contact in the Origins of the Japanese and Korean Languages, by J. Marshall Unger, addresses their doubts in a new way, interpreting comparative linguistic data within a context of material and cultural evidence, much of which has come to light only in recent years.

The weaknesses of the reconstruction, according to Unger, are due to the early date at which pKJ split apart and to lexical material that the pre-Korean and pre-Japanese branches later borrowed from different languages to their north and south, respectively. Unger shows that certain Old Japanese words must have been borrowed from Korean from the fourth century C.E., only a few centuries after the completion of the Yayoi migrations, which brought wet-field rice cultivation to Kyushu from southern Korea. That leaves too short an interval for the growth of two distinct languages by the time they resumed active contact. Hence, concludes Unger, the original separation occurred on the peninsula much earlier, prior to reliance on paddy rice and the rise of metallurgy. Non-Korean elements in ancient peninsular place names were vestiges of pre-Yayoi Japanese language, according to Unger, who questions the assumption that Korean developed exclusively from the language of Silla. He argues instead that the rulers of Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla all spoke varieties of Old Korean, which became the common language of the peninsula as their kingdoms overwhelmed its older culture and vied for dominance.

November 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3279-7 / $46.00 (CLOTH)

UH Press Publishes Award-winning Chinese Novel

Posted on November 10, 2008 by stephchun

University of Hawai‘i Press is pleased to announce the publication of Banished!, winner of the prestigious Chinese Novel Prize in 2003. Written by Han Dong, one of the country’s most important avant-garde poets, the book is set in 1969, while China is in the throes of the Cultural Revolution. The Tao family is banished to the countryside, forced to leave comfortable lives in Nanjing to be reeducated in the true nature of the revolution by the peasants of Sanyu village.

“This is a poet’s novel, written in a spare and elegant style, gracefully rendered in English. Han Dong finds irony and humor in his tale of one family caught up in the injustices and absurdities of Cultural Revolution China, and through his chronicle of the vicissitudes faced by the Taos he tells the story of millions whose lives were disrupted in that turbulent decade.” —Richard King, University of Victoria

November 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3340-4 / $26.00 (PAPER)