Animals Through Chinese History

Animals Through Chinese History PDF

Author: Roel Sterckx

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 1108428150

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This innovative collection opens a door into the rich history of animals in China. This title is also available as Open Access.

Mao's Bestiary

Mao's Bestiary PDF

Author: Liz P. Y. Chee

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2021-03-29

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1478021357

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Controversy over the medicinal uses of wild animals in China has erupted around the ethics and efficacy of animal-based drugs, the devastating effect of animal farming on wildlife conservation, and the propensity of these practices to foster zoonotic diseases. In Mao's Bestiary, Liz P. Y. Chee traces the history of the use of medicinal animals in modern China. While animal parts and tissue have been used in Chinese medicine for centuries, Chee demonstrates that the early Communist state expanded and systematized their production and use to compensate for drug shortages, generate foreign investment in high-end animal medicines, and facilitate an ideological shift toward legitimating folk medicines. Among other topics, Chee investigates the craze for chicken blood therapy during the Cultural Revolution, the origins of deer antler farming under Mao and bear bile farming under Deng, and the crucial influence of the Soviet Union and North Korea on Chinese zootherapies. In the process, Chee shows Chinese medicine to be a realm of change rather than a timeless tradition, a hopeful conclusion given current efforts to reform its use of animals.

Animals and Human Society in Asia

Animals and Human Society in Asia PDF

Author: Rotem Kowner

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-11-06

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 303024363X

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This edited collection offers a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of human-animal interactions in Asia throughout history. With twelve thematically-arranged chapters, this book examines the diverse roles that beasts, livestock, and fish — real and metaphorical– have played in Asian history, society, and culture. Ranging from prehistory to the present day, the authors address a wealth of topics including the domestication of animals, dietary practices and sacrifice, hunting, the use of animals in war, and the representation of animals in literature and art. Providing a unique perspective on human interaction with the environment, the volume is cross-disciplinary in its reach, offering enriching insights to the fields of animal ethics, Asian studies, world history and more.

Animal to Edible

Animal to Edible PDF

Author: Noélie Vialles

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1994-06-16

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780521466721

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Why do we find it necessary to slaughter living animals in order to enjoy their flesh? And why does this act offend our sensibilities, without necessarily making us into vegetarians? We no longer tolerate sacrifices, public butchering during festivals, butchers operating openly in the middle of our cities. Today, animals are killed in invisible abattoirs, set a good distance from our normal activities. This recent separation between the slaughter-house and the butcher's establishment is somehow essential to the modern meat diet. In her study of abattoirs in south-west France, Noélie Vialles brings to light a complex system of avoidances. Her analysis reveals that beyond the specific denial of the work of the abattoirs lies a whole system of symbolic representations of blood, human beings and animals, a symbolic code that determines the way in which we prepare domestic animals for the table.

The Way of the Panda

The Way of the Panda PDF

Author: Henry Nicholls

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-06-01

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 1605987581

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Learn how the extraordinary impact of the panda—from obscurity to fame—is also the story of China’s transition from shy beginnings to center stage. Giant pandas have been causing a stir ever since their formal scientific discovery just over 140 years ago. Yet in spite of humankind’s evident obsession with the giant panda, it is only in the last few decades that scientific research has begun to show us what this mysterious, frequently misunderstood creature is really like. Henry Nicholls uses the rich and curious history of the giant panda to do several things: to ponder our changing attitudes toward the natural world; to offer a compelling history of the conservation movement; and to chart the rise of modern China on its journey to become the self-sufficient, twenty-first-century superpower it is today.

The Retreat of the Elephants

The Retreat of the Elephants PDF

Author: Mark Elvin

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2004-03-10

Total Pages: 592

ISBN-13: 0300133537

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The eminent China scholar delivers a landmark study of Chinese culture’s relationship to the natural environment across thousands of years of history. Spanning the three millennia for which there are written records, The Retreat of the Elephants is the first comprehensive environmental history of China. It is also a treasure trove of literary, political, aesthetic, scientific, and religious sources, which allow the reader direct access to the views and feelings of Chinese people toward their environment and their landscape. China scholar and historian Mark Elvin chronicles the spread of the Chinese style of farming that eliminated elephant habitats; the destruction of most of the forests; the impacts of war on the landscape; and the re-engineering of the countryside through gigantic water-control systems. He documents the histories of three contrasting localities within China to show how ecological dynamics defined the lives of the inhabitants. And he shows that China in the eighteenth century was probably more environmentally degraded than northwestern Europe around this time. Indispensable for its new perspective on long-term Chinese history and its explanation of the roots of China’s present-day environmental crisis, this book opens a door into the Chinese past.

The Animal and the Daemon in Early China

The Animal and the Daemon in Early China PDF

Author: Roel Sterckx

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 0791489159

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Exploring the cultural perception of animals in early Chinese thought, this careful reading of Warring States and Han dynasty writings analyzes how views of animals were linked to human self perception and investigates the role of the animal world in the conception of ideals of sagehood and socio-political authority. Roel Sterckx shows how perceptions of the animal world influenced early Chinese views of man's place among the living species and in the world at large. He argues that the classic Chinese perception of the world did not insist on clear categorical or ontological boundaries between animals, humans, and other creatures such as ghosts and spirits. Instead the animal realm was positioned as part of an organic whole and the mutual relationships among the living species—both as natural and cultural creatures—were characterized as contingent, continuous, and interdependent.

A Companion to Chinese History

A Companion to Chinese History PDF

Author: Michael Szonyi

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2017-02-06

Total Pages: 475

ISBN-13: 1118624602

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A Companion to Chinese History presents a collection of essays offering a comprehensive overview of the latest intellectual developments in the study of China’s history from the ancient past up until the present day. Covers the major trends in the study of Chinese history from antiquity to the present day Considers the latest scholarship of historians working in China and around the world Explores a variety of long-range questions and themes which serves to bridge the conventional divide between China’s traditional and modern eras Addresses China’s connections with other nations and regions and enables non-specialists to make comparisons with their own fields Features discussion of traditional topics and chronological approaches as well as newer themes such as Chinese history in relation to sexuality, national identity, and the environment

The 12 Chinese Animals

The 12 Chinese Animals PDF

Author: Zhongxian Wu

Publisher: Singing Dragon

Published: 2011-03-15

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9780857010155

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* Silver Medal Winner in the 2010 BOTYA Awards Body, Mind and Spirit Category * The Chinese horoscope holds the key to a better understanding of self and others, and to living a life of harmony. Not just the year of birth, but also the month, day and hour have significance in true Chinese astrology. Master Zhongxian Wu explains how to find your power animal symbols, and how to learn from their wisdom. By fully understanding what each animal signifies, and how they relate to the major hexagrams of the Yijing, he shows that they can help you to find inner peace and live in harmony with family, friends, the wider community, and with nature. Using the wisdom of the twelve animal symbols as a guide, you will learn how to better understand your personality, and make choices that profoundly influence your health, relationships, career, and finances, allowing you to live up to your greatest potential. Making the wisdom of the twelve Chinese animals accessible to the Western reader for the first time in its relationship with the Yijing, this book will be an illuminating read for anyone interested in understanding themselves and their life patterns better, Chinese astrology, and the Yijing.

Animals in China

Animals in China PDF

Author: Deborah Cao

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-08-25

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1137408022

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Just as China is called the world factory for manufactured goods, it is also a world factory for manufactured animal cruelty in a new phenomenon of globalized animal cruelty. Animals in China examines animal protection in China in its legal, social and cultural contexts.