Name: Ten Thousand Things: Nurturing Life in Contemporary Beijing - Hardcover
Brand: Books by splitShops
SKU: 9781935408185
Price: 42.0 USD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9781935408185

Ten Thousand Things: Nurturing Life in Contemporary Beijing - Hardcover

$42.00

Report copyright infringement

by Judith Farquhar (Author), Qicheng Zhang (Author)

An astounding anthropological study of the myriad ways contemporary residents of Beijing understand and nurture the good life

Ten Thousand Things explores the many forms of life, or, in ancient Chinese parlance "the ten thousand things" that life is and is becoming, in contemporary Beijing and beyond. Coauthored by an American anthropologist and a Chinese philosopher, the book examines the myriad ways contemporary residents of Beijing understand and nurture the good life, practice the embodied arts of everyday wellbeing, and in doing so draw on cultural resources ranging from ancient metaphysics to modern media.

Farquhar and Zhang show that there are many activities that nurture life: practicing meditative martial arts among friends in a public park; jogging, swimming, and walking backward; dancing, singing, and keeping pet birds; connoisseurship of tea, wine, and food; and spiritual disciplines ranging from meditation to learning a foreign language. As ancient life-nurturing texts teach, the cultural practices that produce particular forms of life are generative in ten thousand ways: they "give birth to life and transform the transformations."

This book attends to the patterns of city life, listens to homely advice on how to live, and interprets the great tradition of medicine and metaphysics. In the process, a manifold culture of the urban Chinese everyday emerges. The lives nurtured, gathered, and witnessed here are global and local, embodied and discursive, ecological and cosmic, civic and individual. The elements of any particular life -- as long as it lasts, and with some skill and determination -- can be gathered, centered, and harmonized with the way things spontaneously go. The result, everyone says, is pleasure.

Author Biography

Judith Farquhar is Max Palevsky Professor Emerita at the University of Chicago. She is the author of Knowing Practice: The Clinical Encounter of Chinese Medicine and Appetites: Food and Sex in Post-Socialist China. Qicheng Zhang is Professor of Classical Medical Chinese and Cultural Studies at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and the author of many books on the classical Chinese heritage of life nurturing.

Number of Pages: 352

Dimensions: 1.3 x 9.1 x 6 IN

Illustrated: Yes

Publication Date: April 17, 2012

Made with care

Great value

Elegant design

Quality materials

This product is crafted with quality materials to ensure durability and performance. Designed with your convenience in mind, it seamlessly fits into your everyday life.

We strive to process and ship all orders in a timely manner, working diligently to ensure that your items are on their way to you as soon as possible.

We are committed to ensuring a positive shopping experience for all our customers. If for any reason you wish to return an item, we invite you to reach out to our team for assistance, and we will evaluate every return request with care and consideration.