Martial Art Essays from Beijing, 1760

ISBN-13: 9781893765627 / Angielski / Twarda / 2021 / 144 str.

Michael DeMarco

Opis

The themes in this Via Media bookâdrawn from Chinese history, culture, and martial arts experienceâare entwined in a fictional narrative to animate events envisaged to have occurred during the mid-eighteenth century. From the outset, a thin veil separates fact from fiction. Our story starts with a discovery. While conducting research at the Vatican Library on the Jesuit missions in China, two scholars find a folder of papers written in Chinese among documents belonging to Giuseppe Castiglione (1688â1766), a painter at the royal court in Beijing. The papers turn out to be written by a fellow court painter, Yang Mingbin (c. 1664â1765). Yangâs handwritten essays provide revelations vital for understanding the ingenuity of Chinese martial arts.