A beautifully clear and accessible explanation of how to live a Taoist life—with an overview of Taoist philosophy—by a renowned Taoist master Taoism isn’t a spiritual extracurricular activity, it’s an integral practice for living all of life to the fullest. Taoist living rests on four pillars—the public, the domestic, the private, and the spirit lives. Not only do Taoists strive to live these four aspects fully and in a balanced way, they also believe there is an outlook and an art to each of them. Here, modern Taoist adept Eva Wong is your guide to living well according to the wisdom of this ancient system. Drawing from ancient Taoist texts, she explains in simple terms the Taoist masters’ approach to the four aspects of life, asking readers to reflect on the balance of their own lives and demonstrating how that balance is the secret infusing your life with health, harmony, and deep satisfaction. ​

Feudalism is one of the most studied topics in the field of history, but without a consensus on its central characteristics, it remains a slippery concept. The History of Chinese Feudal Society provides a comprehensive analysis on the rise and fall of feudalism in China. Drawing on a vast library of archival materials, it is the first study to investigate feudalism in China from the perspective of sociology and to compare feudalism in China to feudalism in the West. The author proposes that landownership and the relationship between landowners and farmers are the two determining factors of feudalism, with the Yin Dynasty marking a transitional stage to feudalism and the Zhou Dynasty witnessing the establishment of feudalism as a political system and central institution. This book was written by one of the best-known Chinese historians and has been a classic best-seller for decades. Students and scholars of Chinese history, especially Chinese feudalism, will find it to be an essential reference in their study and research.

The recent large-scale watershed projects in northern Syria, where the ancient city of Emar was located, have brought this area to light, thanks to salvage operation excavations before the area was submerged. Excavations at Meskeneh-Qadimeh on the great bend of the Euphrates River revealed this large town, which had been built in the late 14th century and then destroyed violently at the beginning of the 12th, at the end of the Bronze Age. In the town of Emar, ritual tablets were discovered in a temple that are demonstrated to have been recorded by the supervisor of the local cult, who was called the “diviner.” This religious leader also operated a significant writing center, which focused on both administering local ritual and fostering competence in Mesopotamian lore. An archaic local calendar can be distinguished from other calendars in use at Emar, both foreign and local. A second, overlapping calendar emanated from the palace and represented a rising political force in some tension with rooted local institutions. The archaic local calendar can be partially reconstructed from one ritual text that outlines the rites performed during a period of six months. The main public rite of Emar’s religious calendar was the zukru festival. This event was celebrated in a simplified annual ritual and in a more elaborate version of the ritual for seven days during every seventh year, probably serving as a pledge of loyalty to the chief god, Dagan. The Emar ritual calendar was native, in spite of various levels of outside influence, and thus offers important evidence for ancient Syrian culture. These texts are thus important for ancient Near Eastern cultic and ritual studies. Fleming’s comprehensive study lays the basic groundwork for all future study of the ritual and makes a major contribution to the study of ancient Syria.

No wonder she said that she just wanted to use this Demon Catcher APP to earn some extra money and fill her stomach. She didn't want to be a Demon Catcher!During the Qing Dynasty's Jiaqing era, he brought along the system to catch demons and ascended to the peak. He became a top Demon Catcher and returned home in glory! However... Why did you come with me?

Mencius’ many assertions from virtue “Being what I inherently possess” to “this [virtue] is what Heaven or Nature gives to me” clearly show the basic self-consciousness of virtue in pre-Qin Confucianism and the confirmation that virtue originates from Heaven or Nature. Then, what was the reason for the Chinese “Axis Age” thinkers to unanimously trace the origin of human virtue back to Heaven or Nature and the mandate of Heaven? Of course, for them, the source of human virtue is Heaven or Nature, which means that they realized that human being was the limit of cognition. Since in their view, the problem is itself a question that transcends human cognition or that human understanding can possibly clarify both virtue itself and the source of human virtue being beyond the bounds of human knowledge. Namely, tracing back virtue to its source is a quest that transcends the capacity of human understanding. However, those who have been influenced by modern cognitive theory and who constantly explore how Confucian thought emerged as well as how it took shape, cannot give a satisfying answer. Therefore, to trace the emergence and development of Confucianism through the perspective of the survival of agency and the foundation of the survival of agency is not only my own personal interest, but also one necessary for clarifying the development of Confucianism and the legitimacy of its existence.