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Yunnan
We also have rare and out-of-print books on China , Yunnan, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos,
Cambodia, Southeast-Asia,
A PICTORIAL JOURNEY ON THE OLD MEKONG
: Cambodia, Laos and Yunnanby Delaporte, Louis & Garnier, Francis
US$ 55.50
Book order code : E 21865Reprinted from 1998 in Larger Format
In this third part of the Mekong Exploration Commission Report, 1866–1868, published as an over sized volume with numerous splendid color plates and four maps, the journey along the Mekong is retraced using plates not published in the two other volumes on the Mekong Expedition as well as by masterfully drawn color plates of tribal costumes from the regions the Commission passed through. This volume graphically supplements the descriptive reports of the Commission’s work and can be read fruitfully in its own right as a journey along the Old Mekong.
(Bangkok, 2006) Bar Code 978-974-4800-79-4
225 pp., fully illus., 42 pp. in color, 250 x 290 mm, pbk.
A JOURNEY TO YUNNAN AND THE OPENING OF THE RED RIVER TO TRADE
by Dupuis, J.
US$ 16.50
Book order code : E 22 024
This is the account of the daring journey of a French trader up the Red River in 1872-1873. This was the first attempt by a westerner to use the Red River to access the riches of Yunnan and defy the established Chinese and Vietnamese powers and their customs collectors. Sailing under the Chinese flag, J. Dupuis also defied official French foreign policy and showed that the trade was possible and that great profits were to be made. He cleverly made alliances and traded arms with the Chinese authorities in Yunnan and negotiated with the Black and Yellow Flag irregular armies. Whilst breaking treaties that France had negotiated with the Court of Hué, this bold trader made a journey that represented a major step in changing official French policies in respect to Tonkin, present-day northern Vietnam. J. Dupuis, who identified gold, silver, copper, tin and other mines, opened vistas, especially French, of a lucrative colonial adventure in Southeast Asia.
(Bangkok 1998; first English translation from 1880) ISBN 974-8434-30-3
112 pp., 1 map, 150 x 210 mm, pbk.
RECALLING LOST SOULS
: The Baeu Rodo Scriptures Tai Casmogonic Texts from Guansi in Southern Chinaby Holm David
US$ 35.00
Book Order Code : E 22 360
This explores an indigenous scriptural tradition found among the Zhuang, a Tai-speaking people who inhabit the provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan in southern China, It presents for the first time in Rnglish a remarkable collection of ritual texts, recently discovered in the remote highlands of nortwestern Guangxi. Written in the ‘Old Zhuang script’, these scriptures are cast in an archaic form of five-syllable verse. They recount how the earth and sky were separated at the beginning of the world, how human beings found water and learned to harness it, how fire was tamed, how rice was domesticated, how domestic animals were first created, and how human institutions like sacrifice, mariage, chieftaincy, and writing came into being. Many of the texts in this collection are recited for the recall of lost souls, much like the suu khwan texts of Thailand and Laos.
Many parallels will be found here with the myths and legends of Tai Peoples elsewhere, and readers with an interest in the Religious traditions of the ancient Tai will find much new material highlighting substantial cultural continuities between the Zhuang and the Tai peoples of mainland Southeast Asia. The Texts are presented in English and Zhuang, with extensive ethnographic notes. The introduction provides an overview of the Zhuang people, their history, their traditional culture, and their language and script. A companion CD provides additional material for Specialists and students, Including sound recordings of recitations, transcriptions and interlinear word glosses, photographs of the manuscript pages, and a complete glossary and concordance.
(Bangkok, 2004) Barcode 978-974-4800-51-0
344 pp., 19 pp. illus,. 16 pp. in col. 2 pp. maps, 2 CD. 150 x 210 mm, pbk
DANGEROUS PASSES
: Exploring Western China and The 1911 Revolution Originally published in 1913by Legendre, A.-F.
US$ 17.50
Book order code : E 22 200
This report is a vivid account of the Legendre Mission's travels of scientific and geographic discovery in Szechwan and the Tibetan Steppes. A portrait of remote, mountainous regions, their natural phenomena and diverse ethnic groups, Legendre's memoir also becomes by force of circumstance a dramatic tale of high adventure. Engulfed by the Revolution sweeping across China, the Mission comes to a catastrophic end with Legendre's work in ruins. Having barely escaped with his life, his retrospective account is marked both by failure and triumph. He offers invaluable perspectives on the region's geography, flora and fauna, and on its rural life and trade. The record of a passionate scientist and a keen observer of China's first great twentieth-century revolution, this volume is as informative as it is fascinating.
(Bangkok 2000; First English translation of 1913) ISBN 974-7534-37-1
350 pp., 16 pp. illus., 150 x 210 mm, pbk.
FROM TONKIN TO INDIA
: by The Sources of The Irawadi, January'95 - January'96by Orleans, Henri d'
US$ 22.50
Book order code : E 22 127
The report on Henri d'Orléans's trip to the sources of the Irrawaddy river in Tibet. The account is rich in details of the geography, tribal people, trade, languages and customs and beliefs of the regions the expedition crossed through Yunnan, among many others. The Upper Mekong in China, the Salween and the Irrawaddy river valleys were further explored and a number of tribes from those areas are placed in the context of the history of the migrations from China. The reporter also has a keen eye for the political issues of the day, mostly the machinations of the British and the French to further trade with the area and for the presence and activities of French missionaries, e.g. in Tibet.
(Bangkok 1999; repr. from 1896) ISBN 974-8434-18-4
437 pp., 16 illus., 150 x 210 mm, 1 folded map in pocket, pbk.
A JOURNEY TO YUNNAN IN 1892
: Trade and Exploration in Tonkin and Southern Chinaby Pichon, L.
US$ 13.50
Book order code : E 22 112
The book, originally published in 1893, is the vivid first-hand account of Dr. Louis Pichon's two-month journey from Hanoi to southern Yunnan in spring 1892. Part travelog, the book is also part tract, urging development of France's relatively new Protectorate of Tonkin. It spans a variety of genres and takes up a number of issues of urgent concern for the colony's economic development. The improvement of transportation links with China lies at the center of Pichon's exhortations, and he discusses the future of trade and industry in the region with the passion of a convert. A medical doctor by profession, he also deals with the ravages of plague, with insalubrity, and ill health. A tale of colonial ambitions and attitudes, this highly readable account will appeal not only to specialists of Vietnam and Yunnan but to any reader keen to voyage in the "exotic" regions of northern Vietnam and southern China of some hundred years ago.
(Bangkok 1999; First English Translation from 1893) ISBN 974-7534-12-6
142 pp., 150 x 210 mm, pbk.
SEARCHING FOR THE SOURCES OF THE IRRAWADDY
: With Prince Henri D'Orléans fro, Hanoi to Calcutta Overland (1895-1896)by Roux, E.
US$ 25.00
Book order code : E 22 021
Roux's account is one of the reports of an overland trip from Hanoi to Calcutta through an area that was identified as containing the sources of the Irrawaddy River as well as those of some of the other great rivers of Indochina. The expedition was under the leadership of Prince Henri d'Orléans and the author, a geographer, was one of his two French companions. The book elaborates on the trade routes of the region and on the various tribesmen living in the localities the expedition passed through. Tibet and the Salween River Valley are among the new territories described by this French expedition, together with the Upper Mekong Valley which was then unexplored by Westerners. Numerous new species of monkeys, birds, and other animals and plants were collected. The main contribution of this travelog, however, lies in the geographical work of the author and in the determination of the exact location of the sources of the Irrawaddy River.
(Bangkok 1999; first English translation from 1897) ISBN 974-8434-21-4
280 pp., illus., 150 x 210 mm, pbk.
THE DAI
: or the Tai and their Architecture and Customs in South Chinaby Zhu Liangwen
US$ 22.50
Book order code : E 21 597
This book is the first of its kind in the English language to deal extensively with the architecture of the Dai peoples of South China. It includes sections dealing with Dai customs, ceremonies and beliefs, animistic as well as Buddhist, which are presented in parallel with physical descriptions of houses, villages and monasteries. The evolution of the houses on stilts, chracteristic of Dai and indeed all Tai people, is discussed both in functional terms and in relation to some aspects of the Dai mythology of Sipsongpanna. The cultural comparison between Dai and other Tai groups extends to symbolisms and the role of cosmology in determination of the forms of monastic architecture, all of which are set out clearly in this book. Together the authors have produced a technically precise work which is stimulating and exceptionally well illustrated. Architects in the region may well draw lessons from the array of design "grammar" contained in these pages which are indigenous in spirit.
(Bangkok 1992)
148 pp., fully illus., 8 pp. in color, 180 x 250 mm, pbk.
We also have rare and out-of-print books on China ,Yunnan, Vietnam, Thailand,
Laos, Cambodia, Southeast-Asia.
