The Immortal


Book Description

In 1927, General Yang Sen invited Li Qingyun to Wanxian, China, to teach about health and longevity. Li Qingyun was reported to be 250 years old at the time, and his visit to Wanxian was big news. In 1970, Yang Sen compiled a book of his and other's accounts of Li Qingyun, titled "An Authentic and True Record of a 250-Year-Old Man, " which Stuart Alve Olson started translating into English in 1982. Besides the notion of someone living to 250 years of age, this book goes well beyond the biography of Li Qingyun's life. It has great historical value, especially for Westerners who are unfamiliar with much of Chinese history towards the end of the Qing dynasty. It also explains incredible health therapies and provides information on what is now called Medical Qigong. Much is explained about Daoism on meditation, breathing, qigong exercise, food, sex, and philosophy for Daoist living. Another true gem of this book is the philosophical teachings, as much of this material has never been presented in English. The depth of information provided in this book surpasses any previously published work on Daoist health practices and philosophy. It is rare to come across a text with such abundance of insights and written with such clarity as this material provides. Although"Qigong Teachings of a Taoist Immortal: The Eight Essential Exercises of Master Li Ching-yun" was published in 2002, which includes translations from Yang Sen's book, the entire translation is now finally available.This book belongs in everyone's library who studies or has an interest in Chinese philosophy, qigong regimes, and biographies. A companion DVD-"Li Qingyun's Eight Brocades"-is now available."




Li Qingyun


Book Description

This book provides a succinct organization of materials and advice Li Qingyun provided on the subject for attaining health and longevity. Stuart Alve Olson's The Immortal: True Accounts of the 250-Year-Old Man, Li Qingyun is a large book covering many aspects of Li's teachings and life, and since it is a direct translation of Yang Sen's Chinese edition, it can be more challenging to navigate the teachings. Stuart's purpose in translating The Immortal was to present that work as Yang Sen intended, and he didn't provide any personal in-depth commentary and instructions to clarify the teachings. This book then fills in the gaps regarding Li Qingyun's advice and instructions for attaining health and longevity. The first chapter, The Fundamentals of Longevity, starts out with basic, but unique, regimes on acquiring longevity. The second chapter, Foods and Herbs for Longevity, covers more clearly the herbs Li Qingyun and Yang Sen recommended for improving health and life span. The third chapter, Sex and Longevity, explains what Li Qingyun meant by the sexual practices of Refining the Rosy Clouds. The fourth chapter, The Eight Diagrams Elemental Exercises, more popularly called Eight Brocades, includes a detailed look at these exercises. The fifth chapter, Embryonic Breathing and Longevity, delves into Li's teachings on Opening the Three Passes and Embryonic Breathing Qigong methods named after the two primary images from the Book of Changes (Yi Jing)-Qian (Creativity of Heaven) and Kun (Receptivity of Earth). The sixth chapter, The Six Qi, is about the practice of the Six Healing Sounds used for both the cure and prevention of illness and disease, and as a meditation practice. The seventh chapter, Calming the Mind, is about regulating the mind and calming the spirit, the very roots of maintaining good health and acquiring longevity. These seven chapters provide a clear path for improving health and attaining longevity. You may not incorporate all of them into your daily practice, but you'll find numerous little regimes and insights that can prove most useful in your daily life. The intention of this book is not to convince you to take on all the practices, even though that would be quite effective, but to select those elements you find useful and appropriate to your life and schedule.




A Glossary of Political Terms of the People's Republic of China


Book Description

"A glossary of political terms of the People's Republic of China is a collection of 560 important and frequently-used Chinese political terms and phrases that appeared between 1949 and 1990. Each entry begins with an explanation of the term and its origin, a description of how and under what circumstances the term was used, and a discussion of the changes of meaning over the years, as well as the political and social significance of the words."--Jacket.




The Beauty's Part-time Divine Doctor


Book Description

He inadvertently obtained an ancient medical book, practiced the extraordinary medical skills, then rescued many sick beauty. By chance, he came into possession of an old medical book, which contained all sorts of difficult diseases. Originally uninterested in life, he began to study the book. As soon as he learned a little bit of knowledge, he saved a beautiful woman's life. It seems that this is a divine book! He studied harder, hoping to use this magical medicine to help more people. Among the girls he had rescued, the most troublesome was a beauty who has deadly poison in her body. After curing her, she chased him and wanted to be his girlfriend! Although he refused many times, deep down his heart, he has begun to quietly love her. He said to himself, "if she confesses it one more time, I'll be her boyfriend. " ☆About the Author☆ Mo Dao Bu Xiao Hun, an outstanding author of online novels. His novels have unique ingenuity, ups and downs, and humorous language.




Female Rule in Chinese and English Literary Utopias


Book Description

Qingyun Wu's work is a unique discovery in literary studies in the West. Chinese utopian literature paired with its English counterparts form an original and valuable contribution to world literature. In widely varying historical and cultural texts that span the last five centuries, Wu analyzes the theme of female rule, including a critique of patriarchy and emphasizing a vision for women. To date, Chinese utopias have been insufficiently explored and unavailable to Western scholars. Wu's theories of the politics of female rule, as seen in Chinese and English literature since the end of the sixteenth century, are predicated on three significant changes that have taken place during those periods. These include an outright rejection of rule by women to rule by women in the guise of men, from individual to collective female rule, and from an idealized matrilineality to anarchism by the female principle. Works examined include Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen, Luo Maodeng's Sanbao's Expedition to the Western Ocean, Florence Dixie's Gloriana, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed, Chen Duansheng's The Destiny of the Next Life, Li Ruzhen's The Flowers in the Mirror, and Bai Hua's The Remote Country of Women. This critical view of the development of feminist utopias in both the East and West will be of interest to scholars of women's studies, political science, and anthropology as well as to those in literature for both the classical and modern periods.




Eternal War God


Book Description

This was a world where tens of thousands of clans were established, and the strong were revered! The youth carried the Absolute Beginning Holy Body and awakened 720 types of forbidden energies. He appeared out of nowhere and swept through everything in his path, invincible under the heavens! As he raised his cup to boil the world, the stars vanished as he laughed and talked!




I'm Actually a Cultivation Bigshot


Book Description

[Webnovel provides the latest update of I'm Actually a Cultivation Bigshot] The Immortal Dao is ethereal, and Immortals are hard to find. Li Nianfan had descended into the cultivation world as a mortal. After learning that he has no hope in cultivation, he only wants to live a peaceful life. However… The dog he adopts becomes a demon king of a generation when it sees his poems and paintings. It manages to suppress an entire world. The tree he plants behind his house becomes a World Tree after listening to his zither music, forming a bridge between heaven and earth. He meets a passerby who is enlightened by him and becomes an immortal sage who leads an entire generation. When he looks back— It turns out that the scholar who had been pestering him for his calligraphy and paintings despite having crappy chess skills, is a chess saint from the Immortal Realm. The beautiful woman who comes to listen to his music every night is the number one saintess of the Immortal Realm…




Qigong Teachings of a Taoist Immortal


Book Description

The first English translation of Master Li Ching-yun's teachings on the Eight Brocades, the central practice of qigong. • Explains the physical and spiritual benefits of the Eight Brocades and offers step-by-step instructions for this powerful sequence of postures. • 85 illustrations highlight the postures and philosophies. • Author's commentary provides insight and depth to the original translation. Throughout history Taoists have promoted the development and restoration of the Three Treasures-- body, breath, and spirit--through the gentle practice of qigong. At the center of the qigong practice are the Eight Brocades, a series of postures that developed during the 3,000-year Taoist quest for longevity and vitality. Now qigong expert Stuart Olson translates into English Master Li Ching-yun's treasured teachings on the Eight Brocades. One of the most famous qigong masters of this century, Master Li Ching-yun is reliably chronicled to have lived more than 250 years, during which he practiced the Eight Brocades on a daily basis. His longevity and personal endorsements attest to and validate the Eight Brocades as the quintessence of Taoist health and qigong practices. With Master Li Ching-yun's original teachings as a guide, Stuart Olson presents an authentic yet accessible approach to this unique practice. Each exercise is accompanied by original text from Master Li, step-by-step instructions for each posture, illustrations of the positions, and insights on theory and practice. Because the Eight Brocades are the foundation of all qigong, this book provides valuable advice for all practitioners, regardless of the style they practice or the depth of their experience.




Resisting Spirits


Book Description

Resisting Spirits is a reconsideration of the significance and periodization of literary production in the high socialist era, roughly 1953 through 1966, specifically focused on Mao-era culture workers’ experiments with ghosts and ghost plays. Maggie Greene combines rare manuscript materials—such as theatre troupes’ annotated practice scripts—with archival documents, memoirs, newspapers, and films to track key debates over the direction of socialist aesthetics. Through arguments over the role of ghosts in literature, Greene illuminates the ways in which culture workers were able to make space for aesthetic innovation and contestation both despite and because of the constantly shifting political demands of the Mao era. Ghosts were caught up in the broader discourse of superstition, modernization, and China’s social and cultural future. Yet, as Greene demonstrates, the ramifications of those concerns as manifested in the actual craft of writing and performing plays led to further debates in the realm of literature itself: If we remove the ghost from a ghost play, does it remain a ghost play? Does it lose its artistic value, its didactic value, or both? At the heart of Greene’s intervention is “just reading”: the book regards literature first as literature, rather than searching immediately for its political subtext, and the voices of dramatists themselves finally upstage those of Mao’s inner circle. Ironically, this surface reading reveals layers of history that scholars of the Mao era have often ignored, including the ways in which social relations and artistic commitments continued to inform the world of art. Focusing on these concerns points to continuities and ruptures in the cultural history of modern China beyond the bounds of “campaign time.” Resisting Spirits thus illuminates the origins of more famous literary inquisitions, including that surrounding Hai Rui Dismissed from Office, by exploring ghost plays such as Li Huiniang that at first appear more innocent. To the contrary, Greene shows how the arguments surrounding ghost plays and the fates of their authors place the origins of the Cultural Revolution several years earlier, with a radical new shift in the discourse of theatre.




Embryonic Breathing


Book Description

This book reveals the simple and effective method of Embryonic Breathing within Taoist meditation for the purpose of opening the lower Elixir Field, the very foundation of Internal Alchemy. It focuses on Stuart Alve Olson's translation of The Lofty and Foremost Jade Emperor's Canon on Embryonic Breathing, a very popular sixteenth century Taoist text comprising nine verses, as well as a translation of the brilliant commentary by Taoist Master Zhong Xuzi. In addition Olson provides a concise and informative introduction and commentary on the nine verses of the text, and shares much of what he had learned from Master T.T. Liang on this subject. Despite the brevity of this work the theory and practice of Embryonic Breathing is very profound. The text and commentaries are simple in their underlying message: congeal the Spirit and Qi in the lower Elixir Field. The nine verses succinctly cover the very foundation of this method in an uncomplicated manner by simply teaching that the proper use of Embryonic Breathing, swallowing the saliva, and deep concentration on the lower Elixir Field are the root conditions for opening the Elixir Field, thereby bringing about the causes and conditions for attaining longevity and immortality. This book teaches that the opening of the lower Elixir Field is accomplished through three functions: Embryonic Breathing, Swallowing the Saliva, and Retaining the Spirit. All three rely on directing attention to the lower Elixir Field where the three internal energies of Jing (Essence/Body), Qi (Vitality/Breath), and Shen (Spirit/Mind) converge. The experience of opening the lower Elixir Field is paramount to progressing in any meditation practice, and this work succinctly provides the instructions for doing so, no matter the tradition.