Taiwan Lives

A Social and Political History

Niki J. P. Alsford

stories of migration, dis P la C ement, demo C ratization, and transformation

A merchant, an exile, an activist, a pop star, a doctor, and a president are just some of the twenty-four individuals whose lives populate this people’s history of Taiwan. Ranging across time, social strata, ethnicity, and political alliance, these tales offer snapshots of historical eras and illustrate the interwoven fabric of colonialism.

Taiwan Lives is a comprehensive examination of the island’s rich and complex past, told through the voices and perspectives of the people who have lived it. From the indigenous peoples who have called Taiwan home for thousands of years to the four centuries of European, Manchu, Chinese, and Japanese colonization, this book delves into the diverse experiences and struggles of Taiwan’s inhabitants.

“An engaging and informative overview of Taiwan’s recent history that brings its varied historical residents to life and is unlike any book currently on the market.”

—Evan Dawley, author of Becoming Taiwanese: Ethnogenesis in a Colonial City, 1880s to 1950s

“Portraits narrated as tales of people in Taiwan weave a fresh and innovative expression of the island’s heritage and modern history.” —David Blundell, editor of Taiwan since Martial Law: Society, Culture, Politics, Economy february

Niki J. P. Alsford is professor of Asia Pacific studies and head of Asia Pacific Institutes at the University of Central Lancashire. He is author of Transitions to Modernity in Taiwan: The Spirit of 1895 and the Cession of Formosa to Japan.

240 pp., 2 maps, 3 tables, 6 × 9 in.

$105.00x / £84.00 hC / 9780295752150

$32.00s / £24.99 Pb / 9780295752167

$32.00s / £24.99 eb / 9780295752174

Asian Studies / Taiwan / China taiwan and the world

Spatial Dunhuang

Experiencing the Mogao Caves

Wu Hung

392 pp., 188 color illus., 1 map, 2 tables, 7 × 10 in.

$65.00s h C / 9780295750200

“A major concern of contemporary scholars is the lack of a book that can tell an interesting story about the history of the art of Mogao. Wu Hung writes one that is easy to read and at the same time offers an intellectual framework to approach the subject at both macro and micro levels.” —Hsueh-man Shen, author of Authentic Replicas: Buddhist Art in Medieval China

“‘The holy lanterns, when lit, look like a suspended river of stars.’ Wu Hung brings the Dunhuang Buddhist shrines vividly to life in extraordinary historical, literary, archaeological and iconographic detail, solving complex questions with clarity and precision.”

—Roderick Whitfield, coauthor of Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang: Art and History on the Silk Road

“Reading this magnificently illustrated book by the world’s foremost scholar of Chinese art is like touring Dunhuang with an immensely learned and creative guide offering fresh insights at every step.” —Robert E. Harrist Jr., author of The Landscape of Words: Stone Inscriptions from Early and Medieval China

The Many Lives of the First Emperor of China

Anthony J. Barbieri-Low

360 pp., 18 color illus., 48 b&w illus., 2 maps, 7 × 10 in. $65.00s h C / 9780295750224

“Anthony J. Barbieri-Low’s The Many Lives of the First Emperor of China is evidence that historical ‘meta-analysis’ can produce a book as absorbing as a good narrative history . . . if you’ve ever stood agape at the material riches of the Terracotta Warriors or sunk deep into an armchair with a good work of historical fiction or biography, then this book is also for you.”

—Asian Review of Books

“Offers the most well-rounded depiction available in any language of the First Emperor’s personality, lifestyle, and historical era, as well as the subsequent narratives that for centuries shaped how his reign was understood.”

—Los Angeles Review of Books

“Like its predecessors, offers brilliant insights into the history of China, and into ways of doing history, by finding a useful perspective that was hitherto ignored.” Journal of Chinese History