Li Yu

Jou Pu Tuan: The Prayer Mat of Flesh

A Couple of Soles is a classic comedic romance by the seventeenth-century playwright Li Yu. Tan Chuyu, a poor young scholar, falls in love with the beautiful actress Liu Miaogu. He joins her family’s acting troupe, and, in plays within the play, romance ensues. After Liu’s family attempts to marry her off to a local country squire, she performs a famous scene in which a heroine drowns herself—and then jumps off the stage into a river, followed by Tan. The local river deity rescues the lovers from death by transforming them into a pair of soles. Li balances their romance with the adventures of a retired upright official involving banditry, bribery, and mistaken identity—and who nets and shelters the two fish when they regain human form. Written at a time when China was beginning to recover from the cataclysmic Ming-Qing dynastic transition, A Couple of Soles displays Li’s biting wit as well as his reflections on the concerns of his age, including the dangers of administrative service and the role of theater in society. The play combines witty wordplay and caustic satire with a strong emphasis on traditional moral values. The first major comedy from late imperial China to appear in English translation, A Couple of Soles provides an unparalleled view of the theater in seventeenth-century China. A general introduction and a detailed appendix shed further light on the play and its context.

A Comic Play from Seventeenth-Century China

A Couple of Soles

Dan Zhang

This book, written by experts in the field, is based on the latest research on the analysis and synthesis of switched time-delay systems. It covers the stability, filtering, fault detection and control problems, which are studied using the average dwell time approach. It presents both the continuous-time and discrete-time systems and provides useful insights and methods, as well as practical algorithms that can be considered in other complex systems, such as neuron networks and genetic regulatory networks, making it a valuable resource for researchers, scientists and engineers in the field of system sciences and control communities.

Analysis and Synthesis of Switched Time-Delay Systems: The Average Dwell Time Approach

Yu Li

Book Review Editor Li Yu

A seventeenth century erotic novel traces the sexual adventures of Vesperus, a handsome Chinese scholar, who decides to experience the world before taking vows as a Zen monk

The Carnal Prayer Mat

Let's Learn Mandarin Chinese Kit is a complete language learning tool specially designed to introduce young children to the basic sounds, words, characters and phrases of Mandarin Chinese in a fun and interactive way. This Chinese language kit is perfect for use in a classroom setting, for home schooling, on vacation, or anywhere else that learning takes place. It contains: 64 Chinese flash cards An audio CD with recordings of songs, games and activities A wall chart showing the main words and phrases at a glance A 32-page learning guide for parents and teachers The flash cards present 64 basic words and phrases representing the full range of sounds in Mandarin Chinese and organized into thematic categories, including: Basic Etiquette and Daily Routines Introducing Family Members Identifying Objects Identifying Body Parts Learn the Multiplication Table Tell Me What You Like or Do Not Like Tell Me What You Like to Do Each word is illustrated with a picture that serves as an effective visual aid to learning and remembering the word. The words often reflect cultural objects and can be studied in any order. Learners may focus on one theme at a time or mix them up for greater variety. Simple example sentences are given for each word to show how they are used. The audio CD gives native-speaker pronunciations for all the words and sentences and also contains songs, games and other activities which promote interactive language learning. Finally, the kit includes a wall chart featuring all the pictures and words, and a booklet explaining how to use the flash cards, audio CD and wall chart and how to play the games and activities.

64 Basic Mandarin Chinese Words and Their Uses-For Children Ages 4 and Up

Let's Learn Mandarin Chinese Ebook

Federico Caprotti

With Asia’s cities undergoing unprecedented growth in the 21st century, lauded the ‘urban century’ by many, Sustainable Cities in Asia provides a timely examination of the challenges facing cities across the continent including some of the projects, approaches and solutions that are currently being tested. This book uses numerous case studies, analysing topical issues ranging from city cycling in India, to green spaces in China, to the use of community-led energy generation projects in post-Fukushima Japan. Containing contributions from an international team of scholars, it also takes a multi-disciplinary approach and draws on examples from a wide range of countries, including China, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Ultimately, by providing a comprehensive discussion of the broader debates around the shape of sustainable urbanism, it demonstrates that Asia is one of the most active regions in terms of the development of sustainable city strategies. Tackling the contemporary issues of key importance for sustainability, such as property markets, migration and transport, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Urban Geography, Sustainability, Environmental Studies and Asian studies.

Sustainable Cities in Asia

Classic tale of the scholar Vesperus who, acting against the advice of Buddhist Monk Lone Peak, embarks upon a life of debauchery. But what a life it is! With an innocent wife abandoned, a knave befriended, and the most beautiful of women procured... Also published as "The Carnal Prayer Mat."

Li Yu

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