Chào Ban! is an interactive language program of introductory Vietnamese intended for use by non-native students, as well as students of Vietnamese heritage without a solid knowledge of the language. The entire program uses the communicative approach, which focuses on teaching the language for the ultimate purpose of using it in everyday settings. Chào Ban! consists of a textbook and workbook manual that adhere to the following practical objectives: to make the whole program straightforward in presentation, user-friendly, practical, interesting to students, and most importantly culture-based.
The Sinitic Civilization A Factual History through the Lens of Archaeology, Bronzeware, Astronomy, Divination, Calendar and the Annals The book covered the time span of history of the Sinitic civilization from antiquity, to the 3rd millennium B.C. to A.D. 85. A comprehensive review of history related to the Sinitic cosmological, astronomical, astrological, historical, divinatory, and geographical developments was given. All ancient Chinese calendars had been examined, with the ancient thearchs' dates examined from the perspective how they were forged or made up. The book provides the indisputable evidence regarding the fingerprint of the forger for the 3rd century A.D. book Shang-shu (remotely ancient history), and close to 50 fingerprints of the forger of the contemporary version of The Bamboo Annals. Using the watershed line of Qin Emperor Shihuangdi's book burning of 213 B.C., the book rectified what was the original history before the book burning, filtered out what was forged after the book burning, sorted out the sophistry and fables that were rampant just prior to the book burning, and validated the history against the records in the oracle bones, bronzeware, and bamboo slips. The book covers 95-98% and more of the contents in the two ancient history annals of The Spring Autumn Annals and The Bamboo Annals. There are dedicated chapters devoted to interpreting Qu Yuan's poem Asking Heaven (Tian Wen), the mythical book The Legends of Mountains & Seas (Shan Hai Jing), geography book Lord Yu's Tributes (Yu Gong), and Zhou King Muwang's Travelogue (Mu-tian-zi Zhuan). The book has appendices of two calendars: the first anterior quarter remainder calendar (247 B.C.-104 B.C./247 B.C.-85 A.D.) of the Qin Empire, as well as a conversion table of the sexagenary years of the virtual Yin-li (Shang dynasty) quarter remainder calendar versus the Gregorian calendar, that covers the years 2698 B.C. to 2018 A.D. Book I stops about the midpoint of the 242 years covered in Confucius' abridged book The Spring & Autumn Annals (722-481 B.C.). Book II stops at Han Emperor Zhangdi (Liu Da, reign A.D. 76-88; actual reign Aug of A.D. 75-Feb of A.D. 88), with the A.D. 85 adoption of the Sifen-li posterior quarter remainder calendar premised on reverting to the sexagenary years of the virtual Yin-li (Shang dynasty) quarter remainder calendar, a calendar disconnected from the Jupiter's chronogram, that was purportedly invented by the Confucians on basis of Confucius' identifying the 'qi-lin' divine giraffe animal and wrapping up the masterpiece The Spring & Autumn Annals two years prior to death.
Proverbs are an important and characteristic feature of Chinese language and culture. There is a Chinese proverb for almost any situation, and judicious use of proverbs is regarded as a sign of good education. Proverbs are often derived from classical stories or historical events, and offer a multi-dimensional resource for learning Chinese. Becoming a Dragon: Forty Chinese Proverbs for Lifelong Learning and Classroom Study, is a bilingual (English-Chinese) collection of proverbs, popular phrases, and two-part allegorical sayings. Each proverb is set out with all the materials needed for self-study and classroom teaching: the story behind the proverb and its source in both English and Chinese, a literal translation, the figurative meaning, English equivalents, a vocabulary list, and examples of how the proverb is used in modern written and spoken Chinese. Illustrations and vocabulary lists are also available online for use in classroom presentations.
The Silk Roads are the symbol of the interconnectedness of ancient Eurasian civilizations. Using challenging land and maritime routes, merchants and adventurers, diplomats and missionaries, sailors and soldiers, and camels, horses and ships, carried their commodities, ideas, languages and pathogens enormous distances across Eurasia. The result was an underlying unity that traveled the length of the routes, and which is preserved to this day, expressed in common technologies, artistic styles, cultures and religions, and even disease and immunity patterns. In words and images, Craig Benjamin explores the processes that allowed for the comingling of so many goods, ideas, and diseases around a geographical hub deep in central Eurasia. He argues that the first Silk Roads era was the catalyst for an extraordinary increase in the complexity of human relationships and collective learning, a complexity that helped drive our species inexorably along a path towards modernity.
After the ceasefire in Laos in February 1973, London forbids Colonel Jason Rance, the British Defence Attaché in Laos, from continuing his search for four Lao ‘moles’, who work within the Communist Party and wear a dedicated ring as a talisman. Unsanctioned contingency plans are therefore made by others for Rance to continue his work with the moles, the ‘Four Rings’, in an unattributable Operation Four Rings. But Rance remains ignorant of the plan and does not know he is in imminent danger. The communists now suspect the Four Rings as well as Colonel Rance and they launch their own Operation Four Rings: to kill the four moles and the British Defence Attaché. The tightest of races ensues. Based on historical fact and the author’s personal experience, Operation Four Rings is the fifth in a series of books involving Gurkha military units and includes Operation Black Rose, Operation Janus, Operation Blind Spot and Operation Stealth. The author, a retired Gurkha colonel, draws on real characters and events he witnessed across various theatres of war.
A CONCISE COMMENTARY ON MONOGRAPHS ON THE WESTERN REGIONS IN THE OFFICIAL HISTORY BOOKS OF THE WESTERN & EASTERN HAN, WEI, JIN, SOUTHERN & NORTHERN DYNASTIES是同作者《两汉魏晋南北朝正史西域传要注》一书的英文版，是作者为两汉魏晋南北朝正史西域传有关西域的记载提供的一个系统的注解。作者长期研究西域史和古代中外关系史、塞种、贵霜、嚈哒以及两汉魏晋南北朝与西域关系史，在此基础上，作者就各篇西域传所见西域文化、宗教、习俗、制度，以及人种、语言、文字作了分门别类的研究，结集而成《两汉魏晋南北朝正史西域传研究》，再依据研究的结论，撰写了《两汉魏晋南北朝正史西域传要注》一书，为两汉魏晋南北朝正史西域传有关西域的记载提供的一个系统的注解。
