Background
Schafer, Edward Hetzel was born on August 23, 1913 in Seattle, Washington, District of Columbia, United States. Son of Edward Hetzel and Lillian (Moorehead) Schafer.
(Hainan Island is the southernmost extent of what is now P...)
Hainan Island is the southernmost extent of what is now People's Republic of China. Today the island is strategically important for its geographic position and its rich mineral and oil resources, and economically important as a thriving tropical resort. Historically, however, Hainan had been regarded as a backwater by successive Chinese dynasties. In Shore of Pearls the eminent Sinologist Edward Schafer recounts the history and culture of the island, annexed during the reign of Han emperor Wu Di in 111 BC, when Chinese armies defeated its indigenous Li people. Pearl gathering became an important industry, and this treasure island also yielded other luxury goods prized by the Chinese court, including incense, medicinal herbs precious metals, tortoise shell, ivory, and exotic woods. However, the difficulty of colonizing and exploiting Hainan's riches changed its reputation from a treasure island to one of a dank, poisonous land unfit for normal men, and it later became a place of exile for scholars and officials who had offended the court, including the great poet Su Shi, as well as a lair for criminals and pirates. As in Vermilion Bird, Professor Schafer writes precisely and poetically about this fascinating interface between China and the cultures of its southern borders.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1891640526/?tag=2022091-20
( In the seventh century the kingdom of Samarkand sent fo...)
In the seventh century the kingdom of Samarkand sent formal gifts of fancy yellow peaches, large as goose eggs and with a color like gold, to the Chinese court at Ch'ang-an. What kind of fruit these golden peaches really were cannot now be guessed, but they have the glamour of mystery, and they symbolize all the exotic things longed for, and unknown things hoped for, by the people of the T'ang empire. This book examines the exotics imported into China during the T'ang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907), and depicts their influence on Chinese life. Into the land during the three centuries of T'ang came the natives of almost every nation of Asia, all bringing exotic wares either as gifts or as goods to be sold. Ivory, rare woods, drugs, diamonds, magicians, dancing girls—the author covers all classes of unusual imports, their places of origin, their lore, their effort on costume, dwellings, diet, and on painting, sculpture, music, and poetry. This book is not a statistical record of commercial imports and medieval trade, but rather a "humanistic essay, however material its subject matter."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520054628/?tag=2022091-20
(Hainan Island is the southernmost extent of what is now P...)
Hainan Island is the southernmost extent of what is now People's Republic of China. Today the island is strategically important for its geographic position and its rich mineral and oil resources, and economically important as a thriving tropical resort. Historically, however, Hainan had been regarded as a backwater by successive Chinese dynasties. In Shore of Pearls the eminent Sinologist Edward Schafer recounts the history and culture of the island, annexed during the reign of Han emperor Wu Di in 111 BC, when Chinese armies defeated its indigenous Li people. Pearl gathering became an important industry, and this treasure island also yielded other luxury goods prized by the Chinese court, including incense, medicinal herbs precious metals, tortoise shell, ivory, and exotic woods. However, the difficulty of colonizing and exploiting Hainan's riches changed its reputation from a treasure island to one of a dank, poisonous land unfit for normal men, and it later became a place of exile for scholars and officials who had offended the court, including the great poet Su Shi, as well as a lair for criminals and pirates. As in Vermilion Bird, Professor Schafer writes precisely and poetically about this fascinating interface between China and the cultures of its southern borders.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520015924/?tag=2022091-20
(The period between the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907 an...)
The period between the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907 and the establishment of the Song in 960 is often dismissed as a bleak chapter in Chinese history, a half-century of national disunity and anarchy. However, while it is true that the north during this time was continually ravaged by attacks from Khitans and Turks, the south enjoyed a time of peace, economic prosperity, and cultural growth. This engaging study by the eminent Sinologist Edward H. Schafer examines the so-called Empire of Min, centered in the coastal and semi-tropical present-day province of Fujian. Professor Schafer describes the geography, government, and political structure of Min, as well as its economy, arts, literature, and religion. As those familiar with the work of Professor Schafer might expect, the interesting economic and political issues of the day are made clear, and its colorful characters and their various machinations come alive. This limited reprinted work incorporates the corrigenda compiled by the author.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1891640364/?tag=2022091-20
(In the author's own words, this work attempts to recreate...)
In the author's own words, this work attempts to recreate, for the 20th-century reader, the sky and the apparitions that ornament it as they were conceived, imagined, and reacted to by the men of T'ang-dynasty China-that is, to suggest what the medieval Chinese . . . thought they saw in the night sky, and how they treated those magic lights in their active lives, their private commitments, and their literary fabrications. Inevitably, this enterprise meant the exploration of the borderlands where science, faith, tradition, invention, and fantasy overlap. Armed with the new awareness that this fascinating work provides, we can better understand the great legacy of art and literature of this greatest period of cultural flowering in Chinese history.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1891640143/?tag=2022091-20
(Since the early seventeenth century, Taoism-the native re...)
Since the early seventeenth century, Taoism-the native religion of China-has been generally regarded by authorities there as base superstition and potentially subversive. The Taoist poetry of medieval China was consequently ignored by Chinese arbiters of taste and, until recently, most Western scholars and translators have accepted this judgment uncritically; a body of beautiful verse, with analogues in the poetry of Christian mysticism, has remained virtually unknown in our time. This book augments the efforts of a few contemporary Western scholars to recover the meaning and value of this literary heritage. The eminent sinologist Edward H. Shafer translated all the surviving verse of the ninth-century poet Ts'ao T'ang, and to the selections published here has added introductory remarks on the source of the poet's imagery and short essays on his treatment of figures of the Taoist pantheon. Ts'ao Tang has placed these deities and demiurges in a number of unstable or ambiguous settings such as celestial gardens, sparkling palaces on the summits of sacred mountains, and secret places of rendezvous on magic islands in the eastern sea. The poet creates a world of illusions, in which it is difficult to distinguish vestments from rainbows, castles from crags, birds from spirits, sea-waves from sea-mounts-even lords from ladies. These contrived wonders are all metaphors for a world completely inaccessible to our mortal senses.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1891640453/?tag=2022091-20
(In the seventh century the great T'ang nation was obliged...)
In the seventh century the great T'ang nation was obliged to reconquer the southernmost portion of what had been considered Chinese territory for many centuries, a region today corresponding roughly with northern Vietnam and the Chinese provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong. The Vermilion Bird attempts to recover the actual character of the monsoon realms of T'ang-a scattering of palisaded garrisons, isolated monasteries, and commercial towns, all surrounded by dark, haunted woods. Professor Schafer examines the thoughts, emotions, imaginations, and daily lives of the men of that era, through the medium of their literature, for evidence of the changes inspired by this new environment, and especially for signs of the transformation of the ancient symbol of the South, the sacred vermilion bird. The Journal of Asian Studies called this book: A work of immense and devoted scholarship, a mine of fascinating information, a delight to read, and an indispensable work of reference on Medieval China.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1891640372/?tag=2022091-20
Schafer, Edward Hetzel was born on August 23, 1913 in Seattle, Washington, District of Columbia, United States. Son of Edward Hetzel and Lillian (Moorehead) Schafer.
Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 1938; Doctor of Philosophy in Oriental Langs, University of California, Berkeley, 1947; Master of Arts, University Hawaii, 1940; postgraduate, Harvard University, 1940-1941.
Lecturer in Oriental languages, University of California, Berkeley, 1947; assistant professor Oriental languages, University of California, 1947-1953; associate professor, University of California, 1953-1958; professor, University of California, 1958-1969; Agassiz professor Oriental languages and literature, University of California, from 1969.
(In the seventh century the great T'ang nation was obliged...)
(In the author's own words, this work attempts to recreate...)
(The period between the fall of the Tang dynasty in 907 an...)
(In the seventh century the kingdom of Samarkand sent form...)
( In the seventh century the kingdom of Samarkand sent fo...)
(Since the early seventeenth century, Taoism-the native re...)
(Hainan Island is the southernmost extent of what is now P...)
(Hainan Island is the southernmost extent of what is now P...)
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Served with United States Naval Reserve, 1941-1946. Member American Oriental Society (past president).
Son of; married Phyllis Brooks, September 7, 1971. Children from previous marriage: Tamlyn, Julian, Kevin.