Search results for ""silkworm books / trasvin publications lp""

Pen and Sail combines intellectual history and economic history. Nidhi argues that the emergence of a market economy in the early Bangkok era (1782–1855) was the driving force behind a major change in mentality and worldview seen in poetry, early prose works, biographies of the Buddha, scripts for chanting the Jataka tales, language primers, manuals of behavior, and revisions of the royal chronicles.

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Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (1906–1993) is widely regarded as modern Thailand’s most influential Buddhist philosopher. His thought had a profound intellectual impact in Thailand in the second half of the twentieth century. His life mission was to undertake a complete reexamination of Theravada Buddhist teachings. By returning to the Buddha’s original teachings in the Suttapitaka and by drawing on aspects of Zen Buddhism, Buddhadasa crafted a vision of Thai Buddhism as a socially, politically, and intellectually progressive force. This vision of a modern Theravada Buddhism fit for a modern, democratic, and socially just Thailand continues to inspire large numbers of Thai people in the twenty-first century. In this book Peter Jackson examines Buddhadasa’s life work and thought, placing them in the context of the political, economic, and intellectual changes that transformed Thailand in the twentieth century. Combining biographical studies with critical philosophical and sociological analyses of Buddhadasa’s reforms of Thai Buddhist teachings, Peter Jackson emphasizes the path-breaking and often radical ideas of one of the greatest Buddhist thinkers of the last century. This book is a revised and expanded edition of Peter Jackson’s Buddhadasa: A Buddhist Thinker for the Modern World, published in 1988. It contains a new epilogue tracing the controversy surrounding Buddhadasa’s death in 1993 and reflecting on the philosopher-monk’s lasting legacy in Thailand.

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This account of Kosa Pan’s journal describes in great detail the arrival in Brest in 1686 of the first full Siamese embassy to reach France. This fragment is apparently all that survives of a massive report of the activities of the embassy written for King Narai. It was discovered in Paris in the early 1980s, was published in Thai in 1984, and appears here in English for the first time.

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, is a community of multiple identities. Over time, its citizens' loyalties were formed around national and transnational frameworks involving ethnic, religious, and ideological affinities. In the post-independence period, they were affected by decolonization, nation-building, the Cold War, globalization, and China’s rise. As a result, the region is emerging as a confluence of competing and overlapping identities. In recent years, new collective imaginations about the region's future have appeared, committing member states to directions beyond the politico-economic realm. Yet there is a risk that more exclusive visions, based on national, religious, ethnic, or other allegiances, will hold sway.This book unpacks these competing identities. Rich in ethnographic and historical material, it examines identities shaped by generational markers, transnational linkages, and shared experiences of violence.

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Over 180 color photographs from temples, museums, historical sites, and private collections enhance this attractive survey of the Buddhist art of India, Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan, Nepal, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. It presents the life story and teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha, founder of Buddhism, as shown in paintings, sculptures, and other works of art, and explores the major schools of Buddhism—Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, Zen—and the styles and characteristics of the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, deities, and other images seen in their art. Everyone interested in Buddhist art and its enduring significance will find this volume a useful reference for the study and appreciation of the various gestures, poses, and artistic elements seen in Buddhist art through the ages.

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Written after a battle fought in approximately 1475, this poem may be the oldest work of literature from Siam. It features the earliest and most detailed description of a Siamese army, the most elaborate eulogy of an early Thai monarch, and a fascinating discussion of the concept of loyalty. Scenes of personal treachery, heroism, combat, and looting after victory give an absorbing image of early Siam. This translation shares the poem—esteemed in Thailand for its historical and literary importance—with a wider audience. Blank verse conveys the rhythm and atmosphere of the original, and annotations explain obscure words and concepts. An afterword analyzes form, content, and the poem’s literary and historical significance.

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The mountains of northern Thailand constitute part of northern Thai identity. They inspire fear and awe, respect and love, curiosity and creative imagination. They define both the physical and mental landscape of northern Thailand. Drawing on the legendary histories of three mountains in the region—Doi Ang Salung Chiang Dao, Doi Suthep, and Doi Kham—coauthor Donald Swearer explores the various ways that mountains in northern Thailand are seen as sacred space, and therefore as an environment to be respected rather than exploited. The volume presents, in English translation, the stories associated with these sacred sites as recorded in the legendary chronicles, or tamnan, of the story of the Chiang Dao mountain and cave, the account of the enshrining of the Buddha relic on Doi Suthep, and the interwoven legends of the hermit Wasuthep, the demons Pu Sae and Ya Sae, the chief Wilangkha, and the queen Chamathewi. In preserving the fascinating folklore of these sacred mountains, the authors contribute to the preservation of the mountains themselves.

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Mongolian Buddhism is the first book to explore the development of Mongolia's state religion, from its formation in the thirteenth century around the time of Chinggis Qaan (Genghis Khan) until its demise in the twentieth century under the Soviet Union. Until its downfall, Mongolian Buddhism had served as a scientific, political, and medical resource for the Mongolian people. During the 1930s, Mongolian Buddhist monasticism, the caretaker of these resources, was methodically and systematically demolished. Lamas were forced to apostatize, and were either enslaved or executed. Now, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Mongolian Buddhism has reemerged in a country that has yet to fully confront its bloody past. Through historical analysis of Tibetan, Chinese, and Russian accounts of history, Michael Jerryson offers a much-needed religio-political perspective on the ebb and flow of Buddhism and the Sangha in Mongolia.

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In Thailand and World War II, Direk Jayanama provides a unique, first-hand account of Thailand's diplomatic, military, and economic history between 1938 and 1948. Diplomat, statesman, academic, and writer, Direk Jayanama helped guide the Thai nation through a turbulent period in its history. He was Deputy Prime Minister when Thailand was forced on 8 December 1941 to accede to Japan's demand that its troops be permitted safe passage through Thai territory on their way to attack Singapore. In early 1942, Direk reluctantly accepted an appointment as Thai Ambassador to Japan. Returning to Thailand in July 1943 for health reasons, Direk went on to play a significant role in the Free Thai movement that sought to make contact with the Allies and overthrow the Japanese during the waning years of the war. Direk Jayanama's remarkable skills were employed to their greatest extent in the immediate post-war years. He not only helped bring the state of war with Britain and Australia to a successful conclusion, but he also played a major role in enabling Thailand to obtain admittance to the United Nations in 1948 and resume its full standing in the community of nations. These detailed and fascinating memoirs include additional chapters by key Free Thai members including Puey Ungphakorn, as well as extensive appendixes containing the text of international treaties and agreements to which Thailand was signatory.

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This book is intended for modern students, inside or outside the classroom, as a work of reference rather than a "teach yourself" textbook. It presents an introductory sketch of Pali using both European and South Asian grammatical categories. In English-language works, Pali is usually presented in the traditional terms of English grammar, derived from the classical tradition, with which many modern students are unfamiliar. This work discusses and reflects upon those categories, and has an appendix devoted to them. It also introduces the main categories of traditional Sanskrit and Pali grammar, drawing on, in particular, the medieval Pali text Saddaniti, by Aggavamsa. Each grammatical form is illustrated by examples taken from Pali texts, mostly canonical. Although some previous knowledge of Sanskrit would be helpful, the book can also be used by those without previous linguistic training. A bibliographical appendix refers to other, complementary resources.

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The Tai Lü are a Tai-speaking group closely related to the Khon Müang or Tai Yuan, the dominant ethnic group in Northern Thailand. According to their own historical tradition, the ancestors of the Tai Lü migrated from what is now northwestern Vietnam into the southern part of Yunnan, where they founded their own kingdom in the twelfth century. Today, the Tai Lü are the most important population group within the so-called "Economic Quadrangle" of the Upper Mekong, which plays an increasingly important economic and geopolitical role. Chronicle of Sipsòng Panna offers the first English translation of four different versions of the Chronicle of Moeng Lü (also known as Sipsòng Panna) based on the oldest extant manuscripts. The volume provides a comprehensive analysis of Tai Lü historical sources and a valuable introduction to the history and society of the Upper Mekong region.

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The Thai language has extraordinarily rich, varied, and multi-leveled vocabularies for sexual anatomy, behaviors, identities, and attitudes. The authors of this in-depth study deal directly with the language of sex in Thailand in all its raw, sometimes humorous, and often derogatory immediacy. The registers of spoken Thai (phasa phut), the language of the marketplace (phasa talat), official discourse (phasa ratchakan), literary usages (phasa khian), and technical and academic vocabularies (phasa wichakan) are all covered. Much more than a vocabulary list, this book engages the language of sex and sexuality in Thailand from critical feminist and queer studies perspectives. The authors take the positions of women, men who love men, women who love women, and transgenders as standpoints from which to critique the dominant male-centered and hetero-normative structures of Thai sexual culture. Thai Sex Talk showcases the path-breaking research that a new generation of Thai scholars is conducting on the country's sexual cultures.

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Highly regarded as an important part of the poetic heritage of Thailand, The Story of King Law received royal acclaim in 1914 and is included in official school curricula. All students of Thai literature memorize parts of it and retain them for decades. The story has been extolled as beautiful and deeply moving poetry, with admirable and virtuous protagonists. It has also been vilified as undignified vulgarity, as a piece of ancient titillation unworthy of attention in the modern day. And, for admirers and critics alike, it has proven to be a source of great confusion and unresolvable obscurity. Robert Bickner uses comparative and historical linguistics as the foundation for his examination and interpretation of the poem and with this translation guides readers through the many complexities of this fascinating text.

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The paintings of contemporary Thai artist Pichai Nirand (b. 1936) are a vivid exploration of the interplay between Thailand’s Buddhist roots and its modern aspirations and struggles. Pichai engages fully with the world and belief system around him. Accompanying the full-color paintings is an incisive examination of the Thai moral and social themes of Pichai’s paintings in terms of the Buddhist cycle of life. Philip Constable’s sensitive analysis of the social, political, economic, and moral dimensions affecting the artist, coupled with careful reference to other contemporary Thai artists, illuminates the deep meaning and expression behind each painting. This book showcases a celebrated Thai artist who has spent a lifetime providing a Thai Buddhist perspective on the dilemmas and contradictions of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

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This volume commemorates a new exhibition of Burmese artifacts at the Musée Guimet in Paris and showcases the vibrant art and manuscript traditions of Myanmar. The central pieces displayed in the exhibition were three richly illustrated manuscripts called parabaiks. These vivid paintings, which show lively festivals and the pageantry of daily religious and courtly life, are a window into the culture and customs of nineteenth-century Burma. Also in the exhibition were a number of other manuscripts, inscriptions, diagrams, and even an ornate wooden model of a traditional Burmese monastery. The accompanying essays—translated from the original French exhibition booklet—explore complexities of the Burmese language, manuscript production, and background of the exhibited items as well as explaining the festivities and other spirited scenes illustrated in the parabaiks.

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French anthropologist Jacques Dournes lived in Vietnam for 25 years, from 1946 to 1970, studying the culture of the Jarai and other highland ethnic groups. He became a renowned ethnographer and the Jarai people became his lifelong passion. In part 1 of this study, Andrew Hardy explores Dournes’s challenging monograph Potao, une théorie de pouvoir chez les Indochinois jorai and his views on the role of the highlanders in ancient Champa. In part 2, Dournes speaks animatedly with the author about the Jarai, his feelings about culture and economics, his understanding of Vietnam’s history, and his personal experience of living in the Central Highlands. The French transcript of the interview is presented in the appendix.

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Only one person has given us a first-hand account of the civilization of Angkor. This is the Chinese envoy, Zhou Daguan, who visited Angkor in 1296–97 and wrote A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People after his return to China. To this day Zhou’s description of the royal palace, sacred buildings, women, traders, slaves, hill people, animals, landscapes, and everyday life remains a unique portrait of thirteenth-century Angkor at a time when its splendors were still intact. Very little is known about Zhou Daguan. He was born on or near the southeastern coast of China, and was probably a young man when he traveled to Cambodia by boat. After returning home he faded into obscurity, though he seems to have lived on for several decades. Much of the text of Zhou’s book has been lost over the centuries, but what remains gives us a lively sense of Zhou the man as well as of Angkor. In this edition, Peter Harris translates Zhou Daguan’s work directly from Chinese to English to be published for the first time. Earlier English versions depended on a French translation done over a century ago, and lost much of the feeling of the original as a result. This entirely new rendering, which draws on a range of available versions of the Zhou text, brings Zhou’s many observations vividly and accurately back to life. An introduction and extensive notes help explain the text and put it in the context of the times.

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In this first full-length study on the topic, Matthew Hunt—with access to rare and controversial films—provides a history of film censorship in Thailand. Hunt outlines its beginnings in the country, when films were censored by the police for political and ideological reasons, rather than on the basis of taste and decency, to the present when issues such as politics, religion, and sex are the main reasons films are banned. He also examines how Thai filmmakers approach culturally sensitive subjects and how their films have been censored as a result. Hunt presents interviews with ten leading directors, including conversations with Thai New Wave veterans Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Pen-ek Ratanaruang. In these interviews, the directors discuss their most controversial films, which range from mainstream studio movies to independent arthouse releases, and explain their responses to censorship.

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Ancient temples, elegant diplomatic missions, public gardens, bustling marketplaces, iconographic “joss houses,” charming bungalows, and colonial clubhouses are just a few of the cultural wonders that await you in Yangon, the former capital of Burma (Myanmar). The city has what is perhaps the finest collection of early modern architecture to be found anywhere in Southeast Asia. This first-of-its-kind city map will guide you as you explore these sights, taking you down alleyways, tree-lined promenades, and major thoroughfares to uncover the historical and architectural significance of Yangon’s breathtaking landmarks. The map features three separate walking tours that will allow you to explore the wonderfully eclectic mix of fin-de-siècle architecture and the former grand boulevards of cinemas, shops, and cafes. Unlike other major Asian cities, Yangon has few skyscrapers yet maintains a “cosmopolitan ambience” through the evocative appeal of its unique urban legacy. Yangon’s buildings still tell wonderful stories. Included with the map are over a dozen rarely seen photographs and a special section that lists 187 historical landmarks in Yangon according to the township where they are located. These landmarks have been designated by the Yangon City Development Committee as preservation sites because of their heritage value. Prepared by an expert on Burmese design and architecture, this map is a trusted guide to the many hidden treasures in the golden city of Yangon.

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Hero and Deity is an eloquent and fascinating journey into the world of the worshippers and the cult of Tran Hung Dao. The legendary fourteenth-century hero and savior of Vietnam has evolved as a key symbol of the nation as well as an efficacious deity in its spiritual pantheon. Today he is a ubiquitous, multivalent symbol of the contradictions of contemporary Vietnamese society. Intertwined with this rich ethnography is a work of self-interrogation and engagement with the author’s complex and changing “home,” and with the diverse women and men – intellectuals, Communist Party cadres, and market sellers alike – whose lives are centered to a significant degree around the cult of Saint Tran and other deities. The book is a contribution to the ethnography of Vietnam, cultural studies, and Asian studies and also an original and stimulating introduction to contemporary Vietnamese society.

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Books on mural painting in Thailand have tended to focus on works commissioned by royalty or other elites from the centers of power. This volume is the first to examine a vibrant sub-school of painting from the rural heartland of the Northeastern Region, also known as Isan. It is a multifaceted and empathetic study of these lovely and lively paintings, and will appeal to anyone interested in the Mekong Region as well as to scholars of art history, Buddhism, and anthropology in Southeast Asia.

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Cameraman Brendan Leary survived the ambush of the Big Buddha Bicycle Race—but Tukada, his star-crossed lover, did not. Numb, Leary returns to combat, flying night operations over the mountains of Laos. When his gunship is shot down, he survives again, hiking out of the jungle with Harley Baker, the guitar-playing door gunner he loves and hates. Leary is discharged but remains in Thailand, ordaining as a Buddhist monk and embarking on a pilgrimage through the wastelands of Laos, haunted by what Thais call pii tai hong—the restless, unhappy ghosts of his doomed crewmates. This story of healing and redemption honors three groups missing from accounts of the Vietnam War—the air commandos who risked death flying nightly over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the active-duty airmen who risked prison by joining the GI antiwar movement, and the people of neutral Laos, whose lives and country were devastated.

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In Gender and the Path to Awakening, Martin Seeger lays out the nuances and varying conceptions of female renunciation in modern Thai Buddhism. Centered on long-term textual and ethnographic research on six remarkable female practitioners, Seeger considers trends and changes over the last 140 years in the practices of female renunciants and their devotees. He also investigates understandings of female sainthood in Thai Buddhism, its expressions in material culture, and the importance of orality and memory in Thai Buddhist epistemology. Supported by interviews and careful study of sermons, hagiographies, and hitherto untranslated and rare Thai sources, this book examines the social backgrounds, modes of expression, veneration, and historical contexts of Thai women pursuing the Buddhist ideal. Rich in ethnographic detail and with additional grounding in foundational Indian Buddhist texts, this book offers new insights into the complexities of female renunciation and gender relations in modern Thai Buddhism. Highlights Offers a fresh and comprehensive understanding of female practitioners and gender relations in modern Thai Buddhism. Based on meticulous long-term ethnographic and textual research. Considers the role of orality and memory in the epistemological framework of Buddhist education, particularly for female practitioners. Illustrated by a number of photos—sometimes rare—of key figures and the material culture associated with them. Makes extensive use of early Buddhist texts to present or juxtapose modern developments with events and people in early Buddhism

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Siam’s great folk epic, The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen, has entertained readers and audiences down through the centuries, with its rich and earthy portrayal of life and relationships. Here, a mix of Thai and Western scholars present five critical essays that uncover hidden layers and expose new themes using theories and approaches developed mainly within the field of Western literary criticism. The first two essays arose out of the crucible of Thailand’s social upheaval and student protest movement in the early 1970s, while the remaining essays are more recent.

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Thai Ways is a delightful collection of almost everything the curious visitor might want to know about Thai customs and beliefs, engagingly explained by a long-time English resident of Thailand. Compiled from a series of articles published in a popular weekly column in the 1970s, the selections remain as informative and readable today as when the author first wrote them. They demystify constructs like the system of royal ranks and the Thai musical scale, and customs such as the Loi Krathong festival and the Wai Khru ceremony.

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This wide-ranging account of early Buddhism in Southeast Asia overthrows dominant theories among both Western and Asian Scholars. The author argues that Pali-based Buddhism was brought from India and Sri Lanka by merchants, monks, and pilgrims by the fourth century. Several schools flourished alongside Brahmanism, Mahayanism, and local spirit beliefs--in coexistence rather than conflict. There was no "conversion" to Theravada in the eleventh century as the school was already well established. Prapod draws on a broad range of source material including inscriptions, texts, archaeology, iconography, architecture, and anthropology from India, Sri Lanka, China, and the region itself. He highlights the lived tradition of religious practice rather than scriptural sources.

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Than Shwe is one of the world’s most brutal dictators, presiding over a military regime that persists in repressing and brutalizing its own people. Until now, his story has not been told. Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant provides the first-ever account of Than Shwe’s journey from postal clerk to dictator, analyzing his rise through the ranks of the army, his training in psychological warfare, his belief in astrology, his elimination of rivals, and his ruthless suppression of dissent. Drawing on the insights of Burma Army defectors, international diplomats, and others, Benedict Rogers provides a compelling account of the reclusive and xenophobic character of Than Shwe, and life in Burma under his rule.

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Zakat, one of Islam's Five Pillars, is the practice of giving a fixed proportion of one's financial assets to those in need, thereby purifying both one's soul and one's remaining wealth. In Indonesia, since the coming of Islam, zakat has been a means of worship, and its collection has been voluntary and decentralized. Arskal Salim's study argues that in the post-New Order regime (1966-1998) zakat practice changed structurally and institutionally through the enactment of a law on zakat management, followed by the establishment of a national zakat agency. A cultural shift is now in progress with two possible outcomes: either zakat collection will become compulsory and centralized or it will become such an intricate part of taxation law that it loses its spiritual relevance.

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Historically, the Golden Triangle on the Mekong River has been a strategic yet largely impoverished crossroads between Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and southern China. In the latter half of the 20th century, it was known as one of the world's key opium-producing regions. The new transnational "economic corridors" connecting northern Thailand and southwestern China via key border towns in Myanmar and Laos have greatly increased the volume of trade and transshipment in the region. Logistical improvements via the highways and ports have transformed entire towns and districts in Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand, bringing with them an influx of Chinese investment and tourism, and other population movements. The transformation of the economy of the Golden Triangle is ongoing and relatively uncharted. There is evidence of unequal benefits to the countries involved. Combining official data, observations, and interviews with a wide range of participants in this new border economy, this book provides an important and unique perspective on the impact of the new economic linkages in the region.

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In Music and Recording in King Chulalongkorn’s Bangkok, James Leonard Mitchell provides the first comprehensive history of Siamese music during the celebrated reign of Rama V. Following up on his previous exploration of Thailand’s most popular music genre, luk thung, Mitchell focuses on the brief period from 1903 to 1910 when gramophone recording came to Siam and almost failed to capture valuable performances. Compiling research from the EMI Archive in London and the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin, along with years of fieldwork in Thailand, the book contains eighty-eight photographs, a discography of all known recordings from the era, and links to YouTube videos. This compelling volume reveals a story of Siamese musicians, European recording experts, and Chinese middlemen that will be of interest to scholars of Asian studies and music history.

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Kings in Love: Lilit Phra Lo and Twelve Months (Thawathotsamat) are among the earliest works of Thai literature. These translations by an award-winning team aim to convey not only the meaning of the Thai originals but also their beauty and emotional power. Lilit Phra Lo is a long narrative poem with an unusual romance, a contest of rival magic, an erotic climax, and a blood-soaked ending. It has been condemned as feudal and indulgent, but celebrated for its flowing poetry and emotional power. Twelve Months, a passionate lament for a lost lover, was once greatly acclaimed but has been quietly sidelined for being “too erotic.” Each poem has an afterword tracing the work’s origins, structure, publication history, and critical reception. Though rooted in Thai culture, both poems speak to universal themes and have echoes in world literature.

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Small-scale, work-related mobility has become a constitutive feature of modern local Southeast Asian societies. This unique volume traces the lives of low-paid, mostly young, unskilled migrants who have moved away from their villages of origin in search of a job: contractual farmers in Laos; miners, young urban service workers, and construction workers in Indonesia; shoemakers in the Philippines; and factory workers in Vietnam. The case studies show how ill-defined work leads to lives of structural and symbolic precariousness and reshapes the migrants’ own moral visions of work, identity, and belonging.

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From artifacts of ancient pre-Thai civilizations to achievements of the Thai kingdom in the early twentieth century, the enduring vestiges and persistent vitality of Thai heritage continue to entice visitors, residents, and researchers. Photographer and author Jim Wageman traveled to both well-known and little-visited sites throughout Thailand to capture images that convey the breadth and intricacy of the country’s heritage. Wageman presents his images in a gorgeous layout that is matched by solid, well-researched captions and explanations. Beautiful and incisive, The Timeless Heritage of Thailand is an outstanding compendium for anyone fascinated by the treasures of Thailand’s cultural heritage.

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In this book, eighteen Chinese women tell how they came to sell sex in Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Los Angeles, and New York. The women’s candid stories put a human face on issues of globalized commercial sex and provide a raw, inside view of the money-driven transnational sex industry. The author, an expert in the field of criminal justice, frames their personal accounts with contextual details and incisive commentary to provide a rich understanding of the realities and myths of prostitution and global sex trafficking. While the interviews were gathered as part of an extensive research project for the author’s 2012 book, Selling Sex Overseas, the full accounts are published here for the first time. The women describe, in their own words, what motivated them to leave China to work in the sex trade abroad, how much they earn, what hardships they face, and what they hope for in the future.

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Mekong Kids is the heartwarming story of a tubby, fifth-grade boy named Boom, who lives in northeastern Thailand in a village along the Mekong River. As Boom struggles to make friends with the other boys in his community, he learns to take responsibility for his actions, overcome his fears, bridge barriers, and help rivals become friends. Genuine friendship based on caring for others overrides social and national barriers. The distinctive culture of northeastern Thailand and the friendship that evolves with Lao boys across the river add rich multicultural themes. Mekong Kids is a translation of Luk Mae Nam Khong (2001), the award-winning Thai-language children's novel.

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Tribute and Profit illuminates the conduct and maintenance of maritime trade under Siam’s tributary relationship with imperial China, and scrutinizes the momentous role of the Chinese in Siam’s overseas trade and domestic economy. Based substantially on historical Chinese, Siamese, and European sources, Sarasin Viraphol’s reconstruction of the tributary trade pinpoints the creative subversions, calculated risks, and clever contrivances that kept the wheels of the Siamese economy turning for centuries. Eventually, tribute missions and the junk trade were supplanted by European-style maritime commerce, free trade, and open markets. Nevertheless, the influences of these bygone relations are still present in Thailand today.

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The most detailed, fascinating, and lively account of old Siam was written by the Dutch merchant Jeremias Van Vliet between 1636 and 1640. This volume includes all four of his writings in English translation: the earliest surviving chronicle of Siam's history; a wide-ranging description of the kingdom's geography, economy, society, politics, and religion; a blow-by-blow account of a bloody power struggle over the crown; and the Dutchman's diary during a crisis -- the Picnic Incident -- published here for the first time. The editors add new details on Van Vliet's life, the Dutch community, the city of Ayutthaya, and the court of King Prasat Thong, which set this ordinary merchant's extraordinary literary work into its context of time and place.

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This is the delightful story of an eighteen-day bus pilgrimage to sixty pagodas across Myanmar. As the author settles into her seat, the aisle blocked with luggage, she trains our eyes on the collection of characters that, like it or not, will be her traveling companions for the whirlwind tour. This native tourist amuses us with her adventures of eating at roadside cafes, climbing up pagodas, bathing in rivers, shopping at markets, and sleeping on temple floors. Along the way, she encounters deeply rooted cultural values and develops camaraderie with strangers that become like family for the duration of her travels.

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In this volume Anthony Reid positions Southeast Asia on the stage of world history. He argues that the region not only had a historical character of its own, but that it played a crucial role in shaping the modern world. Southeast Asia’s interaction with the forces uniting and transforming the world is explored through chapters focusing on Islamization; Chinese, Siamese, Cham, and Javanese trade; Makasar’s modernizing moment; and slavery. The last three chapters examine from different perspectives how this interaction of relative equality shifted to one of an impoverished “third world” region exposed to European colonial power. at UCLA.

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What is a Buddhist monastery? We might define it as a long-term residence of monastics, whether monks or nuns, but even this basic definition fails to cover the whole Buddhist world. In all periods and regions, the architectural, social, and religious organization of Buddhist places of worship and monastic residence have varied considerably. This collection is the result of an international research program conducted by the Bangkok branch of the Ecole francaise d’Extreme-Orient between 1997 and 2003. The simple and straightforward title belies the uniqueness of the work, for this is the only comprehensive study presenting a clear geographical and historical overview of Buddhist monasteries throughout Asia, especially Southeast Asia, and particularly in Thailand.

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Narin Phasit was one of the most remarkable yet little-known figures in the annals of Thai history, a man who devoted his life to what the seventh king of Siam called "seeking a name for himself in a wildly inappropriate manner," and he himself preferred to describe as "working contentedly for my country, alone and despised by my fellow countrymen." For what reason was Narin so despised? During the period of the absolute monarchy, he insisted that government officials should be held accountable for their actions, and in the years that followed the revolution he spoke out strongly against the rise of the military. He also established the first line of female monks in the history of Siam and fought to abolish capital punishment. The place that he properly belonged, said the leader of his country, Field Marshal Phibul Songkhram, was inside a mental institution. Written as creative nonfiction, this is the engaging story of one man's relentless attempt to build a more humane society. Often told in Narin's own words, it is an unlikely tale of Buddhism, politics, and the creation of modern Thailand.

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When the Khmer Rouge troops entered Phnom Penh on 17th April 1975, it seemed that the Cambodian revolution had been secured. During the following four years, Cambodian society was dramatically transformed at great cost in terms of human misery and death. Despite its outward display of total power, the regime of Democratic Kampuchea was deeply fragmented along factional lines within the Communist Party of Kampuchea which eventually ripped it apart. On the morning of 25th December 1978, a huge military force of the People's Army of Vietnam spearheaded a counter attack by the Kampuchean Front for National Salvation, led by a former KR commander, Heng Samrin. They found a country in ruins, the economy shattered and the people shocked and dispirited. This book examines the Cambodian revolution before and after Pol Pot and attempts to explain the reasons for its ultimate failure. In particular, it traces the efforts of the post-DK regime, that of the People's Republic of Kampuchea, to rebuild both the state and the revolution. Many factors intervened to defeat their efforts to restore revolution. Nevertheless, the PRK did rebuild the state and the economy, and it helped return people's lives to the conditions of pre-revolutionary days.

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This monograph examines the dynamics involved in implementing Islamic law in Southeast Asia, and how this issue has become a source of conflict in Kelantan, Malaysia and Aceh, Indonesia. Using textual and fieldwork methodology, the study compares and contrasts the collective experience of trying to apply Islamic law in these two locations. In both Kelantan and Aceh, Islamic law was first developed in the thirteenth century with the coming of Islam to the region, but was later replaced by colonial legal systems, and then by the jurisprudence of national governments following independence. Reinstituting Islamic law has become a dominant political issue in both countries. Through an analysis of the conditions that have made the emergence of Islamic law in Kelantan and Aceh possible, the author helps extend previous studies on this issue by providing a sociological understanding of religious law as a source of both conflict and identity.

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Lan Na is the name of a conglomerate of Thai city-states that covered roughly the area of modern north Thailand between the 13th and 16th centuries. Mostly under the leadership of the city-state of Chiang Mai, Lan Na’s influence reached far into the neighboring regions. Beginning with popular legends, this wide-ranging narrative takes us from prehistoric and protohistoric periods up to the present day. This brief and highly readable volume is a welcome step towards developing a fuller history of northern Thailand.

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This pioneering work traces the history and evolution of the textiles of Myanmar (Burma) made and used by the Burman (Bama) ethnic majority. Written accessibly, it covers the importance of textiles in many contexts as well as changes and innovation brought about by trade and conflict with neighboring states, British colonization, postwar isolation, and recent “open-door” policies. In addition to visiting the major textile centers, Sylvia Fraser-Lu ventured into the more remote areas of the Burman heartland to garner information on lesser-known textiles and those made by minorities. Profusely illustrated with on-site and archival photographs of weavers and heirloom textiles, as well as with diagrams and sketches, this book will be an important reference for textile scholars and art historians and for those interested in Burman culture.

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The earliest phase of Thai history is an exciting but little understood period that bridged the gap between protohistory and the fully developed historical period. Ten international scholars examine the inception of the Dvāravatī period in the fifth century with a focus on archaeology and consider the art and architecture of the sixth to tenth centuries. Defining Dvāravatī provides an overview of the art historical characteristics of Dvāravatī style; collates the epigraphic evidence, including previously unpublished texts; considers the importance of trade and religion in cementing relationships between early Southeast Asian societies and as paramount incentives for its expansion and development; and discusses the end of the period.

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Born into a high-status family of the Batak ethnic group indigenous to North Sumatra, Sitor Situmorang (1924–2014) was a Dutch-educated Indonesian nationalist who experienced firsthand the transition from the Dutch East Indies of his youth to the modern Indonesia of his adulthood. The stories in this collection are a window into the world of a writer dedicated to exploration and change but resolutely attached to the land, people, and stories of his homeland. Set variously in western Europe, post-independence Jakarta, and modernizing communities in his native North Sumatra, the stories live in—as the translators put it—the “perpetual tension between the urge to wander and a longing for origins."

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