This book is the first to systematically examine the sources of medieval statistics. It will be useful as a handbook for researchers in financial and cultural history, as a history of financial record-keeping, and as a review of recent research into medieval finance and accounting based on statistical sources.Medieval statistics provide a unique window on the past. Medieval documents produced by royal governments, monastic and ecclesiastical institutions, urban boroughs and legal c...

Synthesizes multiple perspectives on Asian forests from early history to the near presentForests have histories that need to be told. This examination of wood and woodlands in East and Southeast Asia brings together case studies from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Sumatra to explore continuities in the history of forest management across these regions as well as the distinctive qualities of human-forest relations within each context. With a general introduction t...

It may seem like a recent trend, but businesses have been practising compassionate capitalism for nearly a thousand years.Based on the newly discovered historical documents on Cambridge’s sophisticated urban property market during the Commercial Revolution in the thirteenth century, this book explores how successful entrepreneurs employed the wealth they had accumulated to the benefit of the community.Cutting across disciplines, from economic and business history to entrepr...

One of the most important manuscripts surviving from thirteenth-century England, the corpus of documents known as the Hundred Rolls for Cambridge have been incomplete until the recent discovery of an additional roll.This invaluable volume replaces the previous inaccurate transcription by the record commission of 1818 and provides new translations and additional appendices.Shedding new light on important facets of business activity in thirteenth-century Cambridge, this volum...

This collection of essays brings together historians examining social and economic crises from the thirteenth century to the twenty-first. Crisis is an almost ubiquitous concept for historians, applicable across (amongst others) the histories of agriculture, disease, finance and trade. Yet there has been little attempt to compare its use as an explanatory tool between these discrete fields of research. This volume breaks down the boundaries between traditional historical time periods and s...

Most of what are referred to as Korean martial art styles are actually derived from Japanese/Okinawan karate systems or find their roots in Chinese boxing. The Korean peninsula has existed as a fragile territory between China and Japan and thus shared many cultural elements from their neighbors. To what degree has the Japanese and Chinese arts influenced those practiced in Korea over the centuries? Can we distinguish any original Korean martial art style?Chapters in this anthology ...

**The 10th anniversary edition, with new chapters on the crash, Chimerica, and cryptocurrency"[An] excellent, just in time guide to the history of finance and financial crisis." —The Washington Post"Fascinating." —Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek**In this updated edition, Niall Ferguson brings his classic financial history of the world up to the present day, tackling the populist backlash that followed the 2008 crisis, the descent of "Chimerica" into a tra...

Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) is a slow and relaxed moving meditation. It is also a sophisticated martial arts system. Through practicing Taijiquan, you are able to calm down the mind, locate your spiritual center, and consequently find your entire being. From the relaxed moving exercise, you can bring your physical body into an ultimate level of relaxation and natural ease, resulting in smooth Qi (inner energy) and blood circulation. This is a key to maintaining health and recovering from sic...

A guide to the seemingly effortless yet explosively powerful martial art techniques of Fa Jin• Explains how to collect energy within and discharge it for self-defense as well as healing• Explores how to counter the natural instinct to resist force with force and develop yielding softness through the 13 Original Movements of Tai Chi• Illustrates routines for the partner practice of “Push Hands” (Tui Shou)Fa Jin, an advanced yang style of Tai Chi, complements ...

“A timely, topical, readable, and thought-provoking look at the history and legacy of double-entry bookkeeping.”—Elif Batuman, author of The PossessedFilled with colorful characters and history, Double Entry takes us from the ancient origins of accounting in Mesopotamia to the frontiers of modern finance. At the heart of the story is double-entry bookkeeping: the first system that allowed merchants to actually measure the worth of their businesses. Luca Pacioli—mo...

In 2002 Xinran’s Good Women of China became an international bestseller, revealing startling new truths about Chinese life to the West. Now she returns with an epic story of love, friendship, courage and sacrifice set in Chinese-occupied Tibet.Based on a true story, Xinran’s extraordinary second book takes the reader right to the hidden heart of one of the world’s most mysterious and inaccessible countries. In March 1958, Shu Wen learns that her husband, an idealis...

Why are some countries rich and others poor? In 1500, the income differences were small, but they have grown dramatically since Columbus reached America. Since then, the interplay between geography, globalization, technological change, and economic policy has determined the wealth and poverty of nations. The industrial revolution was Britain's path breaking response to the challenge of globalization. Western Europe and North America joined Britain to form a club of rich nations by pursuing...