Gu Weijun, a.k.a. Wellington Koo (1887-1985). Born in Shanghai and raised in the city's International Settlement, Koo became fluent in English during his postgraduate studies abroad - he got a PhD in
From the humble takeaway to the high-end restaurants of a big-city Chinatown, Chinese food can be found everywhere in the world. But the meals on offer merely scratch the surface of a rich and diverse
In a few words, haiku goes beneath surface appearance to grasps the heart of an experience. Each word is chosen to unlock a world of memories and associations in the reader. Haiku, like Zen, is an int
Jonathan Clements has selected the best of three centuries of haiku, including the work of classic poets such as Basho, Buson and Chiyo-Ni and rendered into English the elusive spiritual quality of th
'Clements has a knack for writing suspenseful sure-footed conflict scenes: His recounting of the Korean invasion led by samurai and daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi reads like a thriller. If you're looking f
In the American mind, Finland is often swept up in the general group of Nordic countries, little known and seldom gaining prominence on its own. But as Jonathan Clements shows in An Armchair Traveller
As China’s global influence continues to rise, its capital, Beijing, has become increasingly important—and a popular tourist destination, greeting close to five million international visitors each yea
Togo Heihachiro (1848–1934) was born into a feudal society that had withdrawn into seclusion for 250 years. As a teenage samurai, he witnessed the destruction wrought upon his native land by British w
The Silk Road is not a place, but a journey, a route from the edges of the Mediterranean to the central plains of China, through high mountains and inhospitable deserts. For thousands of years its his
With almost 13 million residents, Tokyo is now as much an icon of modernity as it is a city, with its neon-lit billboards, futuristic technology, and avant-garde fashion scene. But the long and f
"An exemplary and generously illustrated account; it incorporates new historical material, and he describes the journey as if he had been there."?The Times Literary SupplementGustaf Mannerheim was one
