Chan, Alan K.L.,and Yuet-Keung Lo, eds., Philosophy and Religion in Early Medieval China

The terms "philosophy" and "religion" sometimes arouse the suspicion of Orientalism.Fortunately,the editors and authors gathered here do not engage in controversies about whether China did or did not have religion and/or philosophy.Instead,they delve right into the thick of things.The volume comes neatly accompanied by a second one on Interpretation and Literature,which includes an article by Poo Mu-chou蒲慕州,the title of which,"Justice,Morality,andSkepticism in Six Dynasties Ghost Stories," points to the great volatility of our concepts of literature,philosophy,and religion.     

Davies,John Paton,Jr.,China Hand: An Autobiography

John Paton Davies's story is familiar to students of China-U.S.relations.Born to missionary parents in Sichuan,Davies joined the Foreign Service in 1931 after his itinerant undergraduate years.Through language training in Beijing and postings in Kunming,Shenyang,and Hankou,Davies built a reputation as one of the State Department's most capable China hands.When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor,he was working at State's Far Eastern Affairs desk.Eager to return to China—or just get out of Washington—Davies urged Major General Joseph Stilwell,who was rumoured to be leading an American military mission to Chongqing,to take him along.Davies got his wish a few months later and spent most of the wartime in China as Stilwell's civilian aid.After the war,Davies,who had predicted that Mao Zedong's Communists would triumph over Jiang Jieshi's Nationalists once the Japanese surrendered,became a target of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist accusations.Secretary of State John Foster Dulles fired him in 1954 after his ninth appearance before the State Department's Loyalty Security Board.Disgusted with the politics in America,Davies and his family left the country and lived many years in Peru.Though he returned to America in the 1960s and wrote on foreign affairs,Davies never again served in government.     

Douglas Alexander Allan,C.B.E., LL.D., D.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.S.G.S., F.R.S.E., F.H.W.C., F.M.A.

The function and expansion of skiing in Scotland are discussed in relation to the changing climatic conditions of the last few decades.