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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Xinglongwa culture (6200-5400 BC) was a Neolithic culture in northeastern China, found mainly around the Inner Mongolia-Liaoning border. It is the earliest archaeological culture in China to feature jade objects and to depict dragons. Xinglongwa pottery was primarily cylindrical, and baked at low temperatures. The Xinglongwa culture showed several signs of communal planning. At three Xinglongwa sites, houses were built in rows. Several Xinglongwa sites also featured a large central building. In addition, several Xinglongwa sites were surrounded by ditches. ... Read more

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In order to understand today's Russia and former Soviet republics, it is vital to consider their socialist past. Caroline Humphrey, one of anthropology's most highly regarded thinkers on a number of topics including consumption, identity, and ritual, is the ideal guide to the intricacies of post-Soviet culture. The Unmaking of Soviet Life brings together ten of Humphrey's best essays, which cover, geographically, Central Russia, Siberia, and Mongolia; and thematically, the politics of locality, property, and persons.

Bridging the strongest of Humphrey's work from 1991 to 2001, the essays do a great deal to demystify the sensational topics of mafia, barter, bribery, and the new shamanism by locating them in the lived experiences of a wide range of subjects. The Unmaking of Soviet Life includes a foreword and introductory paragraphs by Bruce Grant and Nancy Ries that precede each essay. ... Read more

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Part of a series that offers mainly linguistic and anthropological research and teaching/learning material on a region of great cultural and strategic interest and importance in the post-Soviet era. ... Read more

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Find yourself in the midst of a heated battle over a sitcom laugh track. Learn to get away with spectacular crimes. Get lost with the reindeer people in the mountains of Mongolia.

In Lost in Mongolia a collection of Tad Friend's most original, witty, and wide-ranging articles and essays from The New Yorker, Esquire, and Outside we are taken on a cultural tour of global proportions. Friend reports from the entertainment mecca of Hollywood on topics that range from the life and death of River Phoenix to the widespread plagiarism of movie ideas, to why celebrity profiles are always dreadful. He critiques the larger American culture with articles such as White Trash Nation, In Praise of Middlebrow, and a brief rumination on what it means when your girlfriend steals and wears your favorite shirt. Readers will also journey to foreign lands and American outposts, as Friend goes on the trail of the Marcos dynasty in the Philippines, is harassed in Morocco, and digs up buried treasure in Sun Valley.

Lost in Mongolia is a one-of-a-kind collection from a refreshingly candid and well-traveled journalist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

a terrific book
Tad Friend's gift as a journalist comes through on every page. Each piece in this collection has a fresh and original point of view. And Friend is a pleasure to read. His writing is smart, lucid and thoughtful. And he can be exceptionally funny.

The travel story, Lost in Mongolia, is a gripping, sad journey. White Trash Nation is as hilarious as it is disturbing. And the chapters on Hollywood have forever altered the way I view television.

Masterpiece
What a great book.Interested in Hollywood?Travel?Backstabbing in the media world?It's all here, and brilliantly rendered.One of the many wondeful things about Tad Friend's writing is the glorious sense of humor that sparkles on every page.This book is full of Friend's wonderful comedic gift; the reader will laugh and learn in equal measure.I've given this book as a gift a number of times and have garnered nothing but raves.Do yourself a favor and buy a copy today.

Lost In Mongolia
Someone gave me "Lost in Mongolia" as a gift, assuming that my love for the New Yorker would translate into an appreciation of Mr Friend's work. But Mr. Friend writes in that hipper-than-thou style so fashionable among young journalists these days that, frankly, I loathe. There is a self important smugness to Friend's writing that suggests a certain barrenness of Spirit, no matter how fertile the terrain he visits. As for the celebrity profile--it is a sub-genre characterized by a potent mix of fawning and gotcha sensationalism. If this is the new generation New Yorker writer, color me bereft. I'll stick with older writers for whom the life of the mind has a deeper reasonance.

i didn't like this book
bad writing. superficial. a waste of time.

simple minded and superficial
This book is poorly written and superficially researched with almost no basis in reality and overhyped and overjuiced.I want my money back! ... Read more

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Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often called the Lunar New Year, especially by people in mainland China and Taiwan. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: ??; pinyin: zh?ng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúx?. It literally means "Year-pass Eve". Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most. Celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. ... Read more

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The vast Mongolian steppe is a place that few people will ever get to see. This enthralling book is a glimpse into the mysticism and stories spawned by this incredible landscape and rugged nomadic people. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Leading Western scholars agree that Mongolian women traditionally have had higher social positions and greater autonomy than women in either Islamic societies of Inner Asia or in China and Korea. Many sources, including the Secret History of the Mongols, also indicate that women had much higher social status than in Christian Europe. Women herded and milked sheep, and they routinely managed the household if widowed or if their husbands were absent to perform military service, corvée labor, or caravan work. ... Read more

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Voice of Mongolia is the official international broadcasting station of Mongolia. The Voice Of Mongolia is the country's only overseas broadcasting service and is operated by Mongolian National Broadcaster, a public service broadcaster of the Mongolian Government. Short-wave international broadcasting in Mongolia dates back over 40 years. The first broadcast in September, 1964 was a half hour transmission in the Mongolian and Chinese, beamed to China. In the next few years, Mongolian international broadcasting expanded in terms of languages used, broadcast hours and target areas. ... Read more

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The administration of Iran under Mongol rule is explored through taxation and monetary policy. ... Read more

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Mongolian shamaness Sarangerel provides a hands-on guide for serious students of the shamanic path.* Includes complete directions for traditional Siberian rituals, meditations, and divination techniques never before published.* Shows how to recognize and acknowledge a call from the spirits.* Offers traditional wisdom for nurturing a working relationship with personal spirit helpers to promote healing and balance in a community.

The shaman's purpose is to heal and restore balance to his or her community by developing a working relationship with the spirit world. Mongolian shamanic tradition maintains that all true shamans are called by the spirits--but those who are not from shamanic cultures may have difficulty recognizing the call or nurturing the essential shamanic relationship with their helper spirits.

Buryat shamaness Sarangerel has written Chosen by the Spirits as a guide for both the beginning shaman and the advanced practitioner. Although raised in the United States, she was drawn to the shamanic tradition, and in 1991 returned to her ancestral homeland in the Tunken region of southern Siberia to study with traditional Buryat shamans. Her first book, Riding Windhorses, provided an introduction to the shamanic world of Siberia. Chosen by the Spirits delves more deeply into the personal relationship between the shamanic student and his or her "spirit family." Sarangerel recounts her own journey into shamanic practice and provides the serious student with practical advice and hands-on techniques for recognizing and acknowledging a shamanic calling, welcoming and embodying the spirits, journeying to the spirit world, and healing both people and places. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Response to false accusations
It's suprising to see folks claiming that Sarangerel was practicing black magic or was not actually Mongolian.

She was a friend and someone I had the blessing to know before her passing.Here is what I learned from her directly: Her mother's people are of Mongolian ancestry and her father's people are of European ancestry.She was not raised with the traditions but was guided to reconnect with her mom's ancestral people by early Native American teachers.She spent over a decade living mostly in Buryatia and I know that she spoke fluent Mongolian because I heard her speak it often enough with her Mongolian husband or with the Mongolians that showed up here in the Bay Area or in Ohio when she offered ceremony.I also met after her death briefly with Batbayar Gonchigdorj and several other Mongolian shamans who knew and thought highly of Sarangerel.That and she was a part of Golomt Center which I believe is still operational.One of her teachers was Brambadorj who from what I understand is a very well-respected preserver of Mongolian traditions.So...the notion that Sarangerel didn't have enough Mongolian 'cred' is just not an informed position.

And about her practicing black magic, that's hardly the case.I hosted her to offer healing sessions in my home and witnessed the positive transformations that came from that.Writing about and educating folks about real risks is *totally* different from practicing black magic.I knew Sarangerel to be a loving, kind, and humble shaman.

About the book itself, it's a gem.For practitioners it's full of great perspective and practices and for those with more of an intellectual interest, it's a great window into how this particular practitioner of traditional ways approaches things.And for those interested in the history/culture of the region, it's also useful.Sarangerel was also a scholar and was interested in pursuing a PhD in Central Asian folklore/traditions before she passed.

Daniel Foor

What I was looking for.
I was looking for a foundation of Tibetan/Siberian shamanism, more specifically Buryat.I never thought that this book even existed.I was surprised with validation of certain things and learning many things by reading this book.I haven't had the time to read it uninterrupted yet. This book backs up some of the things that I was already aware of.This book has good information on Buryat shamanism for someone that is a true shaman or has shamanistic beliefs.

She's not Mongolian or Native Siberian
The author has adopted a Mongolian name but she is NOT Mongolian. Neither is she one of the native Siberian peoples.

Tread cautiously - I thought her first book was terrible and self-serving. Like a "recipe" book with no rhyme or reason. Like all stories written by people who have "gone native" you really need to take this with a grain of salt.

There is a dark side
She gives lots of warnings and teaches a Russian kind of shamanism. First of all if you were not raised in the belief system, these gods and goddesses are not going to work for you. Second she totally ignores the 75% of the material she learned that has to do with black magic. It is not that it is not there in that belief system, It is very much there! She just doesn't teach about it. And to me that is like handingsomeone a gun and bullets and not telling them how to load the gun. They will end up with a loaded gun eventually. so yes it is scary and I am sorry to see it published. It will cause a lot of trouble in the world.

Excellent
I absolutely love this book.It has some excellent rituals, it is rather different from the common Shamanic books out there and gives you more of the cultural aspect of Shamanism, which is not necessary but it has a certain beauty to it which to me adds a certain sacredness to what you are practicing.When sacredness is added to what you practice and experience it creates a sense of honor, love and respect.And it appears to me that I don't sense this in the other books on Shamanism that I've read.

But I highly recommend this book. ... Read more