周佳榮著:《階梯之階梯:呂思勉著作導讀》
香港:中華書局,2023年。
ISBN: 9789888809479。
被譽為「現代四大史學家」之一呂思勉,把「二十四史」由頭到尾讀完,並將正史材料的精華熔鑄成為專書;著作等身,計有兩部通史、四部斷代史、五部專史、八部近代史著作以及文學、文字學、通俗讀物等,總數超過一千萬字。
時移世易,在二十一世紀的今日,即使學術資訊如何發達,檢索工具怎樣便捷,中國史研究者要全盤掌握和運用歷代正史材料,以一人之力,幾乎是不可能的。藉着呂思勉的著作吸收傳統史學的精粹,肯定可收事半功倍之效。
有鑑於此,本書系統整理呂思勉著作,綜合學界人士的見解和研究述評,就呂氏各種書籍作簡明扼要的介紹,並選收九篇呂思勉關於如何入門中國歷史的文章,使年輕一代的學子以及對中國歷代正史有興趣的讀者對其生平和學術有全面的了解,進而摸索出一條入門門徑——此正謂讀中國歷史階梯之階梯。
何頌衡、何芷穎著:《些子往事:香港的盆景藝術與文化史》
香港:中華書局,2023年。
ISBN: 9789888809103。
盆景古稱「些子景」,寓意以植物創作出些微的景觀。目前,香港盆景文化正日漸衰落,與香港盆景文化相關的歷史資料也陷入散佚的危機,急需有系統的整理及紀錄。
本書試圖發掘及保存這些史料,揭示香港盆景歷史的發展脈絡,加深公眾對盆景文化的認識。此外本書嘗試探索盆景風尚衰落之由,並為未來的保育和振興提供建議。
林海容、郭錦洲編:《歲月留情——香港老故事書寫》
香港:香港浸會大學歷史系、香港浸會大學語文中心,2022年。
ISBN: 978-988-78326-4-5。
周佳榮著:《香港潮州商會百年發展史》
香港:中華書局,2022年。
ISBN: 9789888808151。
潮州先賢早年懋遷海外,在香港落地生根。二十世紀初,潮州商人在港崛起。為了把從事各個不同行業的潮商團結起來,更有效地凝聚潮人的力量,以及加強對鄉親的關心,一批事業有成之潮籍人士於1921年創立旅港潮州八邑商會(香港潮州商會之前身)。
2021年,香港潮州商會走過百年崢嶸歲月。百多年來,潮商在香港以至世界各地勤奮經營,碩果纍纍。潮商愛家鄉、愛國家,對教育及文化的熱誠,有着非常優良的傳統。於立足本地、走向世界的同時,沒有忘懷對鄉梓、對社會的承擔。個人的力量或有不逮,群體的動員可以貢獻良多。香港潮州商會歷來的活動,就是具體的印證和說明。
本書記錄香港潮州商會百載光輝歷程。從這本書的大量歷史資料及圖片的吉光片羽,我們共同見證了香港潮州商會的發展,看到了一個個為香港潮州商會建功立業的鄉親賢達。
周佳榮著:《一本讀懂昭和日本》
香港:三聯書店,2022年。
ISBN: 9789620449086。
本書以人物傳論形式呈現出昭和時代的歷史,包括政治、軍事、社會、經濟、文學、演藝、科技、教育各方面,總共兩百零五人,從多元角度折射出昭和時代的社會面貌,特別是戰前與戰後的差異之處。他們在創造昭和時代的獨特性方面,書中都有具體而微的說明。
黃文江﹑羅婉嫻﹑范永聰編:
《提燈者言:廣華醫院護理教育歷史》 香港:中華書局,2022年。
ISBN:9789888809080。
David St Maur Sheil, Chi-man Kwong, and Tony Banham (eds)., More than 1001 Days and Nights of Hong Kong Internment: A Personal Narrative. Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Studies Series.
(Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2022).
ISBN 9789888754120
More Than 1001 Days and Nights of Hong Kong Internment is the wartime journal of Sir Chaloner Grenville Alabaster, former attorney-general of Hong Kong and one of the three highest-ranking British officials during the Japanese occupation. He was imprisoned by the Japanese at the Stanley Internment Camp from 1941 to 1945. During his internment, he managed to keep a diary of his life in the camp in small notebooks and hid them until his release in 1945. He then wrote his wartime journal on the basis of these notes. The journal records his day-to-day experiences of the fall of Hong Kong, his time at Stanley, and his eventual release. Some of the most fascinating extracts cover the three months immediately after the fall of Hong Kong and when Alabaster and his colleagues were imprisoned in Prince’s Building in Central and before they were sent to the camp, a period little covered in previous publications. Hence, the book is an important primary source for understanding the daily operation of the Stanley Internment Camp and the camp’s environment. Readers will also learn more about the daily life of those imprisoned in the camp, and C. G. Alabaster’s interaction with other prisoners there.
Patricia Sauthoff, Illness and Immortality: Mantra, Mandala, and Meditation in the Netra Tantra
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197553268.001.0001
ISBN 9780197553268
Illness and Immortality examines a medieval Sanskrit text, the Netra Tantra, which is devoted to health and healing through a yogic practice dedicated to the chanting of mantras, the building of mandalas, and meditation. Patricia Sauthoff examines the role of such ritual elements in rites to alleviate illness and death. She includes analysis of the various forms of the deity Amrtesa or Mrtyuñjaya (Conqueror of Death), the nature of mantra, and the relationship between the tantric practitioner and the patient. This work explores what is meant by immortality within the medieval context and how one goes about attaining it. It asks how ritual alleviates illness, what role the deity plays in health and healing, and finally who has access to the rites described within the text. Central to this study is the conception of a body vulnerable to demons and reliant on deities for continued existence, and how the three yogic bodies (sthula, suksma, and para) play a role in physical and spiritual well-being. Featuring new translations of large sections of the Netra Tantra, the book offers readers various points of entry into the text so that tantric practitioners and scholars alike can access the influential and important concepts and practices found within this long-revered but under-studied work.