World of Angkor - A Personal Journey. The Smile of Cambodia

Author: Wang Yuhui, Ye Songqing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: This is a captivating, enjoyable, and dream-filled work, much like Angkor, which oozes beauty and creativity everywhere. A travelogue? An art book? Essays? A photo album? Comics? A guidebook? It's all of the above! You can view it however you like! Angkor – a legendary chapter in the history of world civilization. A classic of Southeast Asian royal and religious civilization. Here, everything people need is produced, including belief, myth, and dreams. Eight hundred years ago, it faded away like the sun and never rose again, but it froze a deep red hue onto this mysterious land of Southeast Asia. After its curtain call, Angkor fell into a deep silence, transforming over centuries into a series of faint and fragile legends. For hundreds of years, due to Cambodia often being shrouded in smoke, Angkor remained hidden deep in the jungle, solitary and desolate, known by very few yet renowned far and wide, with countless people yearning for it but unable to visit. Now, with the end of Cambodia's wars, Angkor has become a sacred destination for cultural pilgrimage and tourism, and it is also emerging as a new hotspot for world cultural tourism. The World of Angkor is a captivating, enjoyable, and dream-filled work, much like Angkor itself, brimming with beauty and creativity. A travelogue? An art book? Essays? A photo album? Comics? A guidebook? It's all of the above—love to view it however you like! I greatly admire the authors' courage and spirit for personally braving danger and repeatedly delving into the smoke-filled regions of Angkor to explore, experience, and study. They have merged their emotions with Angkor, and as a result, The World of Angkor surpasses previous general introductions to Angkor. It guides readers on a spiritual journey through Angkor and many other Southeast Asian destinations, offering cultural enlightenment and transcendence of life, as well as artistic inspiration and spiritual solace. Opening this book evokes a special emotion, as if we begin to float above Angkor, swaying between the canopies of tropical forests, where mysterious rhythms and the smiles of the Khmer are everywhere. In the West, the discovery of Angkor once eclipsed everything left behind by the Greek and Roman eras. Here, the smiles of the Khmer remain, harmonious and mysterious. The winds of modern civilization have not yet reached here, making it seem as if it exists in a world apart from secular life. The earth reveals its true face, still a place where dreams are born. Some say the richness of the world lies in the fact that there are always places you long to visit but cannot—places we can only dream of. That is why the world is filled with legends, richness, and mystery. Angkor also remains in our dreams. The world belongs to all, and Angkor belongs to all. World Heritage – The World of Angkor – is awakening from the place where our dreams begin. In an era where good books are scarce, please take a look at this one! As we grow older with the years, many of the books we once loved will fade away, but I believe this book will never be discarded.