The Caucasus region, which forms a natural boundary between Asia and Europe, has always been of great strategic importance. Russia's expansion into the region in the late eighteenth century brought conflict with the Ottoman Empire, creating a new area of contention between these two states, and the [...]

When he stumbles by chance into a backstreet teashop to shelter from the unrelenting Taipei rain, the author begins a journey that will lead him to the wisdom of the Adept Shun Yuan of the Heavenly Dragon sect, an order of esoteric Buddhism laced with Taoist practices. He discovers the internal arts[...]