General History

China: A Macrohistory
Ray Huang
(New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1997 Revised Edition)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: In this book, Ray Huang (a former KMT army officer who migrated to the US after the Civil War and became a professor) analyses the history of China from the perspective of modern economic and organisational theory. He skims over most of the individuals and events, focusing instead on the "big picture" of long-term trends and patterns. He also divides imperial Chinese history into three Empires: the First (Qin-Han), Second (Sui-Tang-Song), and Third (Yuan-Ming-Qing). Both these approaches may not convince every reader, but Huang's book is always a refreshing and engaging read, and a perfect introduction to the more complex issues of Chinese history.

The Cambridge Illustrated History of China
Patricia Buckley Ebrey
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: A well-illustrated book (as its title suggests) in a coffee table format, concise and well-suited to the general reader but rather inadequate in depth and detail for more advanced research. You won't find another credible book on Chinese history with as many colour photographs as this one.

Focus on Imperial Chinese History

China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture
Charles O. Hucker
(Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1975)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: A classic work that is still very useful in devoting sufficient space to cultural and intellectual history. It divides pre-imperial and imperial Chinese history into three periods: the Formative Age (Prehistory - Qin), the Early Empire (Qin - Song), and the Later Empire (Song - 1850). For the second and third periods, Hucker has five main sections: General History, Government, Society and Economy, Thought, and Literature and Art. For the Formative Age, "Government" and "Society and Economy" are conflated into a single section on State and Society because of a lack of extant material.

A History of Chinese Civilisation
Jacques Gernet (translated from French)
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996 second English edition)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: Another classic, first published in French in 1972. Some of Gernet's views and material are somewhat dated, but the depth and scope of his coverage have perhaps never been equaled since. Whereas there is slightly less cultural history than Hucker's book (especially in art history), Gernet more than makes up for this with maps and illustrations (in black and white). There is a chapter on 20th-century Chinese history up to the Cultural Revolution, but for this area readers are encouraged to look to the more recent works by Spence and Fairbank listed below in "Focus on Modern Chinese History".

Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900
David A. Graff
(London: Routledge, 2002)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: This recent book, the only one in English dealing in sufficient depth with the Age of Fragmentation, compensates for the relative neglect of that important period of history in the books by Hucker and Gernet. The focus is on military history, and extends to the Sui and Tang, but the overall narration of events in the Age of Fragmentation will prove very helpful in dispelling any confusion faced by readers approaching that period.

Imperial China 900-1800
Frederick W. Mote
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2000)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: This book covers the period of later imperial history after the end of Graff's book, right up to the eve of the Qing decline. While Mote's writing style is not impressive, his scope is far greater than Graff's, including important analyses of social and economic history. This is reflected in the thickness of the book, which ranks first among all the books on this list - thicker even than the already thick volumes by Gernet, Hsu and Spence. A harder but still rewarding read.

Coming Soon:
Focus on Modern Chinese History

Wonderful recommendation :P , I've just added this link to the "Imperial Edict and Important Info" board guidelines.

How's about them Joseph Needham books? B)

I second that recommendation on "Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900" by David A. Graff. It's entertaining, and at the same time very informative. Another book that I own and have read, and which is very entertaining and informative:

Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle
Shih-Shan Henry Tsai
(University of Washington Press; New Ed edition March 1, 2002)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: This is a very entertaining and informative biographical sketch on the Emperor Yongle. It begins with his childhood and the events that shaped his understanding of the world, through his young days as Prince of Yan and a cavalrymen in his father's army, to his launching of the civil war which brought him into power as Emperor. The book also gives alot of good information on the government policies and institutions he initiated, his cultural works, his personal dealings and expeditionary wars against the Mongols, and the other conquests (such as Vietnam and Manchuria) and foreign tributes Ming China recieved during his reign.

Well the Marsh and ROTK are also good reading

History of Chinese Science

In reply to Da Mo's suggestion: Needham's multi-volume work "Science and Civilisation in China" is indeed the very best English-language resource on the fascinating history of Chinese science, but it is much too detailed and technical for the general reader (not to mention MUCH too expensive!!). Here are two simplified and condensed versions of Needham's work:

The Genius of China: 3,000 years of Science, Discovery and Invention
Robert K.G. Temple, based on the work of Joseph Needham
(London: Prion Books, 1998 Paperback Edition)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846


Description: The lavish colour illustrations and highly readable format of this book make it a perfect introduction to the little-known achievements of ancient Chinese science and technology uncovered by Professor Joseph Needham over many decades of research. However, Temple tends to exaggerate the importance of some Chinese inventions and achievements (for example by repeating the old myth that stirrups were essential for the medieval European knight), so it's best to supplement your reading of this book with other sources, including the books by Needham himself (if you're prepared to tackle them).

The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 1
Colin A. Ronan
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980 Paperback Edition)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: This is a more professional abridgement of Needham's work, but it covers only the first and second volumes in the massive series (Needham's series is now up to Volume 7, with each volume itself having a few lengthy parts). Since Vols. 1 and 2 mainly cover the history of civilisation and scientific thought in China, readers will find material that is more theoretical and philosophical in orientation than that in Temple's book. This makes it less sensationalistic, but also perhaps less interesting to many people. However, anyone who wishes to understand the Yin-Yang and Five Phases system that governed early Chinese thought would have a good starting point here.

Focus on Modern Chinese History

The Rise of Modern China
Immanuel Chung-Yueh Hsu
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999 6th Edition)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: Immanuel Hsu's 1,000-page masterwork spans 350 years from the beginning of the Qing in 1644 to the beginning of Jiang Zemin's rule in 1998. It has drawn both praise and criticism over the years, but remains a popular textbook for college courses in modern Chinese history. The reason for this is the amount of detail in his chapters, such as those on the Taiping Rebellion and the Kuomintang's Nanjing Decade, which is only surpassed by other books devoted exclusively to these topics. While Spence and Fairbank generally see the big picture better than Hsu, especially when it comes to post-1949 China (Hsu has a strong pro-KMT bias), they do not devote as much loving care to the characters and events of the great drama of modern Chinese history.

The Search for Modern China
Jonathan Spence
(New York: W.W. Norton, 2001 Reprint Paperback Edition)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: Spence writes beautiful and elegant prose, and knows how to throw in nuggets of detail to add human interest to his narrative - which accounts for his being probably the only Western scholar of Chinese history who consistently produces best-sellers. Like Hsu, he chooses to define modern Chinese history as starting from the end of the Ming and beginning of the Qing. Spence has two big areas of interest: the history of the early Qing, and the history of Western interactions with China. In the late Qing and Republican period, he tends to focus a little more on the activities of foreigners in China than on the activities of Chinese personalities themselves, but this tendency is not taken to extremes (contrary to some accusations of him being an apologist for imperialism). He also provides tables of useful statistics to illustrate his points, and there are a good number of colour plates including great works of art from the Ming and Qing. The main flaw of this book is that it stops at the Tiananmen Tragedy of 1989, Spence having written the book in 1991. Although the reprint edition was published ten years later, Spence seems not to have updated his coverage to include the crucial developments of the 1990s.

China: A New History
John King Fairbank, with a chapter by Merle Goldman
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998 Enlarged Edition)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: Fairbank, the great Godfather of Chinese history in the West, submitted the manuscript for this book just two days before he died in 1991. The book thus suffers from skimpy coverage and poor editing in areas that lay outside Fairbank's field of expertise, since no-one was willing to show disrespect to his memory by altering it too much. Although it was ambitiously projected as a general history of China, some of his inaccuracies and misconceptions in the chapter on the Age of Fragmentation are enough to make one cringe. Fairbank famously identified modern Chinese history as starting from China's defeat by Westerners in the Opium War, and though this view has been much challenged since, his Eurocentric bias is still evident in the limited detail that he spares on imperial Chinese history before the late Qing. But when it comes to 19th-century and 20th-century Chinese history, Fairbank is a master of his material. His information comes in bite-size portions of insight, rather than the fact-heavy approach of Hsu and the literary style of Spence. This makes the book more accessible but less informative or entertaining than the other two. The chapter on the post-Mao period was also added on to the book by Merle Goldman, since Fairbank did not attempt to analyse this period before he died.

Focus on Military History

A Military History of China
Edited by David A. Graff and Robin Higham
(Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2002)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Description: For military buffs lamenting the lack of English-language material on Chinese military history, this is the best general work available. Graff is an expert on the military history of the Age of Fragmentation and the Tang, while Higham specialises in modern Chinese military history. For this book they gathered a collection of essays by a range of experts on various aspects of the Chinese military, from the ancient wars with nomads to recent developments in the PLA. The coverage is thus diverse rather than comprehensive, and leans towards the modern history side. However, there are good recommendations for further reading at the end of every essay, making this book a good launching-pad for further research on a particular area of interest.

Focus on Cultural History

Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilisation
Edited by Paul S. Ropp and Timothy Hugh Barrett
(Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1990)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/052...0998623-5646440


Description: Another collection of good essays, this time on various aspects of Chinese culture including science, religion, politics, law, women, economics, philosophy, literature and art. The credentials of the contributors are impeccable, and while some of the essays are more enjoyable to read than others, the entire book is well worth a careful read. A good corrective to other works of history that pay attention only to emperors and battles.

Another recommended reading:

If you have Adobe Reader, download all the PDF files on these site:

Introduction to East Asian Civilisations
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~kaplan/eas201

A History of Chinese Statecraft
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~kaplan/H370

The first is focused on the social and economic history of China, Japan and Korea, and the second is about the evolution of Chinese political culture and political thought. Very educational and very fun to read!

I would just like to know if anyone has read 'A Concise History of China' by J.A.G.Roberts. He was one of my tutorial professors at university, and I considered him a great lecturer, but I would love to know the comments of anyone here who has also read his work.

I'm looking for a good classic Chinese book that has been translated to English, any recommendations?

Just finished another really good book on Chinese history...

Ancient China and it's Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History
Nicola Di Cosmo
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004 Paperback Edition)
On Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846

Description: This is a very tough, yet at the same time rewarding read. Di Cosmo, using archeological and historical evidence, traces the rise of the Northern Nomads in East Asian history. The book is divided into four parts. In the first part, Di Cosmo gives a description of the Northern Nomadic Zone of China and goes over the archeological evidence of the evolution of pastoral Nomadism as a way of life in in China as well as the broader steppe world. In the second part of the book, Di Cosmo describes early relations between Northern peoples and Zhou states, which includes an interesting theory on the reasons why the Long Walls were built. The third part of the book is devoted to the story of the rise and fall of the Xiong-nu, including a theory on the impetus behind the establishment of a large nomadic confederacy for the first time in history. Finally, Di Cosmo covers the great achievement of Sima Qian's "Shi ji", in that it's descriptive narrative of the Xiong-nu was the first serious ethnographic and geographic study of the world outside the Central Plains, while at the same time the normative narrative of Sima's work shaped the perception of Chinese/Northern steppe relations up to this day. It is a tough read though, as the sections on the archeological record can be confusing to someone (like myself) not in that field.

Ann Paludan, Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors: The Reign by Reign Record of the Rulers of China (Thames and Hudson), 2003

I just bought this book and it seems a soild, basic chronological guide to the Emperors of China, with a great amount of illustrations. Has anyone else read it?

Oh no - I knew I should have included a warning on this thread NOT to buy that book! I know it's on sale everywhere, even in Chinese airports, but Ann Paludan did a disappointing job on it and we can only hope someone produces a better book of this type soon. A book describing all the Chinese emperors is certainly long overdue.

This is my review of the book on Amazon.com:



A blooper on page 10 says it all: the Sui Dynasty is inexplicably represented by the character 'Qi'. Paludan's book is well-intentioned and nicely-illustrated, but her grasp of the Chinese language and experience in historical research are clearly not up to the daunting task of presenting a comprehensive account of imperial Chinese history. As her bibliography shows, she has had to rely on several dated works in English, as well as more recent and authoritative ones like the massive Cambridge History of China. However, she flounders badly in the second section ("Confusion, Reunification and Golden Age", AD 220-907) and never makes it out of the confusion. The text in this section is peppered with factual inaccuracies and errors in translation that can only be blamed on general ignorance. While struggling with the emperors of the Southern Dynasties, she ignores those of the concurrent Northern Dynasties, sparing only two pages to comment on socio-economic developments in the North. The rulers of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms receive equally sparse attention. The superficial quotations that she has selected from Western sources betray the same lack of depth in examining the historical record.
It would be unfair to single out Ann Paludan for lack of scholarship, however, because the ages of fragmentation from AD 189-589 and 907-979 suffer from a miserable dearth of research among Western historians of China. Paludan apparently had only three sources in English to go upon, none published within the last 20 years. Sadly, one of them is the famous but thoroughly mythologised "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the author of which she characteristically names as Zhong Luo Guan rather than Luo Guanzhong. She parrots that novel's popular perception of the Three Kingdoms as "the golden age of chivalry and romance", without any attempt to compare this with historical reality.

From here, everything goes downhill, because the Cambridge History volume on the 220-589 period has yet to be published. Paludan, probably referring to the primary sources, fails completely to get her facts and names right, translating "Prince of Yingyang" as "Sun King of Ying", for example, and referring to his replacement by an "older" half-brother when that brother was in fact younger. For that matter, Paludan bothers to give us the Chinese characters for the temple names and reign titles of the various emperors, but not their actual names (not even in romanized form, in many cases). One would think the reader is just as much interested to know the name an emperor was born with.

The later chapters from Tang to Qing are rather more credible, but readers would do better to read the (still incomplete) Cambridge History and F.W. Mote's "Imperial China 900-1800" for the same information in greater detail and accuracy. Sadly, a proper history of the chaotic period from AD 189 to 589, imperial China's longest ever period of inter-regional war, has yet to be written for English-speaking readers (David A. Graff's recent "Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 AD" has gone some way towards filling that gap in the political and military aspects). Beyond brief excursions into the then-rising religions of Buddhism and Daoism, Ann Paludan does not even begin to do justice to its fascinating complexities.

Thank you for mentioning Mote's work. I just bought both of them (Mote and Paludan), mong others, yesterday at the bookshop in the British Museum.

Has anyone read this book published recently? "China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty" by Charles Benn:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846



Benn is an 'independent scholar' rather than a university academic, but has taught courses on this area in quite a few colleges. His writing style seems good, and the book (from browsing in the bookshop) looks full of interesting details - especially useful for our Tang role-playing over in the Dragon Gate Inn!

Hi, Yun can you give me a list of good chinese military strategy books beside the popular like Sun Zi, Sun Bin, and Mastering the Art of War.

Thank you

its an excellent book, i have it

"Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900
David A. Graff
(London: Routledge, 2002)"

I actually have to say that book lacks details, it was much more of a history than description of formations and organizations and it was quite disapointing, there is nothing that one can't find about the military history in the newly translated 24 history. I was looking for organization and training of which he only gave a few paragraph in the entire book. I much rather recommend Ralph Sawyer's books as well as Fairkbank's older military books than this one.

Do a search in Amazon.com for books by Ralph Sawyer - he's the best writer in English about Chinese military strategy. His personal website: http://ralphsawyer.com

Since you can read Chinese, one text I would recommend (I just bought it recently) is Baizhan Qilue 百战奇略 (A Hundred Battle Strategems), by the famous early Ming strategist Liu Ji 刘基 (Liu Bowen 刘伯温) who served Zhu Yuanzhang. Lots of battle case studies there.



That's what I felt about it too, but since information about the Age of Fragmentation is so hard to find in English, at least this book gets people interested to read more. I'm sure that if most people knew more about the period, Graff could have written a longer and more detailed book about it.

I recommend Topics in Pre-Modern Chinese History, which is a free, fairly brief but thought-provoking introduction to Chinese history from prehistoric times through the Qing dynasty. Special topics include Confucianism, Taoism, myth and cultural values, the roles of men and women, footbinding, and much more. It includes many relevant links to articles, images, etc. It was originally written for a college course, but clearly does not read like your typical textbook. It is less formal, and, in many ways, more stimulating and informative.

Go to:
Topics in Pre-Modern Chinese History

Hi,

This is my first post (I do plan on introducing myself in the proper forum later). I would love to entusasticlly recommend the book The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600 by Valerie Hansen

The Open Empire

It is an excellent and consice history of China from the Xia to the to 1600's. The langauge and style are both easy and enjoyable to follow, despite this the books are not dumbed down in the least. I think its a great start for the novice student of China

I have read J.A.G. Roberts's Concise History of China. As far as I can remember, it's a pretty standard chronological textbook history of China, and as implied by the title, concise. If you have read any of the other more massive chronological history of China textbooks, you can actually skip it. But then again, since he's your professor, you might wish to read the preface or something, since they have proven to be pretty interesting.

Great List!

When I get my book list for the upcoming semester i will post them here, to get all your thoughts.

But here are two books I plan on picking up for my summer reading and wonder what are others thoughts:

1) The Private Life of Chairman Mao by Li Zhi-Sui
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...&s=books&n=4891

2) The Origins of Chinese Communism by Arif Dirlik
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...590347?v=glance

DTOWN, the Li Zhisui book on Chairman Mao is a readable biography that portrays a rather racy alternative view from what we usually see. Li formerly served as Mao's personal physician. His book is not a comprehensive or authoritative account on Mao, and it has been criticized for focusing too much on sensationalistic tidbits like the juicy details of Mao's sex life (which is probably why it sells better than most academic biographies ), but if you're interested in Mao not just as a revolutionary leader but also as fallible human being, it is worth reading.

Arif Dirlik's Origins of Chinese Communism is not exactly light summer reading, but useful if you're interested in modern Chinese intellectual history. It's a scholarly account of how Communism in China really derived its roots from the anarchist movement and anarchist intellectual reading circles. In the early days of the May Fourth and New Culture movements, very few people understood or were really attracted to theoretical Marxism. Instead, they were fascinated by the anarchist visions of a free society and mutual aid. Members of the anarchist study groups later formed the core of the nascent Chinese Communist movement.

Hope this helps.

Has anyone ever read "Sanctioned Violence in Early China"? Just ordered it on Amazon... I'm excited, it sounds good! Anyone care to give a review? I'll post one up as soon as I've recieved and finished reading it!

If anyone's interested, here is the first chapter of the book "Sanctioned Violence in Early China", titled "The Warrior Aristocracy".

Mark E. Lewis is a very interesting scholar who moved from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London to Stanford's History department recently. He is moving towards an interest in the Age of Fragmentation, particularly the Northern Dynasties. I am considering the possibility of doing my PhD under his supervision in future.

Ancient Sichuan and the Unification of China
Steven F. Sage
(State University of New York Press; 1992)
http://www.sunypress.edu/details.asp?id=52481

This is in my opinion a good, though not great, book. Sage goes over the archaeological evidence to describe the earliest cultures of Sichuan; namely, the Shu and the Ba. In addition, he describes the earliest accounts and involvement of the Shu in Central Plains history, most notably in the battle of Muye, as well as the involvement of the Sichuan cultures in later Warring States politics. Sage makes the argument that Sichuan was crucial in first the Qin unification of China, and later the Han unification of China. He makes the case that Sichuan was a protected rear base that provided numerous, invaluable resources, a large agricultural population ready to be exploited, as well as fierce native warriors capable of serving as auxillaries.

Lafiel - Good call on those books but i especially found the MAO reading a nice change of pace while spending a month in CHINA this summer. It was great to finally see so many of the things I have only read about before in textbooks, and to get a different spin on things.

My new semester of grad school (China Studies) starts in a few weeks, and these are the courses i am signed up for:
1) Social Development of Mainland China
2) Political Development of Mainland China
3) Economic Development of Mainland China

Any one have any guesses as to what the texts might be or any reading suggestions to keep my on top of it?

Thanks guys!

Dear Yun,

I had some problems with AMAZOn as here in Russia such practice is not widely spread. I tried to book the "Tian gong kai wu", but the instruction received from AMAZIN were not cleasr for me. How can I book such books, could anybody explain?

Best regards,

Alexey.

Recent posts on Peter Lorge's book and Mark Lewis' book have been moved here: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=9026

anyone here read The Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦)/ The Story of the Stone (石头记) yet?

i suggest you try the translation by oxford professor David Hawkes. it will give you a good understanding of chinese culture.

5,000 years of Chinese history can be overwhelming! One wonders where to start

Borrowed 2 books today - haven't read them yet though did a quick scan. They look promising.

For the uninitiated like myself, it's nice to have a broad overview.

1. China Condensed - 5,000 years of history and culture by Ong Siew Chey published by Marshall Cavendish (200 pages)

Half of the book deals with it's history (so it's all very brief). The other half are divided into sections like Traditional schools of Thought; Religion; People and languages: Traditional literature; Interesting proverbs; arts and crafts; inventions and medicine; The Chinese calender and traditional festivals; The resurgence of China.

Take note though, the author is not a historian. It says at the back that "Ong Siew Chey received his educationin Chinese at Chung Ling High School, Penang, Malaysia. He became interested in Chinese literature in his early school years... He was trained in surgery at the University of iowa Hospitals. Prior to his private practice, he was Professor and Head of Surgery at the University of Singapore."


Also, being English educated and a total beginner, it's always nice to have material presented in simple format. I find Asiapac books easy reading. They present information in comic form in English. The one I'm reading is

2. Famous Chinese Diplomats through the Ages, illustrated by Ren Changhong and translated by Geraldine Goh.


Elisha

"China Condensed" is not accurate enough to serve as a good reference. I browsed through and found many mistakes and obsolete views, Ong Siew Chey meant well, but he didn't do enough research.

Please also avoid Ann Paludan's "Chronicle of the Chinese Emperors" like the plague, even though it's selling everywhere. I had to buy it to find out how inaccurate it is, and I hope to save others the expense.

A better quick general history of imperial China, less heavy-going than those I have already recommended, would be Bamber Gascoigne's "The Dynasties of China": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078671219...ce&n=283155

Hi, I'm person who's interested in, well, all kinds of history really, but perhaps in particular in the building and crumbling of empires (Fall of Rome, wars of Alexander's successors, etc...)

I've recently read "Historical Records of the Five Dynasties" which I found refreshing and at timees very amusing. (a general threatning all protesters by being chopped into pieces and eaten alive by soldiers )

So my question is:

Are any other books, either primary or secondary, aviable in English that focus on various periods of disunity?

There is still no authoritative and comprehensive work of history in English on the Age of Fragmentation, a gap which I hope to fill someday. But in the meantime, you could start with two collections of essays by various historians:

1) "State and Society in Early Medieval China", edited by Albert Dien

2) "Culture and Power in the Reconstitution of the Chinese Realm", edited by Scott Pearce

For the cultural and social side of the period, focusing on the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties:

"In the Shadow of the Han: Literati Thought and Society at the Beginning of the Southern Dynasties", by Charles Holcombe

For an overview of the political and military history of the period:

"Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900" by David Graff

For a translation of an interesting text dealing with one significant period of Northern Dynasties history, including a good Introduction by the translator:
"Memories of Loyang: Yang Hsuan-chih and the Lost Capital", by W.J.F Jenner

I'll take a look at this one I think. It seems a bit short to cover so much time though

Great thread. I am an English speaking Chinese history enthusiast (my Chinese smells, but I'm new to it:)), so I am reliant on translations and haven't the capability to reference them with the original sources. So thanks (especially to Yun) for steering us Chinese illiterate in the right direction.

Some of my thoughts:

I agree, Joseph Needham's comprehensive study of Chinese discovery and invention is unrivalled and Robert Temple's "The Genius of China" is a well illustrated, informative, and abridged version.

Also I really enjoyed "The Retreat of the Elephants" by Mark Elvin

Retreat of the Elephants
This book is an environmental history of China which is divided into three categories: Patterns, Particularities, and Percepitons. Patterns is a panorama of Chinese enviromental history, including the history of climatology, deforestation, animal migrations, water transit, and human interactions (war). Particularities looks at case studies of Chinese environmental degradation, including Jiaxing and Guizhou.
Perceptions is an in depth look of how the Chinese relate to their environment. A worthy read.

Has anyone else read this? If so, what were your impressions?

Can anyone recommend a book that deal with the Qing that covers all from begining to end and not just end, or just Pu Yi. I think the dynasty had more to offer than the Last Emperor.

Jonathan Spence's "The Search for Modern China" has an OK overview of Qing history. For a good read on the founding and early consolidation of the Qing, I recommend the recently-deceased Frederic Wakeman's two-volume masterpiece "The Great Enterprise" (for an obituary of Wakeman, see: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/release...kemanobit.shtml )

For rare details about the life of Qing emperors and aristocracy, see Evelyn Rawski's "The Last Emperors": http://www.amazon.com/Last-Emperors-Histor...TF8&s=books

For a highly-rated social and cultural history of the Qing dynasty, see Richard J. Smith's "China's Cultural Heritage: The Qing Dynasty":
http://www.amazon.com/Chinas-Cultural-Heri...TF8&s=books

Yes! That's what I was looking for. Thanks!

i'm a beginner,from xi'an.
very glad to see this forum,i like it.
why don't introduce some books writtend by chinese?i think someone who don't understand our chinese can't understand china's history!!!

They may not be able to understand it completely without reading Chinese, but I think it's too harsh to say they must learn Chinese before they learn any Chinese history.

If a Chinese who doesn't know English wants to learn some American history, should an American tell him, "Forget it, you don't know English so you can't understand America"? I think the Chinese person would feel very offended.

Perhaps not the greatest of ways to make friends here

But unfortunately a very prevalent attitude in the PRC.

Great Han, I had to delete another post by you before that one, because it was nothing but a nationalistic slogan.

Any more nationalistic stuff from you, and we will have to put you on mod preview. You may like our forum, but you are not being very likeable right now. We hope that changes.

i'm sorry for my words,probably you misunderstand my words!!
i'm glad to see that many foreigners like our history,i apoligize for that.But i think chinese is the essence of our history.

Almost impossible to find. I remember searching high and low to no avail years ago. None of Duke, UNC, NCSU libraries carried this title. Haven't checked out UCSD, SDSU, or USD libs, will soon.

I was intrigued by his "Hou Jing" article on his website. Was waiting for that book to come out before losing interest (was getting involved with something else).



Also "Miscellaneous tales" (Yuyan zalu -- this book did not have an english title, old, hard coverred publication, carried by NCSU). Translation and annotations of stories of Wei Jin literati -- absolutely fantastic.



I have the English translation of Yang Xuanzhi's "The monasteries of Luoyang" by a certain Dr. Wang. Absolutely one of my most favorites.

Also check out Jennifer Holmgren's works.

Hi all,

My first day at this site. I'll be honest, the only reason I'm here is to pick your brains.

I'm only interested in finding books on the military history of the Han Dynasty.

I play DBA and DBM, historic wargames. (After WWII ... 150 books or so), my favorite military periods/areas are Marian Romans ..... and I've got a bunch of books on that period, the Punic Wars...and I've got several good books on the battles/empires of that period ........ and my most successful army, the Han Chinese ..... my only book on them is my Cambridge history Vol. I that deals with the Ch'in and Han Empires....and no real detail on battles

Not interested in the day to day life of the people...just military campaigns and battles ..and army information.

Could someone give me a couple of titles?

Thanks all

Lee Shackelford
Linkou, Taiwan
02) 2600-0646
melee@ms16.hinet.net

PS Li Yi-ren is the name a monk gave my mother-in-law to give to me

PPS So Great Han doesn't feel offended, I'd be happy to pick up a couple of good books on this in Chinese if he could give me the titles and names of authors It would make my wife very happy to see me thumbing through my Chinese English dictionary again.

PPPS Anyone here other than me in Taiwan? Feel free to write or call, like to meet people interested in history.