China: A History

by John Keay

Overview

An authoritative account of five thousand years of Chinese history

Many nations define themselves in terms of territory or people; China defines itself in terms of history. Taking into account the country's unrivaled, voluminous tradition of history writing, John Keay has composed a vital and illuminating overview of the nation's complex and vivid past. Keay's authoritative history examines 5,000 years in China, from the time of the Three Dynasties through Chairman Mao and the current economic transformation of the country. Crisp, judicious, and engaging, China is the classic single-volume history for anyone seeking to understand the present and future of this immensely powerful nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465025183
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	12/06/2011
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	608
Sales rank:	204,680
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.70(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

John Keay is the author of several acclaimed books, including China: A History, The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest Was Named, and the bestselling India: A History. He was formerly a special correspondent for the Economist, and contributes regularly to the Sunday Telegraph, Times Higher Educational Supplement, and the Literary Review.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xiii

List of Maps and Diagrams xvii

Acknowledgements xix

Introduction

Rewriting the past 1

Spadework 5

Cradle, core and beyond 10

The dynastic dynamic 15

The triumph of Pinyin 17

A matter of scale 20

1 Rites To Writing, Pre c. 1050 BC

The Great Beginning 25

Glint of bronze 31

Finding family 38

In the oracular 42

2 Sages and Heroes, c. 1050-c. 250 BC

Footprints of Zhou 50

Less spring than autumn 60

The Confucian conveyance 66

Warring states and statist wars 71

3 The First Empire, c. 250-210 BC

Stone Cattle Road 80

Qin's cultural revolution 88

Crumbling wall, hidden tomb 97

4 Han Ascendant, 210-141 BC

Qin implodes 106

Pawn to king 111

Jaded monarchs 118

5 Within and Beyond, 141 BC-AD 1

Han and Hun 128

Explorer Zhang and the Western Regions 135

Administering an empire 143

Confucian fundamentalism 151

6 Wang Mang and the Han Reprise, AD 1-189

A one-man dynasty 156

Across the watershed 164

Decline and fall 174

7 Four Hundred Years of Vicissitude, 189-550

Three Kingdoms and the Red Cliffs 184

Dao and the Celestial Masters 192

Enter the Enlightened One 198

Into the abyss 203

Luoyang again 210

8 Sui, Tang and the Second Empire, 550-650

Intercalary conjunction 216

Sui-cide 224

Sons of the sunset and the sunrise 233

Beyond the Jade Gate 239

9 High Tang, 650-755

Wanton, not wayward 246

The greatest power in Asia 259

Like a breath of spring 267

A turning point 273

10 Reconfiguring the Empire, 755-1005

Low Tang 279

Five Dynasties or Ten Kingdoms 290

Song and Liao 300

11 Caving In, 1005-1235

The Great State of White and High 308

Reform and reappraisal 314

In Singing-girl Towers 321

Jin and Song 327

12 By Land and Sea, 1235-1405

Sunset of the Song 341

Mongol reunification 350

Mongol misadventures 361

Triumph of the Ming 369

13 The Rites of Ming, 1405-1620

From the edge of the sky to the ends of the earth 376

Misadventures and misfortunes 386

The Great Rites Controversy 393

Landmarks and inroads 402

14 The Manchu Conquest, 1620-1760

Overwhelming Ming 410

From Jurchen to Manchu 420

Much in demand 431

Zungharia, Xinjiang and Tibet 437

15 Death Throes of Empire, 1760-1880

Self-evident truths 446

Insults and opium 455

Taiping and Tianjin 467

16 Republicans and Nationalists, 1880-1950

Brush to pen 48o

From empire to republic 490

War and more war 499

Long March, long war 507

Epilogue 517

Notes 537

Bibliography 549

Index 561

Editorial Reviews

"Exquisitely written.... In fluid, effortless prose, Keay moves energetically through the vicissitudes of China's dynastic past."—Guardian (UK)

"Absorbingly readable.... A pleasingly cultured account of the great sweep of China's evolution."—Independent (UK)

"Here, at roughly 130 pages per millennium, is China's history from the earliest fragments of Xia dynasty to the last emperor, with a little of Chairman Mao added for good (or bad) luck. Its core, though, covers the 'big five' dynasties—Han, Tang, Song, Ming and Qing—from 200 BC to the start of the twentieth century, and Keay's choice is deliberate. There is no understanding China present or future without a sense of its past. Much of that past, by any standard, is awe-inspiring."—Observer(UK)

"Without sacrificing substance for brevity, Keay manages to illustrate China's history very much as a narrative of the rise and fall of strong and feeble emperors, bureaucratic cliques and factionalism, the development of philosophical traditions and religious incarnations, and the constant restructuring of the empire's geographical boundaries. Readers already interested in, or wishing newly to embark upon, Chinese history will adore this book. Highly recommended."—Library Journal

"John Keay has written...with unflagging zest, clear, accessible prose, and a refreshingly panoramic perspective." —Open Letters Monthly

From the Publisher

There are only a handful of English-language books that encapsulate the five millennia of Chinese history in one volume. To date, only John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman's China: A New History, Jacques Gernet's A History of Chinese Civilization, and Patricia Buckley Ebrey's Cambridge Illustrated History of China come close to Keay's concise précis of the imperial dynasties, influential characters, and major turning points of Chinese history. Without sacrificing substance for brevity, Keay manages to illustrate China's history very much as a narrative of the rise and fall of strong and feeble emperors, bureaucratic cliques and factionalism, the development of philosophical traditions and religious incarnations, and the constant restructuring of the empire's geographical boundaries. A journalist by trade, Keay is well experienced in scripting historical tomes, with India: A History being most comparable in scale and ambition to this latest work. VERDICT Readers already interested in, or wishing newly to embark upon, Chinese history will adore this book. Highly recommended.—Allan Cho, Univ. of British Columbia Lib., Vancouver

Library Journal