The History Book Club discussion
CHINA
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GEOGRAPHY AND ARCHAELOGY
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The Pacific Ocean runs from the North to the tropics and Southeast Asia in the South.
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And bounded further North by the Gobi Desert - and the vast inner expanses of Asia.
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Other Information:
http://www.chinauniquetour.com/arts.a...
South of the North China Plain is a region of hills and valleys mostly South of the Yangzi River. This area is quite a contrast to the North China Plain. For in North China - you can go for days and days on foot or horseback across open land - but in the South - settlements are divided off from one another by the mountains and the valleys. The Lowlands along the river valleys tend to be where agricultural settlements are developed while the Highlands are predominantly more rugged land and serve as barriers between those areas where Chinese populations grew up.
To the Southwest is the Sichuan Basin. The Sichuan Basin is also itself a fairly substantial agricultural plain but it is cut off all around by high mountains. Major point - to get there you have to go up the Yangzi River through the gorges. It is very beautiful and very stark and of course very challenging terrain.
Because of these mountains, Sichuan has been kind of isolated from some of the mainstreams of development; but it has been sort of protected from the chaos and warfare that has plagued other parts of China historically. In some ways, it had served as a kind of refuge.
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From Yao to Mao: 5000 Years of Chinese History
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by K. C. ChangSynopsis:
The prehistory and the formation process of Chinese civilization have long been of interest to world historians. However, knowledge of this period is constantly evolving because much of our understanding of ancient China is based on archaeological data that continues to come to light.
This fourth edition of K. C. Chang's now-standard text on Chinese archaeology incorporates the latest information that has become available since the end of the Cultural Revolution.
Chang has rewritten and reorganized the material, using a new format to discuss the period from the early humans and their Palaeolithic cultures through the first agricultural settlements to the rise and development of the earliest civilizations around 1000 BC. Chang now demonstrates that several regional cultures developed independently of one another and began to be linked together around 4000 BC.
According to Chang, the interaction of these cultures laid the foundation for the Chinese civilization that we recognize in the early dynasties and in China's written history. Chang also presents provocative views on the distinctive process of the rise of civilization, urbanism, and the state society in China, as embodied in the Chinese archaic bronzes. The book includes more that 300 illustrations, most of which are new.
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The Cambridge History of Ancient China
by Michael LoeweSynopsis:
The Cambridge History of Ancient China provides a survey of the cultural, intellectual, political, and institutional developments of the pre-imperial period.
The four subperiods of Shang, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States, are described on the basis of literary and material sources and the evidence of recently found manuscripts.
Chapters on the prehistoric background, the growth of language, and relations with the peoples of Central Asia provide the major context of China's achievements in the 1,500 years under review.
The teachings of China's early masters are set alongside what is known of the methods of astonomers, physicians and diviners.
A final chapter leads the reader forward to imperial times, as described in the volumes of The Cambridge History of China.
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The Cambridge History of China
The Cambridge History of China is an ongoing series of books published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) covering the early and modern history of China.
It has been described as "the largest and most comprehensive history of China in the English language".
The series was originally conceived by British historian Denis C. Twitchett and American historian John K. Fairbank in the late 1960s, and publication began in 1978.
The 13th (and newest) book was published in May 2009.
The complete History will contain 15 volumes, with volumes 5 and 9 to consist of two books each.
A Chinese translation of the books is also available.
A separate volume, The Cambridge History of Ancient China by Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy, complements the series by covering pre-imperial China and was published in 1999.
From Wikipedia - these are the volumes:
The volumes of the series are as follows:
1. The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC–AD 220 (edited by Twitchett and Michael Loewe), May 1987. ISBN 978-0-521-24327-8.
2. (China from 220 to 587, still unpublished)
3. Sui and T'ang China, 589–906 AD, Part 1 (edited by Twitchett), December 1979. ISBN 978-0-521-21446-9. This covers the political history of the time.
4. Sui and T'ang China, 589–906 AD, Part 2 (still unpublished. This is intended to cover cultural and economic topics related to the Sui and Tang Dynasties).
5. The Sung Dynasty and its Precursors, 907–1279, Part 1 (edited by Twitchett and Paul Jakov Smith), May 2009. ISBN 978-0-521-81248-1. This part covers the political history of the period. Part 2 (still unpublished) is intended to cover cultural and economic topics related to the Song dynasty.
6. Alien Regimes and Border States, 910–1368 (edited by Twitchett and Herbert Franke), January 1995. ISBN 978-0-521-24331-5. This covers the northern states of the Khitan, the Jurchen, and the Mongols.
7. The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 1 (edited by Frederick W. Mote and Twitchett), March 1988. ISBN 978-0-521-24332-2. This covers the political history of the Ming.
8. The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 2 (edited by Twitchett and Frederick W. Mote), April 1998. ISBN 978-0-521-24333-9. This is a set of essentially unrelated chapters about cultural and economic topics from the Ming period.
9. The Ch'ing Empire to 1800, Part 1 (edited by Willard J. Peterson), February 2003. ISBN 978-0-521-24334-6. This covers the political history of the first Manchu rulers, from Nurhaci to the Qianlong Emperor.
10. Late Ch'ing 1800–1911, Part 1 (edited by John K. Fairbank), June 1978. ISBN 978-0-521-21447-6. This covers the political history of the last 111 years of Manchu rule over China.
11. Late Ch'ing 1800–1911, Part 2 (edited by John K. Fairbank and Kwang-Ching Liu), October 1980. ISBN 978-0-521-22029-3.
12. Republican China, 1912–1949, Part 1 (edited by John K. Fairbank and Twitchett), October 1983. ISBN 978-0-521-23541-9.
13. Republican China, 1912–1949, Part 2 (edited by John K. Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker), July 1986. ISBN 978-0-521-24338-4.
14. The People's Republic, Part 1: Emergence of Revolutionary China, 1949–1965 (edited by Roderick MacFarquhar and John K. Fairbank), September 1987. ISBN 978-0-521-24336-0.
15. The People's Republic, Part 2: Revolutions Within the Chinese Revolution, 1966–1982 (edited by Roderick MacFarquhar and John K. Fairbank), March 1992. ISBN 978-0-521-24337-7.
To be continued
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by Denis Crispin TwitchettSynopsis:
This volume begins the historical coverage of The Cambridge History of China with the establishment of the Ch'in empire in 221 BC and ends with the abdication of the last Han emperor in AD 220.
Spanning four centuries, this period witnessed major evolutionary changes in almost every aspect of China's development, being particularly notable for the emergence and growth of a centralized administration and imperial government.
Owing to their pioneer achievements and the heritage that they left for later empires, these dynasties have rightly been regarded as a formative influence throughout Chinese history.
Important archaeological discoveries of recent years have made a new approach possible for many aspects of the period.
Leading historians from Asia, Europe, and America have contributed chapters that convey a realistic impression of significant political, economic, intellectual, religious, and social developments, and of the contacts that the Chinese made with other peoples at this time.
Like the other volumes in the series, volume 1 summarizes the information given in primary sources in the light of the most recent critical scholarship.
As the book is intended for the general reader as well as the specialist, technical details are given in both Chinese terms and English equivalents. References lead to primary sources and their translations and to secondary writings in European languages as well as Chinese and Japanese.
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by Denis Crispin TwitchettSynopsis:
The Cambridge History of China is one of the most far-reaching works of international scholarship ever undertaken, exploring the main developments in political, social, economic and intellectual life from the Ch'in empire to the present day.
The contributors are specialists from the international community of sinological scholars. Many of the accounts break new ground; all are based on fresh research.
The works are written not only with students and scholars but also with the general reader in mind. No knowledge of Chinese is assumed, though for readers of Chinese, proper and other names are identified with their characters in the index.
Numerous maps and tables illustrate the text. Volume 3, covers the second great period of unified imperial power, 589 906, when China established herself as the centre of a wider cultural sphere, embracing Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
It was an era in which there was a great deal of rapid social and economic change, and in which literature and the arts reached new heights of attainment
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by Denis TwitchettSynopsis:
This first of two volumes on the Sung Dynasty (960 1279) and its Five Dynasties and Southern Kingdoms precursors presents the political history of China from the fall of the T ang Dynasty in 907 to the Mongol conquest of the Southern Sung in 1279.
Its twelve chapters survey the personalities and events that marked the rise, consolidation, and demise of the Sung polity during an era of profound social, economic, and intellectual ferment.
The authors place particular emphasis on the emergence of a politically conscious literati class during the Sung, characterized by the increasing importance of the examination system early in the dynasty and on the rise of the tao-hsueh (Neo-Confucian) movement toward the end.
In addition, they highlight the destabilizing influence of factionalism and ministerial despotism on Sung political culture and the impact of the powerful steppe empires of the Khitan Liao, Tangut Hsi Hsia, Jurchen Chin, and Mongol Y an on the shape and tempo of Sung dynastic events.
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by Denis C. TwitchettSynopsis:
This volume deals with four non-Chinese regimes: the Khitan dynasty of Liao; the Tangut state of Hsi Hsia; the Jurchen empire of Chin; and the Mongolian Yuan dynasty that eventually engulfed the whole of China.
It investigates the historical background from which these regimes emerged and shows how each in its own way set up viable institutions for the control of a multi-racial, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural population. It discusses these problems not just as a long negative episode in China's history, but shows the ingenuity and adaptability of these states, and their success in achieving political and social stability.
The volume presents the fullest chronological account of the period, in which political, institutional, social, and economic changes are integrated as far as possible, and sees the period against a broad background of international relations in Northern and Central Asia.
One of the great wonders of the world is the Great Wall of China. This book is a combination of photos, history, and two short meditations on the Wall. Fascinating and beautiful.The Great Wall of China
by Daniel Schwartz(no photo)Synopsis:
Beginning in the 1980s, over many years and many journeys, Daniel Schwartz has patiently and obsessively photographed one of mankind's supreme monuments -- the Great Wall of China. Schwartz was the first foreigner ever to be allowed to see so much of the Wall. From the border of North Korea westward he traveled through mountains and deserts and frozen grasslands to the borders of Central Asia. China's new policy of openness encouraged him to revisit the Wall and to photograph areas that had been closed even to him on previous journeys.This extraordinary project is at once a beautiful photographic essay, an intriguing conceptual art project, and a personal odyssey. As Schwartz has said: "I went to China to find out what I was capable of. . . I wanted to do it because it was impossible. I wanted to find out where the boundaries of the impossible lay and how close I could get to them".
To place the photographs in context, the Chinese historian Luo Zhewen, who has dedicated his life to a study of the Great Wall, has written an essential brief history. Also included is Jorge Luis Borges's short meditation "The Wall and the Books" and an extract from Franz Kafka's illuminating short story "The Great Wall of China".
The Great Wall is acknowledged as the world's most amazing man-made artifact. Daniel Schwartz, with his profound and haunting photographs, has made not only a unique document but a book that is a work of art in itself.
The title of this book is a little misleading as it is really about the famous terra cotta army found at the tomb of the first emperor of China. It was one of the greatest archeological finds in history. A picture of the statues is shown at the bottom of this post.This First Emperor
by Jane Portal (no photo)Synopsis:
Standing guard around the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi, the ranks of a terracotta army bear silent witness to the vast power of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, who unified China in 221 BCE. Six thousand warriors and horses make up the army, while chariots, a military guard, and a command post complete the host. A new look at one of the most spectacular finds in the annals of archaeology, this book also considers the historical and archaeological context of the Terracotta Army, as well as the extensive research and excavation carried out since its discovery in 1974. In richly illustrated chapters, experts in the field describe the Qin's rise and military conquest, the empire's ideology and practices, and the emperor's achievements and legacy. The authors examine the site itself, including new discoveries such as terracotta bureaucrats, acrobats, and strongmen, life-size bronze birds, hundreds of suits of stone armor, and terracotta warriors with colored faces preserved with new technology.
From explorations of the massive mausoleum and the rituals that surrounded it, to explanations of the actual manufacture of the Terracotta Army, the book offers a detailed and authoritative tour of one of ancient history's most eloquent memorials, with all it says of China's long and coherent cultural past--and future potential.
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When the Chinese Communists took over the government of China, the Nationalists set up the island of Taiwan (also called Formosa) as the Republic of China. It still hold on to its freedom today although China claims it as part of the larger country.Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan
by Jonathan Manthorpe (no photo)Synopsis:
For over 400 years, Taiwan has suffered at the hands of multiple colonial powers, but it has now entered the decade when its independence will be won or lost. At the heart of Taiwan's story is the curse of geography that placed the island on the strategic cusp between the Far East and Southeast Asia and made it the guardian of some of the world's most lucrative trade routes. It is the story of the dogged determination of a courageous people to overcome every obstacle thrown in their path. Forbidden Nation tells the dramatic story of the island, its people, and what brought them to this moment when their future will be decided.
Taiwan, the last holdout against the giant of Communist China.Why Taiwan Matters: Small Island, Global Powerhouse
by Shelley Rigger (no photo)Synopsis:
Written by a leading expert on Taiwan, Why Taiwan Matters offers a comprehensive and engaging introduction to a country that exercises a role in the world far greater than its tiny size would indicate. Shelley Rigger explains how Taiwan became such a key global player, highlighting economic and political breakthroughs so impressive they have been called "miracles." She links these accomplishments to Taiwan's determined society, vibrant culture, and unique history. Drawing on arts, economics, politics, and international relations, Rigger explores Taiwan's importance to China, the United States, and the world. Considering where Taiwan may be headed in its wary standoff with China, she traces how the focus of Taiwan's domestic politics has shifted to a Taiwan-centered strategy. All readers interested in Asia and international affairs, as well as travelers to the region, will find this an accessible and entertaining overview, replete with human interest stories and colorful examples of daily life in Taiwan.
Mysterious Mongolia, located on the norther border of China and Russia was for years closed to the world.This classic book written in the 1930s tells of the first Occidentals who explored the interior.Men and God in Mongolia
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Henning HaslundSynopsis
First published in 1935, this rare and unusual travel book takes us into the virtually unknown world of Mongolia, a country that only now, after 70 years, is finally opening up to the west. Haslund, a Danish-Swedish explorer, takes us to the lost city of Karakota in the Gobi desert. We meet the Bodgo Gegen, a god-king in Mongolia similar to the Dalai Lama of Tibet. We meet Dambin Jansang, the dreaded warlord of the 'Black Gobi'. There is even material on the Hi-mori, an 'airhorse' that flies though the air (similar to a Vimana) and carries with it the sacred stone of Chintamani. Aside from the esoteric and mystical material, there is plenty of just plain adventure.
The Great Wall: China Against the World 1000 BC- AD 2000
by Julia Lovell (no photo)Summary
Legendarily 2,200 years old and 4,300 miles long, the Great Wall of China seems to make an overwhelmingly confident physical statement about the country it spans: about China’s age-old sense of itself being an advanced civilization anxious to draw a clear line between itself and the “barbarians” at its borders. But behind the wall’s intimidating exterior—and the myths that have built up around it—is a complex history that has both defined and undermined China. Author Julia Lovell has written a new and important history of the Great Wall that guides the reader through the conquests and cataclysms of the Chinese empire, from the second millennium BC to the present day.
In recent years, the Wall has become an ever more potent symbol of Chinese nationalism, of a determination to resist foreign domination. But how successful was the Wall in reality, and what was its real purpose? Was it a precursor, albeit on a huge scale, of the Berlin Wall—a barrier designed to keep its population in as much as undesirables out? Lovell looks behind the modern mythology of the Great Wall, uncovering a three-thousand-year history far more fragmented and less illustrious than its crowds of visitors imagine today. The story of the Wall winds through that of the Chinese state and the frontier policy that defined it, through the lives of the millions of individuals who supported, criticized, built, and attacked it.
The Great Wall of China 
by Joseph R. O'Neill (no photo)Summary
- Primary Research and Sources
- Historic Documents
- Essential Facts
- Source Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Maps
- Timeline
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The mysteries of the Gobi Desert on the northern border of China are revealed in this fascinating tour of this little know area.Gobi: Tracking the Desert
by John Man (no photo)Synopsis:
The Gobi desert in Mongolia has long been considered a wasteland of searing heat, polar cold, and brutal sandstorms. For seventy years, it was all but barred to outsiders by Mongolia's position as a Soviet-dominated buffer state between Russia and China. The collapse of communism gave John Man a long-awaited chance to travel through the Gobi. Retracing the steps of early explorers, living with herdsmen, and drawing on the most recent scientific work, he has now created the first accessible portrait of this little-known wilderness.Man describes the Gobi's national parks (one of which is the second largest in the world), its snowcapped mountains, sandstone canyons, towering dunes, and "singing sands." He tells us about its ephemeral snow leopards, its desert bears (only some of which survive), and the world's only species of wild horse. He relates exciting stories of earlier expeditions, many of them American-led. In the 1920s, American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews discovered the first known dinosaur eggs in the legendary Flaming Cliffs. And in the 1990s Michael Novacek, of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, led teams that discovered a treasure-trove of dinosaur fossils far exceeding Andrews' finds. In concluding chapters Man captures the ancient land of the Gobi on the brink of change, as research intensifies, the population increases, the herdsmen become owners of motorbikes -- and the pressure on wildlife grows.
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In a word.......superb!Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land
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Patrick FrenchSynopsis:
At different times in its history Tibet has been renowned for pacifism and martial prowess, enlightenment and cruelty. The Dalai Lama may be the only religious leader who can inspire the devotion of agnostics. Patrick French has been fascinated by Tibet since he was a teenager. He has read its history, agitated for its freedom, and risked arrest to travel through its remote interior. His love and knowledge inform every page of this learned, literate, and impassioned book.
Talking with nomads and Buddhist nuns, exiles and collaborators, French portrays a nation demoralized by a half-century of Chinese occupation and forced to depend on the patronage of Western dilettantes. He demolishes many of the myths accruing to Tibet–including those centering around the radiant figure of the Dalai Lama. Combining the best of history, travel writing, and memoir, Tibet, Tibet is a work of extraordinary power and insight.
Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang: Art and History on the Silk Road, Second Edition
by Roderick Whitfield (no photo) Synopsis:
The Mogao grottoes in China, situated near the town of Dunhuang on the fabled Silk Road, constitute one of the world’s most significant sites of Buddhist art. The hundreds of caves carved into rock cliffs at the edge of the Gobi desert preserve one thousand years of exquisite art. Founded by Buddhist monks as an isolated monastery in the late fourth century, Mogao evolved into an artistic and spiritual mecca whose renown extended from the Chinese capital to the Western Kingdoms of the Silk Road. Among its treasures are miles of stunning wall paintings, more than two thousand statues, magnificent works on silk and paper, and thousands of ancient manuscripts, such as sutras, poems, and prayer sheets.
In this new expanded edition, Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang, first published in 2000, combines lavish color photographs of the caves and their art with the fascinating history of the Silk Road to create a vivid portrait of this remarkable site. Chapters narrate the development of Dunhuang and the Mogao cave temples, the iconography of the wall paintings, and the extraordinary story of the rare manuscripts—including the oldest printed book in existence, a ninth-century copy of the Diamond Sutra. The book also discusses the collaboration between the Getty Conservation Institute and Chinese authorities in conservation projects at Mogao, and the ways in which the site can be visited today.
Replica caves on exhibit at the JP Getty Center, until Sept. 4, 2016. I did go to the exhibit and it was great!
link: http://www.getty.edu/research/exhibit...
The History Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang: Art and History on the Silk Road (other topics)Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land (other topics)
Gobi: Tracking the Desert (other topics)
The Great Wall of China (other topics)
The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC - AD 2000 (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Roderick Whitfield (other topics)Patrick French (other topics)
John Man (other topics)
Joseph R. O'Neill (other topics)
Julia Lovell (other topics)
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The thread looks at the physical environment of East Asia, the specific sites from which China emerged, and the prehistoric background of Chinese culture.
Please feel free to post books (properly cited) and enter into discussions on any of the above.