A Brief History of Chinese Civilization

by Schirokauer, Conrad

• ISBN13: 9780155055681
• ISBN10: 0155055682
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-03-01
• Publisher: Wadsworth Pub Co

Summary

This concise book emphasizes Chinese cultural history while also covering political and economic history. It is introductory in both style and content, and the organization is kept as simple as possible. Brief coverage of each major Chinese dynasty or other discrete period is treated in a separate chapter. Coverage includes recent developments in China, up to and including the massacre at Tiananmen Square. Timelines, charts, or key dates appear at the beginning of chapters. Chinese names are printed in Pinyin with Wade-Giles in parentheses.

Table of Contents

Preface	v
Note on Names and Romanization	vii
Note on Calligraphy	viii
PART ONE THE CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION OF CHINA
Chinese Antiquity	3	(24)
Geographic Parameters	4	(1)
Neolithic Cultures	5	(3)
Civilization: The Shang	8	(2)
Written Language	10	(3)
The Bronzes	13	(3)
Shang Religion	16	(1)
Government and Society	17	(1)
The Western Zhou (1027?--771 B.C.)	18	(2)
The Zhou Political System	20	(1)
The Book of Songs	21	(3)
The Traditional Chinese View of Antiquity	24	(1)
Decline of the Zhou	25	(2)
The Age of Philosophers	27	(23)
The Early Eastern Zhou (Spring and Autumn Period)	28	(1)
Confucius	29	(3)
Mo Zi	32	(1)
The Warring States: Growth and Conflict	33	(3)
The Arts	36	(1)
Chu and the Culture of the South	37	(3)
Mencius and the Development of Confucianism	40	(2)
Daoism	42	(2)
The Logicians	44	(1)
Theories of the Natural Order	45	(1)
Zun Zi	46	(1)
Han Fei Zi and Legalism	47	(1)
The Qin: Legalism Applied	48	(2)
The First Empire: 221 B.C.--A.D. 220	50	(28)
The Qin Integration	51	(3)
The Founding of the Han	54	(1)
The Pattern of Former Han History	55	(1)
Government of Society	56	(2)
Relations with Foreign Peoples	58	(2)
Flourishing and Decline	60	(2)
Wang Mang and the Xin Dynasty (A.D. 9--23)	62	(1)
The Later Han (25--220)	63	(1)
Han Historiography: Sima Qian and Ban Gu	64	(2)
Han Poetry	66	(2)
The Visual Arts	68	(4)
The Intellectual Order	72	(3)
The Fall of the Han	75	(3)
PART TWO CHINA IN A BUDDHIST AGE
China During the Period of Disunity	78	(23)
Buddhism in India	79	(3)
China Divided	82	(1)
The Northern Wei	82	(3)
Buddhism in the North	85	(4)
Challenges to Buddhist Influence	89	(1)
The South	90	(1)
Secular Culture and the Arts	91	(1)
Poetry	92	(2)
Calligraphy	94	(1)
Painting	95	(3)
Buddhism in the South	98	(2)
China on the Eve of Reunification	100	(1)
The Cosmopolitan Civilization of the Sui and Tang: 581--907	101	(31)
The Sui (581--617)	102	(2)
The Tang: Establishment and Consolidation	104	(3)
Empress Wu and Emperor Xuanzong	107	(3)
City Life in the Capital: Chang'an	110	(4)
The Flourishing of Buddhism	114	(3)
Architecture and Art	117	(1)
Poetry	118	(1)
Li Bo and Du Fu	119	(3)
The Rebellion and An Lushan (755--763)	122	(1)
The Late Tang	123	(1)
Late Tang Poetry and Culture	124	(2)
Collapse of the Dynasty	126	(6)
PART THREE LATE IMPERIAL CHINA
China during the Song: 960--1279	132	(30)
A New Elite	133	(1)
The Examination System	134	(2)
The Northern Song	136	(1)
Government and Politics	137	(2)
Wang Anshi	139	(2)
The Economy	141	(3)
The Southern Song (1127--1279)	144	(1)
Southern Song Cities and Commerce	145	(2)
The Confucian Revival	147	(1)
Philosophy and Values	148	(3)
Song Poetry	151	(3)
painting and the Arts	154	(8)
The Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty	162	(20)
Founding of the Mongol Empire	163	(2)
Chinggis Khan
China under the Mongols: The Early Years (1211--1260)	165	(2)
Khubilai Khan and the Early Yuan	167	(3)
Religion	170	(1)
The Economy	170	(1)
The Yuan after Khubilai Khan	171	(1)
Rebellion	172	(1)
Cultural Life	173	(1)
Yuan Drama	174	(3)
Yuan Painting	177	(5)
The Ming Dynasty: 1368--1644	182	(27)
Chinese Society during the Ming	183	(2)
The Early Ming (1368--1424)	185	(3)
Martime Expeditions (1405--1433)	188	(2)
The Early Middle Period (1425--1505)	190	(2)
The Later Middle Period (1506--1590)	192	(2)
The Economy	194	(1)
Literacy	194	(1)
The Novel	195	(2)
Ming Drama	197	(1)
Painting	198	(1)
Ming Thought: Wang Yangming and Others	199	(2)
Ming Thought after Wang Yangming	201	(2)
Dong Quichang and Late Ming Painting	203	(3)
Late Ming Government (1590--1644)	206	(3)
East Asia and Modern Europe: First Encounters	209	(16)
The Portuguese in East Asia	210	(2)
The Jesuits in Japan	212	(4)
The Impact of Other Europeans	216	(1)
The ``Closing of Japan''	217	(2)
The Jesuits in China	219	(1)
The Rites Controversy	220	(2)
The Decline of Christianity in China	222	(3)
China Under the Manchus	225	(28)
Formation of the Manchu State	226	(3)
The Conquest	229	(2)
Three Thinkers	231	(3)
Early Qing Painting	234	(2)
The Reign of Kangxi	236	(2)
Yongzheng	238	(1)
Qianlong	239	(1)
Decorative Arts	240	(1)
Culture of the Literati in the Eighteenth Century	241	(3)
Qing Fiction	244	(1)
Economy and Society	245	(3)
Overseas Trade and the Canton System	248	(1)
Internal Decay	248	(5)
PART FOUR CHINA IN THE MODERN WORLD
The Intrusion of the West	253	(24)
Breakdown of the Canton System: Sino-British Tensions	256	(2)
The Opium Trade	258	(3)
The Opium War (1839--1842)	261	(1)
The Treaty System	262	(2)
China and the West (1842--1860)	264	(1)
Russian Gains	265	(1)
Internal Crisis	266	(1)
TheTaiping Rebellion (1850--1864)	267	(2)
Taiping Programs and Policies	269	(1)
Dissension and Weakness	269	(1)
Zeng Guofan and the Defeat of the Taipings	270	(1)
The Qing Restoration	271	(6)
Self-Strengthening, 1874--1894	277	(19)
The Empress Dowager and the Government	278	(2)
Self-Strengthening	280	(1)
Education	281	(2)
Economic Self-Strengthening	283	(1)
The Traditional Economic Sector	284	(1)
Missionary Efforts and Christian Influence	285	(3)
Endings and Beginnings	288	(1)
Foreign Relations	289	(2)
Vietnam and the Sino-French War of 1884--1885	291	(2)
Korea and the Sino-Japanese War of 1894--1895	293	(1)
The Treaty of Shimonoseki (April 1895)	294	(2)
The End of the Old Order, 1895--1912	296	(14)
Reformers in Thought and Action	297	(3)
The Scramble for Concessions	300	(2)
The Boxer Rising	302	(1)
Winds of Change	303	(1)
Revolutionaries	304	(1)
Eleventh-Hour Reform	305	(1)
The Revolution of 1911	306	(4)
PART FIVE POST-IMPERIAL CHINA
Fragmentation and Struggle For a New China, 1912--1927	310	(18)
Yuan Shikai	311	(1)
The Warlord Era	312	(1)
Intellectual Ferment	313	(2)
Intellectual Alternatives	315	(1)
Cultural Alternatives	316	(4)
Marxism in china: The Early Years	320	(2)
The Guomindang and Sun Yat-sen (1913--1923)	322	(1)
Guomindang and CCP Cooperation (1923--1927)	322	(2)
The Break	324	(2)
Establishment of the Nationalist Government	326	(2)
China Under the Nationalists, 1927--1949	328	(23)
The Nanjing Decade: An Uneasy Peace	329	(1)
The Najing Decade: Domestic Policies	330	(3)
The Chinese Communists (1927--1934)	333	(3)
The Long March	336	(1)
The United Front and War	337	(2)
The Expansion of the War into a Pacific War	339	(1)
China During the War	340	(5)
The End of the Second World War	345	(1)
Civil War and Communist Triumph, 1946--1949	346	(5)
The New China	351	(33)
Consolidation and Construction Soviet Style (1949--1958)
Government and Politics	352	(2)
Foreign Relations and the Korean War	354	(1)
Economic Policies	355	(3)
Though Reform and Intellectuals	358	(2)
The Revolution Continued (1958--1976)
The Great Leap Forward	360	(2)
The Sino-Soviet Split	362	(2)
Domestic Developments (1961--1965)	364	(1)
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1965--1969)	365	(2)
The Winding Down (1969--1976)	367	(3)
China After Mao (1977--)
The Four Modernization's	370	(4)
Taiwan
Economic Growth and Modernization	374	(1)
Artistic and Intellectual Life
Serving the People	375	(5)
New Beginnings	380	(4)
Suggestions for Further Reading	384	(13)
Index	397