China A History

by Keay, John

• ISBN13: 9780465025183
• ISBN10: 0465025188
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-12-06
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

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, Chinais the classic single-volume history for anyone seeking to understand the present and future of this immensely powerful nation.

Author Biography

John Keay is a former special correspondent for the Economist and contributes regularly to the Times Literary Supplement and the Literary Review. His past books include the bestselling India: A History and The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company. He lives in Argyll, Scotland.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. xiii
List of Maps and Diagrams	p. xvii
Acknowledgements	p. xix
Introduction
Rewriting the past	p. 1
Spadework	p. 5
Cradle, core and beyond	p. 10
The dynastic dynamic	p. 15
The triumph of Pinyin	p. 17
A matter of scale	p. 20
Rites To Writing, Pre c. 1050 BC
The Great Beginning	p. 25
Glint of bronze	p. 31
Finding family	p. 38
In the oracular	p. 42
Sages and Heroes, c. 1050-c. 250 BC
Footprints of Zhou	p. 50
Less spring than autumn	p. 60
The Confucian conveyance	p. 66
Warring states and statist wars	p. 71
The First Empire, c. 250-210 BC
Stone Cattle Road	p. 80
Qin's cultural revolution	p. 88
Crumbling wall, hidden tomb	p. 97
Han Ascendant, 210-141 BC
Qin implodes	p. 106
Pawn to king	p. 111
Jaded monarchs	p. 118
Within and Beyond, 141 BC-AD 1
Han and Hun	p. 128
Explorer Zhang and the Western Regions	p. 135
Administering an empire	p. 143
Confucian fundamentalism	p. 151
Wang Mang and the Han Reprise, AD 1-189
A one-man dynasty	p. 156
Across the watershed	p. 164
Decline and fall	p. 174
Four Hundred Years of Vicissitude, 189-550
Three Kingdoms and the Red Cliffs	p. 184
Dao and the Celestial Masters	p. 192
Enter the Enlightened One	p. 198
Into the abyss	p. 203
Luoyang again	p. 210
Sui, Tang and the Second Empire, 550-650
Intercalary conjunction	p. 216
Sui-cide	p. 224
Sons of the sunset and the sunrise	p. 233
Beyond the Jade Gate	p. 239
High Tang, 650-755
Wanton, not wayward	p. 246
The greatest power in Asia	p. 259
Like a breath of spring	p. 267
A turning point	p. 273
Reconfiguring the Empire, 755-1005
Low Tang	p. 279
Five Dynasties or Ten Kingdoms	p. 290
Song and Liao	p. 300
Caving In, 1005-1235
The Great State of White and High	p. 308
Reform and reappraisal	p. 314
In Singing-girl Towers	p. 321
Jin and Song	p. 327
By Land and Sea, 1235-1405
Sunset of the Song	p. 341
Mongol reunification	p. 350
Mongol misadventures	p. 361
Triumph of the Ming	p. 369
The Rites of Ming, 1405-1620
From the edge of the sky to the ends of the earth	p. 376
Misadventures and misfortunes	p. 386
The Great Rites Controversy	p. 393
Landmarks and inroads	p. 402
The Manchu Conquest, 1620-1760
Overwhelming Ming	p. 410
From Jurchen to Manchu	p. 420
Much in demand	p. 431
Zungharia, Xinjiang and Tibet	p. 437
Death Throes of Empire, 1760-1880
Self-evident truths	p. 446
Insults and opium	p. 455
Taiping and Tianjin	p. 467
Republicans and Nationalists, 1880-1950
Brush to pen	p. 48o
From empire to republic	p. 490
War and more war	p. 499
Long March, long war	p. 507
Epilogue	p. 517
Notes	p. 537
Bibliography	p. 549
Index	p. 561
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