Cultural Atlas of China, Revised Edition [Hardcover]

Caroline Blunden (Author), Caroline Blunden and Mark Elvin (Author), Mark Elvin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998 | Series: Cultural Atlas of

Western civilization has only recently tapped into the ancient wisdom of Chinese enlightenment, from alternative medicines to spiritual balance and so much more. Cultural Atlas of China embodies the history, geography, and uniqueness of the world's oldest civilization, providing readers with a guided tour of this momentous kingdom. This revised edition has been updated to include: a completely updated and expanded bibliography; coverage of Chinese environmental problems, Taiwan, and the Chinese Diaspora; new maps and photographs.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For all the importance of China to world history and contemporary affairs alike, Western readers lack for general overviews of the country. This oversize, heavily illustrated atlas goes a long way to fill that gap. The authors, both specialists in Chinese history, begin with a description of the physiographic regions of China, a complex series of environments whose rivers, valleys, and mountains have conditioned the growth of cities and empires over thousands of years. They move on to a detailed account of Chinese history from the Paleolithic to the present, deftly negotiating the complexities of dynastic lines and multiple kingships and surveying the growth of the modern, postimperial Chinese state, forged in warfare and under considerable hardship. Finally, the authors examine the arts for which China is justly famous, calligraphy, architecture, and cooking among them. The authors take care to explain many of the realities of contemporary Chinese society by noting past events. China has always been open to outside influences, they write, but foreign invasions beginning with the medieval Mongol and Manchu conquests have also led China to guard its frontiers jealously; even today, in a time when foreign investment is courted, China keeps a certain distance from outsiders. "Chinese intellectual and cultural assimilation of the West during the present century," they note, "has been extremely selective, concentrating almost entirely on the most recent times and showing no interest in the Western Middle Ages and only the most marginal interest in Western antiquity." With so much history of its own, as this volume well summarizes, China's apparent lack of interest in the outside world of long ago is understandable. --Gregory McNamee

From the Publisher

Praise for the previous edition:

"Superbly illustrated, the comprehensive maps and charts augment art reproductions. An outstanding buy." --The Wall Street Journal

"One of the handsomest, most original and usable reference works to date." --Los Angeles Herald Examiner

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Checkmark Books; Revised edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816038147
• ISBN-13: 978-0816038145
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #927,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First, only, or latest book -- this has something for you., October 9, 1998

By 

Holly Ingraham "ailurophile" (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cultural Atlas of China, Revised Edition (Hardcover)

Despite superb maps on some subjects you never imagined, like the various shifts in the mouth of the Yellow River, and gorgeous illustrations of the art of the period, this book has a few flaws. The line drawing reconstruction illos are so dramatic and modern as to convey relatively little information and some inaccuracies (would someone tell me how those horses are drawing that chariot, other than with the reins?), and the cultural coverage of the text is irregular in what it covers if you are looking for depth. It takes a couple of readings before the text falls together, and then suddenly you know a lot about China. Perservere. It's not bad as an only home reference on China, or as an introduction for the educated adult.