As the world shrinks and all nations become involved with one another, Western ignorance of the great and ancient civilizations of China and Japan seems as benighted as the medieval astronomers' ignorance of the solar system. Aware of the relative unfamiliarity of the subject, the thirteen scholars who contributed to this book assumed nothing but the reader's desire to know, while resisting the temptation to oversimplify. By way of prologue there is a chapter on the Chinese script, which has served to give Chinese civilization its 3,000-year continuity and which unites it to Japan. The second chapter covers the political and social history of China to the end of the Manchu era, followed by separate discussions of foreign relations, religion, philosophy, science, and literature. The section ends by showing how Chinese civilization was carried to Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, and Japan--followed by a parallel treatment of Japanese history and culture as far as the Meiji Restoration. The final chapters trace the impact of the West on China and Japan, and examine the roles of both countries in the modern world. Integral to the book, and of outstanding importance in their own right, are the illustrations, which draw upon documents, paintings, and works of art in museums all over the world to form a unique collection. East Asia, past and present, comes to life with an unprecedented vividness and authenticity. 530 illustrations, 160 in color.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
With contributions by:
Carmen Blacker
Wing-tsit Chan
Jean Chesneaux
Paul A. Cohen
E. Glahn
Donald Keene
Owen Lattimore
James J.Y. Liu
S. Nakayama
Charles D. Sheldon
Y. Toriumi
Arnold Toynbee
Zenryu Tsukamoto
D.C. Twitchett
