Amazon.com: China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture: Charles Hucker: Books

Review

“An admirable success. It is the embodiment of great Sinological acumen and experience and of a lovingly painstaking scholarship, beautifully presented. Moreover, it is a book that deploys its learning gracefully and succinctly, with a rhetorical modesty that is likely to wear very well on its many future readers. . . . Professor Hucker has produced a most attractive harvest of the many labors of his distinguished scholarship and teaching career, and we should be grateful.”—Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

“The book is an impressive tour de force of skillful organization, clarity, and precision; the style is quiet, concise, and unambiguous. Hucker’s coverage is strikingly comprehensive. . . . His incorporation of the major findings and issues of recent research is meticulous and well proportioned.”—The Journal of Asian Studies

“The genius of the book lies in its organization. . . . It is arranged in such a way that one can read it straight through for a comprehensive view of China’s past; or one can read it topically, as a record of major events, or as a political-institutional history, or socio-economic history, or the history of ideas, or literary or art history. . . . It is an eminently sound introduction to its subject, a work compiled with evident thought and care.”—History

Product Description

A work unique in the sweep of its design and scope, intended expressly for the general reader interested in human history and culture, this is a vivid panoramic survey of the vast course of Chinese civilization from prehistory to 1850, when the old China began the agonizing transition to the new. Historical surveys of China tend to be dynasty-by-dynasty chronicles with a profusion of names and dates and occaisional cultural tidbits, or to concentrate on the period from earliest times to the Han dynasty (or the T’ang), giving only scant coverage to the last thousand years. China’s Imperial Past

is different. Not only does it treat the three major periods of Chinese history at roughly equal length, weaving all their complexity into a balanced, integrated whole, but it gives ample space to China’s magnificent literary and artistic achievements.

The author’s approach is primarily interpretive, emphasizing patterns of change and development rather than factual details, but he never loses sight of the particularities that made traditional Chinese civilization one of the richest in human history. Especially notable are the many translations of Chinese poetry, among them more than twenty exquisite poems from the great poets of the T’ang.

The author divides Chinese history into three major epochs: a formative age, from high antiquity to the unification of China under the Ch’in in the third century B.C.; an early imperial age, from the Han dynasty (202 B.C.-A.D. 220) through the T’ang (618-907) and its breakdown; and a later imperial age, from the Sung dynasty (960-1279) to the mid-nineteenth century. Each major epoch is considered in topical chapters—on general history, political institutions, socioeconomic organization, religion and thought, and literature and the arts. A brief Epilogue comments on aspects of Chinese history since 1850.

The book includes 47 plates, eight maps, and various charts, and as appendixes and unusually detailed chronological table, notes on the Chines language, and suggestions for supplementary reading.

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Product Details

Paperback: 492 pages
Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (January 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0804723532
ISBN-13: 978-0804723534
Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #565,504 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
STONE-AGE cultures that were ancestral to Chinese civilization were scattered across North China by the beginning of the second millennium B.C. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
later imperial age, regulated shih, early imperial age, commandery governors, later imperial era, colloquial literature, auxiliary capital, parallel prose, formative age, freehold farmers, regional lords, conquest dynasties, tributary missions, chief counselor, recruitment examinations, later dynasties, chief councilors, southern dynasties, later empire, northern dynasties, palace eunuchs, early empire

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North China, Warring States, Southern Sung, Central Asia, Later Han, Chu Hsi, South China, Yellow River, Duke of Chou, Wang Mang, Northern Sung, Wang An-shih, Ssu-ma Ch'ien, Former Han, China Proper, First Emperor, King Hsiang, King Wu, Han Wu-ti, Department of State Affairs, Ts'ao Ts'ao, Wang Yang-ming, Great Wall, Ming T'ai-tsu, Taiping Rebellion

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 73 books:

Anthology of Chinese literature, (UNESCO collection of representative works:) by Cyril Birch in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Doctrine Of The Mean by Confucius on page 99, and page 363
Anthology of Chinese Literature from Early Times to the Fourteenth Century by Editor Cyril Birch in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Anthology of Chinese Literature: Volume I: From Early Times to the Fourteenth Century by Cyril Birch in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Great Learning by Confucius on page 99, and page 363

See all 73 books this book cites

41 books cite this book:

Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization by Paul S. Ropp on page 216, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
HarperCollins College Outline World History to 1648 (Harpercollins College Outline Series) by Jay P. Anglin on page 188, and page 400
Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History by Nicola Di Cosmo on page 162, and Back Matter
Swimming Lessons: Keeping Afloat in the Age of Technology by David Ehrenfeld on page 20, and Back Matter
Knowledge And Decisions by Thomas Sowell in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 41 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

China Through The Ages by Franz Michael

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China to 1850 by Charles Hucker

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Heritage of China by Paul S. Ropp

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A History of Chinese Civilization by Jacques Gernet

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	94% buy the item featured on this page: China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture 4.0 out of 5 stars (2) $26.19
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good introduction to Chinese history, July 9, 2000

By	Mike R. Lai (China) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is clearly written and covers competently a broad range of topics. The author follows a topical format (as opposed to a strictly chronological) and discusses in turn general political history, social and political structures, intellectual life, arts and literature. All are described fairly well, though the coverage of some personalities is sketchy perhaps because of space limitations. But the author is clearly very knowledge and provides an adequate amount of critical analysis (in addition to the merely descriptive) so that one doesn't lose sight of the bigger picture.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth buying!, September 26, 2007

By	Wlodzimierz Sobczyk "WloS" (Warsaw, Poland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For me China is just a matter of personal interest - no academic or business motivation. What's the most interesting is to understand the foundations of culture, of social structures, customs and behaviours. With the organisation of this book I could easily pick up the pieces which I consider the most relevant. Having read quite a number of books on the subject I finally found the explanations of several intriguing aspects of Chinese culture, which in the other sources were presented in a "as a matter of fact" mode!

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