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Caroline Blunden

Cultural Atlas of China Hardcover – October 1, 1998

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

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A revised edition of a visual survey of China's history, geography, and civilization includes 204 full-color photographs, fifty-eight maps, an updated bibliography, and new sections on China's environment, Taiwan, and Chinese emigration. 30,000 first printing.

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Checkmark Books
Dimensions

12 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0816038147
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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

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Checkmark Books; Revised edition (October 1, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0816038147
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0816038145
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12 x 0.75 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,466,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #696 in Historical Atlases & Maps (Books)
- #1,002 in Atlases (Books)

Customer Reviews:
11 ratings

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Merrily Baird

In some instances too much information, in others too little

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2018

Verified Purchase

The strengths and shortcomings of "Cultural Atlas of China" should be considered in context. Not only is China one of the largest countries in the world, but it is arguably that with the longest-running extant civilization. Thus gaining a good sense of China's geographic, historical, and cultural features requires many years and a learning process that often does not march forward in a straight line. In these circumstances, the reader can be forced to synthesize information himself/herself, and, judging by some earlier reviews of this book, this is not always welcome. This issue aside, some important subjects-- "feng shui," Chinese notions of geomancy, especially as related to the animal zodiac, and dynastic time-- are given short shrift. A paring back on some text and charts--to save space and allow larger typefaces--would have been useful as well as an expanded index.

3 people found this helpful

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Dr Garry

Another fine volume in this long-running series.

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2013

Verified Purchase

Another fine volume in this long-running series. By far the the best aspects are the meticuloulsy drawn large maps, and to a lesser extent the well-illustrated sidebar essays. The main narrative tends to be dry and given to over-long paragraphs. Nonetheless, well worth it if you can pick up a copy, if for your kids if not yourself.

2 people found this helpful

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diciple

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2016

Ok

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2018

Ok

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2017

Very informative.

Information Lacking Synthesis

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2014

In contrast to the book on Japan, which is excellent, this Cultural Atlas is disjointed and awkward. It appears to present only selected information known to the authors, but seems to lack a consistent historical thread, perhaps exposing an incomplete patchwork-like knowledge of Chinese history and culture of the authors. If they have a fairly complete knowledge, they fail at conveying it. As an example, the maps are often presented with insufficient information to put them in context with the text, often missing important details such as dates and places; ideas described in the text are then not portrayed using the same words on the map. This gives the appearance of a committee developing the book, with the graphics producers and editors unable to achieve synthesis with the text authors.

Even within the text, one gets the feeling of two not very complimentary authors cutting and pasting from a stock of academic modules lacking narrative flow. A section will bounce around several centuries, but then the reader is expected to know that a particular paragraph refers to a previous paragraph for chronological context without explicit reference. Out of left field, we get several paragraphs on painting, with no introduction as to why it is important either to the elite or the common people. A much better integration with the timeline could easily have been achieved and the important unifying concepts of Confucianism and Buddhism and their changing interpretation deserve separate sections, perhaps with separate graphical timelines to show their relationships to various ruling bodies and regions.

The language is also often highly specialized, reflecting IMO, an out-of-touch academic background of the authors, inconsistent with the needs of a general interest reader (e.g., "suzerainty"). I have a post-doctoral education and read voraciously, but wondered whether learning the authors' particular language was of real lasting value.

This book is a disappointment, engendering frustration and dislike for China, which should be the exact opposite outcome of a book of this type. One can learn from this book, but reading it is a chore and it fails at delivering the joy of cultural discovery. If this was a travel tour. I'd find a new guide.

3 people found this helpful

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