China: A Macro History 2nd Edition, Kindle Edition

by Ray Huang (Author)

14 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-1563247316

ISBN-10: 1563247313

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Product details

File Size: 5842 KB
Print Length: 337 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (April 8, 2015)
Publication Date: April 8, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00VV3GP36
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,107,826 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #744 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Public Affairs & Policy > Public Policy
- #834 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Special Groups > Ethnic Studies
- #948 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Asia > China

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Tintin

Refreshing and enlightening

April 29, 2007

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is one of the most enlightening books I've read. Maybe only a person with Ray Huang's life experience, his mastery of both the eastern and western languages and culture can write a book so refreshing and so uncolored by party politics or ideological beliefs. Growing up in China, Huang spent 12 years serving in Chiang Kai-Shek's army; then trading guns for books, he earned his PhD in history in the US at the mature age of 46. He lived the rest of his life in the US, marrying a stunning Caucasian woman and teaching history in a university. His fame came when he was 61 with the publication of "1587, a year of no significance", whose Chinese edition later became a best seller in China.

Compared to "1587", this book is more ambitious but equally scholarly and insightful. This is not your typical history book. Instead of focusing on who what and when, it asks and answers the question of why. Huang found intrinsic laws in the seemingly random events of Chinese dynastic and modern history. Suddenly, all the things that happened become inevitable, history progresses in its own trajectory regardless of any individual's wishes. He convincingly explored the reasons why Confucius and Mencious philosophy dominated the Chinese society for two thousand years, the impetus to the rise and fall of the three Chinese empires and why capitalism never developed in China till the late 20's century. He urged us not to judge an event or figure by rigid moral standards, but by their effect on the overall (macro) progress of history. For example, instead of tossing labels of "good", "bad", "tyrannical" or "corrupt", he maintained Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong both re-shaped the structure of Chinese society and laid foundation for the amazing transition of China from a three-thousand-year-old agrarian society to a "numerically manageable" modern society in the last 20 years. Huang's book also makes me seriously consider for the first time the possibility that democracy is not a system that works anywhere and anytime. You don't have to agree with everything Huang wrote, but he definitely makes you think.

On a side note, you will get the most out of this book if you already have a good knowledge of Chinese history, and have a chronological table of all the Chinese dynasties and emperors handy.

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Shell

Highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to have an ...

January 12, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to have an overview of Chinese history. I like that it doesn't go into all the details of historical events (that will be very very very long..), but rather makes you think 'how did this happen' and 'why it is the way it is'.

It is a small and concise history book that's worth reading several times. I do recommend to only read this if you already have some basic idea of Chinese history in terms of major events and phases.

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Kai Wong

Great overview of the Chinese history and captured the key ...

August 1, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Great overview of the Chinese history and captured the key events and their impact. It filled the gap in the first half of 20th century Chinese history also..

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Alan - UK

I really as good as some reviews claim

January 11, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Being an avid reader of History, I was really extremely disappointed by this book. The theme, Macro History, seemed laudable enough, and promised some insight regarding the historical development of the China we see today. Regardless of the academic merit of the book, on which I will not comment, I found the book to be extremely poorly written. It was inconsistent in terms of its coverage of "events", and left a considerable, but indispensable, background unexplained. For example, you get no introduction as to who or what the Legalists are or why they seem to be the alternative to Confucianism, for example. In places the developments are covered in detail, but as the lead up has been only presented in broad framework, you are left with little access to the importance of the detail. The whole things needs a good edit from a strong editor, who is able to draw out the undoubted academic merit of the book, into something which is readable and informative. A small point, but irksome: I know the author is a non-English speaker, but has lived in the USA since the early 50s; however, in places the usage of terms and phraseology needs editing, as it seems terribly colloquial. For example, in one place the author tells you that the merchant used "fancy goods" to develop his friendship with the royal prince. Call me picky, but terms like this should have been weeded out in editing.

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Boris Aleksandrovsky

a worthwhile summary of lifetime's work

November 20, 2001

Format: Paperback

Ray Huang's "China: A Macro History" kept me up for a few nights in a row. Dr. Huang posed an extremely ambitious goal to explain fundamental differences of Western and Chinese civilizations, and to explore trends of Chinese government, military, cultural and religious institutions as they develop from legendary to modern times. The book is organized in chapters, each covering roughly a time span of the major dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. Concentration is more on trends (thus the title word "macro") then on events, more on developments of concepts rather then careers. People and events are represented inasmuch as they represent the underlining trend. As such every dynasty rise and eventual fall is represented, with credits due to each for the developments of Chinese nation. The institution of monarchy is a fascinating blend of ritual, unreal and fantastic, and idealistic, with an impressive organizational achievement in management of the country with the base of millions of agrarian households.
The only grievance I have with the book is that understandably enough Dr. Huang had to skip over a lot of material (or he would risk leaving us with yet another "The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire"); however in doing so he is rarely consistent, e.g. not explaining the elemental precepts of Confucianism, organization of Chinese army and bureaucracy; and fundamental principles behind state examinations. All those, however, can be gotten from other sources, and as such will tempt the reader to explore more.

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