Shop top categories that ship internationally
Similar items shipping to Netherlands
NL
Netherlands
See All Buying Options
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Mark Edward Lewis
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty (History of Imperial China) Hardcover – June 30, 2009

by Mark Edward Lewis (Author), Timothy Brook (Editor)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 84 ratings
See all formats and editions

The Tang dynasty is often called China’s “golden age,” a period of commercial, religious, and cultural connections from Korea and Japan to the Persian Gulf, and a time of unsurpassed literary creativity. Mark Lewis captures a dynamic era in which the empire reached its greatest geographical extent under Chinese rule, painting and ceramic arts flourished, women played a major role both as rulers and in the economy, and China produced its finest lyric poets in Wang Wei, Li Bo, and Du Fu.

The Chinese engaged in extensive trade on sea and land. Merchants from Inner Asia settled in the capital, while Chinese entrepreneurs set off for the wider world, the beginning of a global diaspora. The emergence of an economically and culturally dominant south that was controlled from a northern capital set a pattern for the rest of Chinese imperial history. Poems celebrated the glories of the capital, meditated on individual loneliness in its midst, and described heroic young men and beautiful women who filled city streets and bars.

Despite the romantic aura attached to the Tang, it was not a time of unending peace. In 756, General An Lushan led a revolt that shook the country to its core, weakening the government to such a degree that by the early tenth century, regional warlordism gripped many areas, heralding the decline of the Great Tang.

Previous slide of product details
  1. Book 3 of 6
    History of imperial China
  2. Print length
    368 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
  5. Publication date
    June 30, 2009
  6. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    067403306X
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0674033061
  9. See all details
Next slide of product details
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
84 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Fubintien
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great General Resource on the Great Tang
    Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    This was the first book in the History of Imperial China series that I've read, and if the other volumes live up to the informative and comprehensive quality of this one, I can see this series perhaps supplanting the unwieldy Cambridge series.

    Mr. Lewis provides a surprisingly detailed survey of one of the most interesting Chinese dynasties in about 300 pages (plus appendices, notes and index). No small feat, considering the vast wealth of in-depth scholarly work available regarding the Tang. That is not to say, of course, that this is a merely a brief skimming of the highlights; to the contrary, Mr. Lewis gives us a wonderful grounding in the geographic and political climate before taking us deep into the streets of Chang'an and Luoyang, to the countryside of the Central Plain, or to the mountain retreats of the eremitic Tang poets. Ample citations of Tang prose and poetry, as well as cultural anecdotes, are present to give the reader a learned picture of what it meant to be a student of the 'jinshi' examinations, a singer in the pleasure quarter, or a court poet.

    This is, however, a scholarly work through and through. Well cited and referenced, the information given is well-chosen and aimed squarely at those seeking to learn about the Great Tang, as opposed to being simply entertained by its many colorful nuances. Mr. Lewis is a strong writer for this kind of book, and his prose is easy to follow and to the point. This may not be the best choice for bedtime reading, but it is accessible to all readers, especially those new to the subject.

    I highly recommend this book to any beginning student of Chinese imperial history, and to any reader interested in learned writing on one of the most important eras in one of the most important civilizations in the world.
    38 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Jeff R
    4.0 out of 5 stars Very Nice Introduction to Tang Dynasty China
    Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I would actually like to give this 4.5 stars but I dont have that option!

    I like this series of books--there is one on early Chinese empires and on the Ching Dynasty as well. They are quite comprehensive, covering the broad contours of the empires, in this case the Tang Empire. In addition, though these are scholarly works, they are written as much as possible with the lay reader in mind. I am an academic, so I appreciate all the paraphernalia that goes along with these books, particularly the notes and bibliographies. But, I am not a China expert, so I appreciate the presentation in a fairly clear and readable format.

    In this volume, I do have one small criticism. I love the chapters devoted to religion, ideas and culture. But, they do, in this particular volume on the Tang, require a certain amount of pre-existing knowledge on the part of the reader. This is especially the case in the chapters on religion dealing with Buddhism and Taoism. The author tends to introduce concepts and personalities and presumes that the reader has some background knowledge. If it gets someone to go to the notes and bibliography and read more for themselves, that is great. But it may turn some people off. He writes about culture, poetry and ideas in a similar vein.

    I also may have a small quibble with the author's use of evidence from the Song dynasty, the Tang successor, which he sometimes uses to illustrate events and ideas from the Tang--arguing that the origins of the Song practice is rooted in the Tang. This is a very very small criticism, however.

    All in all, this is a very nice, comprehensive introduction to Tang dynasty China, written for a general audience by an expert.
    9 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Richard Hulbert
    5.0 out of 5 stars good
    Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Good
    Helpful
     Report
  • Puzzler
    4.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother with the Kindle edition
    Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    This book is comprehensive, providing English language material that is difficult or impossible to find anywhere else. However, the Kindle (digital) edition is a sham. No illustrations are included; instead, readers are referred to the print edition. Great, so we should have to buy the print edition as well? Kind of defeats the purpose of buying a digital edition doesn't it?

    The publishers did not take care when producing the digital edition. It is filled with awkwardly hyphenated words that don't go away regardless of which orientation you use.

    Note that all these comments are for the iPad Kindle version; I don't know whether the normal Kindle edition is complete. I'm very disappointed with the digital version.
    33 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • FitOregonMama
    5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
    Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    I enjoyed reading about the Tang Dynasty for a Chinese history elective class. The book was fairly easy to read and provided nice graphics with timelines.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Jomo K
    3.0 out of 5 stars I expected more details
    Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Not sure why I did not particularly jive with this text. I had been hoping for much more, I guess, and the way Lewis writes is monotonous. I am a big fan of Chinese History, especially the Tang Dynasty, so I was hoping for more detailed and relevant information. Yet, I prefer the crystal clear explanations and data presented in Tanner's Vol. 1 on Chinese History or even the playful (though arguably dated) writing and explanations of Fairbanks in his China: A New History. That said, I don't think Lewis presented that much more information than Tanner.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • Conor Withers
    5.0 out of 5 stars A cosmopolitan cultural hub. Focusing on the civilisation, not the individual rulers.
    Reviewed in Australia on February 29, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    This series of books on Chinese history and Dynasties has put more of a focus on societal functions, farming, transportation, law, administration and religion. So after the rise of Buddhism and spread of Islam, the book shows the cultural shift and more relaxed and less rigid form of China. Containing numerous Tang poems and context behind it along with highlighting differences in letting Turkic peoples into the service. This book is informative on the Empire as a whole and not just the founder of the Tang, Wu Zeitian or An Lushan.
    A fantastic book and book series for those interested in the dynasty and not only the emperors.
    Report
  • Tiziana
    4.0 out of 5 stars Completo!
    Reviewed in Italy on April 9, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Il libro è scritto molto bene, per quanto riguarda le ricerche specifiche che stavo facendo io mi è stato d'aiuto solo in modo limitato (particolare periodo 650-705 Wu Zhao) ma se si è interessati al periodo Tang in generale (parla in minima parte anche delle dinastie Sui e Song) è sicuramente molto completo! Nel conplesso consigliato! Anche per i non madrelingua inglese, con un livello medio (circa b2)
    Report
  • Vieux Fidéle
    4.0 out of 5 stars Pour pallier la carence des éditeurs français
    Reviewed in France on September 21, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Une fois de plus pour s'instruire dans notre ex beau pays il faut connaitre la langue anglaise...Ce tome sur l'empire Tang répond bien à une analyse de l'évolution de la civilisation chinoise et assimilés "barbares". Il ne s'agit pas vraiment d'une revue historique chronologique ou venementielle militaire mais plutôt d'une explication des étapes de cette dynastie jusqu'à sa chute. Livre sérieux mais facile à lire pour un francophone. Achat utile de toute la série pour les spécialistes sinon chaque tome se suffit à lui-même.
    Report
  • Alice R
    4.0 out of 5 stars don’t buy the Kindle version!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 21, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    This is a very good and readable introduction and I certainly recommend it as a book, but it’s a real shame that the publisher did not do a better job with the Kindle edition: you have to go back to the contents page to navigate to different chapters (no “go to” option); the footnotes are not linked, so you have to go to the back of the book to locate them, which makes the ebook unnecessarily fiddly to use. Worst of all, the illustrations are not included: the reader just gets told to refer to the print version if you want to see them. This really does a disservice to the work.
    Report
  • Zhaojun_EU
    1.0 out of 5 stars Very pool quality!!!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Pool quality! Fake one!
    Customer image
    Zhaojun_EU
    1.0 out of 5 stars Very pool quality!!!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2020
    Pool quality! Fake one!
    Images in this review
    Customer image Customer image Customer image
    Customer imageCustomer imageCustomer image
    Report