Dynastic China

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Dynastic China

Tan Koon San
Dynastic China Book PDF

Author : Tan Koon San
Publisher : The Other Press
Page : 535 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2014-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9789839541885

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Dynastic China by Tan Koon San Pdf

Dynastic China: An Elementary History surveys four millennia of China’s history. It traced commentaries from the mythological period of Pangu, creator of the Chinese universe, and the Goddess Nuwa, creator of the Chinese people, through to the legendary periods of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties to subsequent succeeding dynasties from the Qin Dynasty (221 BC) to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1912 AD). It weaved through brutal political intrigues and conspiracies of China’s imperial existence. The persistent enthronement of child emperors for the benefits of power-hungry eunuchs, dowagers, members of the imperial clans, generals and warlords formed a large part of the narrative. Encrypted within are salient elements of Chinese philosophical precepts, civilisation values, and political ideals. The core concepts that mould the idea of tian xia 天 下 (all under heaven) and tian ming 天 命 (Mandate of Heaven), and how these guided Chinese perception of their world are painstakingly explained. The profound influence of Confucianism and the functional adoption of the Legalist framework in statecraft are imparted in the context of practicality and idealism. So too is the complementary notion of natural dualities, the Yin-Yang (阴 阳) harmony of contradictions. How these filtered through from philosophy to cultural values are deftly introduced. Imperial obsessions with frontier threats are also incisively presented. So are the diplomatic statecraft of matrimonial kinship, tributary exchanges and military engagements adopted to conduct relations. China’s perception of people in the frontier region are insightfully described. The application of the Chinese character yi 夷 to refer to them, it seems, carries a more gracious nuance to mean “of a distinct or different nature” and not the offensive attribution of ‘barbarian’ as made out in western notion. This and many more distinctions in discernment of the Chinese mindset are perceptively elucidated in the book.

The Rise and Fall of Imperial China

Yuhua Wang
The Rise and Fall of Imperial China Book PDF

Author : Yuhua Wang
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2022-10-11
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780691237510

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The Rise and Fall of Imperial China by Yuhua Wang Pdf

How social networks shaped the imperial Chinese state China was the world’s leading superpower for almost two millennia, falling behind only in the last two centuries and now rising to dominance again. What factors led to imperial China’s decline? The Rise and Fall of Imperial China offers a systematic look at the Chinese state from the seventh century through to the twentieth. Focusing on how short-lived emperors often ruled a strong state while long-lasting emperors governed a weak one, Yuhua Wang shows why lessons from China’s history can help us better understand state building. Wang argues that Chinese rulers faced a fundamental trade-off that he calls the sovereign’s dilemma: a coherent elite that could collectively strengthen the state could also overthrow the ruler. This dilemma emerged because strengthening state capacity and keeping rulers in power for longer required different social networks in which central elites were embedded. Wang examines how these social networks shaped the Chinese state, and vice versa, and he looks at how the ruler’s pursuit of power by fragmenting the elites became the final culprit for China’s fall. Drawing on more than a thousand years of Chinese history, The Rise and Fall of Imperial China highlights the role of elite social relations in influencing the trajectories of state development.

China Between Empires

Mark Edward Lewis
China Between Empires Book PDF

Author : Mark Edward Lewis
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2011-04-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9780674060357

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China Between Empires by Mark Edward Lewis Pdf

After the collapse of the Han dynasty in the third century CE, China divided along a north-south line. Mark Lewis traces the changes that both underlay and resulted from this split in a period that saw the geographic redefinition of China, more engagement with the outside world, significant changes to family life, developments in the literary and social arenas, and the introduction of new religions. The Yangzi River valley arose as the rice-producing center of the country. Literature moved beyond the court and capital to depict local culture, and newly emerging social spaces included the garden, temple, salon, and country villa. The growth of self-defined genteel families expanded the notion of the elite, moving it away from the traditional great Han families identified mostly by material wealth. Trailing the rebel movements that toppled the Han, the new faiths of Daoism and Buddhism altered every aspect of life, including the state, kinship structures, and the economy. By the time China was reunited by the Sui dynasty in 589 ce, the elite had been drawn into the state order, and imperial power had assumed a more transcendent nature. The Chinese were incorporated into a new world system in which they exchanged goods and ideas with states that shared a common Buddhist religion. The centuries between the Han and the Tang thus had a profound and permanent impact on the Chinese world.

The Dynasties of China

Bamber Gascoigne
The Dynasties of China Book PDF

Author : Bamber Gascoigne
Publisher : Running PressBook Pub
Page : 228 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : History
ISBN : 0786712198

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The Dynasties of China by Bamber Gascoigne Pdf

Eight remarkable Chinese dynasties are chronicled here, covering 3,500 years of Chinese history from the emergence of the first dynasty in 1600 B.C. to the fall of the last in 1911, providing the necessary background to understanding China's often violent twentieth century history. Original.

Merits and Demerits of Political Systems in Dynastic China

Mu Ch'ien
Merits and Demerits of Political Systems in Dynastic China Book PDF

Author : Mu Ch'ien
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2019-08-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9783662585146

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Merits and Demerits of Political Systems in Dynastic China by Mu Ch'ien Pdf

By comparing the political systems in different dynasties, this book illustrates the continuous evolution of traditional Chinese political systems, and evaluates the merits and demerits of the political systems in different dynasties. It also provides detailed records of the evolved government organizations, the names and functions of various offices, the titles and responsibilities of officials. The book consists of five chapters, each of which focuses on one of the five dynasties respectively -- Han, Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing, and a concluding summary. Combining historical facts and anecdotes from history to make the discussion straightforward, interesting, and easy to understand, this is an ideal book for anyone interested in the history of China, particularly its traditional political systems.

Chinese Art and Dynastic Time

Wu Hung
Chinese Art and Dynastic Time Book PDF

Author : Wu Hung
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2022-05-03
Category : Art
ISBN : 9780691231013

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Chinese Art and Dynastic Time by Wu Hung Pdf

A sweeping look at Chinese art across the millennia that upends traditional perspectives and offers new pathways for art history Throughout Chinese history, dynastic time—the organization of history through the lens of successive dynasties—has been the dominant mode of narrating the story of Chinese art, even though there has been little examination of this concept in discourse and practice until now. Chinese Art and Dynastic Time uncovers how the development of Chinese art was described in its original cultural, sociopolitical, and artistic contexts, and how these narratives were interwoven with contemporaneous artistic creation. In doing so, leading art historian Wu Hung opens up new pathways for the consideration of not only Chinese art, but also the whole of art history. Wu Hung brings together ten case studies, ranging from the third millennium BCE to the early twentieth century CE, and spanning ritual and religious art, painting, sculpture, the built environment, and popular art in order to examine the deep-rooted patterns in the historical conceptualization of Chinese art. Elucidating the changing notions of dynastic time in various contexts, he also challenges the preoccupation with this concept as the default mode in art historical writing. This critical investigation of dynastic time thus constitutes an essential foundation to pursue new narrative and interpretative frameworks in thinking about art history. Remarkable for the sweep and scope of its arguments and lucid style, Chinese Art and Dynastic Time probes the roots of the collective imagination in Chinese art and frees us from long-held perspectives on how this art should be understood. Published in association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Imperial China, 900-1800

Frederick W. Mote
Imperial China 900 1800 Book PDF

Author : Frederick W. Mote
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 1132 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : China
ISBN : 0674012127

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Imperial China, 900-1800 by Frederick W. Mote Pdf

In this history of China for the 900-year span of the late imperial period, Mote highlights the personal characteristics of the rulers and dynasties and probes the cultural theme of Chinese adaptations to recurrent alien rule. Generational events, personalities, and the spirit of the age combine to yield a comprehensive history of the civilization.

The Imperial Capitals of China

Arthur Cotterell
The Imperial Capitals of China Book PDF

Author : Arthur Cotterell
Publisher : Abrams
Page : 202 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2008-05-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9781468306057

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The Imperial Capitals of China by Arthur Cotterell Pdf

This history of China’s imperial capital cities reveals “a picaresque chronicle of dynastic succession and court intrigue” across millennia (Publishers Weekly). Throughout the long history of Imperial China, emperors designed their capital cities in ways that reveal the heart of their dynasty. The ley lines of these cities reveal religious preoccupations, while the design of important buildings tells us much about the cultural influences of the period. The Shang Emperor of the third century B.C. made obsessive—and ultimately fatal—attempts to engage the Immortals with cosmologically pleasing urban planning. Meanwhile, the Tang capital at Chang'an betrays the striking creativity and cultural receptiveness that earmark the era as a literary and artistic golden age. And the Forbidden City of fifteenth century Beijing still stands as testament to Ming dynasty architectural virtuosity. Arthur Cotterell provides an inside view of the rich array of characters, political and ideological tensions, and technological genius that defined the imperial cities of China, as each in turn is uncovered, explored, and celebrated. The oldest continuous civilization in existence today stands to become the most influential.

The Troubled Empire

Timothy Brook
The Troubled Empire Book PDF

Author : Timothy Brook
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2013-03-11
Category : History
ISBN : 9780674072534

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The Troubled Empire by Timothy Brook Pdf

The Mongol takeover in the 1270s changed the course of Chinese history. The Confucian empireÑa millennium and a half in the makingÑwas suddenly thrust under foreign occupation. What China had been before its reunification as the Yuan dynasty in 1279 was no longer what it would be in the future. Four centuries later, another wave of steppe invaders would replace the Ming dynasty with yet another foreign occupation. The Troubled Empire explores what happened to China between these two dramatic invasions. If anything defined the complex dynamics of this period, it was changes in the weather. Asia, like Europe, experienced a Little Ice Age, and as temperatures fell in the thirteenth century, Kublai Khan moved south into China. His Yuan dynasty collapsed in less than a century, but Mongol values lived on in Ming institutions. A second blast of cold in the 1630s, combined with drought, was more than the dynasty could stand, and the Ming fell to Manchu invaders. Against this backgroundÑthe first coherent ecological history of China in this periodÑTimothy Brook explores the growth of autocracy, social complexity, and commercialization, paying special attention to ChinaÕs incorporation into the larger South China Sea economy. These changes not only shaped what China would become but contributed to the formation of the early modern world.

Ancient China

Kathleen W. Deady,Muriel L. Dubois
Ancient China Book PDF

Author : Kathleen W. Deady,Muriel L. Dubois
Publisher : Capstone
Page : 56 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 0736824669

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Ancient China by Kathleen W. Deady,Muriel L. Dubois Pdf

Traces the key points in ancient Chinese civilization, including the discovery of silk and the construction of the Great Wall of China. Includes timeline.

A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China

Benjamin A. Elman
A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China Book PDF

Author : Benjamin A. Elman
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 900 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2000-03-22
Category : History
ISBN : 052092147X

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A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China by Benjamin A. Elman Pdf

In this multidimensional analysis, Benjamin A. Elman uses over a thousand newly available examination records from the Yuan, Ming, and Ch'ing dynasties, 1315-1904, to explore the social, political, and cultural dimensions of the civil examination system, one of the most important institutions in Chinese history. For over five hundred years, the most important positions within the dynastic government were usually filled through these difficult examinations, and every other year some one to two million people from all levels of society attempted them. Covering the late imperial system from its inception to its demise, Elman revises our previous understanding of how the system actually worked, including its political and cultural machinery, the unforeseen consequences when it was unceremoniously scrapped by modernist reformers, and its long-term historical legacy. He argues that the Ming-Ch'ing civil examinations from 1370 to 1904 represented a substantial break with T'ang-Sung dynasty literary examinations from 650 to 1250. Late imperial examinations also made "Tao Learning," Neo-Confucian learning, the dynastic orthodoxy in official life and in literati culture. The intersections between elite social life, popular culture, and religion that are also considered reveal the full scope of the examination process throughout the late empire.

Fall of Imperial China

Frederic Wakeman
Fall of Imperial China Book PDF

Author : Frederic Wakeman
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 1977
Category : History
ISBN : 9780029336809

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Fall of Imperial China by Frederic Wakeman Pdf

From Simon & Schuster, The Fall of Imperial China is Frederic Wakeman, Jr.'s exploration of Imperial China—both its astronomic rise and steep decline. From the Introduction: "Historians of modern China are used to contrasting the dizzying changes in post-renaissance Europe with the glacial creep of Confucian civilization. The West's global expansion to new vistas of discovery thus distorts our perspective of those older worlds that resisted European conquest. The most tenacious of these ancient civilizations was the Chinese empire."

The Dragon Throne

Jonathan Fenby,Alexander Monro,Luke Hambledon
The Dragon Throne Book PDF

Author : Jonathan Fenby,Alexander Monro,Luke Hambledon
Publisher : Quercus Books
Page : 255 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : China
ISBN : 1847244068

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The Dragon Throne by Jonathan Fenby,Alexander Monro,Luke Hambledon Pdf

From 221 BC - when Shi Huangdi, First Emperor and founding father of Chinese imperial history, unified a large part of the Han Chinese homeland - until 1911, when imperial China collapsed in revolutionary chaos, China was ruled by a succession of powerful imperial dynasties. The Dragon Throne tells their rich, complex and often turbulent story, from the inception of the Qin dynasty to the fall of the Manchu in the early 20th century. China's imperial dynasties display a recurring pattern of birth, growth, prosperity and collapse due to external pressures. A number of powerful emperors left a particularly strong imprint on this troubled history, whether as conquerors, consolidators, tyrants, reformers or reactionaries. At the heart of The Dragon Throne are vivid profiles of Shi Huangdi, the emperor who began the construction of the Great Wall; Han Wudi, the Han emperor who developed China as a centralized Confucian state; Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, and Hongwu, the founder of the Ming dynasty.

Imperial China

Michael Loewe
Imperial China Book PDF

Author : Michael Loewe
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2021-12-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781000508475

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Imperial China by Michael Loewe Pdf

First published in 1966, Imperial China sets out to explain China’s past histories to non-specialists. Too often the West has misunderstood the East. China is credited with an excessively long cultural history; with a continuous line of dynastic succession; with uniformly practised institutions; or with intellectual stagnation. Michael Loewe sets out here to dispel some of these misconceptions, and to mark the stages in the evolution of China’s political forms, social organizations and economic progress that can be traced from the days of the first empire (from 221 B.C.) until the dynamic changes of the nineteenth century. He believes that a full understanding of modern China depends on a more than perfunctory glance at her past and has tried to provide the general historical context. The author is well aware that, thanks to the research of the last fifty years, it is now possible and indeed requisite to reach a deeper understanding of China's past. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of Chinese history, Asian history, history in general.

Ancient China Simplified

Edward Harper Parker
Ancient China Simplified Book PDF

Author : Edward Harper Parker
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
Page : 486 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2023-09-16
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9783387055108

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Ancient China Simplified by Edward Harper Parker Pdf

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.