The Shortest History Of China

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The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

Linda Jaivin
The Shortest History of China From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower A Retelling for Our Times Shortest History Book PDF

Author : Linda Jaivin
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2021-09-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781615198214

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The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) by Linda Jaivin Pdf

Journey across epic China—through millennia of early innovation to modern dominance. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. As we enter the “Asian century,” China demands our attention for being an economic powerhouse, a beacon of rapid modernization, and an assertive geopolitical player. To understand the nation behind the headlines, we must take in its vibrant, tumultuous past—a story of “larger-than-life characters, philosophical arguments and political intrigues, military conflicts and social upheavals, artistic invention and technological innovation.” The Shortest History of China charts a path from China’s tribal origins through its storied imperial era and up to the modern Communist Party under Xi Jinping—including the rarely told story of women in China and the specters of corruption and disunity that continue to haunt the People’s Republic today. A master storyteller and exacting historian, Linda Jaivin distills this vast history into a short, riveting account that today’s globally minded readers will find indispensable.

The Shortest History of China

Linda Jaivin
The Shortest History of China Book PDF

Author : Linda Jaivin
Publisher : Pan Macmillan
Page : 284 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2023-03-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9789390742134

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The Shortest History of China by Linda Jaivin Pdf

"‘A fascinating, enormously dynamic portrait of a superpower. Essential reading’ JULIA LOVELL ‘A fast-paced and witty survey of China’s past ... Iconoclastic, informative and more attentive to female figures than comparable works’ JEFFREY WASSERSTROM ‘Succinct, lucid and with a keen eye for detail, this slim book is an indispensable primer on China’ LOUISA LIM A PACY HISTORY OF CHINA THAT CAN BE READ IN AN AFTERNOON, BUT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR PERSPECTIVE FOR A LIFETIME. From kung-fu to tofu, tea to trade routes, sages to silk, China has inf luenced cuisine, commerce, military strategy, aesthetics and philosophy across the world for thousands of years. Chinese history is sprawling and gloriously messy. It is full of heroes who are also villains, prosperous ages and violent rebellions, cultural vibrancy and censorious impulses, loyalists, dissidents and wits. The story of women in China, from the earliest warriors to twentieth century suffragettes, is rarely told. And historical spectres of corruption and disunity, which have brought down many a mighty ruling house, continue to haunt the People’s Republic today. Modern China is seen variously as an economic powerhouse, an icon of urbanisation, a propaganda state or an aggressive superpower seeking world domination. Linda Jaivin distils a vast history into a short, readable account that tells you what you need to know, from China’s philosophical origins to its political system, to the COVID-19 pandemic and where the PRC is likely to lead the world."

The Shortest History of China

Linda Jaivin
The Shortest History of China Book PDF

Author : Linda Jaivin
Publisher : Black Inc.
Page : 267 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2021-05-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9781743821732

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The Shortest History of China by Linda Jaivin Pdf

From kung-fu to tofu, tea to trade routes, sages to silk, China has influenced cuisine, commerce, military strategy, aesthetics and philosophy across the world for thousands of years. Chinese history is sprawling and gloriously messy. It is full of heroes who are also villains, prosperous ages and violent rebellions, cultural vibrancy and censorious impulses, rebels, loyalists, dissidents and wits. The story of women in China, from the earliest warriors to twentieth-century suffragettes, is rarely told. And historical spectres of corruption and disunity, which have brought down many a mighty ruling house, continue to haunt the People’s Republic today. Modern China is seen variously as an economic powerhouse, an icon of urbanisation, a propaganda state or an aggressive superpower seeking world domination. Linda Jaivin distils a vast history into a short, readable account that tells you what you need to know, from China’s philosophical origins to its political system, to the COVID-19 pandemic and where the PRC is likely to lead the world. ‘China demands a great storyteller. Here, it has one.’ —Stan Grant ‘An electrifying and erudite ride ... a real page-turner.’ —Alice Pung

A Brief History of China

Jonathan Clements
A Brief History of China Book PDF

Author : Jonathan Clements
Publisher : Tuttle Publishing
Page : 458 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2019-11-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9781462921010

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A Brief History of China by Jonathan Clements Pdf

A comprehensive, yet entertaining look at China's history through a modern lens. For millennia, China was the largest and richest nation on earth. Two centuries ago, however, its economy sank into a depression from which it had not fully recovered--until now. China's modern resurgence as the world's largest nation in terms of population and its second-largest economy--where 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the space of a few decades--is the greatest untold story of the 21st century. A Brief History of China tells of the development of a rich and complex civilization where the use of paper, writing, money and gunpowder were widespread in ancient times and where silk, ceramics, tea, metal implements and other products were produced and exported around the globe. It examines the special conditions that allowed a single culture to unify an entire continent spanning 10 billion square kilometers under the rule of a single man--and the unbelievably rich artistic, literary and architectural heritage that Chinese culture has bequeathed to the world. Equally fascinating is the story of China's decline in the 19th and early 20th century--as Europeans and Americans took center stage--and its modern resurgence as an economic powerhouse in recent years. In his retelling of a Chinese history stretching back 5,000 years, author and China-expert Jonathan Clements focuses on the human stories which led to the powerful transformations in Chinese society--from the unification of China under its first emperor, Qinshi Huangdi, and the writings of the great Chinese philosophers Confucius and Laozi, to the Mongol invasion under Genghis Khan and the consolidation of Communist rule under Mao Zedong. Clements even brings readers through to the present day, outlining China's economic renaissance under Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping. What really separates this book from its counterparts is the focus on women, and modern themes such as diversity and climate change. Chinese history is typically told through the stories of its most famous men, but Clements' telling gives women equal time and research--which introduces readers of this book to equally important, but less commonly-known facts and historical figures. Often seen in the West in black or white terms--as either a savage dystopia or a fantastical paradise--China is revealed in the book as an exceptional yet troubled nation that nevertheless warrants its self-description as the Middle Kingdom.

A Short History of China

Gordon Kerr
A Short History of China Book PDF

Author : Gordon Kerr
Publisher : Oldcastle Books
Page : 156 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2013-01-25
Category : History
ISBN : 9781842439692

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A Short History of China by Gordon Kerr Pdf

The turbulent and chequered past of the world's most populous country is one of the most fascinating in world history, and relatively little known in the West. From the beginnings of Chinese prehistory right through to internet censorship with the 'Great Firewall of China', Gordon Kerr offers a comprehensive introduction to the sprawling history of this enormous country. A Short History of China provides an absorbing introduction to more than 4,000 years of Chinese history, telling the stories of the tyrants, despots, femmes fatales, artists, warriors and philosophers who have shaped this fascinating and complex nation. It describes the amazing technological advances that her scientists and inventors made many hundreds of years before similar discoveries in Europe. It also investigates the Chinese view of the world and examines the movements, aspirations and philosophies that moulded it and, in so doing, created the Chinese nation. Finally, the book examines the dramatic changes of the last few decades and the emergence of China as an economic and industrial 21st century superpower, making Napoleon Bonaparte's words about her ring true: "Let China sleep, for when she awakes, she will shake the world."

The Shortest History of England: Empire and Division from the Anglo-Saxons to Brexit - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

James Hawes
The Shortest History of England Empire and Division from the Anglo Saxons to Brexit A Retelling for Our Times Shortest History Book PDF

Author : James Hawes
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2022-03-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781615198153

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The Shortest History of England: Empire and Division from the Anglo-Saxons to Brexit - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) by James Hawes Pdf

How the most powerful country in the UK was forged by invasion and conquest, and is fractured by its north-south divide. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. England—begetter of parliaments and globe-spanning empires, star of beloved period dramas, and home of the House of Windsor—is not quite the stalwart island fortress that many of us imagine. Riven by an ancient fault line that predates even the Romans, its fate has ever been bound up with that of its neighbors; and for the past millennia, it has harbored a class system like nowhere else on Earth. This bracing tour of the most powerful country in the United Kingdom reveals an England repeatedly invaded and constantly reinvented—yet always fractured by its very own Mason-Dixon Line. It carries us swiftly through centuries of conflict between Crown and Parliament (starring the Magna Carta), America’s War of Independence, the rise and fall of empire, two World Wars, and England’s break from the EU. We discover: why the American colonists of 1776 believed that they were the true Anglo-Saxons how the British Empire was undermined from within why Winston Churchill said the UK could only be saved by splitting up England itself and how populism spawned Brexit and its “new elite.” The Shortest History of England brings all this and more to prescient life—offering the most direct, compelling route to understanding the country behind today’s headlines.

Collecting China

Vimalin Rujivacharakul
Collecting China Book PDF

Author : Vimalin Rujivacharakul
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN : 9781611490060

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Collecting China by Vimalin Rujivacharakul Pdf

Collecting China is a unique collection of essays that brings together theories of materiality and what collecting has meant to various peoples over time. Collecting China grew out of a simple question: how does a thing become Chinese? Fifteen essays explore this question from different angles, ranging from close examination of world-renowned private collections to critical reinterpretations of historical writings.

A Short History of China and Southeast Asia

Martin Stuart-Fox
A Short History of China and Southeast Asia Book PDF

Author : Martin Stuart-Fox
Publisher : Allen & Unwin
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : History
ISBN : 1864489545

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A Short History of China and Southeast Asia by Martin Stuart-Fox Pdf

New in the Short History of Asia series, edited by Milton Osborne, this is a readable, well-informed and comprehensive short history of China's relationships with its Southeast Asian neighbours from ancient times to the present day.

Modern China: A Very Short Introduction

Rana Mitter
Modern China A Very Short Introduction Book PDF

Author : Rana Mitter
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2008-02-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9780191578793

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Modern China: A Very Short Introduction by Rana Mitter Pdf

China today is never out of the news: from human rights controversies and the continued legacy of Tiananmen Square, to global coverage of the Beijing Olympics, and the Chinese 'economic miracle'. It seems a country of contradictions: a peasant society with some of the world's most futuristic cities, heir to an ancient civilization that is still trying to find a modern identity. This Very Short Introduction offers the reader with no previous knowledge of China a variety of ways to understand the world's most populous nation, giving a short, integrated picture of modern Chinese society, culture, economy, politics and art. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The Story of China

Michael Wood
The Story of China Book PDF

Author : Michael Wood
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2020-11-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9781250202581

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The Story of China by Michael Wood Pdf

A single volume history of China, offering a look into the past of the global superpower and its significance today. Michael Wood has travelled the length and breadth of China, the world’s oldest civilization and longest lasting state, to tell a thrilling story of intense drama, fabulous creativity, and deep humanity that stretches back thousands of years. After a century and a half of foreign invasion, civil war, and revolution, China has once again returned to center stage as a global superpower and the world’s second largest economy. But how did it become so dominant? Wood argues that in order to comprehend the great significance of China today, we must begin with its history. The Story of China takes a fresh look at the Middle Kingdom in the light of the recent massive changes inside the country. Taking into account exciting new archeological discoveries, the book begins with China’s prehistory—the early dynasties, the origins of the Chinese state, and the roots of Chinese culture in the age of Confucius. Wood looks at particular periods and themes that are now being reevaluated by historians, such as the renaissance of the Song with its brilliant scientific discoveries. He paints a vibrant picture of the Qing Empire in the 18th century, just before the European impact, a time when China’s rich and diverse culture was at its height. Then, Wood explores the encounter with the West, the Opium Wars, the clashes with the British, and the extraordinarily rich debates in the late 19th century that pushed China along the path to modernity. Finally, he provides a clear up-to-date account of post-1949 China, including revelations about the 1989 crisis based on newly leaked inside documents, and fresh insights into the new order of President Xi Jinping. All woven together with landscape history and the author’s own travel journals, The Story of China is the indispensable book about the most intriguing and powerful country on the world stage today.

The Shortest History of Europe: How Conquest, Culture, and Religion Forged a Continent - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

James Hirst
The Shortest History of Europe How Conquest Culture and Religion Forged a Continent A Retelling for Our Times Shortest History Book PDF

Author : James Hirst
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2022-11-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9781615199150

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The Shortest History of Europe: How Conquest, Culture, and Religion Forged a Continent - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) by James Hirst Pdf

Uncover the decisive moments that shaped a world-changing continent. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. Celebrated historian John Hirst draws from his own lectures to deliver this ultra-accessible master class on the making of modern Europe, from Ancient Greece through World War II. With over 600,000 copies sold worldwide, this brief history is a global sensation propelled by a thesis of astonishing simplicity: Just three elements—German warfare, Greek and Roman culture, and Christianity—come together to explain everything else, from the Crusades to the Industrial Revolution. Hirst’s razor-sharp grasp of cause and effect helps us see with sparkling clarity how the history of Europe—the crucible of liberal democracy—shapes the way we live today.

The Shortest History of the Soviet Union

Sheila Fitzpatrick
The Shortest History of the Soviet Union Book PDF

Author : Sheila Fitzpatrick
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2022-09-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9780231556842

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The Shortest History of the Soviet Union by Sheila Fitzpatrick Pdf

In 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries came to power in the war-torn Russian Empire in a way that defied all predictions, including their own. Scarcely a lifespan later, in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed as accidentally as it arose. The decades between witnessed drama on an epic scale—the chaos and hope of revolution, famines and purges, hard-won victory in history’s most destructive war, and worldwide geopolitical conflict, all entwined around the dream of building a better society. This book is a lively and authoritative distillation of this complex history, told with vivid details, a grand sweep, and wry wit. The acclaimed historian Sheila Fitzpatrick chronicles the Soviet Age—its rise, reign, and unexpected fall, as well as its afterlife in today’s Russia. She underscores the many ironies of the Soviet experience: An ideology that claimed to offer humanity the reins of history wrangled with contingency. An avowedly internationalist and anti-imperialist state birthed an array of nationalisms. And a vision of transcending economic and social inequality and injustice gave rise to a country that was, in its way, surprisingly normal. Moving seamlessly from Lenin to Stalin to Gorbachev to Putin, The Shortest History of the Soviet Union provides an indispensable guide to one of the twentieth century’s great powers and the enduring fascination it still exerts.

China to 1850

Charles O. Hucker
China to 1850 Book PDF

Author : Charles O. Hucker
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Page : 180 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 1978
Category : History
ISBN : 0804709580

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China to 1850 by Charles O. Hucker Pdf

By the author of the highly acclaimed China's Imperial Past and written in the same lively style, this is a distillation of what every general reader and beginning student should know about the history of traditional Chinese civilization. It weaves together chronologically all aspects of Chinese life and culture, broadly surveying general history, socioeconomic organization, political institutions, religion and thought, and art and literature. The author explains how the Chinese empire emerged in antiquity, how it flourished and declined in successive cycles for thousands of years, and how in the end it found itself unprepared for both the domestic and the external challenges of the modern era. The result is a concise overview that is both absorbing in itself and basic to a more detailed study of China's long and complex evolution. I

The Shortest History of War

Gwynne Dyer
The Shortest History of War Book PDF

Author : Gwynne Dyer
Publisher : Cormorant Books
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2022-09-09
Category : History
ISBN : 9781770866829

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The Shortest History of War by Gwynne Dyer Pdf

War has changed, but we have not. From our hunter-gatherer ancestors to the rival nuclear powers of today, whenever resources have been contested, we’ve gone to battle. Acclaimed historian Gwynne ­Dyer illuminates our many martial clashes in this brisk account, tracing warfare from prehistory to the world’s first cities — and on to the thousand-year “classical age” of combat, which ended when the firearm changed everything. He examines the brief interlude of “limited war” before eighteenth-century revolution ushered in “total war”— and how the devastation was halted by the nuclear shock of Hiroshima. Then came the Cold War and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which punctured the longest stretch of peace between major powers since World War II. For all our advanced technology and hyperconnected global society, we find ourselves once again on the brink as climate change heightens competition for resources and superpowers stand ready with atomic bombs, drones, and futuristic “autonomous” weapons in development. Throughout, Dyer delves into anthropology, psychology, and other relevant fields to unmask the drivers of conflict. The Shortest History of War is for anyone who wants to understand the role of war in the human story — and how we can prevent it from defining our future.

The Shortest History of Democracy

John Keane
The Shortest History of Democracy Book PDF

Author : John Keane
Publisher : Pan Macmillan
Page : 227 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2023-01-12
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9789390742943

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The Shortest History of Democracy by John Keane Pdf

"Indispensable for understanding democracy today' Michael Schudson A bold new history of democracy from the popular assemblies of Syria-Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent to present-day challenges around the world. From its beginnings in Syria-Mesopotamia and the Indian subcontinent to its role in fomenting revolutionary fervour in France and America, democracy has subverted fixed ways of deciding who should enjoy power and privilege, and why. For democracy encourages people to do something radical: to come together as equals, to determine their own lives and futures. In this vigorous, illuminating history, acclaimed political thinker John Keane traces its byzantine history, from the age of assembly democracy in Athens, to European-inspired electoral democracy and the birth of representative government, to our age of monitory democracy. He gives new reasons why democracy is a precious global ideal, and shows that as the world has come to be shaped by democracy, it has grown more worldly. In today’s age of populist strongmen threatening democracy in India, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the US and elsewhere, we need its radical potential more than ever. Does democracy have a future, or will the demagogues and despots win? We are about to find out."