Promotional Information

Of the many books in English on Chinese history that appear every year seldom does one offer unique yet authentic perspective and insight. Hsu Cho-yun's magisterial China: A New Cultural History is one those. Through a fascinating survey of the dynamics of China's changing social, economic, and cultural life and its episodic melding with other societies, Hsu traces the unrivaled saga of the Chinese people from Paleolithic times to the beginning of the Peoples' Republic. A tour de force! -- Jay Taylor, author of The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China

Table of Contents

Chronology List of Figures Notes on the Translation Author's Preface Prologue 1. Prehistory: China's Earliest Cultures According to Regional Archaeology 2. The Emergence of Chinese Civilization: The Sixteenth Through Third Centuries B.C.E. 3. China Comes Into Its Own: The Third Century B.C.E. to the Second Century C.E. 4. China in East Asia: The Second to Tenth Centuries C.E. 5. China in an Asian Multistate System: The Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries C.E. 6. China Enters the World System 7. China Enters the World System 8. A Century of Uncertainty: 1850 to 1950 Afterword Index 04_hsu15920_00_toc.doc: v

About the Author

Cho-yun Hsu is University Professor Emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh. He earned his B.A. and M.A. from National Taiwan University and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He has authored or coauthored a number of books, including Seek the Way, Business and Professional Ethics, Exploring Interpretation in Chinese History, and Western Chou Civilization. Timothy Danforth Baker Jr. is assistant professor of history at the National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, ROC. He specializes in the cultural history of early China and the metropolitan communities of the Han and Tang dynasties. Michael S. Duke is professor emeritus of Chinese and comparative literature at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Blooming and Contending: Chinese Literature in the Post Mao Era and The Iron House: A Memoir of the Chinese Democracy Movement and the Tiananmen Massacre.

Reviews

An important and original book on a permanently important topic by one of the world's leading historians of China. The writing is lucid, often elegant, and has been beautifully translated into English. -- William C. Kirby, director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University Nothing quite like this exists in the modern literature, and it is especially valuable for readers interested in world/global history. -- James L. Watson, Harvard University Hsu's book is unique in the field, and makes a distinct contribution above the many other grand narratives of Chinese history. Impeccably researched and consistently insightful, this is precisely the sort of book that every serious scholar of China should keep within arm's reach. -- Thomas David DuBois China Journal