Book Description

Part I: THE CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION OF CHINA. 1. "China" In Antiquity. The Neolithic. The Origins of Chinese Writing. The Rise of the Bronze Age. The Shang. The Western Zhou Dynasty. The Book of Odes. 2. Turbulent Times and Classical Thought. The Spring and Autumn Period. The Rise of Hegemons. The Warring States Period. "The Hundred Schools." Confucius. Mozi. Mencius. Xunzi. Laozi and Zhuangzi. Han Feizi. 3. The Early Imperial Period. Qin. Sources and Historiographical Problems. Reappraisals. Han. The Formative Years. The Quality of Han Rule. The Xiongnu and Other Neighboring Peoples. Intellectual Movements. The Visual Art and Poetry. Changes in Political Economy during the Han period: Women. Fall of the Han. Part II: CHINA IN A BUDDHIST AGE. 4. China During The Period Of Disunity. The Fundamentals of Buddhism. A World in Disarray. China Divided. Buddhism in the North. Daoism The Religion. The South. Poetry. Calligraphy. Painting. Buddhism in the South. China on the Eve of Unification. 5. The Cosmopolitan Civilization Of The Sui And Tang: 581-907. The Sui (581-617). The Tang: Establishment & Consolidation. Gaozong & Empress Wu. High Tang. Chang'an. The Flourishing of Buddhism. Daoism. The Rebellion of An Lushan (755-763). Li Bai & Du Fu. Late Tang. Late Tang Poetry & Culture. Collapse of the Dynasty. Part III: LATE IMPERIAL/EARLY MODERN. 6. China During the Song: 960-1279. The Founding. A New Elite. The Examination System. The Northern Song. Government and Politics. Wang Anshi. The Economy. The Religious Scene. The Confucian Revival. Poetry and Painting. The Southern Song (1127-1279). Southern Song Cities and Commerce. Literary and Visual Arts. "Neo-Confucianism". Values and Gender . The End. 7. The Mongol Empire and the Yuan Dynasty. Chinggis Khan: Founding of the Mongol Empire. China under the Mongols: The Early Years (1211-1260). Khubilai Khan and the Early Yuan. The Yuan continued, 1294-1355. The Economy. Society. Religion. Cultural and Intellectual Life. "Northern" Drama. Painting. Rebellions and Disintegration. 8. The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644. The Early Ming (1368 -1424). Maritime Expeditions (1405-1433). The Early Middle Period (1425-1505). The Later Middle Period (1506-1590). Economy and Society. Literacy and Literature. The Novel. Drama. Painting. Ming Thought: Wang Yangming. Religion. Ming Thought after Wang Yangming. Dong Qichang and Late Ming Painting. Late Ming Government (1590-1644). 9. East Asia and Modern Europe: First Encounters. The Portuguese in East Asia. The Jesuits in Japan. The Impact of Other Europeans. The "Closing" of Japan. The Jesuits in China. The Rites Controversy. The Decline of Christianity in China. Trade with the West and the Canton System. 10. The Qing Dynasty. The Founding of the Qing. Early Qing Painters and Thinkers. The Reign of Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Eighteenth Century Governance. Eighteenth-Century Literati Culture. Fiction. A Buoyant Economy. Social Change. Ecology. Dynastic Decline. Part IV: CHINA IN THE MODERN WORLD. 11. The Troubled Nineteenth Century, Part I The Opium War and Taiping Rebellion. The Opium War (18391841) and Its Causes, The Treaty of Nanjing and the Treaty System, Internal Crisis, The Taiping Rebellion (18501864), Zeng Guofan and the Defeat of the Taiping, China and the World from the Treaty of Nanjing to the End of the Taiping, PART II 1870-94. The Post-Taiping Revival, Self-Strengtheningthe First Phase, Self-Strengtheningthe Theory, The Empress Dowager and the Government Education Economic Self-Strengthening, The Traditional Economic Sector, Missionary Efforts and Christian Influences, Old Wine in New Bottles, Part III Foreign Relations. Continued Pressures, Vietnam and the Sino-French War of 1884-1885, Korea and the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, The Treaty of Shimonoseki (April 1895). 12. Endings and Beginnings, 18951927, Part 1. The Last Years of the Last Dynasty. The New Reformers, The Scramble for Concessions, The Boxer Rising, Winds of Change, Stirrings