A History of China

The work traces the civilization from its prehistoric origins through successive dynastic, imperial, and modern phases, surveying archaeological cultures, development of writing and state formation, feudal and centralized administrations, cultural and social transformations, economic and military changes, religious and intellectual movements, and foreign contacts. It treats major dynasties and periods—Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, the era of division, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing—and the republican and revolutionary transitions, analyzing governance, social structure, economy, cultural achievements, frontier policies, and twentieth-century political fragmentation alongside competing national and revolutionary movements.