{"product_id":"chinas-imperial-past-an-introduction-to-chinese-history-and-culture-9780804723534","title":"Chinas Imperial Past An Introduction to Chinese","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA work unique in the sweep of its design and scope, intended expressly for the general reader interested in human history and culture, this is a vivid panoramic survey of the vast course of Chinese civilization from prehistory to 1850, when the Old China began the agonizing transition to the new.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An admirable success. It is the embodiment of great Sinological acumen and experience and of a lovingly painstaking scholarship, beautifully presented. Moreover, it is a book that deploys its learning gracefully and succinctly, with a rhetorical modesty that is likely to wear very well on its many future readers. . . . Professor Hucker has produced a most attractive harvest of the many labors of his distinguished scholarship and teaching career, and we should be grateful.\"—\u003ci\u003eHarvard Journal of Asiatic Studies\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The genius of the book lies in its organization. . . . It is arranged in such a way that one can read it straight through for a comprehensive view of China's past; or one can read it topically, as a record of major events, or as a political-institutional history, or socio-economic history, or the history of ideas, or literary or art history. . . . It is an eminently sound introduction to its subject, a work compiled with evident thought and care.\"—\u003ci\u003eHistory\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[The] achievement of Professor Hucker is a formidable one. His work is a beautifully balanced one, organized with logic and clarity. His interpretations, if leaning to the safe side, are invariably sound. His erudition is carried lightly and there is found throughout, an awareness of the needs of the student. . . . In sum, Hucker has produced a readable and comprehensive text. It will undoubtedly become a standard in college courses and it can be highly recommended to anyone who seeks a solid yet painless introduction to the civilization of traditional China.\"—\u003ci\u003eMonumenta Serica (Germany)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Charles O. Hucker is not only a name, it is a quality mark, and to Chinese history \u003ci\u003eChina's Imperial Past\u003c\/i\u003e is an excellent introduction. It is an extremely well written and well structured account of China's political, social, economic and cultural history from the beginning through the first half of the nineteenth century.\"—\u003ci\u003eActa Orientalia\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The book is an ambitious one, attempting to encompass over four thousand years of Chinese history and culture in slightly more than four hundred pages. Yet in section after section we are treated to well-organized, concise, yet meaty presentations of figures, events, works of art, or analytical interpretation. . . . Hucker hasn't allowed political history to monopolize his story, although it does form the backbone. But he obviously has a weakness for literature, which, fortunately for the reader, he indulged. . . . Like all good history, \u003ci\u003eChina's Imperial Past\u003c\/i\u003e does deepen the present, enhance our awareness of what is truly new, and entertains in the process. Not a bad bargain.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe Asia Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eChina's Imperial Past\u003c\/i\u003e fills a great need in the area of Chinese studies, the need for a readable and accurate introduction for both the layman and the beginner, for a book without overpowering erudition or demeaning \"shallowness. The author has brilliantly accomplished this remarkable and difficult \u003ci\u003etour de force\u003c\/i\u003e. He has produced a book which not only provides the reader with a wealth of information on all aspects of the civilization of China but which also stimulates his desire to read other, more detailed works.\"—\u003ci\u003eJournal of Asian History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Handsome and readable. . . . Not since Latourette's The \u003ci\u003eChinese: Their History and Culture\u003c\/i\u003e have we had such an even-handed review of Chinese history as this volume provides.\"—\u003ci\u003ePacific Affairs\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Professor Charles O. Hucker, author of two very stimulating books on Ming history and editor of one book on Ming government and institutions, has now produced another \u003ci\u003eopus magnum\u003ci\u003e on China's imperial past. . . . Professor Hucker has produced a book which is not only suitable for students in the English-speaking world but demonstrates to sinologists, teachers and students alike that Chinese history in the \u003ci\u003etung-shih\u003ci\u003e style can be written in this way.\"—\u003ci\u003eJournal of Oriental Studies\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The book is an impressive tour de force of skillful organization, clarity, and precision; the style is quiet, concise, and unambiguous. Hucker's coverage is strikingly comprehensive. . . . His incorporation of the major findings and issues of recent research is meticulous and well proportioned.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe Journal of Asian Studies\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eChina's Imperial Past\u003c\/i\u003e, by Charles O. Hucker, is the best introduction to Chinese culture from earliest times to the 19th century.\"—\u003ci\u003eDiversion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction  Part I. The formative age, prehistory-206 BC  1. General history  2. State and society  3. Thought  34. Literature and art  Part II. The Early Empire, 206 BC-AD 960: 5. General history  6. Government  7. Society and the economy  8. Thought  9. Literature and art  Part III. The Later Empire, 960-1850: 10. General history  11. Government  12. Society and the economy  13. Thought  14. Literature and art  Epilogue.","brand":"Stanford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405478764887,"sku":"9780804723534","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780804723534.jpg?v=1730491860","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/chinas-imperial-past-an-introduction-to-chinese-history-and-culture-9780804723534","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}