China: A History

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Bodde, Derk (1986). "The State and Empire of Ch'in". In Twitchett, Dennis; Loewe, Michael (eds.). The Cambridge History of China, Volume 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC–AD 220. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-24327-8.

Let’s go on to the next book you’ve chosen, which is Julia Lovell’s Monkey King: Journey to the West, a new translation of the novel by Wu Cheng’en. Do you want to start by explaining why this book is important in China? Xiong, Victor Cunrui; Hammond, Kenneth J. (2019). Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-367-58051-3. Nationalism, patriotism, progress, science, democracy, and freedom were the goals; imperialism, feudalism, warlordism, autocracy, patriarchy, and blind adherence to tradition were the enemies. Intellectuals struggled with how to be strong and modern and yet Chinese, how to preserve China as a political entity in the world of competing nations." [80] The flag of the Republic of China from 1912 to 1928. The flag of the Republic of China from 1928 to now. a b Li Feng (2006). Landscape and Power in Early China: the Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045–771 BC. Cambridge University Press. Qiu, Jane (7 January 2014). "Ancient times table hidden in Chinese bamboo strips. The 2,300-year-old matrix is the world's oldest decimal multiplication table". Nature. doi: 10.1038/nature.2014.14482. Archived from the original on 22 January 2014.Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount.

Ao, Hong; Dekkers, Mark J.; Wei, Qi; Qiang, Xiaoke; Xiao, Guoqiao (15 August 2013). "New evidence for early presence of hominids in North China". Scientific Reports. 3 (2403): 2403. Bibcode: 2013NatSR...3E2403A. doi: 10.1038/srep02403. PMC 3744199. PMID 23948715. Rice and Early Agriculture in China". Legacy of Human Civilizations. Mesa Community College. Archived from the original on 27 August 2009 . Retrieved 10 February 2008. Harper, Damsan; Fallon, Steve; Gaskell, Katja; Grundvig, Julie; Heller, Carolyn; Huhti, Thomas; Maynew, Bradley; Pitts, Christopher (2005). Lonely Planet China (9ed.). Lonely Planet. ISBN 1-74059-687-0. The state of Qin became dominant in the waning decades of the Warring States period, conquering the Shu capital of Jinsha on the Chengdu Plain; and then eventually driving Chu from its place in the Han River valley. Qin imitated the administrative reforms of the other states, thereby becoming a powerhouse. [9] Its final expansion began during the reign of Ying Zheng, ultimately unifying the other six regional powers, and enabling him to proclaim himself as China's first emperor—known to history as Qin Shi Huang. I know you were excited last year about a new translation of Monkey King coming out. Was it needed?

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Internally the Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864), a Christian religious movement led by the "Heavenly King" Hong Xiuquan swept from the south to establish the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and controlled roughly a third of China proper for over a decade. The court in desperation empowered Han Chinese officials such as Zeng Guofan to raise local armies. After initial defeats, Zeng crushed the rebels in the Third Battle of Nanking in 1864. [76] This was one of the largest wars in the 19th century in troop involvement; there was massive loss of life, with a death toll of about 20 million. [77] A string of civil disturbances followed, including the Punti–Hakka Clan Wars, Nian Rebellion, Dungan Revolt, and Panthay Rebellion. [78] All rebellions were ultimately put down, but at enormous cost and with millions dead, seriously weakening the central imperial authority. China never rebuilt a strong central army, and many local officials used their military power to effectively rule independently in their provinces. [76] A scene of the Taiping Rebellion In the Camps is designed to give a feel for the human experience of having the ground pulled out from under you in every conceivable way. Forms of movement become constrained, everything you’re doing is watched. People are disappearing into camps, but also going silent because of fear of being targeted. It’s an incredibly important story, because of the impact it has on the people involved. Also—and this is something Byler gets at—while it’s a very distinctive and unusual story, it’s not an isolated one. This is an extreme example, with both the assault on the Uyghurs and on Islam as a religion, but the effort to control forms of difference is something that’s happening in other places across China, too.

Beachum, Lateshia (17 November 2019). "Uighurs and their supporters decry Chinese 'concentration camps', 'genocide' after Xinjiang documents leaked". The Washington Post. The most challenging thing for a book like this is to do justice to both continuities and ruptures. She doesn’t fall into the trap of an ‘unchanging China’ idea. One nice visual touch is that most chapters have a map. It’s a map of what now comes into our mind when we hear the word China, and she shows how much or how little—and it’s often very little—of that physical space was actually controlled by the dynasty in power at the time. That’s a very effective way to keep reminding us to forget the Chinese Communist Party’s effort to get one to think of there being a single geographical space that always was and always will be China, except when bad things happened, and parts got carved away. Chen Minzhen; Yuri Pines (2018). "Where is King Ping?". Asia Major. 3. Academica Sinica. 31 (1): 1–27. JSTOR 26571325.Political and intellectual ferment waxed strong throughout the 1920s and 1930s. According to Patricia Ebrey: The Zhou dynasty (1046 BC to about 256 BC) is the longest-lasting dynasty in Chinese history, though its power declined steadily over the almost eight centuries of its existence. In the late 2nd millennium BC, the Zhou dynasty arose in the Wei River valley of modern western Shaanxi Province, where they were appointed Western Protectors by the Shang. A coalition led by the ruler of the Zhou, King Wu, defeated the Shang at the Battle of Muye. They took over most of the central and lower Yellow River valley and enfeoffed their relatives and allies in semi-independent states across the region. [32] Several of these states eventually became more powerful than the Zhou kings. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, as many as 3 million Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups are being held in China's internment camps which are located in the Xinjiang region and which American news reports often label as "concentration camps". [101] The camps were established in late 2010s under Xi Jinping's administration. [102] [103] Human Rights Watch says that they have been used to indoctrinate Uyghurs and other Muslims since 2017 as part of a " people's war on terror", a policy announced in 2014. [104] [105] [102] The camps have been criticized by the governments of many countries and human rights organizations for alleged human rights abuses, including mistreatment, rape, and torture, with some of them alleging genocide. [106] Wu, Rukang; Lin, Shenglong (June 1983). "Peking Man". Scientific American. 248 (6): 92–93. Bibcode: 1983SciAm.248f..86R. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0683-86. JSTOR 24968922. Okay, let’s go on to The Chinese Communist Party: A Century in Ten Lives, which is edited by three historians of China, Timothy Cheek, Klaus Mühlhahn and Hans van de Ven. Tell me more about it.