The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge Illustrated Histories)

This book is different from other books on China. It provides a broad and deep understanding of the evolution of the main elements of Chinese culture, something which is had to find in other books. Most books either sum up 'historical facts' or provide view on 'the rise of China and where it will go etc.', but there often lack a true frame for understanding what has driven China over millennia to where it stand now. For what it's worth: I lived and worked about 7 years in China and believe it's good to have quality resources available for better understanding this - in my view often misunderstood - country and its people.

Patricia Buckley writes clearly and weaves this incredibly complex story together with insight and dexterity. The unavoidable, in a book of this length, lack of detail, is sometimes frustrating but I found it really helpful in grasping the broad sweep of Chinese history and the key epochs such as the Han, The Song the Mongol incursions etc etc. Professor Ebrey's tendency to focus as much on social history as on successions of emperors brings ancient China to life. A deeply impressive achievement for less than 400 pages.

This was essential reading for one of my modules at university and it serves its purpose very well.The book covers Chinese history from earliest times through to the 2008 Olympic games and beyond. Each period of history is given its own chapter, which is especially helpful if, like I was, one is studying the dynastic period.The university module in question covers the dynastic period, so that was the only part of the book that I studied in any great detail. Each chapter is detailed and interesting, easy to read and contains lots of "boxes" that include information that might not be essential for the comprehension of the particular dynasty, but are often interesting little titbits about artists or other great men, paintings, cultural icons or even the great wall. The lion's share of the book is given over to the dynastic period but it also include a few brief chapters on the history of China since 1900. They do not go into the greatest detail, but I think they are detailed enough and highlight all the major events of the period.The numerous images throughout the book are a pleasant addition. Many of them are full colour and most double page spreads have at least one picture to break up the large blocks of text.Ebrey's writing style is engaging and easy to read, making this book pleasant, enjoyable and not too heavy. I think that the book is perfect for those who are looking for an academic textbook, but also the more casual historian who is looking for an introduction to Chinese history. For the casual historian, this book would make excellent bed time reading as well.

Having recently visited China on holiday, I was more impressed by this book which details the history of the Chinese people, clear and helpful, with sufficient detail to be extremely interesting

This book gives you an in-depth history of China up to the end of 20th century. It enables you to get a feel for the society and the technological advances made by that society well before the Europeans, It goes through the history of the various dynasties in sufficient depth to understand the why they succeeded or failed. For anyone who wants to get a good grounding in the development and history of China this is a fine book to start with and many be sufficient for all your needs.

A very interesting book, well written and illustrated. Given the complexity of China's history, it is relatively concise while covering all the relevant detail. "Concise" histories of China are often so concise as to be meaningless, "complete" histories can be boringly long, but this one was exactly what I wanted.

Fantastic history of China. Just the correct level of detail and analysis - not filled with tiny details that you will quickly forget and not so summarized that you'll feel the need to search for additional books. Perfect for a good introduction or overview.

perfect