User:The Clever Boy/sandbox

The Tiananmen Gate of the Forbidden City. For centuries, the Forbidden City was the palace of the emperor. It is now a museum

The origin of Chinese civilization is shrouded in myth and conflicting tales. Documented history begins with the Shang dynasty, a Bronze Age state founded around 1600 BC. Since the fall of the Roman Empire (476), China has generally been the most populous country in the world.

China's warring states were united into an empire by the king of Qin in 221 BC. The ruthless Qin dynasty collapsed in the face of peasant revolts, but classical civilization was consolidated during the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 195). Like the fall of the Roman Empire, the collapse of the Han was followed by a period and division, decline, and barbarian conquest. Unlike Europe, imperial rule and classical civilation were eventually restored in China. The Sui dynasty (581-618) not only reunited China politically, but also built the Grand Canal, a waterway to connect North and South.

The reunited empire was ruled by a series of dynasties that followed the principles of Confucianism. An examination system selected adminstrators based on their knowledge of classic works of literature. Some dynasties were native in origin, while others were founded by barbarian conquerers. The Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) was founded by the Mongols, while the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) was founded by the Manchu, a nomadic people from the northeast.

Publications established by Christian missionaries introduced reformist ideas in the late 19th century. This process culminated in the Chinese Revolution of 1911. The May Fourth Movement of the 1920s was characterized by language reform, campaigns against footbinding and other abusive practices toward women, and a reverent attitude toward "science." At this time, the country was divided among various warlord factions. It was reunited in 1927 by the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek. In 1937, most of China was occupied by Japan. Fighting between Nationalist China and Japan continued until 1945, when Japan was defeated and occupied by the United States.

After the war, China became ensnared in Cold War rivalries. The Communists defeated the Nationalists, who retreated to Taiwan in 1949. Mao Zedong proclaimed a “People’s Republic of China.” In the Korean War (1950-1953), about 400,000 Chinese died fighting the United States and the Republic of Korea, the lawful Korean government. During the Great Leap Forward (1958-1961), Mao “collectivised" rice and other agriculture products. After three years of famine in which tens of millions starved to death, Liu Shaoqi was able to reverse Mao’s policies. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Mao unleashed the army and the youthful “Red Guards” on those who had opposed him.

After Mao died in 1975, the leaders purged in Cultural Revolution regained control. Deng Xiaoping, who served as party chief under Liu and was twice purged by Mao, became the country’s leader. Market-oriented reforms have allowed the country to experience rapid economic growth since 1978. China's economy is now has the world's second largest, surpassing that of Japan in 2010. However, the Communist Party maintains a monopoly on political power. In 1989, the army killed thousands of anti-Communist demonstrators in the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Pre-history

Archaeology

The neolithic site of Yangshao in Henan Province was excavated by Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Andersson in 1921. The Yangshao culture thrived along Yellow River and cultivated millet from about 4900 to 3000 BC. Silk was produced and pottery was fired in kilns dug into the ground. The bones of domesticated dogs, cattle, sheep and goats have been found. As of 1999, a total of 31 Yangshao sites have been located. The remains of a second neolithic culture were uncovered by C.T. Wu at Longshan in Shandong in 1928. Black pottery is a characteristic find at Longshan archaeological sites. Longshan is now considered an example of the second phase of a Yangshao-Longshan culture, one that lasted from 3000 to 2000 BC. Copper was introduced around 2000 BC, and China entered the Bronze Age around 1700 BC. China's first significant state was the Erlitou culture (1900–1350 BC). This was a Bronze Age state whose capital in Henan Province was excavated in 1959.

The age of legends and heroes

Peasants in China

Traditional history begins with Pangu, the first living being. When Pangu died, his left eye became the Sun. Various parts of his body became different parts of the Earth. There followed a succession of Three Sovereigns, or demigod rulers. The first and best known of these was Fuxi (2852–2737 BC). Fuxi and his sister Nüwa survived a worldwide flood by retreating to the Kunlun Mountains. After the Three Sovereigns, China was ruled by the Five Emperors. The Yellow Emperor (r. 2698–2598 BC) is given credit for numerous inventions and is considered the founder of Chinese civilization.

During the reign of Emperor Yao (2356 - 2255 BC), a great and terrible flood began. The waters overtopped hills and mountains, threatening heaven itself. Yao appointed Gun to control the food. To build dikes, Gun stole soil that expanded magically from the Supreme Deity. This angered the Supreme Deity, and the flood raged on. Yao consulted the Four Mountains, who advised him to appoint Shun as his successor. Shun (r. 2255 – 2195 BC) was only a distant relative of Yao, but he was known throughout the kingdom as a dutiful son. Shun's father had repeatedly tried to murder him, so being a dutiful son was not as easy as it might sound. Shun was later lionized by Confucius as an examplar of outstanding filial piety. Yet he too proved helpless before the flood.

Xia dynasty: 2070 – c. 1600 BC

Shun's successor, Yu the Great (c. 2200 - 2100 BC), was finally able to control the raging waters by building embankments made of non-magical soil. Yu's son succeeded him, making Yu the founder of the legendary Xia dynasty. There were sixteen Xia rulers. The last Xia ruler was Jie, who fell in love with a woman who was both beautiful and cruel. Outraged rebels led by Zi Lü overthrew the Xia and established the Shang dynasty. This legend may have been created by the later Zhou rulers to justify the overthrow of the Shang.

Ancient history

The traditional view of ancient Chinese history is of a succession of dynasties from Xia to Shang to Zhou going back 5,000 years. Historians working in China identify Erlitou with the Xia dynasty. Other states and cultures existed at the same time, and the focus on the traditional dynastic sequence may reflect the basis of dynasty-oriented historians.

Shang dynasty: 1600-c. 1046 BC

The Shang, founded in 1600 BC, was China's first fully historical dynasty. It had a Bronze Age culture, and many highly decorated bronze vessels from this era have been found. Distinctively Chinese cultural characteristics emerge. The calendar had 360 days with 12 months of 30 days each. Intercalary months were added as necessary. The urban population were mainly engaged in metallurgy and other support services for the army and the state. In the countryside, the primary activity was growing millet.

The capital was moved from Zhengzhou to Anyang sometime in the fourteenth century. Like the Xia, the Shang was once thought to be legendary. The excavation of Anyang, begun in 1928, provided conclusive evidence of the dynasty’s historical existence. Anyang does not have a wall, which suggests the kings were confident that they could fend off invaders without one.

No Shang literature survives, but about 200,000 oracle bone inscriptions have found. The earliest date from about 1200 BC. These are written in what are clearly Chinese characters, albeit a primitive form. A proposed divination would be written on bone. It was then heated until the stress caused it to crack. The cracks were interpreted by king as either lucky or unlucky, who acted as head shaman for the state.

Zhou dynasty: c. 1045–256 BC

The Zhou state was founded by King Wen and was originally located in what is now Shaanxi Province. Yet another cultural hero and legendary figure, King Wen credited with having written the "I Ching" (Book of Changes) and with developing the trigrams. Both of these would become central features of Native Chinese Religion. In Shang records, the Zhou appear either as a tributary state or as an enemy. By 1045 BC, the “Mandate of Heaven” ("tiānmìng") had shifted to the Zhou. The original meaning of this expression is unclear, but later Zhou propaganda portrayed this as a heroic military conquest commanded by Heaven and carried out by King Wu. The last Shang king was immoral and got his just deserts at the hands of the “martial" Zhou king, according to this legend.

Zhou ancestral spirits were worshiped in place of those of the Shang by the mid-tenth century. The religion of this time made significant use cowries, bronze, and jade. As these materials were generally not available locally, demand fostered the development of long distance trade. But such trade collapsed in the ninth century as the prestige of the Zhou waned. The earliest securely dated event in Chinese history is the exile of King Li in 841 BC.

Eastern Zhou: 771 - 256 BC

The Zhou capital, located near Xi’an, was destroyed in 771 BC by a barbarian invasion. The capital was then moved to Chengzhou. This event marks the end of the Western Zhou. During the Eastern Zhou, there was a decentralization of authority. By the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), the Zhou king was a puppet of the most powerful feudal lord, called the hegemon ("bà"). Iron replaced bronze around 600 BC.

Confucianism

The Spring and Autumn period is idealized as it is the time of the philosophers, including Laozi and Confucius (551-479 BC). Unlike other religious systems, Confucianism has little place for the supernatural. The philosophy emphasizes respect for family, including ancesters, teachers, and ruler. Under the feudal system, a man was noble (jūnzǐ) by birth. To Confucius, a junzi is a wise and virturous man of any birth -- a gentleman. The Confucian gentleman is loyal, obedient to the ruler, and knowledgeable. He does more and speaks less. The Mandate of Heaven doctrine was also reinterpreted with an ethical twist: Like the legendary King Jie, a ruler who lacked virtue could lose the Mandate of Heaven. The mandate could then be bestowed on someone like the filial Shun.

Mencius (371-289 BC) is the best-known disciple and interpreter of Confucius. He argued that people were inherently good, so contemplation and looking inward should improve character. The government should put the welfare of the people people first, according to Mencius. Confucians honor Mencius as the "second sage."

The Warring States: 475 - 221 BC

Cultural differences among the regions became noticeable toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period. In the Warring State period, each state developed its own calendar, monetary system, script style, and religious beliefs. Trade, which had nearly disappeared in the Spring and Autumn period, revived at this time. The ritualized aristocratic warfare of the Spring and Autumn evolved into total war. States were restructured as vast war machines serving a king. The state of Qin in the west developed a totalitarian political philosophy called Legalism (Fǎjiā) and gradually conquered the other Warring States.

Qin dynasty: 221-207 BC

Although the Qin dynasty lasted only fifteen years, it was a decisive period during which a unified Chinese nation was forged. Like the early Zhou, the Qin was initially based in Shaanxi. The iron ore found in this region gave the state an advantage in warfare. In the Spring and Autumn period, the Qin was merely one of many petty states. It was thoroughly reformed under Shang Yang (d. 338). He replaced the feudal system with a centralized bureaucracy and a draconian legal code. He also moved the capital to Xianyang, which is near Xi'an. Between 230 and 221 BC, the Qin conquered the other Warring States. In 221 BC, the king of Qin was proclaimed "Qin Shi Huang" ("first emperor of Qin"). Shang Yang's reforms were applied to the rest of China. Writing systems, wieghts and measures, and currency were all standardized. Highways, canals and monumental palaces were contructed. Vast numbers of peasants were conscripted to build the Great Wall of China.

The earlier Warring States aristocracy was relocated to Xianyang. In 213 BC, the emperor ordered all texts except those on divination, medicine, forestry, and agriculture be be burned, and 460 scholars were executed. But Qin history would not be written by the victors. The scholarly class got its revenge by pronuncing the Qin cruel and oppressive.

The Qin emperor took mercury believing it to be an elixar of immortality. This is likely to have been his undoing. He died in 210 BC at the age of 51. His enormous tomb was discovered in 1974 near Xi'an. The central tomb has not yet been excavated. After the first emperor died, the heir apparent was tricked into committing suicide. An unprepared younger son succeeded as second emperor. Faced with widespread unrest, the second emperor proved to be an ineffective ruler. He committed suicide in 207 BC.

Han dynasty: 206 BC - AD 195

The Han dynasty was founded by Liu Bang and lasted four centuries. It governed China from Chang'an, now Xi'an, and later from Luoyang. The climate of this era, which corresponds to Europe's Roman Warm Period, was favorable for agriculture. Like the Roman Empire, the Han was a large, politically united state. A census conducted in AD 1 found that the population numbered 60 million. The most remarkable discovery of the Han period was paper, an invention traditionally dated to AD 105. By the fifth century, paper was in common use in China.

Silk

The conquests of Wudi emperor in Central Asia are said to have opened the Silk Road. Yet the Han Empire and the Roman Empire did not trade directly, nor did they have knowledge of each other. The Romans knew only that silk came from a country on the northern edge of the world, a country they called Serica. (The prefix "Sino-" is derived from this word.) Although most historians assume this refers to China, the silk could have come from India.. In popular belief, silk was said to grow on trees.

No Roman coins have been found in China, nor has any silk turned up in Roman archelogical finds. So the volume of trade between the two empires was probably not economically significant. All the same, Roman women of the first century did wear enough silk to create a stir. The Senate tried to ban the wearing of silk and Seneca the Younger denounced it: "I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one's decency, can be called clothes."

Silk was China's most valuable export and a large portion of its female population was engaged in preparing it. The Han used bolts of silk as currency. Aside from being an indicator of status and luxury, silk worn under armour allows an arrow to be extracted more easily and helps prevent contamination.

Ideology

Intially, Han institutions were copied from those of the highly militarized Qin dynasty, including its legal code. Emperor Wudi (156-87 BC) embraced Confucianism and established a civil bureaucracy. He founded an academy where students were trained for administration.. The dynasty's philosophy, called Han Confucianism, emphasized study of the Five Classics: The Book of Songs, The Book of History, I Ching, the Spring and Autumn Annals, and the Book of Rituals. This combined Confucian writing with elements of Zhou religion, including the principle of Yinyang. This is the idea that the harmony of the universe is based on a balance of opposing forces, referred to as Yin and Yang.

Decline and fall

The Han warm period peaked around AD 150. The climate then began to cool, marking the onset of the Dark Ages Cold Period. Declining harvests sparked a series of peasant uprisings, including one by the Yellow Turban sect in 185. Order was restored, but at the price of remilitarization. Commanders who recruited fighters during the war did not always disaband their units afterwards. Power devolved from the civilian bureaucracy to the military. In 189, He Jin, the army commander, gathered troops near the capital and demanded the execution of the palace eunuches. The eunuches arranged for his assassination, but this was not enough to save them. The army stormed the palaces and slaughtered 2,000 eunuches. By 190, the army leaders had turned on each other, civil war was in progress, and the emperor was a mere puppet of the top warlord. After the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208, the empire was more or less permanently divided among the top three military leaders.

Ancient sport

Confucius generally opposed physical activity, although he did endorse archery in a halfhearted way. All the same, China has always loved sport. There are references to Zhou dynasty soldiers running, jumping, chariot racing, weight lifting, and practicing archery, although these can be considered forms of military training rather than true sport. Kangding (tripod lifting) was popular as early as the Qin dynasty. In the Han dynasty, Chinese soldiers were known for their passion for wushu. Although this word translates as "martial arts," it actually refers various forms of unarmed combat. That is to say, it was always a sport rather than a skill directly applicable to warfare. Games similar to modern badminton and shuttlecock were played in the first century. The poet Li Yu (50–130) describes a sport similar to football.

Medieval history

A dark age: 220-589

The Han was followed the Three Kingdoms (220–280), a brief period well-remembered because of a classic novel. The empire was reunited by the Jin dynasty (265-420). The climate continued to deteriorate throughout this period, reaching a low point around 500. The Tuoba, a nomadic Turkic people, conquered northern China and established the Northern Wei dynasty in 386. In the South, the Six Dynasties, a series of short lived native states, ruled from Nanjing.

Sui dynasty: 581-618

Like the Qin, the Sui was a period of ruthless unification and ambitious construction projects. The Grand Canal, a waterway that connected North and South China, was the pride of the dynasty. The Great Wall was repaired and extended. The Wendi emperor revived Confucianism and established civil service exams to select competent admistrators. The Kaihuang Code ("emperor's new code"), issued in 581 and revised in 583, simplified criminal code and abolished many cruel punishments. Wendi also patronized Buddhism. Instead of a prime minister, the emperor was advised by ministers representing the "Three Departments" (Secretariat, Chancellery, and State Affairs). This ensured that the emperor alone would have the last say on any controversial issue.

Obsessed with territorial expansion, Yangdi, the second Sui emperor, sent an army of 1.13 million men to Korea in 612. Only 2,700 returned. News of the defeat embolden those who opposed the dynasty. Peasants revolted against the Sui system of concripted labor. Yangdi lived in luxury and was oblivious to bad news. When one offiicial tried to explain what was happening, the emperor had him executed. Finally, Yangdi himself was murdered in 618, and the dynasty collapsed.

After a frigid period around 500, China's climate warmed rapidly. The climate during the Sui was comparable to what it had been in Han times -- the best China had experienced in centuries. But even in these conditions, the Sui agenda proved to be too ambitious. By trying to accomplish too much, too quickly, the state exhausted the country.

Europe and China: Development in parallel

For centuries, China and Europe had developed in parallel. The Warring States can be compared to the squabbling Greek city states of Athens, Sparta, and Thebes. Qin Shi Huang can be viewed as a Chinese Alexander. The most striking parallel is between the Roman Empire and the Han Empire. Both empires flourished during a period of warm climate, and they both established classical models for their respective cultures. Both broke apart when the climate cooled. North China, like the Western Roman Empire, fell under barbarian domination. Yet the imperial flame still burned in Nanjing, as it did in Constantinople. But neither Justinian nor Charlemagne were able to reunite the lands of Roman empire as the Sui reunited China. The Sui also restored classical Confucian culture, albeit with a place added for the universalist religion of Buddhism. Once Christianized, Europe was never tempted to return the gods of Olympus.

Geography not only divides Europe east and west, but also creates creates natural boundaries for nation states like France, Spain, and Italy. China naturally divides into North and South. But at the time of Sui, the South was still thinly populated. A strong ruler in the North could conquer the South almost as an afterthought. Mass migration to the South began in the late Tang.

Tang dynasty: 618-907

The Tang dynasty lasted for three centuries and is remembered as a glorious era in Chinese history. It was founded when Liu Yuan seized the former Sui capital of Chang'an in 618. It's political institutions, including the civil service examination system, were copied from those of the Sui. Empress Wu ruled from 690 to 705, the only female soveriegn in Chinese history.

The warm weather that characterized the Sui continued until about 710. After that, temperatures steadily declined for the rest of the century. As the military threat posed by the Tibetans and others increased, there was a shift from militia to professional soldiers stationed near the frontier. In the 740s, the Xuanzong emperor (r. 712-756) withdrew from public life to enjoy to company of Yang Guifei, perhaps the most famous beauty of Chinese history.

Facing a combined Arab, Tibetan and Turkish army at Talas in 751, the Tang army suffered a sharp defeat. Talas was only the beginning of the empire's military woes. A revolt by army commander An Lushan (755-767) was eventually put down, but the Tang was on the defensive from this point on. An's rebellion forced the Tang to withdraw from Central Asia, closing the Silk Road. The Tibetans briefly captured Chang'an in 763.

After a sharp drop in temperature in the eighth century, the climate stabilized in the ninth century. The collapse of the Uighur Empire (840) and the Tibetan Empire (841) allowed the Tang to reopen the Silk Route. The martime trade also became economically significant at around this time. {{citation}}: Empty citation (help) Innovations in agriculture and other areas allowed the economy to revive. There was migration to the South, where land was becoming available. Several crops were introduced, including tea and sugar. Double cropping was introduced for both rice and wheat. Banking, commerce, and a money-based economy were established. The political instability of the time did not prevent the population from growing to an estimated 80 million.

The period of Buddhist ascendency in Chinese culture ended with a persecution by a Daoist emperor in 843-845. Monestary land was confiscated and hundreds of thousands of monks and nuns were returned to lay status.

Five Dynasties: 907-960

Zhu Wen, a rebellious general and provincal governor, overthrew the Tang in 907. A series of five dynasties followed in quick succesion in the North. In the South, the "Ten Kingdoms" ruled. The climate warmed steadily throughout this period, with temperatures returning to Sui dynasty levels by the end of it. Despite the collapse of central government, there was a flowering of culture. Wood block printing became widespead, and the complete works of Confucius were published for the first time 953. Artist and essayist Jing Hao produced classic landscape paintings, the most highly regarded genre of painting in Chinese culture.

Song dynasty: 960-1279

From a cultural and economic point of view, the Song has an even better claim to be China's golden age than does the Tang. But with few military victories to boast of, the dynasty has excited modern imagination less. Wood block printing and inexpensive papermaking brought literature to the people. Academies and state schools were founded to train candidates for the civil service exam. The Song used this exam more extensively than previous dynasties did, and an elaborate three-level system was developed. With literature no longer the preserve of those who could afford parchment, the meritocracy of learning Confucians had long idealized came closer to becoming reality.

The trade and market economy, which made its initial appearence in the late Tang, vastly increased under the Song. Reciepts for 1065 show that Song cash revenue was twenty times what the Tang recieved in 749. Every city and major town had a market with stalls that sold goods from all over the empire. Banks issued drafts to merchants called "fēiqián" or "flying money". The Song was the first state in history in which paper money was a common form of currency. A boom in shipbuilding allowed maritime trade to flourish. Chinese junks brought silk and porcelain to Hoi An to trade with Arab and Persian merchants. (Hoi An was then in Champa, but now in Vietnam.) China's export industries were no longer dependent on the Silk Road and the Central Asian whirligig.

As the size of estates grew, the landowner class gained the political clout to evade taxation. In 1069-1076, Chancellor Wang Anshi attempted a wide range controversial reforms called the “New Policies" (xīnfă). These included a land survey to reassess property taxes, as well as encouraging officials to buy the goods and services they needed on a cash basis. Up to this point, officials had relied on tribute and corvée, a feudal anachronism in what was now a money-based economy. Wang restructured the curriculum at the National Academy to include courses on law, medicine, and military science. Instead of rote memorization and recitation, the candidates who took Wang's civil service exam were expected to write essays applying the Five Classics to policy issues. Wang's reforms were comprehensively recinded when his opponents came to power in 1086. But many were later reinstated in weakened form.

The empire's finest painters and poets were invited to the court in Kaifeng. The Huizong emperor (r. 1100 – 1126) was a noted painter and calligrapher himself. He favored detailed and lifelike representations, urging artists to be “true to color and form." The emperor sponsored the compilation of Xuanhe huapu, a catalog of art and artist biographies, and he produced calligraphy in an elegant and mannered style referred to as "slender gold." Yet for all his artistic acheivements, Huizong failed to provide clear direction in politics. While the emperor enjoyed a life of luxury and high culture, the energy of his administrators was consumed in factional squabbling between opponents and supporters of Wang's reforms.

Meanwhile, the Jurchen prepared an offensive. They conquered North China in 1115-1122 and Kaifeng in 1125. Huizong and the imperial family were captured and taken to Manchuria, while loyalists founded the Southern Song dynasty at Hangzhou in 1127. In 1142, the Gaozong emperor executed Yue Fei, a general who was agitating to continue war with the Jurchens. Given what we know about the strength of the Jurchen army at the time, Gaozong almost certainly made the right call. But Yue Fei is nonetheless remembered as a patriotic hero and folk god.

In the Tang, Buddhism and Daoism were ascendant while Confucianism waned. The neo-Confucianists of the late Tang and Song revived the classical tradition and extended it with metaphysical ideas inspired by Buddhism, Daoism, and other philosophies. The philosophy of Zhu Xi (1130-1200) was the most influential of the neo-Confucian systems. His followers spread his doctrine with missionary zeal. Fearing the onset of a sect or political movement, the authorities cracked down. Once Zhu Xi was safely dead, he could be honored for his scholarly accomplishments. Zhu Xi taught that an etherial substance called qi pervaded the universe. In place of the Five Classics, Zhu Xi proposed the "Four Books." These were books of collected sayings attributed to Confucious and Mencius.

China experienced a strong warming trend from 1150 to 1250. The years around 1250 are the warmest in the entire Chinese temperature record. This is China's version of the Medieval Warm Period. Under Genghis Khan, the Mongols defeated the Jurchen and conquered North China in 1234. This conquest was assisted by the Song, who foolishly attacked the Jurchen from the south at this time. Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis, defeated the Song and conquered South China in 1279.

The cultural brilliance of the Song has been overshadowed by disappointment with its defensive military and foreign policies. But proud armies with fierce reputations in other nations collapsed far more quickly before the Mongol advance.

Yuan dynasty: 1271-1368

The Mongols had long been known as fierce warriors, but thier divisions and rivalries often limited their military effectiveness. In 1206, the tribes of Mongolia united and selected Genghis Khan as their leader. From 1211 to 1225, Mongolia had above average rainfall every year. Normally arid land burst forth with grass. These were the most favorable conditions for cattle and horse breeding the country has ever experienced. Mongolia's horses and cattle were a vital resource for the khan's world-conquering army.

The "Yuan dynasty" was declared by Kublai Khan in 1271. The term stresses the continuity of this era with other eras of Chinese history. The name change was part of a strategy to make Mongol rule more palatable by allowing Kublai to adopt the role of a traditional emperor. A Chinese-style capital and center of bureaucratic administration was built at Dadu (“great capital”), now Beijing. (In the summers, the khans escaped to Shangdu (“upper capital”) in Inner Mongolia.) Kublai also employed several prominent Chinese in his multinational team of advisers. China's status under the Mongols was nonetheless quite different than that in other eras. It was merely one unit within a larger empire run by non-Chinese.

The Mongol Empire stretched across Russia and included Iran and much of the Middle East. It controled the entire length of the Silk Road and extended its protection to merchants. When Venetian merchant Marco Polo visited, the aspect of Yuan China he found most remarkable was the use of paper money. The khan's mint, "is so organized that you might well say that he has mastered the art of alchemy," Polo wrote.

The Yuan did not offer the civil service exam until 1315. Although it was revived on basis Zhu Xi's Four Books, it was used to make only a small number appointments. As knowledge of the classics was now unappreciated in the civil administration, the literati attempted other career paths. This may explain the flowering of popular drama and painting that occurred in this period. The novel made its first appearance in the Yuan. The Yuan also rebuilt the Grand Canal and established an extensive postal system.

In the last years of the Yuan, there were droughts, floods, and epidemics. These natural disasters sparked a peasant uprising led by Zhu Yuanzhang, who founded the Ming dynasty. Togon-temür, the last Yuan emperor, fled to Mongolia in 1368.

What went wrong?

China in the Song is often portrayed as a state on the verge of a Renaissance. Wood block printing was a commonplace in China long before Gutenberg. Europe at this time also experienced a period of remarkable commerial, artistic and scientific referred to as the High Middle Ages. In philosophy, Thomas Aquinas pushed the scholastistic approach as far as it would go, just as Zhu Xi was doing the same for Confucianism. The thirteenth century was the peak of the Medieval Warm Period, while the fourteenth was century of catastrophes in both Europe and China. It was the time of the Black Death and the "waning of the Middle Ages," as Huizenga put it.

After these setbacks, Europe experienced a burst of creativity, adopted new modes thought, and entered the Renaissance. Aquinas was abandoned for science. China, meanwhile, restored Confucianism in a didactic and sterile fashion. Absolutism and a brutalized style of rule, both Yuan legacies, made it more difficult for literati to advance dissenting views than it had been in Zhu Xi's time.<rrlier dynasties. But the literati turned inward in response to foreign conquest.

Modern times

Ming dynasty: 1368-1644

The Ming was an interval of native rule sandwitched between two extended non-Chinese dynasties. As such, it retained the loyalty of the literati, even after it fell. The Ming was also a totalitarian dynasty, a police state with a vast spying agency. The civilian population was organized into groups of ten families who were expected to keep tabs on each other, and who were punished collectively for misdeeds -- a system called lijia. The censorate was established a separate organ of government to investigate and punish corrupt officials.

The civil service examinations was used even more extensively than in the Song. Almost all the top officials entered the bureaucracy by passing it. The empire's most promising youth studied the Four Books to pass the civil service examination. Every county had a Confucian academy, but there was no place where original research was honored and encouraged, nothing equivalent to a university. Science, law, medicine, commerce other practical fields were looked down on as simply vocational.

Numerous porcelain factories were built at Jingdezhen in Jiangsu Province. The dynasty is associated with a "blue and white" style of ceramics. This consisted of a alue underglaze combined with white overglaze or enamel painting. The Mongols had given paper money a bad name by overprinting it until it was worthless. The Ming reverted to silver coins. The Ming built the Great Wall in the form it exists in modern time. The Forbidden City in Beijing is another example of Ming architecture.

A series fotillas under the eunuch Zheng He sailed around the Indian Ocean in 1405-1433. They "collected tribute" that supposedly showed that far away nations acknowledged the Ming emperor as their overlord. These journeys have been compared to the European voyages of discovery. But Zheng He's voyages were all about showmanship and flattering imperal vanity -- and they were never repeated.

The court promoted a stale and immitative style of poetry and literature written in the classical language of Confucious. Outside court, there was a flowering of popular culture, including vernacular writing and drama. This was the age of the epic novel: The Water Margins was published in the fourteenth century, Romance of the Three Kingdoms in 1522, Journey to the West in 1592, and Golden Lotus in 1617.

North China was split from South China under the Song, and language issues were neglected under the Mongols. The Ming found that officials from one region of the empire could not necessarily understand those from other regions. {{citation}}: Empty citation (help) The dialect of Nanjing, designated Mandarin or Guanhua (official's speech), was selected as a standard.

File:16th century East Asia.png

A map of Asia during the Ming dynasty

Europeans first appeared in China in 1514. Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci arrived in 1583. Ricci learned Chinese taught the court about western science. Ricci wrote that while Chinese were impressed with mechanical clocks, they were unconvinced when he told them that the Earth was round: "The earth is flat and square, and the sky is a round canopy; they did not succeed in conceiving the possibility of the antipodes."

In the seventeenth century, there was a major cooling in the climate associated with Maunder Minimum, an extended period without sunspots. A series of poor harests led to peasant uprisings, one of which seized Beijing and overthrew the Ming. Forced to choose between the rebels and the Manchu (as the Jurchen were now called), the Ming generals opened to the gates of the Great Wall to the Manchu.

Qing dynasty: 1644-1911

The Manchu captured Beijing from the Chinese rebels founded the Qing dynasty. The administrative structures of the Ming were largely retained, but with the Manchu as a priveleged caste.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by large-scale civil wars, major famines, military defeats by Britain and Japan, regional control by powerful warlords and foreign intervention such as the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. In the 1860s, electrotype technology was applied to allow newspapers in the Chinese language to be mass produced and widely circulated. Christian missionaries were at the forefront in taking advantage of this technology. The reformers of the 1890s were educated concerning modern approaches and ideologies by their publications, particularly Wanguo Gongbao (A Review of the Times).

Reforms 1901-1908

The humiliation of the Boxer Rebellion stimulated a second reform movement--this time sanctioned by Empress Dowager Cixi. From 1901 to 1908, the dynasty announced a series of educational, military, and administrative reforms, many reminiscent of the "one hundreds days" of 1898. The imperial examinations of 1902 and 1904 included questions on the politics, science and technology of all countries, requiring some 50,000 students to study such subjects, most of whom would not otherwise be interested. Unfortunately, the examination system was abolished in 1905.

Armies were raised and trained in European (and Japanese) fashion and plans for a national army were laid. The creation of the "new army" reflected rising esteem for the military profession and the emergence of a new national elite that dominated China for much of the 20th century. More officers and men were now literate, while patriotism and better pay served as an inducement for service.

Japan's victory over Russia in 1905 electrified nationalists across Asia. The adoption of a constitutional monarchy in Russia following the war created a model for action. In 1908, the court issued a timetable: Consultative provincial assemblies by 1909, a consultative national assembly by 1910, and both a constitution and a parliament by 1917. Cixi's death in 1908 left the dynasty practically leaderless. The new emperor was a child and the regent incompetent. The army leaders felt little loyalty to either. They yearned for the return of Yuan Shikai, a Cixi favorite dismissed in 1909.

Revolution planned

While the reformers of the 1890s sought to modernize China by working within the dynasty, the following generation was fed up with the Qing. It was the age of racism, and many Chinese were influenced by anti-Manchu racial theories. The old crimes of the Manchu, such as the Yangzhou Massacre of 1645, were dug up and used against them. Anti-Manchu revolutionary groups were formed in the Yangtze cities by 1903, and those in Tokyo banded together to form the "Revolutionary Alliance" in 1905, led by Sun Yat-sen. By 1910, even Liang Qichao, the most prominent Chinese intellectual at the time and once a prominent advocate of constitutional monarchy, had joined Sun as a revolutionary.

Republic: 1912-1949

The May Fourth Movement of the 1920s was characterized by language reform, campaigns against footbinding and other abusive practices toward women, and a reverent attitude toward "science." At this time, the country was divided among various warlord factions. It was reunited in 1927 by the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek. In 1937, most of China was occupied by Japan. Fighting between Nationalist China and Japan continued until 1945, when Japan was defeated and occupied by the United States.

After the war, China was ensnared in Cold War rivalries.

Yuan Shikai 1911-1916

By 1911 China had 400 million people and the beginnings of a railroad system. The old dynasty collapsed in 1911 as soldiers mutinied, and the emperor abdicated in early 1912. A republic was proclaimed on January 1, 1912, but power was held by army leader Yuan Shikai (1859-1916). The army officers felt loyalty to Yuan as a former commander who reorganized the army. Most owed their positions to him. The Nationalist Party won parliamentary elections in 1913, but Yuan had the parliamentary leader assassinated, crushed republican uprisings, shut down parliament, and ruled as a dictator. Yuan proclaimed himself emperor in 1915. This triggered an uprising based in the South. Few army officers appreciated the prospect of serving Yuan's playboy son, who was now heir to the throne. Faced with unanimous opposition, Yuan renounced the throne. He died suddenly of natural causes in June 1916.

Age of warlords, 1916-1927

After Yuan's death, the Beiyang clique at first backed Prime Minister Duan Qirui. By 1919, army leadership had devolved into three rival factions: Anhui, Zhili, and Fengtian. Zhang Zuolin, warlord of Manchuria and head of the Fengtian clique, was backed by Japan. He gained control of Beijing in 1926. The reactionary character of the Zhang regime provoked a backlash in the more reform-minded South. Sun Yat-sen and the Nationalist Party, backed by the Soviets, established a rival government in Guangzhou in 1925. Whampoa Academy trained a new generation of army officers who would be loyal to the party, not affiliated with any of the Beiyang cliques.

Nationalist China: 1927-1937

Chiang Kai-shek, who become Nationalist leader following Sun's death, defeated the Beiyang warlords and moved to central government to Nanjing in 1927. A warlord revolt was defeated in a brief but bloody war in 1930. Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, and in 1937 invaded all of China, defeating the government armies, seizing the coast, the major cities, and setting up a puppet government that controlled most of the population. China's resistance was ineffective.

Communist Party

The Chinese Communist Party was founded in Shanghai, China's largest city, in 1921. It was allied with the KMT but in classical Marxist style its goal was initially to foment revolution among urban workers. It was controlled by Stalin in Moscow through the Comintern. In 1927, however, a bloody anti-communist coup by the Nationalist, destroyed the CCP in the cities. Forced into the countryside, the CCP broke with Russian guidance and developed a new strategy based on agrarian revolution, mobilizing poor peasants by promising to confiscate and redistribute the lands held by landlords. Mao Zedong took the lead.

The Long March: 1934-36

In 1934-35, the CCP fled the KMT with over 100,000 men and women.They divided into several armies, marched 6,000 miles inland through a brutal terrain of frigid mountain passes, freezing rivers and marshes in search of a sanctuary to continue their revolution. Only 7000 survived the march.

The Long March became the heroic memory of the CCP, and virtually all the Communist leaders of the next 70 years were marchers or their children.

World War II: 1937-1945

China suffered millions of deaths in the long war, even though battles were few. The Japanese killed tens of thousands of civilians in the occupied territories. Tens of thousands more died when Nationalist troops broke the levees of the Yangtze to stop the Japanese advance after the loss of the capital, Nanking. Millions more Chinese died because of famine during the war.

Millions of Chinese moved to the western regions of China to avoid Japanese invasion. Cities like Kunming ballooned with new arrivals. Entire factories and universities were often taken along for the journey. Japan captured major coastal cities like Shanghai early in the war; cutting the rest of China off from its chief source of finance and industry.

The city of Chongqing became the most frequently bombed city in history.

Though China received Lend Lease economic and military aid from the United States, China did not have sufficient infrastructure to properly arm or even feed its military forces. Much of the aid was lost to corruption and extreme inefficiency.

Communist forces led by Mao were generally more successful at getting support or killing opponents than Nationalists. They were based mainly in Northern China, and built up their strength to battle with the Nationalists as soon as the Japanese were gone.

In occupied territories under Japanese control, civilians were treated harshly.

Civil War: 1945-1949

China was allied with the U.S. and Britain against Japan, and at war's end joined the United Nations as a permanent member of the 5-nation Security Council, with a veto. The Americans attempted to force a negotiated settlement between the KMT and the Communists, but failed.

People's Republic: 1949 - present

In Korean War (1950-1953), about 400,000 Chinese died fighting the United States and the Republic of Korea. During the Great Leap Forward (1958-1961), Mao “collectivised" rice and other agriculture products to maximize exports. The money raised was used to build a nuclear bomb, which was tested in 1964. In 1959, the party selected Liu Shaoqi as president, although Mao retained his position as army chief. After three years of famine in which tens of millions starved to death, Liu was able to reverse Mao’s agricultural policy. Mao never forgave Liu or the party. In the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), he unleashed the army and the youthful “Red Guards” on the party leadership, now labeled “capitalist roaders." Liu was mistreated in prison and died in 1969.</ref>

After Mao died in 1975, the party regained control. Deng Xiaoping, who served as party chief under Liu and was twice purged by Mao, became the country’s leader. Market-oriented reforms have allowed the country to experience rapid economic growth since 1978. China's economy is now has the world's second largest, surpassing that of Japan in 2010. However, the Communist Party maintains a monopoly on political power. In 1989, the army killed thousands of anti-Communist demonstrators in the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

In the face of economic collapse the Communists won the civil war in 1949 under Mao Zedong (1893-1976). Mao established a dictatorship, driving the KMT to Taiwan. Taiwan is recognized as an integral part of China in theory, but in practice has been independent since 1949. Mao liquidated millions of opponents, fought the United States in the bloody Korean War (1950-53), and broke with the Soviet Union over the issue of who best represented the Marxist orthodoxy.

At the end of the civil war, Mao released Korean veterans from his army to create a communist army in North Korea. This army was armed by the Soviets. In the South, the Republic of Korea was organized in 1948 following UN-supervised elections. Mao invaded Korea in October 1950 in support of the North. The U.S. sent soldiers to protect the ROK, the only lawful government on the peninsula. The Korean War continued for three years and some 400,000 Chinese soldiers were killed.

Great Leap Forward

The Great Leap Forward (1958-60) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) were the two worst periods of leftist domination in the history of China. Beginning in 1958, Mao imposed unrealistic targets on Chinese grain production to extract funds from agriculture for rapid industrial growth. Maoists placed relentless pressure on Communist cadres for ruthless implementation of the Great Leap Forward. Contrary to Maoist plans, China's grain output in 1959-60 declined sharply from 1957 levels and rural per capita grain retention decreased dramatically. Throughout China, party cadres' mismanagement of agricultural production was responsible for the decline in grain output, and the Communist state's excessive requisition of grain caused food shortages for the peasants.

The Cultural Revolution

File:Yun Xin.jpg

Painting by Yun Xin, born in 1944

In the early 1960s, State President Liu Shaoqi and his protégé, Party General Secretary Deng Xiaoping, took over direction of the party and adopted pragmatic economic policies at odds with Mao's revolutionary vision. Dissatisfied with China's new direction and his own reduced authority, Mao launched a massive political attack on Liu, Deng, and other pragmatists in the spring of 1966.

In the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, Mao and Lin Biao charged Liu, Deng, and other top party leaders with dragging China back toward capitalism. In 1971, Lin Biao was accused of plotting against Mao. He fled Beijing and died in a plane crash in Mongolia.

The ideological struggle between more pragmatic, veteran party officials and the radicals re-emerged with a vengeance in late 1975. Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, and three close Cultural Revolution associates (later dubbed the "Gang of Four") launched a campaign against Deng, who was stripped of all official positions.

Nixon

In 1972 the world was stunned when American President Richard Nixon visited Beijing, ending the cold war between the two countries and opening an era of détente and friendship that continues into the 21st century.

The post-Mao era

After Mao's death in September 1976 Hua Guofeng was quickly confirmed as party chairman and premier. Hua had been a mere middle manager until 1975 when he was promoted to vice premier as Zhou Enlai's health faded, and then to premier when Zhou died. Mao may have selected an unknown to avoid antagonizing either Deng's or Jiang's factions.

A month later, Hua, backed by the army, arrested Jiang Qing and other members of the "Gang of Four" that organized the Cultural Revolution.

In December 1978, the Third Plenum (of the 11th Party Congress Central Committee) adopted economic reform policies aimed at expanding rural income and incentives, encouraging experiments in enterprise autonomy, reducing central planning, and attracting foreign direct investment into China. Hua was force to resign at this time, leaving Deng Xiaoping as top leader.

Deng focused on market-oriented economic development. By 2000, output had quadrupled, population growth ended (by imposing a one-child policy), and good relations were secured with the West.

Massacre at Tiananmen Square

The death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989, coupled with growing economic hardship caused by high inflation, provided the backdrop for a large-scale protest movement by students, intellectuals, and other parts of a disaffected urban population. University students and other citizens camped out in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to mourn Hu's death and to protest against those who would slow reform.

Martial law was declared on May 20, 1989. Late on June 3 and early on the morning of June 4, military units were brought into Beijing. They used armed force to clear demonstrators from the streets. There are no official estimates of deaths in Beijing, but most observers believe that casualties numbered in the hundreds.

The third and four generation of leaders

Deng's health deteriorated in the years prior to his death in 1997. During that time, Jiang Zemin and other members of his generation gradually assumed control of the day-to-day functions of government.

In November 2002, Hu Jintao was selected leader. In 1992, he had been designated by Deng Xiaoping as the "core" of the fourth generation leaders. On March 14, 2013 Xi Jinping was "elected" as new president.

See also

• Oriental art

External links

• Timeline, with maps and short histories from prehistoric era to present
• ancient and feudal China

Further reading

For a more detailed guide go to the Bibliography below

• Eberharad, Wolfram. A History of China (2005), 380 pages' full text online free
• Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, and Kwang-ching Liu. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (1999) 352 pages excerpt and text search
• Fairbank, John King and Goldman, Merle. China: A New History. (2nd ed. 2006). 640 pp. excerpt and text search
• Gernet, Jacques, J. R. Foster, and Charles Hartman. A History of Chinese Civilization (1996), called the best one-volume survey; excerpt and text search
• Hsü, Immanuel Chung-yueh. The Rise of Modern China, (6th ed. 1999), highly detailed coverage of 1644-1999, in 1136pp. excerpt and text search
• Latourette, Kenneth Scott. The Development of China (1917) 273 pages; full text online, by a leading Christian scholar
• Michael, Franz. China through the Ages: History of a Civilization. (1986). 278pp; online edition from Questia
• Perkins, Dorothy. Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture. (1999). 662 pp. excerpt and text search
• Roberts, J. A. G. A Concise History of China. (1999). 341 pp.
• Schoppa, R. Keith. The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History. (2000). 356 pp. online edition from Questia
• Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China (1991), 876pp; well written survey from 1644 to 1980s excerpt and text search; complete edition online at Questia
• Wang, Ke-wen, ed. Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism. (1998). 442 pp.
• Wright, David Curtis. History of China (2001) 257pp; online edition

Detailed Bibliography

For a long scholarly bibliography through 2001 see "Modern Chinese History: A Basic Bibliography".

surveys

• Eberharad, Wolfram. A History of China (2005), 380 pages' full text online free
• Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, and Kwang-ching Liu. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (1999) 352 pages excerpt and text search
• Fairbank, John King and Goldman, Merle. China: A New History. 2nd ed. Harvard U. Press, (2006). 640 pp. excerpt and text search
• Gernet, Jacques, J. R. Foster, and Charles Hartman. A History of Chinese Civilization (1996), called the best one-volume survey; excerpt and text search
• Hsü, Immanuel Chung-yueh. The Rise of Modern China, 6th ed. (Oxford University Press, 1999), highly detailed coverage of 1644-1999, in 1136pp. excerpt and text search
• Huang, Ray. China, a Macro History (1997) 335pp, an idiosyncratic approach, not for beginners; online edition from Questia
• Latourette, Kenneth Scott. The Development of China (1917) 273 pages; full text online
• Michael, Franz. China through the Ages: History of a Civilization. (1986). 278pp; online edition from Questia
• Mote, Frederick W. Imperial China, 900–1800 Harvard University Press, 1999, 1,136 pages, the authoritative treatment of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties; excerpt and text search
• Perkins, Dorothy. Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture. Facts on File, 1999. 662 pp. excerpt and text search
• Roberts, J. A. G. A Concise History of China. Harvard U. Press, 1999. 341 pp.
• Schoppa, R. Keith. The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History. Columbia U. Press, 2000. 356 pp. online edition from Questia
• Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China (1991), 876pp; well written survey from 1644 to 1980s excerpt and text search; complete edition online at Questia
• Ven, Hans van de, ed. Warfare in Chinese History. E. J. Brill, 2000. 456 pp. online edition
• Wang, Ke-wen, ed. Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism. Garland, 1998. 442 pp.
• Wright, David Curtis. History of China (2001) 257pp; online edition
• full text of older histories (pre 1923)

Prehistory and early history

• Chang, Kwang-chih. The Archaeology of Ancient China, Yale University Press, 1986.

Economy and environment

• Chow, Gregory C. China's Economic Transformation (2nd ed. 2007) excerpt and text search
• Elvin, Mark. Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China. (2004). 564 pp.
• Elvin, Mark and Liu, Ts'ui-jung, eds. Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History. (1998). 820 pp.
• Ji, Zhaojin. A History of Modern Shanghai Banking: The Rise and Decline of China's Finance Capitalism. (2003. 325) pp.
• Naughton, Barry. The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth (2007)
• Rawski, Thomas G. and Lillian M. Li, eds. Chinese History in Economic Perspective, University of California Press, 1992 complete text online free
• Sheehan, Jackie. Chinese Workers: A New History. Routledge, 1998. 269 pp.
• Stuart-Fox, Martin. A Short History of China and Southeast Asia: Tribute, Trade and Influence. (2003). 278 pp.

Intellectual, social and cultural history

• de Bary, William Theodore, et al., Sources of Chinese Tradition (1960), primary sources
• Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. Women and the Family in Chinese History (2002) online edition from Questia
• Fung, Yu-lan. A History of Chinese Philosophy, (2d ed. 2 vol., University Press, 1963)
• Goldman, Merle and Lee, Leo Ou-fan, ed. An Intellectual History of Modern China. Cambridge U. Press, 2002. 607 pp. excerpt and text search
• Mair, Victor H., ed. The Columbia History of Chinese Literature. Columbia U. Press, 2001. 800 pp. online edition from Questia
• Mote, Frederick W. Intellectual Foundations of China, (2d ed. 1989)
• Needham, Joseph; Robinson, Kenneth Girdwood; and Huang, Ray. Science and Civilisation in China: V. 7, Part 2: General Conclusions and Reflections. (2004). 283 pp. the last volume of a monumental series
• Schwartz, Benjamin. The World of Thought in Ancient China (1985)
• Spence, Jonathan D. The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution (1982), 560pp' intellectual history of politics, 1895-1930s excerpt and text search
• Temple, Robert, and Joseph Needham. The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention, (2007), summarizes Needham's massive multivolume history
• Watson, William. The Arts of China, 900-1620. (2000). 304 pp.
• Watson, William. The Arts of China to A.D. 900 2000. excerpt and text search
• Xinian, Fu, Guo Daiheng, Liu Xujie, and Pan Guxi. Chinese Architecture (2002) excerpt and text search
• Xu, Guoqi, and William C. Kirby. Olympic Dreams: China and Sports, 1895-2008 (2008)

Religion

• Charbonnier, Jean, David Notley, and M. N. L. Couve de Murville. Christians in China: A.D. 600 to 2000 (2007) excerpt and text search
• Seiwert, Hubert. Popular Religious Movements and Heterodox Sects in Chinese History. Brill, 2003. 548 pp.

Historiography

• Braester, Yomi. Witness against History: Literature, Film, and Public Discourse in Twentieth-Century China. Stanford U. Press, 2003. 264 pp.
• Crossley, Pamela Kyle. A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology (2002) complete text online free
• Duara, Prasenjit. Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China. U. of Chicago Press, 1995. 275 pp. excerpt and text search
• Huang, Ray. Broadening the Horizons of Chinese History: Discourses, Syntheses and Comparisons. M. E. Sharpe, 1999. 274 pp. online edition from Questia
• Huters, Theodore; Wong, R. Bin; and Yu, Pauline, eds. Culture and State in Chinese History: Convention, Accommodations, and Critiques. Stanford U. Press, 1997. 500 pp.
• Johnston, Alastair Iain. Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History. Princeton U. Press, 1995. 307 pp. excerpt and text search
• Lach, Donald F. "China in Western Thought and Culture," in Philip P. Wiener, ed. The Dictionary of the History of Ideas (1974) online edition
• Ng, On-Cho and Wang, Q. Edward. Mirroring the Past: The Writing and Use of History in Imperial China. U. of Hawai`i Press, 2005. 306 pp.
• Van Kley, Edwin J. "Europe's 'Discovery' of China and the Writing of World History," The American Historical Review, 76 (1971), 358-85. in JSTOR
• Wang, Ben. Illuminations from the Past: Trauma, Memory, and History in Modern China. Stanford U. Press, 2004. 311 pp.
• Wang, David Der-wei. The Monster That Is History: History, Violence, and Fictional Writing in Twentieth-Century China. U. of California Press, 2004. 402 pp. excerpt and text search
• Wang, Q. Edward. Inventing China Through History: The May Fourth Approach to Historiography. State U. of New York Press, 2001. 304 pp.
• Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History, A Manual, Revised and Enlarged. Harvard U. Asia Center, 2000. 1181 pp. Standard research guide to 4300 books and sources (most in Chinese) covering all major topics; for advanced users only
• Xia, Yafeng. "The Study of Cold War International History in China: A Review of the Last Twenty Years," Journal of Cold War Studies10#1 Winter 2008, pp. 81-115 in Project Muse
• Studies of Modern Chinese History: Reviews and Historiographical Essays