An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture

This book breaks away from conventions and generalizes the main contents of Chinese history in the form of special topics. These topics include the major issues of “A Scientific Approach to the Origins of Chinese Civilization,” “Ancient Chinese Society and the Change of Dynasties,” “The Golden Ages of the Han, Tang and Qing Dynasties: a Comparative Analysis,” “Transportation Systems and Cultural Communication in Ancient China,” “Ethnic Relations in Chinese History,” “The Systems of Politics, Law and Selecting Officials in Ancient China,” “Agriculture, Handicraft and Commerce in Ancient China,” “The Military Thought and Military Systems of Ancient China,” “The Rich and Colorful Social Life in Ancient China,” “The Evolution of Ancient Chinese Thought,” “The Treasure House of Ancient Chinese Literature and Art,” “The Emergence and Progress of Ancient Chinese Historiography,” “Reflection on Ancient Chinese Science and Technology,” “New Issues in the Modern History of China,” and “A General Progression to the Socialist Modernization of the People’s Republic of China.”

The fifteen special topics of this book which summarize the main contents of Chinese history are based on the other books on history and investigations among university students. Compared with the relatively concise modern history part, the topics related to Chinese ancient history enjoy a bigger proportion in content arrangement because China has a long history with rich materials and readers are less familiar to Chinese ancient history. However, the topic about the progression to the Socialist Modernization of the People’s Republic of China is also elaborated in details.

The central content of the book is that “to see the value of civilization through history; to see preciseness of history through civilization.” This book, following the common method of writing intellectual history, pays more attention to studying and discussing the social background, lifestyle and development process when expounding ideologies and ideas.