Reorienting China： The Landscape of Chinese Civilization

ranscending the rise and fall of dynasties, tracing the growth and formation of Chinese civilization through the currents of history.

This book is an unusual excursion into Chinese cultural history. Professor Cho-yun Hsu moves beyond accounts that focus solely on the internal evolution of Chinese culture. He revisits early Chinese civilization, integrating recent archaeological discoveries to reshape our understanding of its development. Employing a big history perspective, Hsu reconstructs the dynamic interplay of diverse ethnic groups and cultures within and beyond China, highlighting the constant friction and fusion that shaped its trajectory.

This insightful work reveals why Chinese civilization has endured despite numerous internal and external hardships and turmoils. It offers a nuanced and thought-provoking perspective on China’s past and its relevance to the present.

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Cho-yun Hsu
An internationally recognized authority on ancient Chinese history and comparative civilizations. He was University Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, and elected Academician of Academia Sinica in Taiwan. As one of the founding members of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, Hsu was instrumental in supporting and encouraging global research in Chinese Studies. In 2004, he received the Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies Award, the highest honor of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), which recognizes his life-long dedication to the advancement of Asian Studies in the international arena. In 2024, he was awarded the sixth Tang Prize for his contributions to the field of Sinology.

He has authored or coauthored numerous publications, including American Life: A Chinese Historian’s Perspective (2021), The Transcendental and the Mundane: Chinese Cultural Values in Everyday Life (2021), China: A New Cultural History (2012), Western Chou Civilization (1988), Han Agriculture: The Formation of the Early Chinese Agrarian Economy (206 B.C.–A.D. 220) (1980), and Ancient China in Transition: An Analysis of Social Mobility, 722–222 B.C. (1965).

David Ownby
David Ownby recently retired after more than thirty years as Professor of History at the Université de Montréal. His research focus is intellectual life in contemporary China, and his recent publications include Rethinking China’s Rise: A Liberal Critique by Xu Jilin (as editor and translator), Voices from the Chinese Century: Public Intellectual Debate from Contemporary China (co-edited with Timothy Cheek and Joshua A. Fogel), The Transcendental and the Mundane: Chinese Cultural Values in Everyday Life by Cho-yun Hsu, and Globalization after the Pandemic by Qin Hui (both as translator). His online project, “Reading the China Dream,” is available at readingthechinadream.com.

 Professor Hsu’s expertise on China has developed over many decades. He brings his deep experience to join both textual and archaeological history, and here, in this important book, he offers a unique, individual analysis of China’s history. This revealing volume introduces the full range of China’s important development throughout dynastic rule. In the present day, Professor Hsu’s strong commitment to understanding and sharing China’s past to benefit the present shines through.

—Jessica Rawson

Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford

In Reorienting China, Professor Hsu Cho-yun compellingly explores the rise and development of early China in ever-changing cross-cultural and environmental contexts. Both erudite and provocative, Hsu demonstrates a vision and methodology that will inspire anyone interested in China studies.

—David Der-wei Wang

Edward C. Henderson Professor of Chinese Literature, Harvard University

In this sweeping narrative, Professor Hsu offers a grand yet nuanced view of Chinese history. Masterfully weaving the latest geographic and archaeological findings with keen historical insights, he reveals how communities across diverse ecological zones interacted with each other and engaged with the outside world. Through this dynamic process of cultural development, Hsu identifies the defining spirit of Chinese civilization—an enduring ethos of tolerance and perseverance rooted in the philosophical principle of “harmony.”

—Yan Sun

Chairperson of Art and Art History, Gettysburg College

Translator’s Foreword / vii
To the Readers / xiii
Chronology of Chinese Dynasties / xix

Introduction The Value of Chinese Culture to the World / 1
I. An Agricultural Society: Geography and Ethnicity in China / 15
II. The Age of Legends: The Integration of Regional Cultures / 29
III. The Central Plains as the First Core Area of Ancient China / 49
IV. The Second Core Area in the South / 63
V. Region Three, the Coastal Core / 79
VI. Merging through Confrontation / 99
VII. Two Thousand Years of Nomads and Farmers / 113
VIII. The Construction and Evolution of an Intellectual System / 137
IX. The Rise and Fall of the Confucian Ideal / 157
X. The Medieval Transformation, Part 1: Wealth Trickles Down / 175
XI. The Medieval Transformation, Part 2: Knowledge Spreads to Local Society / 191
XII. The World under the Mongol Horses’ Hooves / 207
XIII. China under the Shroud of Imperial Absolutism / 221
XIV. The Shadow of the “Age of Prosperity” / 247
XV. From Compromise to Total Resistance / 259
XVI. Rebuilding China / 285
Epilogue My Hopes for Future China / 309

Afterword / 321
Appendix: My Intellectual Journey / 329