China: A History Paperback – Illustrated, December 6, 2011

That was quite possibly the longest, most boring book I have ever read. I love history and gobble it up whenever I can, but I’m telling you I don’t think my pulse ever quickened with excitement a single time as I read this. If such a thing as an exciting passage exists, here would be an example of it:Orders to disperse were ignored, and arresting the ringleaders failed to quell the tumult. The protesters now pounded on the throne-room door. They kept it up for much of the day until the emperor, his patience exhausted, ordered his fearsome Embroidered Guard to clear the area by force. No deaths resulted from this operation, but 134 men were taken into custody. All were then heavily sentenced, and of the thirty-seven who were awarded floggings, nineteen died under the lash. It was actually a rod. The offenders were stripped and made to lie on the ground, and the strokes were administered on their bare buttocks, the indignity being exceeded only by the pain, as blood flowed copiously.More likely though, you’ll find a passage that had opportunities to maybe be interesting, instead fizzle out like this, with no further elaboration:At Sanyuanli, a village north of Guangzhou, in May 1839 these irregulars gathered en masse after some of their women were violated by the invading troops; then, amid heavy rainstorms, they engaged and briefly repelled a force of Indo-British infantry, inflicting minor casualties.But the most typical type of experience you get from reading this book is reading paragraph after paragraph after paragraph like this:Other contemporary movements, such as the Red Turbans and the Triads, also opposed the Manchu Qing as alien usurpers; they wanted to set the clock back to 1644 and restore the Ming. But the Taipings opposed the Qing as the last in a long line of heretical alien dynasties; the clock should go back to AD 221. This chimed, as it were, with important strands in recent thought. Eighteenth-century scholars equally unreconciled to the Qing had blamed the failure of the indigenous Ming on the Neo-Confucianism of Zhu Xi (he of the ‘Four Books’ and the text-bound ‘investigation of all things’) or Wang Yangming (and his dangerously malleable ‘innate sense’ of what was right and humane). They too, therefore, had looked back to an earlier tradition and especially to the Han dynasty when the classic texts still retained a pristine quality uncorrupted by later editing. Practising what they called ‘evidential research’, these scholars brought to bear on the classics a more scientific approach in linguistics, geography and astronomy, and so restored a certain vitality to Confucian studies.Here’s an example of the book giving a surprise chuckle:In the process the Summer Palace, a fanciful Louvre designed for the Qianlong emperor by the Jesuits, was looted and burned. Though no great loss to architecture, it was a body blow to Qing prestige.The woman who reads the audiobook did a great job. She was fun to listen to.I still gave the book 5 stars because I mean, come on, how could you not? Every detail of Chinese history for the last 5000 years, no matter how uninteresting, seems to have been included. The truth is, it’s an excellent book. It’s just mind-numbingly boring.

The history of China is complex. John Keay gives an overview of China and its rich history starting from before the country was unified under the Qin and up until modern times excluding the Communist party from the second half of the 20th century. There is of course a lot to try to convey in this 3000 year period but the author does well to give the reader an overview of both the history and evolution that China has witnessed. Having grown up with an absence of books on China's entire history this is a good addition to the literature for a wide audience.The author begins with some of the earliest records of China starting before 1000 BC but quickly gets into the period of warring states and the unification and beginning of the Qin dynasty. The author gives all the background needed to understand how later conflicts reference back to the early conflicts faced in China. The author gives the reader a brief picture of the world Confucius lived in and the philosophy he created that was probably the strongest current in Chinese government through its history. The book details the dynasties and the philosophies that drove each age. It also discusses how dynastic transitions were described by Chinese historians as the legitimate passing of the mandate of heaven on as rulers failed in their duties. The author gives an overview of all the major dynasties and in particular he focuses on the Han dynasty which is often seen as the golden age where borders were expanded and leadership was just. He focuses on the Tang dynasty where China resurfaced as a unified power and the Song where China was last ruled by its own people before being over run by a series of outside powers. One reads a history where China has not been unified throughout its history and fragmentation of the empire has been distinct in multiple periods. One learns of how China had frequent dynastic turnover as emperors were invaded and lost the faith of the people only for the cycle to repeat itself. One of course learns of the Mongolian invasion and their Yuan dynasty as well as the peasant uprising that led to the Ming dynasty. It is fascinating to learn about how the mandate of heaven was transferred to a peasant in more than one occasion when the broad population was discontent with the ruler of the times. The relative decline of China is described in the last 500 years as it went from most properous and populous to exploited as industrialization took place in the west and gun boat diplomacy defined trade relations. This happened in particular with the Manchu's as they conquered the Ming in the 17th century. From there one sees a sequence of bullying trade deals and incremental isolation of China. The author spends time discussing the opium wars and the nationalist movement in China with Sun Yat-Sen and leaves us at the end of the second world war.China: A History gives a relatively quick overview of the major dynasties in China and its early modern history. Multiple more volumes could no doubt be written but this is a good starting point to get a sense of how China has evolved and where its civilization started. The archaeological record continues to broaden as its academic world opens up. This book gives you exactly what the title says, a History of China. The writing is clear and the content is interesting, worth the read.

This introduction to Chinese history combines good information with relative brevity. It covers China from the very beginning to current times in a way that is complete yet readable. I come away from it feeling like I have learned enough to have some idea of who the Chinese are and what their core is. It's a fine start to understanding a complex people.