A comprehensive, yet entertaining look at China's history through a
modern lens.
For millennia, China was the largest and richest nation on earth. Two
centuries ago, however, its economy sank into a depression from which it
had not fully recovered--until now. China's modern resurgence as the
world's largest nation in terms of population and its second-largest
economy--where 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the
space of a few decades--is the greatest untold story of the 21st
century.
A Brief History of China tells of the development of a rich and
complex civilization where the use of paper, writing, money and
gunpowder were widespread in ancient times and where silk, ceramics,
tea, metal implements and other products were produced and exported
around the globe. It examines the special conditions that allowed a
single culture to unify an entire continent spanning 10 billion square
kilometers under the rule of a single man--and the unbelievably rich
artistic, literary and architectural heritage that Chinese culture has
bequeathed to the world. Equally fascinating is the story of China's
decline in the 19th and early 20th century--as Europeans and Americans
took center stage--and its modern resurgence as an economic powerhouse
in recent years.
In his retelling of a Chinese history stretching back 5,000 years,
author and China-expert Jonathan Clements focuses on the human stories
which led to the powerful transformations in Chinese society--from the
unification of China under its first emperor, Qinshi Huangdi, and the
writings of the great Chinese philosophers Confucius and Laozi, to the
Mongol invasion under Genghis Khan and the consolidation of Communist
rule under Mao Zedong. Clements even brings readers through to the
present day, outlining China's economic renaissance under Deng Xiaoping
and Xi Jinping.
What really separates this book from its counterparts is the focus on
women, and modern themes such as diversity and climate change. Chinese
history is typically told through the stories of its most famous men,
but Clements' telling gives women equal time and research--which
introduces readers of this book to equally important, but less
commonly-known facts and historical figures.
Often seen in the West in black or white terms--as either a savage
dystopia or a fantastical paradise--China is revealed in the book as an
exceptional yet troubled nation that nevertheless warrants its
self-description as the Middle Kingdom.
