Hello,
Im an anthropology student minoring chinese. Im really interested in learning more about the cultural history of China. I've read quite a bit of like, philosophy written by old chinese philosophers, and then a few journals discussing specific aspects of China's history for a report I did (the report was specifically on gender roles in china). Im looking for a book that discusses the cultural history of china, preferably giving at least a brief overview of each dynasty and how the culture morphed with each one. I'm also very very interested in the Opium wars and would be interested in reading something specifically about that! Also very interested in specifically what lead to Mao and the communist revolution, I have a pretty good knowledge about the revolution in China (I took a pretty rigorous class on the cold war in high school) but we didn't really delve into the historical and cultural context that lead to Mao's power.
I went on a reading spree of books in a similar vein to this but about russia/USSR, and the best 2 books I found were "The Russians" and "Natasha's Dance", so if theres anything in a similar vein to that style but about China instead, I would be very interested in reading that!
Doesn't have to be a book either–I'd be just as interested in reading academic articles. I also have pretty decent grasp on anthropology/history and have been reading academic stuff since like freshman year of high school so its okay if some of the writing is a little academic jargon heavy.
I also have a very elementary understanding of mandarin if that helps in anyway lol.
thanks in advance for the help:)
by irlmpdg
2 Comments
Anything by Jonathan D. Spence, Frank Dikotter, or Stephen R. Platt. I’d probably start with The Search of Modern China by Spence, it covers 1600-1989.
Harvard University Press has an excellent series called History of Imperial China – each book focuses on one or two dynasties, acting as an overview each. The one I read (and overall one of my favourite works of non-fiction) was Timothy Brook’s The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, which I found to be an excellent overview with a focus on social history. The Qing Dynasty volume is called China’s Last Empire, and is by William T. Rowe. Depending on where you are, your library might have or be able to inter-library loan it for you, but the books in this series are also very afordable at about 20-25USD each!