A History of China

Blackwell History of the World

by Morris Rossabi

Capturing China’s past in all its complexity, this multi-faceted history portrays China in the context of a larger global world, while incorporating the narratives of Chinese as well as non-Chinese ethnic groups and discussing people traditionally left out of the story―peasants, women, merchants, and artisans.  

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction, Asia

452 pages, Paperback

First published March 6, 2007

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a super useful book, had great information and was unbiased.

[Jong Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

China's history is too long and complex to put into 400 pages. However, the author did a great job in summarizing the history with neutral views.

[E.M. Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rossabi's History is a deeply researched, yet admittedly dry read. While I had to give this work points for its extremely high density of information, I unfortunately struggled a bit to deal with the text's style. Its tepid and academic language makes it extremely difficult to understand the significance of the many different facts covered across the chapters relative to one another and one comes away with a disappointingly limited understanding of Chinese history, besides an easily forgettable list of points that are rendered to the reader.
The author clearly knew his stuff, and he knew how to do research, but this read would have been made infinitely better by a greater portrayal of passion. For a better synthesis of academic information and passion, check out The Search For Modern China.

[YH]

I am very surprised to find that the author, a University Professor, made the mistake of equating the the whole Chinese population with the Han people. Even when I was in primary school 70 years ago, I was taught that the Chinese people compose of five groups, Han, Manchurians, Mongolian, Tibetans and Muslim. This is like equating British people with Anglo-Saxon only, ignoring the Viking blood not to say Welsh and Scottish.
The famous poet, Li Bo, was not of the Han race but nobody ever said he was not Chinese!

[Miguel Angel]

It is a good History book, but I think a little bit classic. Could be better to do final research by some topics along with the Chinese History

[Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a very dry tome with very few illustrations to help assist with understanding the text (maps and timelines are very helpful).