تاریخ فشرده چین

Shortest History

by Linda Jaivin, روبرت صافاریان (Translator)

کتاب «تاریخ فشرده چین: از خاندان‌های دوران باستان تا ابرقدرت مدرن امروز» نوشته لیندا جیوین، نویسنده و مترجم استرالیایی، تلاشی است برای ارائه روایتی فشرده و در عین حال جامع از تاریخ پرفراز و نشیب چین. جیوین با قلمی روان و جذاب، خواننده را در سفری شگفت‌انگیز از دوران باستان تا عصر حاضر همراهی می‌کند.
این کتاب از ۱۵ بخش تشکیل شده است و نویسنده در هر بخش، به برهه مشخصی از تاریخ چین می‌پردازد. بخش‌های نخستین کتاب با معرفی تمدن چین باستان آغاز می‌شود و به سلسله‌های مختلفی مانند شیا، شانگ، ژو، چین، هان، تانگ، سونگ، یوآن، مینگ و چینگ می‌پردازد. نویسنده ضمن بررسی رویدادهای کلیدی هر دوره، به تحولات سیاسی، اجتماعی، اقتصادی و فرهنگی نیز اشاره می‌کند. او همچنین به نقش چهره‌های برجسته‌ای چون کنفوسیوس، چین شی هوانگ، و ژو یوآنژانگ در شکل‌دهی به تاریخ چین می‌پردازد.
جیوین سپس وارد دوران مدرن چین می‌شود و رویدادهایی چون جنگ تریاک، شورش تایپینگ، جنبش صد روزه اصلاحات، انقلاب ۱۹۱۱، و جنگ‌های داخلی میان ناسیونالیست‌ها و کمونیست‌ها را مورد بحث قرار می‌دهد. او ظهور مائو تسه‌تونگ و تأسیس جمهوری خلق چین در سال ۱۹۴۹ را نقطه عطفی در تاریخ معاصر این کشور می‌داند.
در ادامه، نویسنده به بررسی چین در دوران حکومت کمونیستی می‌پردازد و رویدادهای مهمی مانند جهش بزرگ به جلو، انقلاب فرهنگی، و اصلاحات اقتصادی دنگ شیائوپینگ را مورد واکاوی قرار می‌دهد. او همچنین چالش‌های چین در عصر حاضر، از جمله نابرابری فزاینده، مسائل زیست‌محیطی، و تنش‌های ژئوپلیتیک را برجسته می‌کند.
همچنین لیندا جیوین، علاوه بر پرداختن به رویدادهای سیاسی و نظامی، به جنبه‌های فرهنگی، هنری و فلسفی تمدن چین نیز می‌پردازد. نویسنده به نقش ادیان و مکاتب فکری مهمی چون کنفوسیوسیسم، دائوئیسم و بودیسم در شکل‌دهی به هویت و ارزش‌های چینی اشاره می‌کند. او همچنین به دستاوردهای چشمگیر چینیان در زمینه‌هایی مانند اختراع کاغذ، چاپ، باروت و قطب‌نما می‌پردازد و تأثیر آنها را بر تمدن جهانی برجسته می‌سازد.
یکی از ویژگی‌های برجسته کتاب، توجه نویسنده به روایت‌های جایگزین و اقلیت‌های قومی است. جیوین در کنار پرداختن به روایت رسمی تاریخ چین، به حاشیه‌ها نیز نگاهی می‌اندازد و تجربیات گروه‌هایی چون زنان، دهقانان و اقلیت‌های قومی را پررنگ می‌کند. این رویکرد به غنای کتاب می‌افزاید و درک چندلایه‌ای از تاریخ چین ارائه می‌دهد.
نکته قوت کتاب، توانایی جیوین در گنجاندن حجم گسترده‌ای از اطلاعات در فضایی محدود است. او با انتخاب دقیق رویدادها و جزئیات، تصویری کلی و در عین حال عمیق از تاریخ چین ترسیم می‌کند. همچنین، نثر روان و طنزآمیز او، کتاب را برای طیف وسیعی از خوانندگان، از جمله افراد غیرمتخصص، جذاب و خواندنی می‌سازد.
در نهایت، کتاب «تاریخ فشرده چین: از خاندان های دوران باستان تا ابرقدرت مدرن امروز» اثری است که به‌خوبی از عهده معرفی موجز اما جامع تاریخ این کشور کهن برمی‌آید. نویسنده با ترکیب دقیق و هوشمندانه اطلاعات تاریخی و تحلیل‌های معاصر، توانسته است به خوانندگان کمک کند تا درک عمیق‌تری از این کشور پیچیده و پر رمز و راز پیدا کنند. نثر گیرا، ساختار منسجم، و گستره موضوعی کتاب، آن را به اثری ارزشمند برای علاقه‌مندان به تاریخ و فرهنگ چین بدل می‌کند.

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction, Asia, Politics, Historical, Audiobook

296 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2021

About the author

Linda Jaivin is the author of twelve books, including the forthcoming (May 2021) The Shortest History of China and the novel The Empress Lover, published in April 2014 as well as the travel companion Beijing, published in July 2014. Other major publications include the Quarterly Essay: Found in Translation (late 2013), five novels and a novella, a collection of essays (Confessions of an S&M Virgin) and a China memoir (Monkey and the Dragon). Her first novel was the internationally bestselling comic erotic Eat Me. The Empress Lover follows A Most Immoral Woman, which is set in China and Japan in 1904 and based on a true story. She is also a translator from Chinese and a playwright. She was the winner of the 2014 New South Wales Writers Fellowship.

Reviews

[Annikky]

This is a very good overview of a topic that is so vast that it's almost impossible to summarise. A good starting point for people who are planning to do more reading on China and a great option for those who just want to read one, accessible book about the country's history.

[8stitches 9lives]

The Shortest History of China is a richly informative and important book. China's past is key to the modern world. This nimble and pacy history of rogues, revolutions and rebellions can be read in a single afternoon but will transform your perspective for a lifetime. Some people turn to Chinese history for clues to China’s present. Others look to it as the missing piece in the puzzle of world history as it’s typically taught in the west. And still, others find joy simply in exploring topics ranging from the intellectual and cultural life of Chinese cities in dynastic times to the stories of China’s first feminists, the origins of Daoism, or even the history of history in China itself. Chinese history is sprawling and gloriously messy. It is full of heroes who are also villains, prosperous ages and violent rebellions, cultural vibrancy and censorious impulses, rebels, loyalists, dissidents and wits, and the story of women in China, from the earliest warriors to twentieth-century suffragettes, is rarely ever told.

And historical spectres of corruption and disunity, which have brought down many a mighty ruling house, continue to haunt the People’s Republic today. Modern China is seen variously as an economic powerhouse, an icon of urbanisation, a propaganda state or an aggressive superpower seeking world domination. Linda Jaivin distils a vast history into a short, readable account that tells you what you need to know, from China’s philosophical origins to its political system to the COVID-19 pandemic and where China is likely to lead the world. Jaivin is an author who has lived and worked in China for years, first as a student then as a foreign correspondent. She was in China during the Tiananmen Square massacres of 1989 and several of her closest friends were leading the protests. The Chinese politics, language and culture expert posits that knowing the story of this extraordinary civilisation is necessary for understanding the revival of Chinese power and its increasingly aggressive role in the world. Highly recommended.

[Mircea Petcu]

În 221 î.Hr., Ying Zheng s-a autoproclamat Qin Shihuang, Primul împărat Qin, însușindu-și un titlu rezervat anterior suveranilor mitici și semizeităților precum Împăratul Galben. Niciodată până atunci un teritoriu atât de întins - 3,4 milioane de km pătrați - nu fusese unificat sub un singur conducător.
După ce a cucerit prin forță (tianxia) "tot ce era sub cer", Qin Shihuang a trebuit să protejeze teritoriul împotriva incursiunilor ostile. El a poruncit să fie construite ziduri de graniță de pământ compactat și de turnuri de supraveghere de-a lungul hotarului nordic al imperiului său. Marile Ziduri au fost menite să țină la distanță confederația laxă de triburi nomade războinice pe care chinezii le numeau "xiognu" și cărora li se mai spune uneori "huni".
Una dintre cele mai importante moșteniri ale sale a fost standardizarea scrierii. Chiar și cele mai comune caractere chinezești erau scrise diferit de la un loc la altul, având o evoluție îndependentă. Lucrul acesta îngreuna capacitatea lui Qin de a-și face cunoscute politicile și legile.
Împăratul Qin este păzit în viața de dincolo de peste 8000 de războinici de teracotă în mărime naturală.
Chiar dacă statul Qin avea să reziste foarte puțin după moartea întemeietorul său, sinologul Geremie Barme remarca faptul că "ambiția imperială și guvernarea nemiloasă au bântuit politica chineză încă de pe atunci".

După dinastia Qin au urmat dinastiile Han, Tang, Song, Yuan (mongolă), Ming și Qing (manciuriană).
Importante pentru guvernare au fost ideile lui Mencius (Mengzi - "Maestrul Meng"), un discipol eminent al lui Confucius (Kongzi). Ideile lui Mencius aveau să devină fundamentul conceptului de Mandat al Cerului (tianming), prin care împăratul, adică Fiul Cerului (tianzi), se bucură de o autoritate semidivină pentru a domni. Mencius descria politica drept un ciclu al "ordinii și haosului". Dacă un împărat își nesocotea mandatul printr-un comportament imoral sau prin incompetență, rebeliunea și schimbarea dinastică erau justificate.
Interesant mod de a explica evoluția dinastiilor.

Recomand

[M Caesar]

Well, if you stop reading and pretend the book ends at the world war 2 period when you get there its 4 stars. A lot of good info in a short period of time on Chinese history, which is the goal of the book. But once it gets to the 20th century the handling of the communist period is very bad. It takes umbrage with a lot of things, such as the ending of slavery in Tibet by the mao era government (which it fearmongers about and glosses over the whole , the Tibetian society functioned as a slave state part), or the great firewall and fearmongers about "censorship" without mentioning that the shit the great firewall blocks is stuff like chan imageboards lol. If you had no familiarity with chinese communism or its policies or marxist statecraft in general you would come away with a strange impression of the government that it was just one party liberal democracy that made a lot of "bad" decisions unpopular with western human rights lawyers for no reason lol. Its a shame it did such a hard pivot into orientalist liberalism because the early chapters were quite good.

[Darka]

у мене були інші очікування від книжки, бо я розраховувала, що ми більше будемо говорити про очевидну проблематичність сучасного Китаю, але авторка надто вже делікатно висловлювалася на всі злободенні теми.

але загалом було цікаво написано, а, якщо заплющити очі на нереалістичність задумки вмістити буквально тисячоліття історії в 230 сторінок з картинками, то навіть певною мірою пізнавально.

смішно, що пояснення вінні-пуху з обкладинки допитливим читачам у книжці знайти не вдасться. не дуже смішно, що велетенською країною ображених націоналістів-комуністів (не питайте) до скону керуватиме обіженка, що забороняє мультфільми "щоб усі боялись, щоб не насміхались".

мені здається, що це ненайкращий (але і ненайгірший, лол, нагадаю вам, що у фоліо виходила книжку мудрощів від дядечка Сі, неможливі рівні) варіант книжки про Китай для перекладу в сучасній Україні, бо він може створити дещо викривлене враження у людей, які до того недостатньо цікавилися темою.

[Rory]

Read because I didn’t know anything about China. Now know some things about China. Turns out a fair amount of stuff has happened over there.

[Courtney]

This book is exactly what it claims to be and it does it well. While not comprehensive it covers important points of each dynasty, highlighting key players, advances in philosophical thought and invention and well as covering the cyclonic nature of history. Covering the rise and fall, prosperity and oppression. Famine, flood and war.

The writing is engaging and often leaves you curious to read up on certain figures or periods. It explains the social mood of the time and how the leaders of the time employed propaganda, religion and philosophical thought into the leadership. And how they continued to do that to the present and most of all it explains the way we have reached the current climate we find ourselves in with the CCP.

It truely is a fantastic if brief education in the history of China.

And as a last note, it's always fascinating to see when the English will show up and be complete and utter fucking wankstains. Ugh.

[Tanya Fabrychenko]

Моя памʼять програє битву з іменами всіх китайських імператорів уже завтра, але це хороший короткий огляд такої великої цивілізації.

[Jim]

What a blessing this concise, readable history is for my students. I teach AP World History to high school sophomores and learning about China is always a daunting task. Enter "The Shortest History of China." In fifteen relatively brief chapters, the author present thousands of years of history my students would have feared learning. This will serve nicely as a Fall Break reading assignment that won't seem punitive! I was lucky enough to get an advanced readers copy and was able to build it into this year’s curriculum. Thanks, Netgalley and @experimentbooks for making this high school teacher's life a little easier!

[Tsung]

Fascinating albeit disjointed sweeping history of China. It is challenging to compress over two thousand years of Chinese history into less than three hundred pages. There is no cohesive narrative as it jumps between anecdotes but the individual stories are intriguing.

[Paul]

As someone from China, I would say this book is solid as an introduction to the history of China.

On a side note, I notice the author went out of her way to highlight the influence of important females in each dynasty. Given Chinese society is mostly patriarchal throughout its history (and to the present day), this is perhaps a necessary nudge in the right direction.

[Yuliia Dukach]

Непогана книга щоб хоч трохи дізнатися про історію Китаю людині, яка не знає (майже) нічого. Але саме це і ховає в собі найбільшу проблему: майже три тисячоліття описані на 240 сторінках, і тепер в моїй голові суцільний месс 😅

Підозрюю, що не багато втратила якби прочитала лише вступ і останні три розділи з історією КПК.

[Halina Hetman]

Цю книгу я купила наобум, в рамках підготовки до читання І-Цзіну. Ніколи не думала, що можу захопитися такою темою, але авторці вдалося передати мені свою пристрасть. Якщо Китай вас не цікавить, то з книгою все одно варто ознайомитися - хоча б для того, щоб побачити, як треба писати про складне (4000 років історії на 250 сторінках, які читаються легко і весело). Ну і для того, щоб краще розуміти своїх ворогів (якщо ви думаєте, що Китай Україні не ворог, а потенційний партнер, вам сюди: У таборах високих технологій).

Айнштайн казав:

Якщо ви не можете пояснити це просто, ви не знаєте цього достатньо добре.

Лінда Явін знає історію Китаю дуже добре. Це допомогло їй написати найкращий нон-фікшн, який я коли-небудь читала.

[Jeremy Moore]

It's very informative and I enjoyed it, but it feels like something is missing. I can't put my finger on it.

Maybe it's such a long span of time that it was always going to feel a bit cyclical, with similar characters appearing over and over again and not enough time to spend with them.

Maybe it was so previously unknown to me that it was information overload, where other histories I've been able to anchor more to previous understandings.

I appreciate what I learned and I respect the work, it just felt more like work to read it, less like entertainment.

[Julian Worker]

This book is OK as an introduction to the history of China. This history is complicated, complex, and confusing at times with perhaps too much emphasis in the book on the more modern aspects of China's story. There are only two pages of 'further reading' suggestions and I'd like to think that this is not enough for such a vast subject.

I reckon this book could do with a good edit as it's a bit vague in places.

[Христо Блажев]

Китай – за който знаем твърде малко: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/n...

Разбирам напълно възраженията към такъв тип олекотени истории, но все отнякъде трябва да се започне. Определено няма да преразказвам китайската история, авторката го е направила удачно, като още в началото пише, че тая работа с петте хиляди години писана история не е съвсем вярна, по-точно: “Най-старото материално свидетелство на китайска писменост обаче датира отпреди 3500 години, което я нарежда на трето или четвърто място в света след тази на шумерите в Месопотамия, на древните египтяни и вероятно на минойците.” След това хронологично проследява не толкова владетел по владетел – в често политически разкъсаните китайски земи това е невъзможно, колкото се опитва да отличи приносите на различните династии, които се сменят на кормилото на властта и с променлив успех се опитват да консолидират колкото се може по-голяма територия. Голяма до непонятна за нас степен, които възвеличаваме битки с по няколко десетки хиляди войници на бойното поле, докато в Китай нещата още тогава са от различен порядък – “преброяването от 754 г. съобщава за население от около 53 милиона души, но по-вероятно е да са доста повече, защото “преброяванията при Тан не са обхващали всички мигранти, нехански етноси, монаси, странстващи артисти, работници и евнуси”.

ИК Прозорец
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/n...

[Mitch]

+Fascinating read from start to finish - just the right ratio of interesting anecdotes (The man-baby-jester successfully overthrowing the kingdom being my favourite) to commentary to broader sociopolitical events.

+Does a great job briefly outlining how thinkers / texts continue to exert influence (Confucius, Daoists, Mao, Tao Te Ching, I Ching, the new Falun Gong)

+Being so recently published, its nice to read through the Xi Jinping era up to present day. I now have a slight confidence in understanding the CCP.

-Sometimes it seems a little too brief such as when the book barely describes Mao’s Great Famine of the 1960s. In the author’s defence though, I’m getting what I pay for and there’s no way my fried attention-span is tolerating a 2000-page history book.

“Wen-yuan Qian observes: ‘No other nation had so many peasant rebellions, was plagued by so many civil wars, and was invaded so often; yet no nation preserved its own characteristic culture so well”

[Yulia Maleta]

Книжка не для професійних істориків, а звичайних читачів, бо написана просто, легко і цікаво. Для тих, хто хоче зрозуміти в чому суть конфліктів КНР з Тайваню та Тибетом, згадати як так сталося, що з'явилося дві Кореї, прочитати про студентські протести на площі Тяньаньмень проти політики комуністичної партії і жорстке придушення його, про штучний голод, а також про багато подій до ХХ століття. Вони досі впливають на світобачення китайців.

Мені сподобалося, що тут немає возвеличення Китаю, а лише спроба об'єктивно поглянути на минуле, мистецтво і філософію, різні династії і становище жінок, щоб допомогти трішки краще зрозуміти цю країну. Тут, до речі, описується і звідки пішов звичай бинтувати ноги (це каліцтво справжнє), і які жінки приходили до влади в різні часи і як жорстоко вони розправлялися із суперницями.

Для розширення світобачення і поглиблення свого розуміння світу і знань про нього і без заглиблення в зайві дати, яких все одно не запам'ятаєш, – те, що треба.

[Yaryna Zhukorska]

Китай. Про нього можна говорити багато, але важко написати коротко й цікаво.
Авторці це вдалося.
Коротка історія держави, яка завжди займала й займає важливе місце на геополітичній карті світу.

З династіями, переворотами та змінами влади, звичайно, я заплуталася по тексту, але від цього він не стає менш цікавим та інформативним.
Насправді часто все одно, хто саме при владі, головне - що він (не) робить.

Нанкінський договір 1842, Гонконг, статус Макао, Тибет, Тайвань та ООН, екстериторіальність, уйгури, концесії - місцями таке враження, що читаєш книжку з міжнародного права чи міжнародних відносин, що і не дивно.
А ще Південнокитайське море, яке я бачила й полюбила. Та хіба можна не полюбити море))
І яке, як пояснювали мені, коли я була у Вʼєтнамі, - насправді Північнокитайське море)

✔️ Відмова однієї порядної людини важить більше, ніж мовчазна згода натовпу (с).

✔️ І хоч ніхто не знає, що готує для нас майбутнє, історія принаймні робить його менш несподіваним.

#451deepreading

[Jonatan Risåsen]

Great introduction to Chinese history. It was interesting to learn about the emperors, thinkers and artists who contributed to shaping the China we know today.

It was sometimes hard to follow the different figures, as their names were foreign to me.

I think there was a bit too much focus on relatively minor events from the last 50 years. However, those events were crucial in shaping contemporary China.

[Philip William]

Linda attempts to tell the history from a modern perspective but it never quite comes off.

She seems clearer on the last hundred years (which is 40% of the book) but possibly that is because my understanding of the last 100 years is better then the previous 2,500 years.

I am left looking for a better understanding of the history of China and how it interacts with modern day thinking.

[♡ Diyasha ♡]

✦ 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 ✦ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐉𝐚𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧 ✦

𝙿𝚊𝚐𝚎: 288
𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚜: 4.02
𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚣𝚘𝚗: 4.4

• What do you think about modern China? Or about their culture and urbanization? How do the fierce superpowers get their positions?

• China is known as an “economic superpower” and has influenced cuisine, commerce, military strategy, aesthetics and philosophy across the world. China tells the stories of violent rebellions, cultural vibrancy and censorious impulses, rebels, loyalists, dissidents and wits, and also about the story of women in China, from the earliest warriors to twentieth-century suffragettes, is rarely ever told.

• Language has super efficiently taken its part here. The Chinese politics, language and culture expert posits that knowing the story of this incredible civilisation is indispensable for understanding the rebirth of Chinese power and its increasingly assertive role in the world. I came to know that the author was in China during the Tiananmen Square massacres of 1989.

• For one who loves to know the history of a country, this book is a solid preface to the history of China. From kung-fu to tofu, tea to trade routes, and sages to silk, Chinese history is gloriously chaotic. This “Shortest History of China” is not the shortest history. This is one of the most well-defined and narrated explanations one can ever have. Chinese historical records are long and deep.
.
So I would love to rate 4.3 🍁🧿

[Michelle Huang]

I read this book sporadically over the last few months and skipped all the dynasties and started in 1839 with the first opium war. I generally struggle with history books because there are so many details, which I experienced in this book also. I will comment that I would’ve liked a bit more analysis/insight into motivations, significance, vibes rather than facts. Still glad I read it as it contributed to my learning of Chinese history, although I can’t remember what I learned exactly from this book due to sporadic experience of it and simultaneously learning from other sources too.
One of my fav resources so far was China Roots of Madness documentary (on YouTube) which shares chinese history from 1839 first opium war in a chronological way using actual footage from the times!! which really helped me piece together all the separate bits of Chinese history I hard learned (boxer, Qing, opium wars, foreign occupation and interference, Japan, civil war).

[Meryl Mao-Jiang]

Whereas Confucians were obsessed with the correct course of action in any situation, Daoists preached wúwéi無為, ‘inaction’–flowing like water does in nature.
———

He proposed systems of mutual surveillance and a regime that rewarded desirable behaviour and punished undesirable behaviour according to standards set by the ruler: ‘The object of rewards is to encourage; that of punishments, to prevent.’ The contemporary writer Zhā Jiànyīng has written of the enduring importance of Hanfeizi’s ideas: ‘In the art of Chinese-style imperial rule, if Confucianism is the outer shell, then Legalism is its inner core,’ she states. ‘To put it more bluntly, it is the abiding heart of darkness of the Chinese state.’
——-

芳草閉閑門 fāng cǎo bì xián mén The characters signify, in order: fragrant, plants, cover, idle, door. In Chinese Poetic Writing, François Cheng comments that the line’s last three characters suggest the increasingly coherent, the increasingly clear, vision of the poet as he approaches the dwelling of the recluse. The line culminates in the final image, a bare door as if at last stripped of all that is superfluous. This idea of successive stages of ‘stripping away’ is reinforced on a deeper level by the meanings implied in the third and fourth characters in the line:閉 contains the element才 ‘talent’, ‘merit’, and閑 contains the element木 ‘plant’, ‘ornament’; they seem to signify that to arrive at true spirituality one must first free oneself from all worldly care for exterior merit and ornament.
——-
Things were ever imperfect. May we all live long, May we all share, Though myriad miles apart The same fair moon. 24此事古難全但願人長久千里共嬋娟

[Milan Singh-Cheema]

A nice little dive into Chinese history, which left me wanting for more (especially of the Manchu period). I do wish they had some sort of warning for that spicy image of Tianamen Square though, not ideal for opening on a Chinese domestic flight.

[Abby Meder]

Not my fave but made me less dumb about Chinese history

[Amelia Brown]

I read this in one sitting on a flight to Shanghai and it was hugely informative and fascinating! Covering centuries of Chinese history in one 300ish page book is no small feat. However, I would have liked a bit more balance between the ancient history and 1900s onward. The chapters covering BCE were a whirlwind, and more time was given to the modern day.

[hannah scott]

mad history that i barely knew anything about, would love to read more about China’s history cus obvs it was quite brief x

[Richard]

My first book on the history of China, and certainly whetted my appetite. A whistle stop tour that has given me a new perspective on our current global affairs.

[Shae Wiedermann]

Wow China really been around