The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3, Part 1: Sui and T'ang China: 589-906

Cambridge History of China #4

by Denis C. Twitchett (Editor)

The Cambridge History of China is one of the most far-reaching works of international scholarship ever undertaken, exploring the main developments in political, social, economic and intellectual life from the Ch'in empire to the present day. The contributors are specialists from the international community of sinological scholars. Many of the accounts break new ground; all are based on fresh research. The works are written not only with students and scholars but also with the general reader in mind. No knowledge of Chinese is assumed, though for readers of Chinese, proper and other names are identified with their characters in the index. Numerous maps and tables illustrate the text. Volume 3, covers the second great period of unified imperial power, 589–906, when China established herself as the centre of a wider cultural sphere, embracing Japan, Korea and Vietnam. It was an era in which there was a great deal of rapid social and economic change, and in which literature and the arts reached new heights of attainment.

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction

872 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 1979

About the author

Denis Crispin Twitchett was a British Sinologist and scholar who specialized in Chinese history and greatly expanded the role of Chinese studies in Western intellectual circles.

Reviews

[Andrew Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

In general, Cambridge histories are high quality works, with excellent research and work. However, they get bogged down sometimes by the narrow focus of the scholars who work on them. (The history of the Shang includes a lot more detail about divination than almost anyone cares to know)

This book is harder to read because it uses Wade-Giles for Chinese names, while the modern PRC has been using Pinyin for 70 years now. This makes ALL the Chinese names the non-standard ones, makes it impossible to look things up, and there was a decision not to use ANY chinese characters at all in this book. So you really can't follow locations, places, or families, it makes this work fairly difficult to follow. There are some bits that are easy to follow, but they are lost amid a sea of confusing passages. I did get to understand some of the thread of what happened here, and some aspects of the bureaucratic culture, but I still don't know where the fortress city of Kuancheng is, or about the Hswuen-Hu gate incident (because of the Wade-Giles names)

It ends up being mostly dead boring and tedious. Its the fault of the writers who should be able to make this captivating rather than fall on your face boring.

[Zeitgeist · Rating 5 out of 5]

習慣認知里，改朝換代都會避用前朝官員，而利用遊牧民族作為雇傭軍為自己開疆拓土或者鎮壓內亂更是隋唐時期的一大特色，這應該和儒家的思想無論於統治階層抑或是社會在這一時期都未主宰人的思想和價值取向有關。此書還能釋疑：作為中國最引以為豪的唐王朝，是如何由強大走向衰落直至最終滅亡，僅僅藩鎮割據和宦官專權就能給出答案？是否還有其他因素，他們在王朝國運下滑中究竟扮演怎樣的角色……—辛醜牛年大年初二 23:55閱畢

[Brett Childs · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as I know, Volume 4 which covers the cultural and economic topics of this time period hasn’t yet been published, which is unfortunate but I’ll have to keep my eyes open for it.

[Carlos Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

第二次讀了。
雖然有些研究可能過時，但基本功底還是在的，依然值得一看。

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, this is obviously not a book you pick up as a casual read, but a book to be read by someone who has a deep interest in these two periods--the Sui (589-618) and the Tang (618-906). But for those with such an interest, this book is truly worth the 1000-page commitment.

[Vooh Eheve · Rating 5 out of 5]

best book I ever read