China Simplified: History Flashback

by Stewart Lee Beck, Zhumin Sun

Better understand today’s China with this entertaining guide to its history. Ideal for business persons who want to raise their China games, students who seek deeper cultural connections, and travelers in search of valuable insights.

"You'll enjoy yourself so much you might not realize how much you're learning."
— Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, University of Oxford

"This is the history book for people that didn't know they love history!”
— Yue-Sai Kan, Chinese American television host and producer

"A delightful romp through 5,000 years of Chinese history."
— Andrew Browne, China columnist, The Wall Street Journal

"A clean, clear line to the main developments in China's history... entertaining and enlightening.”
— James Fallows, The Atlantic

"Those who want to understand China can now do it with ease."
— Jesse Wu, International Vice President, Johnson & Johnson

"Makes five millenniums of Chinese civilization accessible to readers of all levels.”
— James B. Heimowitz, President, China Institute

"Stewart and Zhumin both entertain and inform as storytellers."
— Brantley Turner, American Principal, Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School

"An exciting tour through a long, varied and fascinating history."
— James Uden, Associate Professor of Classical Studies, Boston University

"Both informative and fun; a masterstroke!"
— Bruno Lannes, Partner at a well-known consulting company in China

The authors encourage you to discover the historians, philosophers and thinkers whose works significantly influenced History Flashback:

Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation
Alec Ash, Wish Lanterns
Daniel Bell, China’s New Confucianism
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy
Patricia Buckley Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China
John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman, China: A New History
James Fallows, China Airborne
Jonathan Fenby, The Penguin History of Modern China
Feng Youlan (Fung Yu-lan), A Short History of Chinese Philosophy
Eric Fish, China’s Millennials
Howard French, Everything Under the Heavens
Peter Hessler, Oracle Bones
Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order
Philip J. Ivanhoe, The Daodejing of Laozi
Jung Chang, Empress Dowager Cixi
Henry Kissenger, On China
Damien Ma and William Adams, In Line Behind a Billion People
Victor H. Mair, The Art of War
Michael Meyer, The Last Days of Old Beijing
Rana Mitter, Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937–1945
Evan Osnos, Age of Ambition
Henry M Paulson, Dealing with China
John Pomfret, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom
Orville Schell and John Delury, Wealth and Power
Rob Schmitz, Street of Eternal Happiness
David Shambaugh, China Goes Global
Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China
Edward Tse, China’s Disruptors: How Alibaba, Xiaomi, Tencent are Changing the Rules of Business
Ezra Vogel, Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, China in the 21st Century
Burton Watson, Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian
Odd Arne Westad, Restless Empire: China and the World Since 1750
Xinran, The Good Women of China

China Simplified hopes you enjoy History Flashback!

Genres: China, Nonfiction

230 pages, Paperback

Published October 27, 2017

About the author

Stewart Lee Beck 李渡 during his 24 years in China worked as a marketing director, bartender, actor, columnist, screenwriter, and documentary producer. This diversity of experience, coupled with his endless fascination with Chinese culture, fueled his two books: China Simplified: Language Empowerment and China Simplified: History Flashback. Stewart now lives in SE Asia with a Chinese wife whom he refers to as "the crazy woman who keeps me sane."

Reviews

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightfully Concise and witty overview of Chinese history and culture. Absolutely brilliant.

[Pegboard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stewart Lee Beck and Sun Zhumin did an excellent job pulling China’s major historical points together in one book, China Simplified: History Flashback. This book educates those who want to know more about this prosperous country, with its unique stories and well-known philosophers. Since history is a major key in their everyday life, it is imperative know and understand its key points when interacting with Chinese.

I love how the authors go into depth about the meaning and description of the dragon to the Chinese people and how every mother strived to have a child born the year of the dragon as an extra protégé for their offspring. The quotes throughout the book were a picture of the great mind among their past, but the one quote I find that emulates it all is: “For Chinese people, history is our religion… We don’t have a supernatural standard of right or wrong, good and bad, so we view history as the ultimate judge.” Hu Ping

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun and easy read. The authors do an amazing job of making the information fun to learn and really keep the readers attention. I found that I just had to keep reading this delightful book and really liked the information that they provided. The details and imagery were fantastic and the commentary that went along was fun as well. I really enjoyed the little pictures and the added details that they put into the book about the different stories. This was a wonderful and educational read that I look forward to giving to my son in the future. The authors do a fantastic job of making learning fun and really opened a door way into China. The authors were also wonderful at getting their love of the country and its history through to the reader and making the whole thing just plan fun.

[Jimmy Jefferson · Rating 5 out of 5]

History of china

This is a book about the history and culture of China. The authors take a close look at the different dynasties and citizens as they matured and changed over the course of the years. The authors have put together a good guide to the development of the Chinese culture over the course of time. A good resource for anyone looking to further their knowledge of this amazing culture. A must have for all those who plan to visit this land and journey through the streets of the Chinese citizens.

[Archie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A journey to China!
The book is really a flashback to China History put together in a simple format that is easy to understand and follow. It’s an interesting, fascinating, journey to China history, which is complicated, long and difficult otherwise to understand. It’s a guidebook for visitors, for Chinese it refreshes their knowledge and for any general reader it is a pot of knowledge focused on China era, their culture, civilization, rich history and its journey to global leadership and advancement.

[Celeste · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my mind there are 3 types of books: (1) books you would willingly give away, (2) books you will keep just for yourself, and (3) books you will leave for your children. This falls under the third category for me.

I started this book with a bias— when the author introduced himself as having a "Malaysian Chinese wife"... like OK, I'm just reminded of the social media movements of "I don't need to know about your asian wife"... like seriously, we don't, and maybe Stewart thinks it lends him extra legitimacy for he falls under the category of China-expert foreigner writing about China... but as a millennial, I find it annoying.

Still, I found the book a delight to read. 5000 years of history compressed into 1 digestible volume that picks out the key highlights of iconic emperors (e.g, Qianlong), the rise and fall of dynasties, that the "Han" race might not be as pure as once imagined due to intermarriage. There were a lot of historical nuggets that I found very interesting, for example Zheng He's expedition around the world was what led to the birth of Peranakan in culture, where Chinese sailors intermarried with the natives and settled down there.

The pluses in the book were the lovely illustrations and the interesting juxtapositions: either with China's history alongside world history— which makes one realise that Chinese civilisation far preceded the Roman empire; or Chinese motifs/individuals with Western motifs. I enjoyed the comparison between the Eastern and Western 'dragon', and the contrast between the Seven Sages (the original hippies) and the hippies ('murica of the 60s/70s). In my opinion the authors managed to avoid bias; this book was China history-centric yet covered other key events in the world, at the same time it doesn't attempt to make any statement about China's superiority. It is what it is.

I enjoyed the parting words of the last chapter, post Deng-reforms and how China still suffers from a "humiliation complex" in spite of all its great achievements in the past 50 years. China still does not get the respect from the rest of the world it thinks it deserves, and could be trying a tad too hard as seen from its foreign policies today.

To end off: "On the whole, the Chinese people possess an uncanny ability to absorb change, accept the way things are, and get on with life. And, as author Peter Hessler notes, they don't try to make the world try to be like them." Here's looking at you, America.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simplified-yes. This book accomplishes its goals.
Basic is the way I would describe this book. No one is going to win at Jeopardy after reading this.
This seemed to be written as a history for those who don't like history. There is a very casual tone and jokes interspersed. I didn't find most all that funny and some seemed condescending or disrespectful. But then, I don't agree with lots of things people find funny.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, witty and a great, all encompassing ride through 5,000 years of Chinese history. Easy to understand and quite fast to read. 4.5/5

[Ben Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and very readable introduction to Chinese history and culture.

[KC Comal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly a quick review, but left me wanting to know more about various figures and ages in Chinese history, which is the best reason to read it!