China: A History

By Harold M. Tanner

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Chronology (This link will open a PDF, file size 272K)

Introduction: The Lay of the Land and the Origins of the Chinese People


PART I –THE EARLY EMPIRE: BUILDING INSTITUTIONS AND IDENTITY, 2070(?) BCE–220 CE

Chapter 1: From Myth to History: The Beginnings of the Chinese State and Culture in the Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou Dynasties

Chapter 2: The Age of Fighting and Philosophy:  The Eastern Zhou Dynasty

Chapter 3: From Feudal States to Bureaucratic Empire:  The Qin and Western Han Dynasties

Chapter 4: The Decline and Fall of Eastern Civilization:  The Xin and Eastern Han Dynasties


PART II – CULTURAL INTERACTION AND TRANSFORMATION, 220–1368

Chapter 5: The Age of Warriors and Buddhists:  The Three Kingdoms, Western Jin, and the Period of North-South Division

Chapter 6: A Multi-Ethnic Empire:  The Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 7: Competing Suns in Heaven: The Song and Its Neighbors

Chapter 8: China in the Mongol Empire:  The Yuan Dynasty


PART III – A NEW CONFUCIAN EMPIRE, 1368–1911

Chapter 9: A Model Government for the Ages:  The Early to Mid-Ming Dynasty

Chapter 10: Wealth and Instability:  The Mid- and Late Ming

Chapter 11: A Manchu Empire:  The Qing Dynasty to 1799

Chapter 12: The Qing Dynasty's 19th-Century Crises


PART IV – THE ROAD TO WEALTH AND POWER, 1911–Present

Chapter 13: Struggling to Build a Nation:  The 1911 Revolution and the Early Republic, 1912–26

Chapter 14: Years of Turmoil: China Under Chiang Kai-shek's Guomindang Government

Chapter 15: The People's Republic of China:  The Mao Era

Chapter 16: The March Toward Wealth and Power

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