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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
"In the freezing December of 1899, two days before the winter solstice, the Guangxu emperor left the Forbidden City through Tiananmen Gate at the head of a huge and colourful procession."
The Story of China is a highly engaging history of the many dynasties that were finally swept away by revolution. This comprehensive account starts with an examination of how geography, especially flooding, shaped local beliefs and gave rise to the Shang dynasty. The book ends with the emergence of Xi Jinping, the latest emperor in “the new dynasty founded by Mao.”
Michael Wood is a notable historian and broadcaster, also known for his films on China under the same title. Although Wood modestly admits that he is not a Sinologist, it is his passion for archaeology and presenting the voices of the people with a broadcaster’s finesse which sets this book apart from other Chinese history books. China has an uneasy record when it comes to the preservation and presentation of history, and much has been written on what was lost during the Cultural Revolution. Thus, it is a joy to read his numerous inclusions and descriptions of very recent and emerging archaeological and astronomical finds that are shedding new light on China’s ancient past and the historical facts behind myths and folklore.
Amazingly, some of these new finds include written records, such as highly relatable letters from homesick soldiers in the Qin Army and Han garrisons on Silk Road watchtowers. With his film maker’s manner, Wood regularly presents his “view from the village” derived from written records and letters from imperial officials, Buddhist monks, women sold into slavery, children, feminist authors, declining grand families and farmers to enrich our picture of how it really was to experience these massive historic events. In more recent years, personal interviews, oral traditions and family documents replace archaeology, but when possible, he interviews members of the families we were introduced to hundreds of years before. In this way, the book creates a vivid sense of immediacy and takes the reader along for the transformation of China, through all its achievements and losses. These families endured through “…population growth , overtaxation, natural disasters and that indefinable loss of group feeling that can undermine even the most powerful states…”
For readers interested in visiting China, Wood as a travel show host does not disappoint. Each chapter, generally divided by dynasty, begins with an explanation of how the area looks now if you were to visit. If you were to arrive by high speed train, walk through its alleyways and past the factories, what’s the story of that pagoda there? He then introduces what remains of this ancient history, and explains if that monument or building has been rebuilt or restored in the modern era. Then, he takes you back to that time, with careful explanations of daily life, religion, ritual, family and relationships, power struggles, war and climate. These vignettes are brought to life through quotes from those who lived it. These memorable portraits allow readers to wrap their heads around the many dynasties and the creation of this “centralised, authoritarian bureaucracy ruled by a sage-emperor and his ministers and scholars…”
I especially enjoyed the feature on the Song dynasty poet Li Qingzhao (李清照). In the happy days of her marriage, she and her husband collected antiques, books, art and enjoyed the food stalls throughout the lanes near the university. “We lived happy together those years. By the fire we made tea…and were untroubled by sudden storms…so long as we could share a cup of wine, and a sheet of fine paper.” Concubines, war, and widowhood would turn her to a career in Hangzhou publishing poetry and essays.
This is an exceptionally well balanced book. If you are interested in travel, religion, war, literature, class or gender studies, there is ample coverage of these topics through each time period. Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang are only lightly covered, as is Empress Dowager Cixi. “Sparked by drought and famine, poverty and class war, peasant risings were flaring up across China. Then, in 1894– 5, China suffered a humiliating defeat in a disastrous war with Japan. Now the colonial powers gathered like vultures: the Russians, Japanese and Germans in the north; the French and British in the south.” He uses broad strokes to describe events from the 1940s onward. I believe this is more due to scope of the text, rather than any intentional avoidance on the author’s part. However, his historical daring in tackling ancient China with a travel writer’s flair is perfection. Overall, the introduction to China’s ancient dynasties makes this book worth purchasing alone.
It is due to this balance and the above mentioned inclusion of different voices through history that you won’t be able to put this book down. It is a massive and slightly intimidating history, but nicely divided into easily consumed wedges. Wood kindly refers repeatedly to where we are at in the Western timeline (Such as who was the Roman emperor during that time period) or draws parallels to similar events in Western history, which helps the unfamiliar reader mentally locate these events in world history. For example, in describing the cultural losses of the Taiping Rebellion he says that it was “as if, let us say, the scholarly heartland of Western Europe in the 1860s had been smashed from Amsterdam to Paris, its scholars killed or dispersed and its libraries destroyed.”
Throughout the text he examines the psyche of Chinese culture and how this idea of a unified state and a feeling of togetherness has persisted through peasant uprising, warlords, Japanese invasions, civil wars, revolution, famine and trauma. He examines both the cities and countryside equally, as “China in the 1920s and ’30s was a land of extraordinary extremes and hugely uneven development. In places in the deep countryside , peasants laboured barefoot with medieval implements, faced with famine and flood, selling their children into slavery while warlords and their militias extorted and murdered at will.”
This is well handled in his overview of Tiananmen Square 1989. Wood does not make excuses nor claim to be a mind reader into what led to those decisions, but rather examines recently released 2019 documentary sources, such as memoirs, Politburo papers and diaries. He closes with a brief presentation about the continuing questions related to their credibility and significance.
The thematic backbone of this history is that China has suffered great upheavals, caused by their fellow humans and by natural disasters. The “astonishing patience and stoicism of the Chinese people” in the face of these seemingly endless catastrophic events allows the reader to understand this country’s yearning for stability, economic growth and recognition for the remarkable accomplishments of Chinese civilisation.
The Story of China is a highly engaging history of the many dynasties that were finally swept away by revolution. This comprehensive account starts with an examination of how geography, especially flooding, shaped local beliefs and gave rise to the Shang dynasty. The book ends with the emergence of Xi Jinping, the latest emperor in “the new dynasty founded by Mao.”
Michael Wood is a notable historian and broadcaster, also known for his films on China under the same title. Although Wood modestly admits that he is not a Sinologist, it is his passion for archaeology and presenting the voices of the people with a broadcaster’s finesse which sets this book apart from other Chinese history books. China has an uneasy record when it comes to the preservation and presentation of history, and much has been written on what was lost during the Cultural Revolution. Thus, it is a joy to read his numerous inclusions and descriptions of very recent and emerging archaeological and astronomical finds that are shedding new light on China’s ancient past and the historical facts behind myths and folklore.
Amazingly, some of these new finds include written records, such as highly relatable letters from homesick soldiers in the Qin Army and Han garrisons on Silk Road watchtowers. With his film maker’s manner, Wood regularly presents his “view from the village” derived from written records and letters from imperial officials, Buddhist monks, women sold into slavery, children, feminist authors, declining grand families and farmers to enrich our picture of how it really was to experience these massive historic events. In more recent years, personal interviews, oral traditions and family documents replace archaeology, but when possible, he interviews members of the families we were introduced to hundreds of years before. In this way, the book creates a vivid sense of immediacy and takes the reader along for the transformation of China, through all its achievements and losses. These families endured through “…population growth , overtaxation, natural disasters and that indefinable loss of group feeling that can undermine even the most powerful states…”
For readers interested in visiting China, Wood as a travel show host does not disappoint. Each chapter, generally divided by dynasty, begins with an explanation of how the area looks now if you were to visit. If you were to arrive by high speed train, walk through its alleyways and past the factories, what’s the story of that pagoda there? He then introduces what remains of this ancient history, and explains if that monument or building has been rebuilt or restored in the modern era. Then, he takes you back to that time, with careful explanations of daily life, religion, ritual, family and relationships, power struggles, war and climate. These vignettes are brought to life through quotes from those who lived it. These memorable portraits allow readers to wrap their heads around the many dynasties and the creation of this “centralised, authoritarian bureaucracy ruled by a sage-emperor and his ministers and scholars…”
I especially enjoyed the feature on the Song dynasty poet Li Qingzhao (李清照). In the happy days of her marriage, she and her husband collected antiques, books, art and enjoyed the food stalls throughout the lanes near the university. “We lived happy together those years. By the fire we made tea…and were untroubled by sudden storms…so long as we could share a cup of wine, and a sheet of fine paper.” Concubines, war, and widowhood would turn her to a career in Hangzhou publishing poetry and essays.
This is an exceptionally well balanced book. If you are interested in travel, religion, war, literature, class or gender studies, there is ample coverage of these topics through each time period. Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang are only lightly covered, as is Empress Dowager Cixi. “Sparked by drought and famine, poverty and class war, peasant risings were flaring up across China. Then, in 1894– 5, China suffered a humiliating defeat in a disastrous war with Japan. Now the colonial powers gathered like vultures: the Russians, Japanese and Germans in the north; the French and British in the south.” He uses broad strokes to describe events from the 1940s onward. I believe this is more due to scope of the text, rather than any intentional avoidance on the author’s part. However, his historical daring in tackling ancient China with a travel writer’s flair is perfection. Overall, the introduction to China’s ancient dynasties makes this book worth purchasing alone.
It is due to this balance and the above mentioned inclusion of different voices through history that you won’t be able to put this book down. It is a massive and slightly intimidating history, but nicely divided into easily consumed wedges. Wood kindly refers repeatedly to where we are at in the Western timeline (Such as who was the Roman emperor during that time period) or draws parallels to similar events in Western history, which helps the unfamiliar reader mentally locate these events in world history. For example, in describing the cultural losses of the Taiping Rebellion he says that it was “as if, let us say, the scholarly heartland of Western Europe in the 1860s had been smashed from Amsterdam to Paris, its scholars killed or dispersed and its libraries destroyed.”
Throughout the text he examines the psyche of Chinese culture and how this idea of a unified state and a feeling of togetherness has persisted through peasant uprising, warlords, Japanese invasions, civil wars, revolution, famine and trauma. He examines both the cities and countryside equally, as “China in the 1920s and ’30s was a land of extraordinary extremes and hugely uneven development. In places in the deep countryside , peasants laboured barefoot with medieval implements, faced with famine and flood, selling their children into slavery while warlords and their militias extorted and murdered at will.”
This is well handled in his overview of Tiananmen Square 1989. Wood does not make excuses nor claim to be a mind reader into what led to those decisions, but rather examines recently released 2019 documentary sources, such as memoirs, Politburo papers and diaries. He closes with a brief presentation about the continuing questions related to their credibility and significance.
The thematic backbone of this history is that China has suffered great upheavals, caused by their fellow humans and by natural disasters. The “astonishing patience and stoicism of the Chinese people” in the face of these seemingly endless catastrophic events allows the reader to understand this country’s yearning for stability, economic growth and recognition for the remarkable accomplishments of Chinese civilisation.
This was an interesting title that I feel served as a useful introduction to the vast and frankly intimidating topic of Chinese history. The author admits at the outset that a complete historic overview is beyond the scope of this or any single volume. However, he intersperses his sweeping historical narrative with a wealth of primary sources, giving an excellent feel for the time and place of these events.
I would recommend this to anyone curious about Chinese history and wanting a very brief introduction, or anyone who enjoys well written, informative history books.
I would recommend this to anyone curious about Chinese history and wanting a very brief introduction, or anyone who enjoys well written, informative history books.
This book delivered pretty much exactly what I was looking for: a quick overview of the history of the longest continuous civilization in world history. We don't learn anything about China in American schools and I went to good schools!
It's a massive undertaking, but I admire Wood's strategy of using the stories of historically-significant individuals to tell the macro stories of each age.
For my own sake and member... Xia --> Shang --> Zhou --> Qin --> Han --> Jin --> Tang --> Song --> Yuan --> Ming --> Qing --> PRC
Some of the things I took away from it: China moves on cycles several hundred years long. Periods of consolidation are followed by periods of chaos. It really IS the center of civilization and has been for a long time. You sort of grow to understand why the modern state focuses so much inward instead of outward like countries in the west. They have a rich tradition of peasant uprisings and messianic peasant leaders (some of whom founded dynasties!) that radically shaped and reshaped landscape.
Wood's take is a little unusual in that it focuses a lot on environmental disasters and their influence on the rise and fall of the dynasties and focuses only a little on the military campaigns. It's a refreshing way to approach history that probably better reflects reality and is more useful for looking forward.
Wood's account of the state after the takeover of the CCP takes a different tone for sure and it's honestly what led to be knocking the rating down to four stars. He's much more critical of Mao, Deng Xiaping and Xi Jinping than he is of any other leader in 2,000 years. I understand that part of that is because the readily available sources let you go deeper, but it has the effect of lending the book an unsightly skew.
I don't want to diminish the horrors of Tiananmen Square, but the several hundred people that died there get several times the ink dedicated to the 20 million deaths in World War 2 alone. And at the risk of whataboutism, many of his criticisms of modern China could be said of... most modern industrial states?
In any case, this was a great history book that is going to be a jumping off point for further study.
It's a massive undertaking, but I admire Wood's strategy of using the stories of historically-significant individuals to tell the macro stories of each age.
For my own sake and member... Xia --> Shang --> Zhou --> Qin --> Han --> Jin --> Tang --> Song --> Yuan --> Ming --> Qing --> PRC
Some of the things I took away from it: China moves on cycles several hundred years long. Periods of consolidation are followed by periods of chaos. It really IS the center of civilization and has been for a long time. You sort of grow to understand why the modern state focuses so much inward instead of outward like countries in the west. They have a rich tradition of peasant uprisings and messianic peasant leaders (some of whom founded dynasties!) that radically shaped and reshaped landscape.
Wood's take is a little unusual in that it focuses a lot on environmental disasters and their influence on the rise and fall of the dynasties and focuses only a little on the military campaigns. It's a refreshing way to approach history that probably better reflects reality and is more useful for looking forward.
Wood's account of the state after the takeover of the CCP takes a different tone for sure and it's honestly what led to be knocking the rating down to four stars. He's much more critical of Mao, Deng Xiaping and Xi Jinping than he is of any other leader in 2,000 years. I understand that part of that is because the readily available sources let you go deeper, but it has the effect of lending the book an unsightly skew.
I don't want to diminish the horrors of Tiananmen Square, but the several hundred people that died there get several times the ink dedicated to the 20 million deaths in World War 2 alone. And at the risk of whataboutism, many of his criticisms of modern China could be said of... most modern industrial states?
In any case, this was a great history book that is going to be a jumping off point for further study.
Very mixed impressions and feelings. Lately reading many books like "Silk Roads" which discuss history from different nations' point of view. I had an idea on how for example the world on 1200 was for those living England vs Greece, but how were things then in Persia, China, Middle East at the same time?
With that when I found out about this book plus the recommendation from Tom Holland on the cover, I purchased it. Read it after 2/3 years as the first time I dropped it. Although does what it is supposed to do, I pushed from the first 100/200 pages myself to read it hence although I got what I wanted out of it would not recommend it.
In favour: Well researched, up to date as mentions discoveries very close to the year the book was published. Gives you an understanding.
Against: At crucial moments the author drops kind of trying to appease / being ultra apologetic on violent events that happened hundreds of years ago. Dropping sentences like "also the Persians/Assyrians/Whatever massacred their enemies" or "something similar happened in medieval England". Similarly going out of his way to prove the continuity of the Chinese civilisation dropping "this thing still happens to this day" at every chance. Feels the author is trying to preemptively avoid possible censorship or trying to convey an - imaginary - party line ("when we were violent everyone was so do not point the finger on us" plus "look how ancient our customs are"). Although this does not happen on the last chapters where the events are far more fresh oddly enough.
These put the reader on guard making the book far less enjoyable than it should be. For that if I could turn back time, I would start my journey into Chinese history elsewhere or will maybe buy another introductory book.
Reading this book also fractured my opinion on Tom Holland, how did he approve this? Did he read all of it? Didn't care? Rushed to create/redeem a favour? Something wrong.
With that when I found out about this book plus the recommendation from Tom Holland on the cover, I purchased it. Read it after 2/3 years as the first time I dropped it. Although does what it is supposed to do, I pushed from the first 100/200 pages myself to read it hence although I got what I wanted out of it would not recommend it.
In favour: Well researched, up to date as mentions discoveries very close to the year the book was published. Gives you an understanding.
Against: At crucial moments the author drops kind of trying to appease / being ultra apologetic on violent events that happened hundreds of years ago. Dropping sentences like "also the Persians/Assyrians/Whatever massacred their enemies" or "something similar happened in medieval England". Similarly going out of his way to prove the continuity of the Chinese civilisation dropping "this thing still happens to this day" at every chance. Feels the author is trying to preemptively avoid possible censorship or trying to convey an - imaginary - party line ("when we were violent everyone was so do not point the finger on us" plus "look how ancient our customs are"). Although this does not happen on the last chapters where the events are far more fresh oddly enough.
These put the reader on guard making the book far less enjoyable than it should be. For that if I could turn back time, I would start my journey into Chinese history elsewhere or will maybe buy another introductory book.
Reading this book also fractured my opinion on Tom Holland, how did he approve this? Did he read all of it? Didn't care? Rushed to create/redeem a favour? Something wrong.
I only read 1 chapter (ch 15) and it was racist and anti-communist as well as not as informative as I hoped it would be.
A wide ranging (social) history of China from the likely mystical farmer that tamed it's rivers up until the modern CCP dynasty.
I was expecting something quite heavy and unwieldy but was pleasantly surprised. Though Wood covers military, economics and politics throughout the main focus is on the people of China. Even thousands of years ago he dives indepth into primary records that survive usually poetry and philosophy in the earlier days, extrapolating from these the lives of their writers and the wider social circumstance. Such research becomes more common as primary sources become more numerous closer to today and such analysis take up reams of pages whilst epic wars becomes minor footnotes.
This is also well shown in his presentation of gender history really taking time to pull out female writers where possible and present their own experience in the murky inner world. Poems again here are often used and it was quite lovely to hear them read by Wood himself in the audio book. The book feels surprisingly intimate because of this and Woods frequent connecting of historical narratives to the contemporary descendants whom he interviewed, proudly showing off their surviving artwork an ancestor saved from destruction or monetizing the home of their progenitor Confucius.
Overall a (unsurprisingly) big story of 5000 years but I'd recommend it to someone completely new to the history as the human connection really opens it up.
I was expecting something quite heavy and unwieldy but was pleasantly surprised. Though Wood covers military, economics and politics throughout the main focus is on the people of China. Even thousands of years ago he dives indepth into primary records that survive usually poetry and philosophy in the earlier days, extrapolating from these the lives of their writers and the wider social circumstance. Such research becomes more common as primary sources become more numerous closer to today and such analysis take up reams of pages whilst epic wars becomes minor footnotes.
This is also well shown in his presentation of gender history really taking time to pull out female writers where possible and present their own experience in the murky inner world. Poems again here are often used and it was quite lovely to hear them read by Wood himself in the audio book. The book feels surprisingly intimate because of this and Woods frequent connecting of historical narratives to the contemporary descendants whom he interviewed, proudly showing off their surviving artwork an ancestor saved from destruction or monetizing the home of their progenitor Confucius.
Overall a (unsurprisingly) big story of 5000 years but I'd recommend it to someone completely new to the history as the human connection really opens it up.
informative
slow-paced
I found this book completely fascinating in its portrayal of such a complex country and culture, dating back over millennia. I got bogged down in all the names, but that’s probably inevitable. What stopped me from giving 5 stars is that the book needs maps! There may be some in the print editions, but none on digital, alas, and the country is so big that it’s difficult to manage a map of China on a phone! My other reservation is that several areas in the recent past or on-going do not get a mention - nothing about the one child policy, religious persecution and the ethnic cleansing of the Uighars.
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
It’s a bit of a slog. But covers so much. A mix of really high level and much more detailed accounts.
An amazing account of China from pre-history down to the present day. Not only are the historical events recounted, but there is a strong focus on Chinese culture, art and religion. The experiences of everyday people are used to illustrate larger societal changes, and there is also a welcome focus on women's stories. A fabulous book.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
A splendid read for anyone who wants to know more about China and its history. The subtitle ("A portrait of a civilisation and its people") is exactly what it is. It is not mainly an enumeration of historical events, but Wood also focuses on a farmer or a poet to explore their lives in the different eras. This makes this book highly readable and interesting.
It also knows to a balance in celebrating China in its rich history and achievements (often comparing with Western nations in the same time period, making it easier to understand where we are in history), it also criticizes its rulers new and old. Tiananmen Square 1989 is discussed, Mao's mistakes are mentioned and even Xi Jinping is not without fault in the book. Wood raises concern about the surveillance society but remains hopeful. You can see his love for this nation and its people.
It does, however, have some gaps. The Great Wall is barely mentioned. I think only 5 sentences over 2 chapters mention it. The one child policy and it current issue of possible population collapse is not explored, and the Chines calendar is not present.
Yet, all in all a great book to start with if you want to explore China.
It also knows to a balance in celebrating China in its rich history and achievements (often comparing with Western nations in the same time period, making it easier to understand where we are in history), it also criticizes its rulers new and old. Tiananmen Square 1989 is discussed, Mao's mistakes are mentioned and even Xi Jinping is not without fault in the book. Wood raises concern about the surveillance society but remains hopeful. You can see his love for this nation and its people.
It does, however, have some gaps. The Great Wall is barely mentioned. I think only 5 sentences over 2 chapters mention it. The one child policy and it current issue of possible population collapse is not explored, and the Chines calendar is not present.
Yet, all in all a great book to start with if you want to explore China.