Reddit reviews China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire, (10,000 BCE - 1799 CE)
We found 3 Reddit comments about China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire, (10,000 BCE - 1799 CE). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Hackett Publishing Company Inc
For sure! China: A History is a great place to start, and for more recent history (though largely a portrait of the most influential leader China has had in a few centuries), Mao: The Unknown Story is one of the most fascinating history books I've read.
> China, despite existing as a unified country 4,000 years longer than the US, conspicuously does not have such a history of invading and subjugating the inhabitants of far-flung lands.
This is false. The country we now know as China is the product of millennia of aggressive war, sometimes among several mutually hostile Sinic states, sometimes between a dominant Sinic state and an outside, "barbarian" group.
Whether it's the early days of the Shang dynasty, when the territory of modern China was carved up among a large number of cultures whose remains are meaningful only to archaeologists; or the final dynasty, which expanded China's territory to boundaries never reached before or since; China has historically been an imperialist power.
I'm getting my information from:
China: A History: From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire (10,000 BCE - 1799 CE) (Harold M. Tanner)
Amazon
books.google
China: Its History and Culture (W. Scott Morton)
Amazon
books.google
Of course, Wikipedia is helpful too. Maps tell a great deal.
http://www.amazon.com/China-History-Neolithic-Cultures-through/dp/1603842020/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382504737&sr=8-1&keywords=tanner+china
I used this book in my chinese history class and I thought it was really interesting/well-written (also relatively cheap compared to a lot of other stuff at the same level)