Chinese History: A New Manual, Fourth Edition (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series)

Endymion Wilkinson’s bestselling manual of Chinese history has long been an indispensable guide to all those interested in the civilization and history of China. The hugely enlarged third edition won the Stanislas Julien Prize for 2014. In the fourth edition the entire work has been corrected and updated and many sections rewritten.

Fifteen years in the making, Chinese History introduces students to different types of transmitted, excavated, and artifactual sources from prehistory to the twenty-first century. It also examines the context in which the sources were produced, preserved, and received, the problems of research and interpretation associated with them, and the best, most up-to-date secondary works. Because history has always played a central role in Chinese politics and culture, special attention is devoted to the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese historiography.

Chinese History comprises fourteen book-length parts subdivided into a total of seventy-six chapters: Books 1–9 cover Language; People; Geography and the Environment; Governing and Educating; Ideas and Beliefs, Literature, and the Fine Arts; Agriculture, Food, and Drink; Technology and Science; Trade; and Historiography. Books 10–13 present primary and secondary sources chronologically by period. Book 14 is on historical bibliography. Electronic resources are covered throughout.