This Is China: The First 5,000 Years (2nd edition, Brown)

Description

In this revised and updated edition, China expert Kerry Brown provides insightful answers to today’s questions about the world’s newest superpower. Beyond that, This Is China provides an engaging historical and cultural overview, as a framework for understanding China’s meteoric rise and the complex challenges of the post-COVID-19 world. With all this in little more than 100 pages, This Is China is the shortest expert-written introduction to both historic and contemporary China.

Professor Kerry Brown is also editor-in-chief of Berkshire’s Dictionary of Chinese History. Listen to the podcast about biography as a window into China. 

This Is China consists of only five chapters. Chapter 1 provides background about China’s physical and human geographies. Chapter 2 offers an overview of China from prehistory to the end of the empire’s last dynasty. Chapter 3 traces the wars and upheavals that led to the rise of Communism. Chapter 4 deals with China under Xi Jinping, a nation exerting more and more global influence. Finally, Chapter 5 introduces a range of concepts related to Chinese history that have relevance today.

The first edition of this book was published in 2010 and widely praised for its clarity, accuracy, and startling brevity. It was written for those who want to acquire a working knowledge quickly, on the premise that it is better to know something about this astonishing, inspiring history rather than veer away from it because it is too intimidatingly large. Neither pro-China nor anti-China, This Is China instead aims to educate and intrigue students, travelers, concerned citizens, and general readers.

“It is hard to imagine that such a short book can cover such a vast span of time and space. This Is China: The First 5,000 Years will help teachers, students, and general readers alike, as they seek for a preliminary guide to the contexts and complexities of Chinese culture.” – Jonathan Spence, professor of history, Yale University; author of The Search for Modern China