a b Li Feng (2006). Landscape and Power in Early China: the Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou 1045–771 BC. Cambridge University Press. The prosperity of the early Tang dynasty was abetted by a centralized bureaucracy. The government was organized as " Three Departments and Six Ministries" to separately draft, review, and implement policies. These departments were run by royal family members and landed aristocrats, but as the dynasty wore on, were joined or replaced by scholar officials selected by imperial examinations, setting patterns for later dynasties. The period of political disunity between the Tang and the Song, known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, lasted from 907 to 960. During this half-century, China was in all respects a multi-state system. Five regimes, namely, (Later) Liang, Tang, Jin, Han and Zhou, rapidly succeeded one another in control of the traditional Imperial heartland in northern China. Among the regimes, rulers of (Later) Tang, Jin and Han were sinicized Shatuo Turks, which ruled over the ethnic majority of Han Chinese. More stable and smaller regimes of mostly ethnic Han rulers coexisted in south and western China over the period, cumulatively constituted the "Ten Kingdoms". Nylan, Michael (2016). "Mapping Time in the Shiji and Hanshu Tables". East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine. Brill (43): 61–122. doi: 10.1163/26669323-04301004. JSTOR 90006244. S2CID 171943719.

Ao, Hong; Dekkers, Mark J.; Wei, Qi; Qiang, Xiaoke; Xiao, Guoqiao (15 August 2013). "New evidence for early presence of hominids in North China". Scientific Reports. 3 (2403): 2403. Bibcode: 2013NatSR...3E2403A. doi: 10.1038/srep02403. PMC 3744199. PMID 23948715. This novel explores these new lives, the trials and problems and the painful reality of working incredibly hard for very little. Just imagine trying to claw your way up a ladder that’s overcrowded with people in the same situation!Some political leaders get chapters: Jiang Zemin, for example, is the representative of the years around 2000. A bronze hatchet with a blade of meteoric iron excavated near the city of Gaocheng in Shijiazhuang (now Hebei) has been dated to the 14th century BC.

Valentino, Benjamin A. (2005). Final solutions: mass killing and genocide in the twentieth century. Cornell University Press. p.88. Cheung, Kwong-yue; (transl. Noel Barnard) (1983), "Recent archaeological evidence relating to the origin of Chinese characters", in Keightley, David N.; Barnard, Noel (eds.), The Origins of Chinese Civilization, University of California Press, p.235, ISBN 978-0-520-04229-2 It’s a good book to give a sense of more individuals than just Mao and Deng Xiaoping and maybe a famous dissident or two—who will be the only people that many readers know about. It’s a nicely varied collection that focuses on life stories, which is a recurring theme in the books that I tend to be drawn to.

Go deeper by reading books about China’s history

The Neolithic period saw increasingly complex polities begin to emerge along the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. The Erlitou culture in the central plains of China is sometimes identified with the Xia dynasty (3rd millennium BCE) of traditional Chinese historiography. The earliest surviving written Chinese dates to roughly 1250 BCE, consisting of divinations inscribed on oracle bones. Chinese bronze inscriptions, ritual texts dedicated to ancestors, form another large corpus of early Chinese writing. The earliest strata of received literature in Chinese include poetry, divination, and records of official speeches. China is believed to be one of a very few loci of independent invention of writing, and the earliest surviving records display an already-mature written language. The culture remembered by the earliest extant literature is that of the Zhou dynasty ( c. 1046–256 BCE), China's Axial age, during which the Mandate of Heaven was introduced, and foundations laid for philosophies such as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Wuxing. Stanford, Edward. Atlas of the Chinese Empire, containing separate maps of the eighteen provinces of China (2nd ed., 1917). Legible color maps.

A Summer Vacation in China's Muslim Gulag". Foreign Policy. 28 February 2018 . Retrieved 28 February 2018. The 1911 Xinhai Revolution, led by Sun Yat-sen and others, created the modern Republic of China. From 1927, a costly civil war roiled between the Republican government under Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Red Army, and the industrialized Empire of Japan also invaded the divided country. After the Communist victory, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, with the Republic retreating to Taiwan. Both governments still claim sole legitimacy. The PRC has slowly accumulated the majority of diplomatic recognition, and Taiwan's status remains disputed. From 1966 to 1976, the Cultural Revolution in mainland China helped consolidate Mao's power towards the end of his life. After his death, the government began economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping, and became the world's fastest-growing major economy. [ when?] China had been the most populous nation in the world for decades, until it was surpassed by India in 2023. It’s one of those books that if you grow up in China, you know the story, even if you haven’t read the book. It’s a bit like Alice in Wonderland or the story of Romeo and Juliet if you’re growing up in England or America. Even if you’ve never seen Romeo and Juliet, you still know the characters, somebody can refer to Romeo and it means something. In the 1990s the ROC underwent a major democratic reform, beginning with the 1991 resignation of the members of the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly elected in 1947. These groups were originally created to represent mainland China constituencies. Also lifted were the restrictions on the use of Taiwanese languages in the broadcast media and in schools. This culminated with the first direct presidential election in 1996 against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate and former dissident, Peng Ming-min. In 2000, the KMT status as the ruling party ended when the DPP took power, only to regain its status in the 2008 election by Ma Ying-jeou. Foot, Rosemary (2019). "Remembering the past to secure the present: Versailles legacies in a resurgent China". International Affairs. 95 (1): 143–160. doi: 10.1093/ia/iiy211.Kaifung Jews". University of Cumbria, Division of Religion and Philosophy. Archived from the original on 28 October 2008. Fairbank, J.K.; Goldman, M. (2006). China: A New History (2nded.). Harvard University Press. p.320. ISBN 978-0674018280.

I know you were excited last year about a new translation of Monkey King coming out. Was it needed? Rice and Early Agriculture in China". Legacy of Human Civilizations. Mesa Community College. Archived from the original on 27 August 2009 . Retrieved 10 February 2008. In 1556, during the rule of the Jiajing Emperor, the Shaanxi earthquake killed about 830,000 people, the deadliest earthquake of all time.

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When we examine China in the post-Mao era, we often focus on the booming urbanisation, consumerism, technology and mega-companies. But what about the religion and spirituality of China? This topic is crucial for understanding the complex fabric of modern China. Ian Johnson masterfully uncovers what happened to China’s spirituality after the end of the Cultural Revolution. The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19, was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei in 2019 and led to a global pandemic.