A History of China (3 page)

Despite this choice, I do not subscribe to the concept of the dynastic cycle, a traditional and stereotypical paradigm of Chinese history. Advocates of this theory assert that a dynasty’s first rulers were honest, courageous, and powerful and cared for their people, creating conditions of prosperity and longevity, but that the later rulers were oppressive and corrupt and were unconcerned about their people, leading to decline and increasing chaos. This approach does not jibe with actual events and overemphasizes the roles of the emperors and the courts in shaping the history of China. Another misconception that arose from the dynastic-cycle paradigm was an idea of the insignificance of eras that lacked either strong dynasties or dynasties that ruled over all of China. Periods of decentralization were equated with chaos and no important cultural innovations. Yet Confucianism, Daoism, and other philosophies of a golden age of classical thought developed in precisely such an era – known as the Warring States period – and Buddhism flourished after the collapse of the great Han dynasty and before the Sui and Tang dynasties restored centralized government in China. Suffice it to say that I use “dynasties” as the organizational scheme for the reader’s convenience and ease.

The Further Reading sections, which can be found at the end of each chapter, consist principally of works that are accessible both to undergraduate students and the general educated reader. The selections are weighted toward books that offer summaries of highly scholarly studies. The major exceptions to this principle are the general reference works cited below, which provide guidance on more specialized studies. Journal articles are excluded because they are less accessible to nonspecialists. Another reason for some of the selections is that I enjoyed reading them.

An important general work is
The Cambridge History of China
, a multivolume and chronological political and economic history of China, with essays written by leading specialists in the various fields covered. Each volume provides an extensive bibliography, in a variety of languages, for those intending further serious study.

Eugene Anderson,
The Food of China
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).

Kathryn Bernhardt,
Women and Property in China,
960–1949
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999).

Caroline Blunden and Mark Elvin,
Cultural Atlas of China
(New York: Checkmark Books, 1998).

Howard Boorman and Richard Howard, eds.,
A Biographical Dictionary of Republican China
(New York: Columbia University Press, 4 vols., 1967–1979).

K. C. Chang, ed.,
Food in Chinese Culture
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977).

Craig Clunas,
Art in China
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).

Patricia Ebrey,
The Cambridge Illustrated History of China
(Cambridge: Cambridge University, rev. ed., 2010).

Mark Elvin,
The Pattern of the Chinese Past
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1973).

Mark Elvin,
The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006).

John Fairbank and Merle Goldman,
China: A New History
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006).

Herbert Franke, ed.,
Song Biographies
(Wiesbaden: Steiner, 4 vols., 1976).

L. Carrington Goodrich and Chao-ying Fang, eds.,
A Dictionary of Ming Biography
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2 vols., 1976).

Arthur Hummel, ed.,
Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period
(Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1943–1944).

Donald Klein and Anne Clark, eds.,
Biographic Dictionary of Chinese Communism,
1921–1965
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971).

James Liu,
The Art of Chinese Poetry
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966).

Victor Mair,
The Columbia History of Chinese Literature
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2001).

F. W. Mote,
Imperial China,
900–1800
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003).

Igor de Rachewiltz, ed.,
In the
Service
of the Khans: Eminent Personalities of the Mongol-Yüan Period
(Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1993).

Jonathan Spence,
The Search for Modern China
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1999).

John Wills,
Mountain of Fame
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).

This book has evolved from courses I have taught since 1965 on Chinese ­history. Through their positive and negative reactions, my students have led me to incorporate changes in this survey course – additions and deletions that have, I believe, benefited this volume. I am grateful to these students for their questions and insights because they have had a substantial influence on my thinking. They are now occupational therapists, teachers, lawyers, policemen, doctors, soldiers, and workers, among other occupations, and are perhaps far removed from the study of Chinese history, but their contributions to this work ought to be mentioned. Similarly, I want to acknowledge the numerous secondary-school teachers and instructors in colleges who took part in ­outreach programs designed to assist them in introducing units on Chinese history in their curricula. In my presentations to them, I had to compress a whole semester’s worth of lectures into a week or two of intensive talks. Such condensation prompted me to focus on what I perceived to be the most important ­developments and themes in the history of China, and this process was an invaluable contribution to this book.

I learned a great deal in discussions with Hans Bielenstein, the late L. C. Goodrich, and the late Morton Fried, all of Columbia University; Roderick Ptak and the late Herbert Franke of the University of Munich; the late John Langlois of Bowdoin College; John Meskill of Barnard College; the late ­Hok-lam Chan of the University of Washington; the late Frederick Wakeman of the University of California at Berkeley; the late Michael Gasster of Rutgers University; the late Frederick Mote of Princeton University; the late Joseph Fletcher of Harvard University; John Wills and Bettine Birge of the University of Southern California; David Robinson of Colgate University; Edward Farmer of the University of Minnesota; Ralph Kauz and Veronika Veit of Bonn University; Liu Yingsheng of Nanjing University; Leonard Blusse of Leiden University; Angela Schottenhammer of Salzburg University; Joanna Waley-Cohen of New York University; Pamela Crossley of Dartmouth College; Nancy S. Steinhardt of the University of Pennsylvania; John Chaffee of the University of Binghamton; Caroline Humphrey of Cambridge University; and the late Father Henry Serruys, Dr. Paula Harrell, Dr. Stan Czuma, and the late Dr. Sherman Lee of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Professor Robert Moore, the editor of this series of volumes on world history, has offered invaluable ­suggestions for revisions, and Tessa Harvey of Wiley Blackwell has been extremely patient and supportive. Two anonymous reviewers provided extraordinarily helpful comments. I am certain that I have omitted the names of other colleagues and friends who have influenced my conception of Chinese history and hope that they will forgive me for my failing memory.

My own family has been extremely supportive over the years. My older brother Mayer, whose life was cut short by a virulent form of brain cancer in 1998, taught me so much – from a concern for social justice to skills such as swimming – that it is difficult to imagine what I would have become without his influence. I think of him daily and hope he realized how important he was in my life and career. Like their father Mayer, Joseph and Amiel Rossabi are decent and honorable, and they have been helpful to me and my immediate family over the years. My daughter Amy and my son Tony and their respective families – Howard, Sarah, and Nathan Sterinbach and Anna and Julia Rossabi – have been a source of joy, stimulation, and assistance throughout the writing of this book, although Julia, now two years old, is probably not aware of her contribution.

My wife Mary is always mentioned last but should be first, and I don’t say so merely because she will be the first person to read these acknowledgments. Indeed, she has read every book and article (even my doctoral dissertation!) that I’ve ever written and has improved all of them through her suggestions for change. We have also collaborated on five books over the years, pleasurable experiences for both of us. Her intelligence, energy, and sense of humor have enriched both of our lives.