tiffanysaoirse's review against another edition
5.0
I have many thoughts John Keay's history of China. I would like to think I now know the different dynasties and eras of China and their distinctions, with a general timeline of China over its lengthy history. It took me quite a long time to finish; I had picked it up and put it down over the course of several months. However, this period has given me the advantage of being able to let the information stew over time.
Firstly, despite this book being a history book (and the reputation that precedes academia in history), this book carries a great narrative. The author talks to the reader as if they are in a very spirited conversation with them, injecting nuance, wit, and even some dry humor to keep the reader engaged, but never talking down to the reader or using the first person and injecting themselves into the narrative.
Much more important, though, is the author's careful balance of information between East and West. Keay is Scottish, but he is careful to consider the different factors contributing to the knowledge he puts in the book. In his attempt to find a narrative most representative of "the truth," Keay often mentions conflicting sources of information, such as conflict between the official Chinese history as stated by the modern Chinese government, archeological finds throughout China, imperial records of Chinese affairs, and western accounts, all of which have their own motivations for altering history to fit their own narratives.
However, Keay describes China's history from a more modern perspective than many other histories of China told from a western perspective. For example, when mentioning Chinese names and places, he uses the pinyin system of writing, as opposed to the more outdated Wade-Giles system. He also acknowledges the Orientalist and thus inherently racist ideas, especially surrounding Chinese contact with European powers circa the sixteenth century onward, and incorporates how those ideas are relevant to the notion of China in the modern day.
Yet, there are a few things that I didn't like quite as much. There were many times that I got bogged down and easily confused, often referring back to earlier sections to remind myself of what happened just a few pages earlier to keep track of all the interlocking pieces of Chinese history; though I admit this could just be the complex nature of history and my inexperience in reading histories in general. Also, especially in the earlier time periods, Keay seems to rely a lot on sources accredited to Cambridge University in the UK, which makes me wary of colonial bias. This could also be countered with the fact that not many other reputable sources are accessible to Keay for the time periods in question. Lastly, I am skeptical of how far into the present Keay attributes China's consideration of the Mandate of Heaven in their understanding international law. Of course, he is the expert on this and not I, but it still feels suspicious and somewhat deterministic to me.
All of that being said, I have no doubt in giving this history of China a rating of five stars. It is comprehensive, entertaining, and informative. It provides the knowledge gained in academia while giving the pleasure of a novel. Because of this book, I feel personally encouraged to read more about China, and about history overall.
Firstly, despite this book being a history book (and the reputation that precedes academia in history), this book carries a great narrative. The author talks to the reader as if they are in a very spirited conversation with them, injecting nuance, wit, and even some dry humor to keep the reader engaged, but never talking down to the reader or using the first person and injecting themselves into the narrative.
Much more important, though, is the author's careful balance of information between East and West. Keay is Scottish, but he is careful to consider the different factors contributing to the knowledge he puts in the book. In his attempt to find a narrative most representative of "the truth," Keay often mentions conflicting sources of information, such as conflict between the official Chinese history as stated by the modern Chinese government, archeological finds throughout China, imperial records of Chinese affairs, and western accounts, all of which have their own motivations for altering history to fit their own narratives.
However, Keay describes China's history from a more modern perspective than many other histories of China told from a western perspective. For example, when mentioning Chinese names and places, he uses the pinyin system of writing, as opposed to the more outdated Wade-Giles system. He also acknowledges the Orientalist and thus inherently racist ideas, especially surrounding Chinese contact with European powers circa the sixteenth century onward, and incorporates how those ideas are relevant to the notion of China in the modern day.
Yet, there are a few things that I didn't like quite as much. There were many times that I got bogged down and easily confused, often referring back to earlier sections to remind myself of what happened just a few pages earlier to keep track of all the interlocking pieces of Chinese history; though I admit this could just be the complex nature of history and my inexperience in reading histories in general. Also, especially in the earlier time periods, Keay seems to rely a lot on sources accredited to Cambridge University in the UK, which makes me wary of colonial bias. This could also be countered with the fact that not many other reputable sources are accessible to Keay for the time periods in question. Lastly, I am skeptical of how far into the present Keay attributes China's consideration of the Mandate of Heaven in their understanding international law. Of course, he is the expert on this and not I, but it still feels suspicious and somewhat deterministic to me.
All of that being said, I have no doubt in giving this history of China a rating of five stars. It is comprehensive, entertaining, and informative. It provides the knowledge gained in academia while giving the pleasure of a novel. Because of this book, I feel personally encouraged to read more about China, and about history overall.
maitrey_d's review against another edition
5.0
Although Chinese history is too vast to be clearly covered in a single volume, Keay gives it a great shot.
However this book is very well detailed for Chinese history from 2nd Century BCE to 8th Century CE and then accelerates very quickly through the rest.
It is therefore not helpful with the China of today, as Keay stops in 1949, or thereabouts.
However this book is very well detailed for Chinese history from 2nd Century BCE to 8th Century CE and then accelerates very quickly through the rest.
It is therefore not helpful with the China of today, as Keay stops in 1949, or thereabouts.
nelsta's review
I didn’t finish this book. It was enormously interesting, but not interesting enough to prevent my interest wandering to other books.
ankewelt's review against another edition
5.0
With 600 some page this book really should be called China: A History rather Chinese History: An Overview that being it is well executed. China has a long history and a long history of that history so for any one book to sum it up is impossible. The Cambridge history of China clocks at 15 truly massive volumes but this book does. Details in the book are quite scarce you will not know each battle that the Qin fought to create their empire and every policy that made them or how Sima Qian records its story but you will learn about the trends, you will see the river but not swim in it. And for me that is good I am not a historian merely someone who likes to know about the world and China is a big part of that world. As such I would suggest this book to anyone who wants to learn about China in any period not because its portrayal of any point will be very detail but because it give one the image of the whole. I found Keay's writing style quite enjoyable and clear with frequent citations—for any who wishes to learn more. China: A History is a good book with a clear place, as an introduction and overview to Chinese history for laymen and those more academically inclined it is and I would recommend it as such to anyone.
marlfox24's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.5
lewismillholland's review
5.0
Tian asked for a book on China and I scoured the internet cause while I'm no stranger to history it's almost exclusively Western and even within that it's largely American and so this was a challenge. What I came up with was this one. Initially it carried two disappointments: it fizzled out around 1950 and wouldn't help alleviate the ignorance of the CCP's rise than Tian and I are eventually trying to correct, and it's written by a white dude. But it had everything, supposedly. Flowing tone that made the dense material easy to read, but a powerful vocabulary that didn't short-shrift the nuance. So I bought her this book. And she read it, over the course of months. "It's so hard because all the dynasties keep recycling old names," she moaned, but about the book itself she was overwhelmingly positive.
So much so that I finally picked it up.
And, let me tell you, this book is a marvel. Keay is such a good writer. He brings everything to life: the empress who mutilated her competition and threw her into the pig's sty; the Duke of Zhou, effectively the Chinese George Washington in his easy abdication of power; the ethnically diverse Chinese claiming Han homogeneity and bristling against the Mongols; the zealots, the idealists, the philosophers, the corruption, the rivers overflowing their dykes and murderously rerouting themselves, the alternating submission to and dominion of Tibet, the flexible borders, the shift in culture from one century to another but the preservation of a Chinese identity (malleable as it may be).
It's hard to summarize a book that's already summarizing 4,000 years of history but to select one takeaway it's this: the East is so rich in its history and so distinct in its cultures and the memes about "World history in a nutshell: Knock knock it's Europe" really are a) overly Western-oriented and b) missing the point.
For anyone looking for a high-level, high-value overview of historical China, pick up this damn book.
So much so that I finally picked it up.
And, let me tell you, this book is a marvel. Keay is such a good writer. He brings everything to life: the empress who mutilated her competition and threw her into the pig's sty; the Duke of Zhou, effectively the Chinese George Washington in his easy abdication of power; the ethnically diverse Chinese claiming Han homogeneity and bristling against the Mongols; the zealots, the idealists, the philosophers, the corruption, the rivers overflowing their dykes and murderously rerouting themselves, the alternating submission to and dominion of Tibet, the flexible borders, the shift in culture from one century to another but the preservation of a Chinese identity (malleable as it may be).
It's hard to summarize a book that's already summarizing 4,000 years of history but to select one takeaway it's this: the East is so rich in its history and so distinct in its cultures and the memes about "World history in a nutshell: Knock knock it's Europe" really are a) overly Western-oriented and b) missing the point.
For anyone looking for a high-level, high-value overview of historical China, pick up this damn book.