Year 7

This illustrated introduction to the history of China offers a fresh understanding of China's progress from the Neolithic age to the present. Told in six chapters arranged chronologically, through art, artefacts, people and places, and richly illustrated with expertly selected objects and artworks, it firmly connects today's China with its internationally engaged past.From the earliest archaeological relics and rituals, through the development of writing and state, to the advent of empire, the author charts China's transformation from ancient civilization into the world's most populous nation and influential economy, offering the reader a myriad historical insights and cultural treasures along the way. This accessible book presents an eclectic mix of materials including Chinese theatre, the decorative arts, costume, jewelry and furniture-making, running through to the most recent diffusion of Chinese culture.Published to coincide with the reopening of the British Museum's Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia, this book will stimulate, fascinate and inform anyone interested in one of the greatest and most influential nations of the modern world.

The Great Wall of China consists of 13 essays divided into 6 themes on various aspects of the Walls. There is no single Wall but a series of smaller walls - the oldest is dated 688 BC, but the main construction was happening in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The book considers the Walls from historical, defensive, conservationist and touristic perspectives. The text combines scholarly and accessible essays with interviews of local people's experience of the Walls.

Over 2,000 years after his death, Qin Sbibuangdi is still vilified as one of the freat destroyers of states, be unified China; while burning books and executing scbolars, be also standardised the written script; after dismantling fortifications and city walls, be ordered the Great Wall to be built. Concisely written and bandsomely illustrated, this is an account of the paradoxical tyrant and reformer bebind that astonisbing mausoleum.

Go on a voyage of discovery from the Neolithic Age to the Ming Dynasty of the seventeenth century.

More populous than any other country on earth, China also occupies a unique place in our modern world for the continuity of its history and culture. In this sumptuously illustrated single-volume history, now in its second edition, noted historian Patricia Buckley Ebrey traces the origins of Chinese culture from prehistoric times to the present. She follows its development from the rise of Confucianism, Buddhism, and the great imperial dynasties to the Mongol, Manchu, and Western intrusions and the modern communist state. Her scope is phenomenal - embracing Chinese arts, culture, economics, society and its treatment of women, foreign policy, emigration, and politics, including the key uprisings of 1919 and 1989 in Tiananmen Square. Both a comprehensive introduction to an extraordinary civilization and an expert exploration of the continuities and disjunctures of Chinese history, Professor Ebrey's book has become an indispensable guide to China past and present. This second edition includes a new chapter on China's recent opening to the world and a fully revised guide to further reading.

Ancient and Medieval China covers the period from the settlements of 500,000-6,500 B.C. to the Qing Dynasty of 1644-1911 A.D. It investigates social groups and classes, and introduces prominent individuals such as Genghis and Kublai Khan. Ancient and Medieval China explores the features of everyday life, changes in the climate and environment throughout the period, architectural feats such as the building of the Great Wall, and technological innovations such as the wheel and printing using ink rubbings. It also examines war and conquest, the arts and entertainment, philosophy and religious beliefs and the contribution of the ancient and medieval Chinese to the modern world.

Ancient civilizations of Iraq, Egypt, India, China, Central America and other regions are the focus of this remarkable contribution to student reference.
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