Imperial China: The Definitive Visual History

Cover
Contents
Forewords
Introduction
Chronology of dynasties
1. From legend to history. Before 2000 BCE
	Introduction
	Land and people
	Two great rivers
	Chinese prehistory
	Neolithic pottery
	China’s heroes
	Yu and the Xia dynasty
2. The first dynasties, c. 2070 BCE to 221 BCE
	Introduction
	The Bronze Age
	Ancient bronze
	The Shang dynasty
	The Shang city of Yin
	Oracle bones
	The rise of the Zhou
	The Western Zhou
	Bronze inscriptions
	The Chinese Classics
	The Spring and Autumn period
	The Iron Age
	Confucianism
	The Hundred Schools of Thought
	Daoist philosophy
	The Warring States
	The Art of War
3. China united and divided. 221 BCE to 581 CE
	Introduction
	The Qin dynasty
	The tomb of the First Emperor
	The Great Wall
	The Western Han dynasty
	The tomb of Lady Dai
	The Chinese zodiac
	Auspicious beasts
	Ancient currency
	Health and medicine
	Confucian governance
	The Silk Road
	Sima Qian and the writing of history
	From bamboo to paper
	The Xin dynasty
	Cults and beliefs
	The rise of Daoism
	Imperial court eunuchs
	The Three Kingdoms
	The calligrapher’s art
	Spirited carvings
	The rise of Buddhism
	The northern dynasties
	The shift to the south
4. The Sui and Tang dynasties. 581 to 960 CE
	Introduction
	The Sui dynasty
	The Grand Canal
	The rise of the Tang
	Tang hand mirrors
	The growth of Chang’an
	Empress Wu
	The spread of Buddhism
	The decline of the Tang
	Poetry
	Tang tomb figures
	Afterlife entertainers
	Tea
	The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
5. Chinese and foreign dynasties. 960 to 1368
	Introduction
	The Northern Song
	Silk production
	Confucian bureaucracy
	Su Shi
	Neo-Confucianism
	The Liao and the Jin
	A Liao funerary mask
	The Southern Song
	The Yuan dynasty
	Sacred sculptures
	Kublai Khan
	Chinese warfare
	Tools of war
	The travels of Marco Polo
	The late Mongol dynasty
6. Stability and wealth. 1368 to 1644
	Introduction
	The rise of the Ming
	The Second Founding
	Ming crafts
	Blue-and-white wares
	The Ming capital
	Classic Chinese gardens
	Voyages of exploration
	The Ming turn inward
	The Four Classic Novels
	Late Ming China
	Matteo Ricci
	Progress in medicine
	Golden treasures
	The Manchu Qing
	The fall of the Ming
7. The last dynasty. 1644 to 1912
	Introduction
	The rise of the Qing
	The battles of Koxinga
	The Kangxi Emperor
	Qing conquests
	The Yongzheng Emperor
	Life under the Qing
	The Qianlong Emperor
	Cloisonné censer
	The Great Qing novel
	The growing economy
	Ceramic art
	Peking opera
	The Macartney Mission
	The opium trade
	The First Opium War
	Ceremonial splendour
	The Taiping Rebellion
	The Second Opium War
	The treaty system
	Self-strengthening
	Empress Dowager Cixi
	Women in society
	Phoenix headdress
	Status symbols
	The Sino-Japanese War
	The Hundred Days
	The Boxer Rebellion
	Founding modern China
	Puyi: the last emperor
Chinese and world history
Index
Acknowledgments