Bibliography of Chinese history

Surveys

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• Fairbank, John King and Goldman, Merle. China: A New History. 2nd ed. Harvard U. Press,. 640 pp.
• Gernet, Jacques, J. R. Foster, and Charles Hartman. A History of Chinese Civilization. One-volume survey.
• Hsu, Cho-yun. China: A New Cultural History 612 pages; stress on China's encounters with successive waves of globalization.
• Hsü, Immanuel Chung-yueh. The Rise of Modern China, 6th ed.. Detailed coverage of 1644–1999, in 1136pp.
• Huang, Ray. China, a Macro History 335pp. A personal, essayistic approach.
• Keay, John. China: A History, 642pp
• Mote, Frederick W. Imperial China, 900–1800 Harvard University Press, 1999, 1,136 pages. Authoritative treatment of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.
• Perkins, Dorothy. Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture. Facts on File, 1999. 662 pp.
• Roberts, J. A. G. A Concise History of China. Harvard U. Press, 1999. 341 pp.
• Schoppa, R. Keith. The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History. Columbia U. Press, 2000. 356 pp.
• Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China, 876pp; survey from 1644 to 1990s
• Wang, Ke-wen, ed. Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism. Garland, 1998. 442 pp.
• Wang, David Der-wei. A New Literary History of Modern China
• Wright, David Curtis. History of China 257pp.
• Wills, Jr., John E. Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History Biographical essays on important figures.

  Prehistory

• Chang, Kwang-chih. The Archaeology of Ancient China, Yale University Press, 1986.
• Discovery of residue from fermented beverage consumed up to 9,000 years ago in Jiahu, Henan Province, China. By Dr. Patrick E McGovern, University of Pennsylvania archaeochemist and colleagues from China, Great Britain and Germany.
• by Zhang Chi, Department of Archaeology, Peking University, China.

  Shang dynasty

• Durant, Stephen W. The Cloudy Mirror: Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian.

  Zhou dynasty

• Qin dynasty

• Han dynasty

• de Crespigny, Rafe. 1972. The Ch'iang Barbarians and the Empire of Han: A Study in Frontier Policy. Papers on Far Eastern History 16, Australian National University. Canberra.
• de Crespigny, Rafe. 1984. Northern Frontier. The Policies and Strategies of the Later Han Empire. Rafe de Crespigny. 1984. Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University. Canberra.
• Dubs, Homer H. 1938–55. The History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku.
• Hill, John E. Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd centuries CE..
• Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N., eds. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 B.C. – A.D. 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty.
• Twitchett, Denis and Loewe, Michael, eds. 1986. The Cambridge History of China. Volume I. The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – a.d. 220. Cambridge University Press.
• Yap, Joseph P. Wars With the Xiongnu – A Translation From Zizhi tongjian, AuthorHouse.

  Jin, the Sixteen Kingdoms, and the Northern and Southern dynasties

• Sui dynasty

• Wright, Arthur F. 1978. The Sui Dynasty. Alfred A. Knopf, New York., .

  Tang dynasty

• Benn, Charles. 2002. China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford University Press..
• Lewis, Mark Edward. 2012. China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. ; A standard scholarly survey.
• Schafer, Edward H. 1967. The Vermilion Bird: T'ang Images of the South. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. Reprint 1985..
• Shaffer, Lynda Norene. 1996. Maritime Southeast Asia to 1500. Armonk, New York, M.E. Sharpe, Inc..
• Wang, Zhenping. 1991. "T'ang Maritime Trade Administration." Wang Zhenping. Asia Major, Third Series, Vol. IV, 1991, pp. 7–38.

  Liao dynasty

• Standen, Naomi. 2004. Unbounded loyalty: Frontier crossing in Liao China. University of Hawaii Press..

  Song dynasty

• Chaffee, John W. and Denis Twitchett, eds. Cambridge History of China, Vol. 5 Part 2 The Five Dynasties and Sung China, 960-1279 AD.
• Ebrey, Patricia. The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period
• Hymes, Robert, and Conrad Schirokauer, eds. Ordering the World: Approaches to State and Society in Sung Dynasty China, U of California Press, 1993;
• Shiba, Yoshinobu. 1970. Commerce and Society in Sung China. Originally published in Japanese as So-dai sho-gyo—shi kenkyu-. Tokyo, Kazama shobo-, 1968. Yoshinobu Shiba. Translation by Mark Elvin, Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan.

  Yuan dynasty

• Ming dynasty

• Brook, Timothy. The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China..
• 329 pages. Focus on the impact of a Little Ice Age on the empire, as the empire, beginning with a sharp drop in temperatures in the 13th century during which time the Mongol leader Kubla Khan moved south into China.
• Dardess, John W. A Ming Society: T'ai-ho County, Kiangsi, Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries. ; uses advanced "new social history"
• Farmer, Edward. Zhu Yuanzhang and Early Ming Legislation: The Reordering of Chinese Society Following the Era of Mongol Rule. E.J. Brill, 1995.
• Goodrich, L. Carrington, and Chaoying Fang. Dictionary of Ming Biography..
• Huang, Ray. 1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline..
• Mote, Frederick W., and Denis Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 7, part 1: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644. 1008 pp.
• ——The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 8: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 2. . 1203 pp.
• Schneewind, Sarah. A Tale of Two Melons: Emperor and Subject in Ming China..
• Tsai, Shih-shan Henry. Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle. .

  Qing dynasty

• Arthur W. Hummel. Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period.. 2 vols. Reprinted: Berkshire, 2016. 800 still generally reliable biographical articles, a number of which are online: .
• Fairbank, John K. and Liu, Kwang-Ching, ed. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 2: Late Ch'ing, 1800–1911, Part 2. Cambridge U. Press, 1980. 754 pp.
• Mann, Susan. Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth Century
• Naquin, Sysan, and Evelyn S. Rawski. Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century
• Peterson, Willard J., ed. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 9, Part 1: The Ch'ing Dynasty to 1800. Cambridge U. Press, 2002. 753 pp.
• Rawski, Evelyn S. The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions
• Struve, Lynn A., ed. The Qing Formation in World-Historical Time. . 412 pp.
• Struve, Lynn A., ed. Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm: China in Tigers' Jaws
• Yizhuang, Ding. "Reflections on the 'New Qing History' School in the United States," Chinese Studies in History, Winter 2009/2010, Vol. 43 Issue 2, pp 92–96.

  Nationalist era (1912–present)

• Bergere, Marie-Claire. Sun Yat-Sen, 480pp. Standard biography
• Boorman, Howard L., ed. Biographical Dictionary of Republican China.. 600 short scholarly biographies
• Dreyer, Edward L. China at War, 1901–1949.. 422 pp.
• Eastman Lloyd. Seeds of Destruction: Nationalist China in War and Revolution, 1937– 1945.
• Eastman Lloyd et al. The Nationalist Era in China, 1927–1949
• Ebrey, Patricia, "Surnames and Han Chinese Identity", in Melissa J. Brown, Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press,.
• Edmondson, Robert, "The February 28 Incident and National Identity", in Stephane Corcuff, Momories of the Future:National Identity Issues and the Search for a New Taiwan, New York: M.E. Sharpe.
• Fairbank, John K., ed. The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 12, Republican China 1912–1949. Part 1.. 1001 pp.
• Fairbank, John K. and Feuerwerker, Albert, eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 13: Republican China, 1912–1949, Part 2.. 1092 pp.
• Fogel, Joshua A. The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography
• Gordon, David M. "The China-Japan War, 1931–1945," The Journal of Military History v70#1 137–182. Overview of important books and interpretations;
• Hsiung, James C. and Steven I. Levine, eds. China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan, 1937–1945, essays by scholars;
• Lary, Diana. The Chinese People at War: Human Suffering and Social Transformation, 1937–1945
• Rubinstein, Murray A., ed. Taiwan: A New History, 560pp
• Shiroyama, Tomoko. China during the Great Depression: Market, State, and the World Economy, 1929–1937
• Singh, Gunjan. "Kuomintang, Democratization and the One-China Principle", in Sharma, Anita; Chakrabarti, Sreemati, Taiwan Today, Anthem Press, pp. 42–65 .
• Shuyun, Sun. The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth
• Taylor, Jay. The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China.
• Westad, Odd Arne. Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946–1950.. 413 pp. A standard history
• Wilson, Richard W. Learning To Be Chinese: The Political Socialization of Children in Taiwan

  Communist era (1949–present)

• Barnouin, Barbara, and Yu Changgen. Zhou Enlai: A Political Life
• Chang, Jung and Jon Halliday. ,, 814 pages,
• Dikötter, Frank. The Tragedy of Liberation : A History of the Chinese Revolution, 1945–57.. .
• Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–62.. .
• Dittmer, Lowell. China's Continuous Revolution: The Post-Liberation Epoch, 1949–1981 .
• Garver, John W. China's Quest: The History of the Foreign Relations of the People's Republic
• . Both sympathetic and critical.
• Kirby, William C.; Ross, Robert S.; and Gong, Li, eds. Normalization of U.S.-China Relations: An International History.. 376 pp.
• Li, Xiaobing. A History of the Modern Chinese Army
• MacFarquhar, Roderick and Fairbank, John K., eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 15: The People's Republic, Part 2: Revolutions within the Chinese Revolution, 1966–1982. Cambridge U. Press, 1992. 1108 pp.
• Meisner, Maurice. Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic, 3rd ed., dense book with theoretical and political science approach.
• Pantsov, Alexander and Steven I. Levine. Deng Xiaoping : A Revolutionary Life. Oxford University Press, 2015). .
• Pantsov, Alexander, With Steven I Levine. Mao: The Real Story.. .
• Spence, Jonathan. Mao Zedong
• Walder, Andrew G. China under Mao: A Revolution Derailed 413 pp.
• Wang, Jing. High Culture Fever: Politics, Aesthetics, and Ideology in Deng's China

  Cultural Revolution, 1966–76

• Clark, Paul. The Chinese Cultural Revolution: A History, a favorable look at artistic production
• Esherick, Joseph W.; Pickowicz, Paul G.; and Walder, Andrew G., eds. The Chinese Cultural Revolution as History.. 382 pp.
• Jian, Guo; Song, Yongyi; and Zhou, Yuan. Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.. 433 pp.
• Richard Curt Kraus. The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction.. .
• MacFarquhar, Roderick and Fairbank, John K., eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 15: The People's Republic, Part 2: Revolutions within the Chinese Revolution, 1966–1982. Cambridge U. Press, 1992. 1108 pp.
• MacFarquhar, Roderick and Michael Schoenhals. Mao's Last Revolution..
• MacFarquhar, Roderick. The Origins of the Cultural Revolution. Vol. 3: The Coming of the Cataclysm, 1961–1966.. 733 pp.
• Yan, Jiaqi and Gao, Gao. Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution.. 736 pp.

  Economy and environment

• Benn, James A. Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History
• Chaffee, John W. The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China: The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750-1400
• Chao, Kang. Man and Land in Chinese History: An Economic Analysis
• Chow, Gregory C. China's Economic Transformation
• Elvin, Mark. Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China.. 564 pp.
• Elvin, Mark and Liu, Ts'ui-jung, eds. Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History.. 820 pp.
• von Glahn, Richard. The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century. 461 pp.
• Ji, Zhaojin. A History of Modern Shanghai Banking: The Rise and Decline of China's Finance Capitalism. pp.
• Naughton, Barry. The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth
• Rawski, Thomas G. and Lillian M. Li, eds. Chinese History in Economic Perspective, University of California Press, 1992
• Sheehan, Jackie. Chinese Workers: A New History. Routledge, 1998. 269 pp.
• Stuart-Fox, Martin. A Short History of China and Southeast Asia: Tribute, Trade and Influence.. 278 pp.
• Von Glahn, Richard. The Economic History of China: "From Antiquity to the 19th Century

  Atlases

• Stanford, Edward. Atlas of the Chinese Empire, containing separate maps of the eighteen provinces of China Legible color maps

  Women and gender

• Ebrey, Patricia. The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period
• Hershatter, Gail, and Wang Zheng. "Chinese History: A Useful Category of Gender Analysis," American Historical Review, Dec 2008, Vol. 113 Issue 5, pp 1404–1421
• Hershatter, Gail. Women in China's Long Twentieth Century,
• Hershatter, Gail, Emily Honig, Susan Mann, and Lisa Rofel, eds. Guide to Women's Studies in China
• Ko, Dorothy. Teachers of Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in China, 1573–1722
• Mann, Susan. Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth Century
• Wang, Shuo. "The 'New Social History' in China: The Development of Women's History," History Teacher, May 2006, Vol. 39 Issue 3, pp 315–323
• Yan, Chen, and Karen Offen. "Women's History at the Cutting Edge: a joint paper in two voices." Women's History Review 27.1 : 6-28.

  Historiography

• Clark, Hugh R. "What's the Matter with “China”? A Critique of Teleological History." Journal of Asian Studies 77.2 : 295-314.
• Elman, Benjamin, , Princeton University. Extensive lists of sinological resources and bibliography.
• Hayford, Charles. China: World Bibliographical Series, annotates over 1500 works and refers to more than 2000 others, covering all fields and disciplines.
• Jin, Yan. "Shanghai Studies: An evolving academic field." History Compass 16.11 : e12496.
• Mitter, Rana. "Research Note Changed by War: The Changing Historiography Of Wartime China and New Interpretations Of Modern Chinese History." The Chinese Historical Review 17.1 : 85-95.
• Schneider, Julia C. Nation and Ethnicity: Chinese Discussions on History, Historiography, and Nationalism 501 pp.
• Smith, S. A. "China, Revolution and Presentism." Past & Present 234.1 : 274-289.
• Smith, Stephen A. "Recent historiography of the People's Republic of China, 1949-76." Twentieth Century Communism 3.3 : 196-216.
• Taylor, Jeremy E., and Grace C. Huang. "'Deep changes in interpretive currents'? Chiang Kai-shek studies in the post-cold war era." International Journal of Asian Studies 9.1 : 99-121.
• Unger, Jonathan. Using the Past to Serve the Present: Historiography and Politics in Contemporary China
• Wilkinson, Endymion, Fifth Edition, Harvard University, Asia Center, 2018,. Supersedes Wilkinson. Though aimed at research specialists, contains summaries of major topics that will be useful for general readers.
• Wu, Huaiqi and Chi Zhen, eds. An Historical Sketch of Chinese Historiography.
• Yan, Chen, and Karen Offen. "Women's History at the Cutting Edge: a joint paper in two voices." Women's History Review 27.1 : 6-28.
• Zhang, Xupeng. "In and out of the west: On the past, present, and future of chinese historical theory." History and Theory 54.4 : 46-63. online
• Zurndorfer, Harriet. "Oceans of history, seas of change: recent revisionist writing in western languages about China and East Asian maritime history during the period 1500–1630." International Journal of Asian Studies 13.1 : 61-94.

  Scholarly journals

• Central Asian Survey
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• '. Covers the period between the end of the Han and beginning of the Tang.
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• Late Imperial China
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• T'oung Pao: International Journal of Chinese Studies