History of China

History_of_China

History of China

中国史

Politics, Society, and Economy from Earliest Times to the Present

Martin Woesler

Hunan Normal University

European University Press, 2026

Table of Contents

PART I: ORIGINS

Chapter 1: Prologue — Writing a History of China

Chapter 2: Prehistoric China

Chapter 3: The Shang Dynasty

Chapter 4: The Western Zhou and the Ritual Order

PART II: THE AGE OF DIVISION AND UNIFICATION

Chapter 5: The Eastern Zhou — The Spring and Autumn Period

Chapter 6: The Warring States — Total War and the Path to Empire

Chapter 7: The Qin Dynasty — Unification, Tyranny, and the Imperial Template

Chapter 8: The Han Dynasty — The Golden Age of the First Empire

PART III: FRAGMENTATION AND REUNIFICATION

Chapter 9: Division, Migration, and Reunification — The Six Dynasties Period

Chapter 10: The Sui and Tang Dynasties

PART IV: THE SONG AND THE CONQUEST DYNASTIES

Chapter 11: The Song Dynasty — Commercial Revolution and Neo-Confucian Governance

Chapter 12: The Liao, Jin, and Western Xia

Chapter 13: The Yuan Dynasty — China Under Mongol Rule

PART V: LATE IMPERIAL CHINA

Chapter 14: The Ming Dynasty

Chapter 15: The Qing Dynasty I — The Manchu Empire at Its Height

Chapter 16: The Qing Dynasty II — Crisis, Reform, and Collapse

PART VI: THE REPUBLICAN ERA

Chapter 17: The Early Republic — Warlordism, May Fourth, and the Nationalist Revolution

Chapter 18: The Nanjing Decade, the Long March, and the War Against Japan

Chapter 19: Civil War and the Communist Victory

PART VII: THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC

Chapter 20: The Mao Era I — Revolution and Socialist Transformation

Chapter 21: The Mao Era II — Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution

Chapter 22: Reform and Opening — Deng Xiaoping and the Economic Miracle

Chapter 23: From Tiananmen to Xi Jinping — China as Global Power

PART VIII: GREATER CHINA AND THE DIASPORA

Chapter 24: Taiwan — From Japanese Colony to Democratic Polity

Chapter 25: Hong Kong and Macau

Chapter 26: The Chinese Diaspora

PART IX: THEMATIC PERSPECTIVES

Chapter 27: Economy and Technology in Chinese History

Chapter 28: Society, Gender, and Everyday Life

Chapter 29: China and the World — Foreign Relations, War, and Diplomacy

Chapter 30: Governance, Law, and Political Institutions

Chapter 31: Ethnicity, Frontier, and the Making of "China"

Chapter 32: Conclusion — Patterns, Ruptures, and the Meaning of Chinese History

About This Project

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Status: ⚙ In Progress(2026)