Publisher's Synopsis
The Chronicles of Chinese Civilization series offers a panoramic journey through China's imperial legacy, dissecting each major dynasty as a standalone narrative while weaving them into a cohesive tapestry of cultural evolution. From the mythic dawn of Xia-Shang-Zhou to the twilight of Qing imperialism, this collection bridges the gap between archaeological rigor and historical storytelling, transforming dynastic chronicles into living sagas of governance, art, technology, and social transformation.
Each volume adopts a "microhistory-macrocontext" approach:
- Deep-dive analyses of pivotal events (e.g., Tang's Silk Road expansion, Ming's maritime prohibitions)
- Cultural biographies of iconic figures (Confucius, Wu Zetian, Kublai Khan)
- Thematic explorations of innovations (papermaking, gunpowder, movable type)
- Cross-dynastic comparisons (e.g., Han vs. Song bureaucratic systems, Tang vs. Qing urbanization)
By integrating material culture (terracotta armies, imperial porcelain) with textual records (Records of the Grand Historian, Dreams of the Red Chamber), readers witness how dynastic cycles reshaped Chinese identity-from the Zhou's "Mandate of Heaven" ideology to the Qing's Manchu-Han bilingualism.
