Bibliography Of Chinese History

This bibliography covers the English language scholarship of major studies in Chinese history.

Surveys

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* Fairbank, John King and Goldman, Merle. ''China: A New History.'' 2nd ed. Harvard U. Press, (2006). 640 pp.
* Gernet, Jacques, J. R. Foster, and Charles Hartman. ''A History of Chinese Civilization'' (1996). One-volume survey.
* Hsu, Cho-yun. ''China: A New Cultural History'' (Columbia University Press; 2012) 612 pp; stress on China's encounters with successive waves of globalization.
* Hsü, Immanuel Chung-yueh. ''The Rise of Modern China,'' 6th ed. (Oxford University Press, 1999). Detailed coverage of 1644–1999, 1136 pp.
* Huang, Ray. ''China, a Macro History'' (1997) 335 pp. A personal, essayistic approach.
* Keay, John. ''China: A History'' (2009), 642 pp.
* Mote, Frederick W. ''Imperial China, 900–1800'' Harvard University Press, 1999, 1,136 pp. 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'' (1999), 876 pp; 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'' (2017)
* Wright, David Curtis. ''History of China'' (2001) 257 pp.
* Wills, Jr., John E. ''Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History'' (1994) 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.
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The Discovery of Early Pottery in China
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'' (1995).

Zhou dynasty

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Qin dynasty

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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.
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* Dubs, Homer H. 1938–55. ''The History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku. '' (3 vol)
* Hill, John E. (2009) ''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''. (1979)
* 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. (2009) ''Wars With the Xiongnu – A Translation From Zizhi tongjian'', AuthorHouse.

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

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Sui dynasty

* Wright, Arthur F. 1978. ''The Sui Dynasty''. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. , (pbk).

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'' (2012)
excerpt
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. .
* 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'' (2015).
* Ebrey, Patricia. ''The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period'' (1990)
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* Hymes, Robert, and Conrad Schirokauer, eds. ''Ordering the World: Approaches to State and Society in Sung Dynasty China,'' U of California Press, 1993
complete text online free
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* 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

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Ming dynasty

* Brook, Timothy. ''The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China.'' (1998).
* 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.'' (1983); uses advanced "new social history
complete text online free
* 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.'' (1976).
* Huang, Ray. ''1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline.'' (1981).
* Mote, Frederick W., and Denis Twitchett, eds. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 7, part 1: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644'' (1988). 1008 pp
excerpt and text search
* ——''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 8: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 2. '' (1998). 1203 pp.
* Schneewind, Sarah. ''A Tale of Two Melons: Emperor and Subject in Ming China.'' (2006).
* Tsai, Shih-shan Henry. ''Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle.'' (2001).

Qing dynasty

* Arthur W. Hummel. '' Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644–1912).'' (Washington: Library of Congress. Orientalia, Division; U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943). 2 vols. Reprinted: Berkshire, 2016. 800 still generally reliable biographical articles, a number of which are online
Qing Research Portal

* 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'' (1997)
* Naquin, Susan, and Evelyn S. Rawski. ''Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century'' (1989
excerpt and text search
* 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'' (2001)
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* Struve, Lynn A., ed. ''The Qing Formation in World-Historical Time.'' (2004). 412 pp.
* Struve, Lynn A., ed. ''Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm: China in Tigers' Jaws'' (1998)

Nationalist era (1912–present)

* Bergere, Marie-Claire. ''Sun Yat-Sen'' (1998), 480 pp. Standard biography
* Boorman, Howard L., et al., eds. ''Biographical Dictionary of Republican China.'' (Vol. I-IV and Index. 1967–1979). 600 short scholarly biographie
excerpt and text search
Online at Internet Archive.
* Dikötter, Frank. '' The Age of Openness: China Before Mao''. (2008)
* Dreyer, Edward L. ''China at War, 1901–1949.'' (1995). 422 pp.
* Eastman Lloyd. ''Seeds of Destruction: Nationalist China in War and Revolution, 1937– 1945.'' (1984)
* Eastman Lloyd et al. ''The Nationalist Era in China, 1927–1949'' (1991)
* Ebrey, Patricia (1996), "Surnames and Han Chinese Identity", in Melissa J. Brown, ''Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan'', Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, .
* Edmondson, Robert (2002), "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.'' (1983). 1001 pp.
* --- and Feuerwerker, Albert, eds. ''The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 13: Republican China, 1912–1949, Part 2.'' (1986). 1092 pp.
* Fogel, Joshua A. ''The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography'' (2000)
* Gordon, David M. "The China-Japan War, 1931–1945," ''The Journal of Military History'' v70#1 (2006) 137–182. Overview of important books and interpretations
online
* Hsiung, James C. and Steven I. Levine, eds. ''China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan, 1937–1945'' (1992). Survey essays.
* Hsi-sheng, Ch'i. ''Nationalist China at War: Military Defeats and Political Collapse, 1937–1945'' (1982)
* Mitter, Rana. ''Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937–1945.'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013). .
* Manthorpe, Jonathan (2008), Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan, Palgrave Macmillan.
* Mitter, Rana. ''A Bitter Revolution : China's Struggle with the Modern World.'' (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004). .
* Hung, Chang-tai. ''War and Popular Culture: Resistance in Modern China, 1937–1945'' (1994
complete text online free
* Lary, Diana. ''The Chinese People at War: Human Suffering and Social Transformation, 1937–1945'' (2010)
* James E. Sheridan, ''China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History, 1912–1949'' (New York: Free Press; The Transformation of Modern China Series, 1975)

* Shiroyama, Tomoko. ''China during the Great Depression: Market, State, and the World Economy, 1929–1937'' (2008).
* Shuyun, Sun. ''The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth'' (2007)
* Taylor, Jay. ''The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China.'' (2009)
* Westad, Odd Arne. ''Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946–1950.'' (2003). 413 pp. A standard history.

Communist era (1949–present)

* Barnouin, Barbara, and Yu Changgen. ''Zhou Enlai: A Political Life'' (2005)
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* Dikötter, Frank. '' The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution, 1945–57.'' (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2013). .
* Dikötter, Frank. '' Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–62.'' (London: Bloomsbury, 2010). .
* Dittmer, Lowell. ''China's Continuous Revolution: The Post-Liberation Epoch, 1949–1981'' (1989)
online free

* Garver, John W. ''China's Quest: The History of the Foreign Relations of the People's Republic'' (2nd ed. 2016)
* Both sympathetic and critical.
* Kirby, William C.; Ross, Robert S.; and Gong, Li, eds. ''Normalization of U.S.-China Relations: An International History.'' (2005). 376 pp.
* Li, Xiaobing. ''A History of the Modern Chinese Army'' (2007)
* 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. (Free Press, 1999), 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.'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012). .
* Ross, John. ''China's Great Road: Lessons for Marxist Theory and Socialist Practices.'' (Praxis Press, 2021) .
* Spence, Jonathan. ''Mao Zedong'' (1999)
* Walder, Andrew G. ''China under Mao: A Revolution Derailed'' (Harvard University Press, 2015) 413 pp
online review
* Wang, Jing. ''High Culture Fever: Politics, Aesthetics, and Ideology in Deng's China'' (1996)
complete text online free

Cultural Revolution, 1966–76

* Dikötter, Frank. ''The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962–1976'' (2016). 432 pp.
* Clark, Paul. ''The Chinese Cultural Revolution: A History'' (2008), a favorable look at artistic production
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* Esherick, Joseph W.; Pickowicz, Paul G.; and Walder, Andrew G., eds. ''The Chinese Cultural Revolution as History.'' (2006). 382 pp.
* Jian, Guo; Song, Yongyi; and Zhou, Yuan. ''Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution.'' (2006). 433 pp.
* Richard Curt Kraus. ''The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction.'' (New York: Oxford University Press, Very Short Introductions Series, 2012). .
* 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.'' (2006).
* MacFarquhar, Roderick. ''The Origins of the Cultural Revolution. Vol. 3: The Coming of the Cataclysm, 1961–1966.'' (1998). 733 pp.
* Yan, Jiaqi and Gao, Gao. ''Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution.'' (1996). 736 pp.

Economy and environment

* Benn, James A. ''Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History'' (2015)
* Chaffee, John W. ''The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China: The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750–1400'' (2018)
* Chao, Kang. ''Man and Land in Chinese History: An Economic Analysis'' (Stanford UP, 1986)
* Chow, Gregory C. ''China's Economic Transformation'' (2nd ed. 2007)
* Elvin, Mark. ''Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China.'' (2004). 564 pp.
* Elvin, Mark and Liu, Ts'ui-jung, eds. ''Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History.'' (1998). 820 pp.
* von Glahn, Richard. ''The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century'' (Cambridge UP, 2016). 461 pp
online review
* Ji, Zhaojin. ''A History of Modern Shanghai Banking: The Rise and Decline of China's Finance Capitalism.'' (2003). 325 pp.
* Naughton, Barry. ''The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth'' (2007)
* Rawski, Thomas G. and Lillian M. Li, eds. ''Chinese History in Economic Perspective,'' University of California Press, 199
complete text online free
* 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.'' (2003). 278 pp.
* Von Glahn, Richard. ''The Economic History of China: "From Antiquity to the 19th Century'' (2016
excerpt

Atlases

* Stanford, Edward. ''Atlas of the Chinese Empire, containing separate maps of the eighteen provinces of China'' (2nd ed 1917) Legible color map
Online free

Women and gender

* Ebrey, Patricia. ''The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period'' (1990)
* 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'' (2007)
full text online
* Hershatter, Gail, Emily Honig, Susan Mann, and Lisa Rofel, eds. ''Guide to Women's Studies in China'' (1998)
* Ko, Dorothy. ''Teachers of Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in China, 1573–1722'' (1994)
* Mann, Susan. ''Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth Century'' (1997)
* 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 (2018): 6-28.

Bibliography

* Hayford, Charles. ''China: World Bibliographical Series'' (ABC-CLIO, 1997), annotates over 1500 works and refers to more than 2000 others, covering all fields and disciplines. Online at Internet Archive
HERE

* Elman, Benjamin
Classical Historiography For Chinese History
(November 2015) Princeton University. Extensive lists of sinological resources and bibliography.
* Wilkinson, Endymion, '' Chinese History: A New Manual'' Fifth Edition, Harvard University, Asia Center (for the Harvard-Yenching Institute), 2018, {{ISBN, 978-0-9988883-0-9. Supersedes Wilkinson (2015). Though aimed at research specialists, contains summaries of major topics that will be useful for general readers.

Historiography

* Clark, Hugh R. "What's the Matter with “China”? A Critique of Teleological History." ''Journal of Asian Studies'' 77.2 (2018): 295-314.
* Chen, Yan and Karen Offen. "Women's History at the Cutting Edge: a joint paper in two voices." ''Women's History Review'' 27.1 (2018): 6-28.
* Cohen, Paul A., ''Discovering History in China: American Historical Writing on the Recent Chinese Past'' (1984; New York: Columbia University Press; Studies of the East Asian Institute, 2010)

* Ding, Yizhuang. "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.

* Jin, Yan. "Shanghai Studies: An evolving academic field." ''History Compass'' 16.11 (2018): e12496.
* Li, Huaiyin. ''Reinventing Modern China: Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing'' (Honolulu, 2012)
* Mann, Susan. ''Gender and Sexuality in Modern Chinese History'' (New York: Cambridge University Press; New Approaches to Asian History, 2011)

* 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 (2010): 85-95.
* Schneider, Julia C. ''Nation and Ethnicity: Chinese Discussions on History, Historiography, and Nationalism (1900s-1920s)'' (Brill, 2017) 501 pp.
* Smith, S. A. "China, Revolution and Presentism." ''Past & Present'' 234.1 (2017): 274-289.
* Szonyi, Michael. ''A Companion to Chinese History'' (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2016). Review-of-the-field articles on periods and topics.

* 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 (2012): 99-121.
* Unger, Jonathan. ''Using the Past to Serve the Present: Historiography and Politics in Contemporary China'' (1993)
* Wilkinson, Endymion Porter. '' Chinese History: A New Manual'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2018). Annotated chapters on all aspects of Chinese history and culture up to 1911, including "boxes" that focus on topics of particular interest.

* Wu, Huaiqi and Chi Zhen, eds. ''An Historical Sketch of Chinese Historiography'' (2018).
* Zhang, Xupeng. "In and out of the west: On the past, present, and future of chinese historical theory." ''History and Theory'' 54.4 (2015): 46-63.
* 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 (2016): 61-94.

Scholarly journals

* '' Central Asian Survey''
* '' China Quarterly''
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Chinese Studies in History
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*
East Asian History
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*
Early Medieval China
'. Covers the period between the end of the Han and beginning of the Tang.
* '' Journal of Asian Studies''.
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Journal of Modern Chinese History
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* ''Late Imperial China''
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Modern China: An International Journal of History and Social Science
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Sino-Japanese Studies
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* '' T'oung Pao: International Journal of Chinese Studies''

Bibliographies of history
Historiography of China