Chinese History

[rieshy]

Does anyone have a favorite book that gives a good overview of the history of China?  Maps would be a plus.  I'd love one that was fairly in depth as well as well written.  Of course I'd also like to have dancing reindeer in my front yard:)  It's not for my kids but for me.

[Laura Corin]

It might not be quite what you are looking for, but Husband enjoys the books by Jonathan Spence.

 

L

[JennW in SoCal]

I, too, love the books by Jonathan Spence.

 

Way back in my college days the "bible" of Chinese history was written by John Fairbank.  The textbook of his that I still have on my bookshelf for reference, China: Tradition and Transformation, is probably out of print now, but I see on Amazon he published one final, revised, history overview just before his death.  China: A New History   

[swimmermom3]

We have used the Cambridge illustrated History of China , Keay's China: A History,  and selections from They Called Us White Chinese. The last book is an enormous volume and we use it for some primary source material. It was written by a family member who was an incredibly remarkable person, so it is important to us that our kids hear this piece of their family history.

[Farrar]

The Chinese Century by Spence is a nice photographic overview of the 20th century with a good summary text to go with it.  The Search for Modern China is a much, much more in depth tome by him that covers the 1600's to the present.

 

I'm afraid I don't really know a lot of the ancient and medieval histories out there, but I'm sure there's something.