A Brief History of China

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Author :
Publisher : Tuttle Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1462921019
Total Pages : 458 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (629 download)

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Book Synopsis A Brief History of China by : Jonathan Clements

Download or read book A Brief History of China written by Jonathan Clements and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive, yet entertaining look at China's history through a modern lens. For millennia, China was the largest and richest nation on earth. Two centuries ago, however, its economy sank into a depression from which it had not fully recovered--until now. China's modern resurgence as the world's largest nation in terms of population and its second-largest economy--where 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the space of a few decades--is the greatest untold story of the 21st century. A Brief History of China tells of the development of a rich and complex civilization where the use of paper, writing, money and gunpowder were widespread in ancient times and where silk, ceramics, tea, metal implements and other products were produced and exported around the globe. It examines the special conditions that allowed a single culture to unify an entire continent spanning 10 billion square kilometers under the rule of a single man--and the unbelievably rich artistic, literary and architectural heritage that Chinese culture has bequeathed to the world. Equally fascinating is the story of China's decline in the 19th and early 20th century--as Europeans and Americans took center stage--and its modern resurgence as an economic powerhouse in recent years. In his retelling of a Chinese history stretching back 5,000 years, author and China-expert Jonathan Clements focuses on the human stories which led to the powerful transformations in Chinese society--from the unification of China under its first emperor, Qinshi Huangdi, and the writings of the great Chinese philosophers Confucius and Laozi, to the Mongol invasion under Genghis Khan and the consolidation of Communist rule under Mao Zedong. Clements even brings readers through to the present day, outlining China's economic renaissance under Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping. What really separates this book from its counterparts is the focus on women, and modern themes such as diversity and climate change. Chinese history is typically told through the stories of its most famous men, but Clements' telling gives women equal time and research--which introduces readers of this book to equally important, but less commonly-known facts and historical figures. Often seen in the West in black or white terms--as either a savage dystopia or a fantastical paradise--China is revealed in the book as an exceptional yet troubled nation that nevertheless warrants its self-description as the Middle Kingdom.

A Short History of China

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Author :
Publisher : Oldcastle Books
ISBN 13 : 1842439693
Total Pages : 156 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (424 download)

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Book Synopsis A Short History of China by : Gordon Kerr

Download or read book A Short History of China written by Gordon Kerr and published by Oldcastle Books. This book was released on 2013-01-25 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The turbulent and chequered past of the world's most populous country is one of the most fascinating in world history, and relatively little known in the West. From the beginnings of Chinese prehistory right through to internet censorship with the 'Great Firewall of China', Gordon Kerr offers a comprehensive introduction to the sprawling history of this enormous country. A Short History of China provides an absorbing introduction to more than 4,000 years of Chinese history, telling the stories of the tyrants, despots, femmes fatales, artists, warriors and philosophers who have shaped this fascinating and complex nation. It describes the amazing technological advances that her scientists and inventors made many hundreds of years before similar discoveries in Europe. It also investigates the Chinese view of the world and examines the movements, aspirations and philosophies that moulded it and, in so doing, created the Chinese nation. Finally, the book examines the dramatic changes of the last few decades and the emergence of China as an economic and industrial 21st century superpower, making Napoleon Bonaparte's words about her ring true: "Let China sleep, for when she awakes, she will shake the world."

A Brief History of the Dynasties of China

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis A Brief History of the Dynasties of China by : Bamber Gascoigne

Download or read book A Brief History of the Dynasties of China written by Bamber Gascoigne and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Dynasties of China

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Author :
Publisher : Running PressBook Pub
ISBN 13 : 9780786712199
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (121 download)

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Book Synopsis The Dynasties of China by : Bamber Gascoigne

Download or read book The Dynasties of China written by Bamber Gascoigne and published by Running PressBook Pub. This book was released on 2003 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eight remarkable Chinese dynasties are chronicled here, covering 3,500 years of Chinese history from the emergence of the first dynasty in 1600 B.C. to the fall of the last in 1911, providing the necessary background to understanding China's often violent twentieth century history. Original.

Ancient Chinese Dynasties

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781601527394
Total Pages : 96 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (273 download)

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Book Synopsis Ancient Chinese Dynasties by : Cynthia L. Jenson-Elliott

Download or read book Ancient Chinese Dynasties written by Cynthia L. Jenson-Elliott and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the history of Ancient Chinese dynasties, covering art and language to large-scale building projects such as the Great Wall and the bureaucratic structure of society itself.

China Between Empires

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674060350
Total Pages : 351 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis China Between Empires by : Mark Edward Lewis

Download or read book China Between Empires written by Mark Edward Lewis and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-30 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the collapse of the Han dynasty in the third century CE, China divided along a north-south line. Mark Lewis traces the changes that both underlay and resulted from this split in a period that saw the geographic redefinition of China, more engagement with the outside world, significant changes to family life, developments in the literary and social arenas, and the introduction of new religions. The Yangzi River valley arose as the rice-producing center of the country. Literature moved beyond the court and capital to depict local culture, and newly emerging social spaces included the garden, temple, salon, and country villa. The growth of self-defined genteel families expanded the notion of the elite, moving it away from the traditional great Han families identified mostly by material wealth. Trailing the rebel movements that toppled the Han, the new faiths of Daoism and Buddhism altered every aspect of life, including the state, kinship structures, and the economy. By the time China was reunited by the Sui dynasty in 589 ce, the elite had been drawn into the state order, and imperial power had assumed a more transcendent nature. The Chinese were incorporated into a new world system in which they exchanged goods and ideas with states that shared a common Buddhist religion. The centuries between the Han and the Tang thus had a profound and permanent impact on the Chinese world.

The Dynasties and Treasures of China

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Author :
Publisher : Avery
ISBN 13 : 9780670286768
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (867 download)

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Book Synopsis The Dynasties and Treasures of China by : Bamber Gascoigne

Download or read book The Dynasties and Treasures of China written by Bamber Gascoigne and published by Avery. This book was released on 1973 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

China’s Cosmopolitan Empire

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 067403306X
Total Pages : 367 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis China’s Cosmopolitan Empire by : Mark Edward Lewis

Download or read book China’s Cosmopolitan Empire written by Mark Edward Lewis and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tang dynasty is often called China’s “golden age,” a period of commercial, religious, and cultural connections from Korea and Japan to the Persian Gulf, and a time of unsurpassed literary creativity. Mark Lewis captures a dynamic era in which the empire reached its greatest geographical extent under Chinese rule, painting and ceramic arts flourished, women played a major role both as rulers and in the economy, and China produced its finest lyric poets in Wang Wei, Li Bo, and Du Fu. The Chinese engaged in extensive trade on sea and land. Merchants from Inner Asia settled in the capital, while Chinese entrepreneurs set off for the wider world, the beginning of a global diaspora. The emergence of an economically and culturally dominant south that was controlled from a northern capital set a pattern for the rest of Chinese imperial history. Poems celebrated the glories of the capital, meditated on individual loneliness in its midst, and described heroic young men and beautiful women who filled city streets and bars. Despite the romantic aura attached to the Tang, it was not a time of unending peace. In 756, General An Lushan led a revolt that shook the country to its core, weakening the government to such a degree that by the early tenth century, regional warlordism gripped many areas, heralding the decline of the Great Tang.

The Troubled Empire

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674072537
Total Pages : 337 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis The Troubled Empire by : Timothy Brook

Download or read book The Troubled Empire written by Timothy Brook and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-11 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mongol takeover in the 1270s changed the course of Chinese history. The Confucian empireÑa millennium and a half in the makingÑwas suddenly thrust under foreign occupation. What China had been before its reunification as the Yuan dynasty in 1279 was no longer what it would be in the future. Four centuries later, another wave of steppe invaders would replace the Ming dynasty with yet another foreign occupation. The Troubled Empire explores what happened to China between these two dramatic invasions. If anything defined the complex dynamics of this period, it was changes in the weather. Asia, like Europe, experienced a Little Ice Age, and as temperatures fell in the thirteenth century, Kublai Khan moved south into China. His Yuan dynasty collapsed in less than a century, but Mongol values lived on in Ming institutions. A second blast of cold in the 1630s, combined with drought, was more than the dynasty could stand, and the Ming fell to Manchu invaders. Against this backgroundÑthe first coherent ecological history of China in this periodÑTimothy Brook explores the growth of autocracy, social complexity, and commercialization, paying special attention to ChinaÕs incorporation into the larger South China Sea economy. These changes not only shaped what China would become but contributed to the formation of the early modern world.

A Brief History of Ancient China

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350170399
Total Pages : 417 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (51 download)

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Book Synopsis A Brief History of Ancient China by : Edward L Shaughnessy

Download or read book A Brief History of Ancient China written by Edward L Shaughnessy and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-07-13 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Brief History of Ancient China adapts a traditional Chinese historical format to present a multi-faceted account of the first two millennia of China's earliest history: from the time of the legendary rulers Yao and Shun (c. 2000 BCE) down to the end of the Qin dynasty (221-207 BCE). Organised into five major sections, it examines the political shifts of the major dynasties, the histories of local states, and the lives of key individuals. Drawing on analysis of textual and visual materials, and a variety of English and non-English sources, Edward L. Shaughnessy offers detailed insight into the contemporary religious and philosophical landscape, governmental and legal practices, and innovations in writing, literature, and music. Incorporating recent developments in the field, this book draws on archaeological discoveries from the last century, and examines the lives of central female figures, and other groups who are often underrepresented.

The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

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Author :
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
ISBN 13 : 1615198210
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (151 download)

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Book Synopsis The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) by : Linda Jaivin

Download or read book The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) written by Linda Jaivin and published by The Experiment, LLC. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journey across epic China—through millennia of early innovation to modern dominance. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. As we enter the “Asian century,” China demands our attention for being an economic powerhouse, a beacon of rapid modernization, and an assertive geopolitical player. To understand the nation behind the headlines, we must take in its vibrant, tumultuous past—a story of “larger-than-life characters, philosophical arguments and political intrigues, military conflicts and social upheavals, artistic invention and technological innovation.” The Shortest History of China charts a path from China’s tribal origins through its storied imperial era and up to the modern Communist Party under Xi Jinping—including the rarely told story of women in China and the specters of corruption and disunity that continue to haunt the People’s Republic today. A master storyteller and exacting historian, Linda Jaivin distills this vast history into a short, riveting account that today’s globally minded readers will find indispensable.

A Brief History of China

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780804850056
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis A Brief History of China by : Jonathan Clements

Download or read book A Brief History of China written by Jonathan Clements and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive, yet entertaining look at China's history through a modern lens. For millennia, China was the largest and richest nation on earth. Two centuries ago, however, its economy sank into a depression from which it had not fully recovered--until now. China's modern resurgence as the world's largest nation in terms of population and its second-largest economy--where 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the space of a few decades--is the greatest untold story of the 21st century. A Brief History of China tells of the development of a rich and complex civilization where the use of paper, writing, money and gunpowder were widespread in ancient times and where silk, ceramics, tea, metal implements and other products were produced and exported around the globe. It examines the special conditions that allowed a single culture to unify an entire continent spanning 10 billion square kilometers under the rule of a single man--and the unbelievably rich artistic, literary and architectural heritage that Chinese culture has bequeathed to the world. Equally fascinating is the story of China's decline in the 19th and early 20th century--as Europeans and Americans took center stage--and its modern resurgence as an economic powerhouse in recent years. In his retelling of a Chinese history stretching back 5,000 years, author and China-expert Jonathan Clements focuses on the human stories which led to the powerful transformations in Chinese society--from the unification of China under its first emperor, Qinshi Huangdi, and the writings of the great Chinese philosophers Confucius and Laozi, to the Mongol invasion under Genghis Khan and the consolidation of Communist rule under Mao Zedong. Clements even brings readers through to the present day, outlining China's economic renaissance under Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping. What really separates this book from its counterparts is the focus on women, and modern themes such as diversity and climate change. Chinese history is typically told through the stories of its most famous men, but Clements' telling gives women equal time and research--which introduces readers of this book to equally important, but less commonly-known facts and historical figures. Often seen in the West in black or white terms--as either a savage dystopia or a fantastical paradise--China is revealed in the book as an exceptional yet troubled nation that nevertheless warrants its self-description as the Middle Kingdom.

Dynastic China

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Author :
Publisher : The Other Press
ISBN 13 : 9839541889
Total Pages : 535 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (395 download)

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Book Synopsis Dynastic China by : Tan Koon San

Download or read book Dynastic China written by Tan Koon San and published by The Other Press. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 535 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dynastic China: An Elementary History surveys four millennia of China’s history. It traced commentaries from the mythological period of Pangu, creator of the Chinese universe, and the Goddess Nuwa, creator of the Chinese people, through to the legendary periods of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties to subsequent succeeding dynasties from the Qin Dynasty (221 BC) to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1912 AD). It weaved through brutal political intrigues and conspiracies of China’s imperial existence. The persistent enthronement of child emperors for the benefits of power-hungry eunuchs, dowagers, members of the imperial clans, generals and warlords formed a large part of the narrative. Encrypted within are salient elements of Chinese philosophical precepts, civilisation values, and political ideals. The core concepts that mould the idea of tian xia 天 下 (all under heaven) and tian ming 天 命 (Mandate of Heaven), and how these guided Chinese perception of their world are painstakingly explained. The profound influence of Confucianism and the functional adoption of the Legalist framework in statecraft are imparted in the context of practicality and idealism. So too is the complementary notion of natural dualities, the Yin-Yang (阴 阳) harmony of contradictions. How these filtered through from philosophy to cultural values are deftly introduced. Imperial obsessions with frontier threats are also incisively presented. So are the diplomatic statecraft of matrimonial kinship, tributary exchanges and military engagements adopted to conduct relations. China’s perception of people in the frontier region are insightfully described. The application of the Chinese character yi 夷 to refer to them, it seems, carries a more gracious nuance to mean “of a distinct or different nature” and not the offensive attribution of ‘barbarian’ as made out in western notion. This and many more distinctions in discernment of the Chinese mindset are perceptively elucidated in the book.

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

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Author :
Publisher : The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
ISBN 13 : 962996418X
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (299 download)

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Book Synopsis Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms by : Peter Lorge

Download or read book Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms written by Peter Lorge and published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. This book was released on 2011-07-18 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960) has long been treated as an anomaly in the history of China, an age of great disunity between the empires of the Tang and the Song dynasties. Breaking with previous scholarship on China's middle period, this edited volume presents individual studies that focus on the art, culture, and politics of the interregnum, challenging underlying assumptions about the unitary nature of dynastic culture and its value as a category of historical analysis. It understands these decades as a time of important transition in which the incipient cultural shifts of the mature Tang dynasty turned into the foundations of Song society. Consequently it highlights the complex narrative processes that gave birth to Song culture.

The Early Chinese Empires

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674265424
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (742 download)

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Book Synopsis The Early Chinese Empires by : Mark Edward Lewis

Download or read book The Early Chinese Empires written by Mark Edward Lewis and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-30 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 221 BC, the First Emperor of Qin unified the lands that would become the heart of a Chinese empire. Though forged by conquest, this vast domain depended for its political survival on a fundamental reshaping of Chinese culture. With this informative book, we are present at the creation of an ancient imperial order whose major features would endure for two millennia. The Qin and Han constitute the “classical period” of Chinese history—a role played by the Greeks and Romans in the West. Mark Edward Lewis highlights the key challenges faced by the court officials and scholars who set about governing an empire of such scale and diversity of peoples. He traces the drastic measures taken to transcend, without eliminating, these regional differences: the invention of the emperor as the divine embodiment of the state; the establishment of a common script for communication and a state-sponsored canon for the propagation of Confucian ideals; the flourishing of the great families, whose domination of local society rested on wealth, landholding, and elaborate kinship structures; the demilitarization of the interior; and the impact of non-Chinese warrior-nomads in setting the boundaries of an emerging Chinese identity. The first of a six-volume series on the history of imperial China, The Early Chinese Empires illuminates many formative events in China’s long history of imperialism—events whose residual influence can still be discerned today.

Ancient China for Kids - Early Dynasties, Civilization and History | Ancient History for Kids | 6th Grade Social Studies

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Author :
Publisher : Speedy Publishing LLC
ISBN 13 : 1541925343
Total Pages : 64 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (419 download)

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Book Synopsis Ancient China for Kids - Early Dynasties, Civilization and History | Ancient History for Kids | 6th Grade Social Studies by : Baby Professor

Download or read book Ancient China for Kids - Early Dynasties, Civilization and History | Ancient History for Kids | 6th Grade Social Studies written by Baby Professor and published by Speedy Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient China has a history very rich in culture and traditions. It has gone through leaders and dynasties, and all of these transformed China until it became the cultural and economic hub that it is today. Read about China’s ancient history without the trouble of being bored. You can use this picture book to gather knowledge about the topic. Grab a copy now.

The Cambridge History of China: Volume 2, The Six Dynasties, 220-589

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9781107020771
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (27 download)

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Book Synopsis The Cambridge History of China: Volume 2, The Six Dynasties, 220-589 by : Albert E. Dien

Download or read book The Cambridge History of China: Volume 2, The Six Dynasties, 220-589 written by Albert E. Dien and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Six Dynasties Period (220-589 CE) is one of the most complex in Chinese history. Written by leading scholars from across the globe, the essays in this volume cover nearly every aspect of the period, including politics, foreign relations, warfare, agriculture, gender, art, philosophy, material culture, local society, and music. While acknowledging the era's political chaos, these essays indicate that this was a transformative period when Chinese culture was significantly changed and enriched by foreign peoples and ideas. It was also a time when history and literature became recognized as independent subjects and religion was transformed by the domestication of Buddhism and the formation of organized Daoism. Many of the trends that shaped the rest of imperial China's history have their origins in this era, such as the commercial vibrancy of southern China, the separation of history and literature from classical studies, and the growing importance of women in politics and religion.