A Companion to Chinese History

• Covers the major trends in the study of Chinese history from antiquity to the present day
• Considers the latest scholarship of historians working in China and around the world
• Explores a variety of long-range questions and themes which serves to bridge the conventional divide between China’s traditional and modern eras
• Addresses China’s connections with other nations and regions and enables non-specialists to make comparisons with their own fields
• Features discussion of traditional topics and chronological approaches as well as newer themes such as Chinese history in relation to sexuality, national identity, and the environment

Notes on Contributors x

Acknowledgments xv

1 Introduction 1
Michael Szonyi

Part I States of the Field 9

2 How Do We Know What We Know about Chinese History? 11
Endymion Wilkinson

3 Chinese History in China: The State of the Field (1980s–2010s) 28
May‐bo Ching

4 Chinese History in Japan: The State of the Field 44
Shiba Yoshinobu

5 Chinese History in Europe: The State of the Field 53
Harriet Zurndorfer

6 Chinese History in the Era of the China Dream 64
Geremie R. Barmé and Michael Szonyi

7 Chinese History in World History 71
Gregory Blue

Part II Chronologies 87

8 Early China in Eurasian History 89
Michael Puett

9 Was Medieval China Medieval? (Post‐Han to Mid‐Tang) 106
Charles Holcombe

10 A Tang–Song Turning Point 118
Nicolas Tackett

11 Periods of Non-Han Rule 129
Michal Biran

12 Song to Qing: Late Imperial or Early Modern? 143
R. Kent Guy

13 Nineteenth‐Century China: The Evolution of American Historical Approaches 154
Paul A. Cohen

14 Republican History 168
Janet Y. Chen

15 Rethinking the History of Maoist China 179
S.A. Smith

16 The Reform Era as History 191
Timothy Cheek

Part III Themes and Approaches 205

17 Women, Gender, the Family, and Sexuality 207
Weijing Lu

18 History of Premodern Chinese Literature 221
Graham Sanders

19 Modern Chinese Literature 235
David Der‐wei Wang

20 The Environmental History of China: Past, Present, and Future 252
Peter C. Perdue

21 Science, Technology, and Medicine 265
Carla Nappi

22 Legal History 277
William P. Alford and Eric T. Schluessel

23 Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Identity in the Study of Modern China 290
Thomas S. Mullaney

24 The Religious Core of Local Social Organization 304
Barend J. ter Haar

25 Beyond the Great Divergence: Current Scholarship on the Economic History of Premodern China 315
Richard von Glahn

26 Taiwan: Margin, Center, Node 327
Shelley Rigger

27 Chinese Migrations 343
Henry S.N. Yu

28 China in the World: Beyond the Tribute System 360
John E. Wills, Jr.

Glossary of Selected Terms 372

References 378

Index 437

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