Book recommendations in Chinese History

by sl150

Hey guys. I'm an American living in China and I intent to go to grad school for my PhD next year. Are there any books on Chinese history you would recommend? I've read a fair bit but am looking to broaden my knowledge before grad school. I'm most interested in the Han, Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as the modern/PRC period. I'm open to any subjects or time periods, however.

DeSoulis

I strongly recommend Spencer's Search for Modern China if you want a general overview of Chinese history from the mid-1800s to the 1990s.

tequila0341

It's huge, but Imperial China 900-1800 by FW Mote is a remarkable book that synthesizes so much knowledge about history, philosophy, and culture. It focuses not only on the main Han Chinese perspective in history, but also puts the Khitan, Jurchen, Mongol, and Manchu perspectives in their proper context.

For a book that runs over 1100 pages, it's also a pretty fast read. Mote is a very good writer and he is rarely boring.

SleepingAran

There are 24 books that cover all the Chinese history until Ming Dynasty. I will write most of the stuff in Chinese, because my source are all in Chinese.

They are arranged accordingly to the time period:

  1. 《史记》 by 司马迁 : Covers the history from 黄帝 (Yellow Emperor) to 汉武帝 (Emperor Wu of Han)
  2. 《汉书》 by 班固 : Covers the history from 西汉初 (Beginning of West Han) to 新朝 (Xin Dynasty)
  3. 《后汉书》 by 范晔 ： Covers the history of 东汉 (East Han)
  4. 《三国志》 by 陈寿 ： Covers the history of 三国 (Three Kingdom) Side note: This is not Romance of the Three Kingdom a.k.a. 《三国演义》. 《三国演义》 is frictional, 《三国志》 is historical
  5. 《晋书》 by 房玄龄 : Covers the history of 晋朝
  6. 《宋书》 by 沈约 : Covers the history 南刘宋
  7. 《南齐书》 by 萧子显 ： Covers the history of 南齐 (Not the 春秋 one)
  8. 《梁书》 by 姚思廉 : Covers the history of 南梁
  9. 《陈书》 by 姚思廉 : Covers the history of 南陈
  10. 《魏书》 by 魏收 : Covers the history of 北魏
  11. 《北齐》 by 李百药 : Covers the history of 北齐
  12. 《周书》 by 令狐德棻 : Covers the history of 南梁、南陈、北齐、北周、隋朝
  13. 《隋书》 by 魏徵 : Covers the history of 隋朝
  14. 《南史》 and 《北史》 by 李延寿 : Covers the history of all the 南北朝
  15. 《旧唐书》 by 刘昫 : Covers the history of 唐朝
  16. 《新唐书》 by 歐陽脩 : Covers the history of 唐朝
  17. 《梁唐晋汉周书》 by 薛居正 : Covers the history of 五代
  18. 《新五代史》 by 欧阳修 : Covers the history of 五代
  19. 《宋史》、《辽史》、《金史》 by Тогтох : Covers the history of 宋朝、辽国、金朝 respectively
  20. 《元史》 by 宋濂 : Covers the history of 元朝
  21. 《明史》 by 张廷玉 : Covers the history of 明朝

All of them are written by few authors, but I only write out the main editor as it is impossible to write all of them that involved in making the book. All of them are first-hand information. So take a look