I'm sorry if the question isn't specific enough to meet with the subreddit rules, I wasn't sure who else to ask.

I have several Chinese friends, and I lament that I have absolutely no real understanding of their history. I have a basic grasp of the geography, have read Sun Tzu, but I have no idea about the actual culture, tradition, politics and internally important people.

I'd love to read a couple of "summary" books to get me started. Things that discuss neolithic China and early Chinese history through to stuff that discusses the layout of Chinese government, Taiwan and so on.