A History of China
Morris Rossabi
Language: English
Pages: 452
ISBN: 1577181131
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Capturing China’s past in all its complexity, this multi-faceted history portrays China in the context of a larger global world, while incorporating the narratives of Chinese as well as non-Chinese ethnic groups and discussing people traditionally left out of the story—peasants, women, merchants, and artisans.
- Offers a complete political, economic, social, and cultural history of China, covering the major events and trends
- Written in a clear and uncomplicated style by a distinguished historian with over four decades of experience teaching undergraduates
- Examines Chinese history through the lens of global history to better understand how foreign influences affected domestic policies and practices
- Depicts the role of non-Chinese ethnic groups in China, such as Tibetans and Uyghurs, and analyzes the Mongol and Manchu rulers and their impact on Chinese society
- Incorporates the narratives of people traditionally left out of Chinese history, including women, peasants, merchants, and artisans
and its neighbors, ca. 1127 However, at the time of the initial collapse of the Tang dynasty, �centralization and even the survival of Chinese civilization were threatened. Peoples on the northern fringes of Chinese territory capitalized on China’s weakness to occupy lands and to establish Chinese-style dynasties for the next several centuries. The Khitans, a people from Mongolia, established the Liao dynasty, which controlled the area around modern Beijing and sixteen additional �prefectures in
engineer a social revolution that would deprive them of power and transfer authority to an underclass composed of peasants and others on the fringes of society. Having no choice and having no independent military force to defeat Li, they turned to outsiders, the Manchus, to oust him. The Manchus had, by this time, received considerable assistance from those Chinese who wished to preserve an imperial system but with a Manchu emperor. Believing that they would fare better under a Manchu imperial
support from foreigners and from potentially sympathetic Confucian officials. TAIPING REBELLION Hong Xiuquan (1814–1864) led the movement that offered the greatest challenge to the Qing. Born to a poor family of the Hakka, or guest peoples, who were classified as such because they had moved from north to south China, he aspired to an official career but failed the civil-service examinations three times. Bitterly frustrated, he looked for a scapegoat to explain his failures. At this very time,
that proletarian revolutions would topple the bourgeois governments necessitated an explanation. He attributed this failure to imperialism. He argued that Britain, France, and the other capitalist countries had gained so much revenue from their colonies that they could provide a pittance of social welfare (pensions, unemployment insurance, etc.), which was a sop to their people but nevertheless undermined attempts to overthrow the bourgeois governments. They could also allocate substantial funds
that it is difficult to imagine what I would have become without his influence. I think of him daily and hope he realized how important he was in my life and career. Like their father Mayer, Joseph and Amiel Rossabi are decent and honorable, and they have been helpful to me and my immediate family over the years. My daughter Amy and my son Tony and their respective families – Howard, Sarah, and Nathan Sterinbach and Anna and Julia Rossabi – have been a source of joy, stimulation, and assistance