Story of China - The Romantic Revival Road

Author: Jiang Jianzhong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: From the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, spanning over two thousand years, the Han Dynasty had the longest duration, excluding the short-lived Xin Dynasty established by Wang Mang, which lasted for 402 years. However, even within the Han Dynasty, there were significant differences between the Eastern Han and the Western Han, as well as between the later and earlier periods of the Eastern Han. The phrase "the Han inherited the Qin system" refers to the fact that most institutions of the Western Han were derived from the Qin Dynasty. However, this does not mean that the entire Han Dynasty implemented the same system. In reality, even with the same names and provisions, the content and essence of many institutions had already changed. Especially between the Eastern and Western Han, as they were continuations of the same dynasty, the institutions established since the reign of Emperor Gaozu were not easily altered. But with the passage of time and changing circumstances, both the central government and local officials had to make adaptations. Such adaptations were often not recorded in official documents and could only be explored through the interstices of historical sources. Therefore, to understand or study the history of the Eastern Han, one must pay attention to these changes to grasp the truth. These changes were not necessarily progress or improvement; they could be deterioration or collapse. Even so, they would lead to the complete demise of old institutions and things, paving the way for the emergence of new institutions and things. Of course, this process might take a very long time. For example, some changes during the Eastern Han period would only show their results in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties or even in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. But whether they were abrupt or gradual, their significance was equally important.
The Story of China is an encyclopedic history of China that combines narrative reading, exquisite and delicate image appreciation, and convenient and practical search functions. It contains countless captivating scenes of Chinese history, woven together in a tapestry of mutual complementarity, forming the splendid civilization of the Chinese nation over its five thousand years. Just as exploring famous mountains and rivers cannot be separated from the guidance of a tour guide and a map, through the illustrated introductions and prompts provided below, readers are sure to enjoy a delightful journey through the beautiful landscapes of China's history, lingering in admiration. The overall layout fully reflects the book's emphasis on narrative texts, showcasing its characteristics as an encyclopedic history: dense knowledge, a balance of text and images, and easy retrieval. This allows readers to feel the charm of history and culture and the ingenuity of the editorial craftsmanship on every page.
To better understand the stories and apply them in real-life learning, the book provides three key elements in the narrative texts: story introductions, story section titles, and story numbering. The story introductions summarize the essence of the stories, while both they and the story section titles are designed to help readers grasp the core of the stories and quickly obtain important information in a relaxed and convenient manner. The story numbering, on the other hand, is related to the search system. Each story contains essential elements such as the core content (i.e., the essence of the story), characters, and allusions. The book extracts these three elements and marks them at the top of each story (along with the source of the story), compiling them into an index at the end. The story numbering is linked to the three indexes at the back of the book: "Characters," "Allusions," and "Keywords." The vast amount of information and practicality of these indexes are a major feature of the book. With dense information, they compensate for the limitations of knowledge points in the narrative, achieving a high degree of unity between the emotional impact of the stories and the rational summary of historical knowledge. It allows...