A General History of China (Selected Translations of the Chinese Historical Works of Dr. Toyo Inoue, Volume 1 and 2)

Author: (Japanese) Naito Konan, translated by Xia Yingyuan and others
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-01-01
Features: This book is selected from Naito Konan's Collected Works [published by Iwanami Shoten, Japan, Showa 44 (1969 AD)] and includes the fifth, eighth, and tenth volumes. It has been compiled by the translators into two parts. The first part includes Periods of Ancient Chinese History, Ancient Chinese History from ancient times to Western Jin; Period II, Medieval History, from Eastern Jin to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms; and Period III, Modern History, from Song to Yuan. The second part covers the history of the Qing Dynasty. What I call Eastern history is the history of the development of Chinese culture. Observing the overall development of Chinese culture is like a tree, growing from its roots to its trunk and then to its leaves, forming indeed a natural system of cultural development, much like the composition of world history. Japanese and Europeans measure the development of Chinese history by the standards of their own national histories, thus viewing its development as irregular, but this is all a mistake. In the development of Chinese culture, culture has indeed developed in a truly logical and natural way. This is different from cultures that develop under the stimulation and influence of other cultures.