A General Outline of Chinese History (Volume 1): Primitive Society to the Southern and Northern Dynasties (Revised Edition)

Author: Zhang Chuanxi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1991-06-01
Features: The content of this textbook starts from the primitive society and ends in the late Qing Dynasty before the First Opium War (1840) between China and Britain. The division of social stages in the book is as follows: From the Yuanmou Man to the abdication of Shun to Yu, it is the primitive society; from Yu's accession and the establishment of the Xia Dynasty to the collapse of the Shang Dynasty, it is the slave society; from the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Opium War, it is the feudal society. The feudal society is divided into two stages: from the Western Zhou to the Warring States period, it is the feudal lordship (serfdom) stage; from the unification of China by Qin Shi Huang and the establishment of the Qin Dynasty to the Opium War, it is the feudal landlord stage. The emergence of capitalism in ancient China began in the late Ming Dynasty. The format of this textbook is divided into "Volumes" by social nature, "Chapters" by dynasties, "Sections" by important categories, and "Items" by individual historical events. This arrangement ensures clear organization and easy reading. Under the "Items," there are further "Sub-items." Successive smaller dynasties or cultures are combined into a single chapter, while cultures are not divided into sections. Below the chapter are the "Items." This textbook strives for appropriate depth of content, accurate language, clear perspectives, and fluent design. To maintain the scientificity of the textbook and to train and improve students' ability to read historical works, as well as to cultivate their interest in historical research, a small number of primary sources are appropriately selected and quoted in each chapter. For ease of reading, some rare characters are annotated with pronunciation, ancient place names are annotated with their modern locations, administrative divisions are annotated with the modern locations of their seats of government, and imperial reign years are annotated with the Common Era.
To help students establish a spatial concept of history, certain historical content is supplemented with visual aids. The book includes seventy historical maps and over one hundred and eighty illustrations, which include ancient ruins, tombs, artifacts, and images. Additionally, there are fifty-two "Imperial (Monarch) Genealogical Tables" and other appendices. After each chapter, there are review questions, important terms, and reference bibliographies. The review questions are primarily knowledge-based, with a small number of theoretical questions, divided into key and general categories for ease of use.