A History of China

A History of China

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A History of China, by Wolfram
Eberhard This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
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Title: A History of China
Author: Wolfram Eberhard
Release Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11367]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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HISTORY OF CHINA ***

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[Transcriber's Note: The following text contains numerous non-English
words containing diacritical marks not contained in the ASCII character
set. Characters accented by those marks, and the corresponding text
representations are as follows (where x represents the character being

accented). All such symbols in this text above the character being
accented:
breve (u-shaped symbol): [)x] caron (v-shaped symbol): [vx] macron
(straight line): [=x] acute (égu) accent: ['x]
Additionally, the author has spelled certain words inconsistently. Those
have been adjusted to be consistent where possible. Examples of such
adjustments are as follows:
From To Northwestern North-western Southwards Southward
Programme Program re-introduced reintroduced practise practice Lotos
Lotus Ju-Chên Juchên cooperate co-operate life-time lifetime
man-power manpower favor favour etc.
In general such changes are made to be consistent with the predominate
usage in the text, or if there was not a predominate spelling, to the more
modern.]

A HISTORY OF CHINA
by
WOLFRAM EBERHARD

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THE EARLIEST TIMES



Chapter I
: PREHISTORY
1 Sources for the earliest history 2 The Peking Man 3 The Palaeolithic
Age 4 The Neolithic Age 5 The eight principal prehistoric cultures 6
The Yang-shao culture 7 The Lung-shan culture 8 The first petty States
in Shansi

Chapter II
: THE SHANG DYNASTY (c. 1600-1028 B.C.)
1 Period, origin, material culture 2 Writing and Religion 3 Transition to
feudalism
ANTIQUITY



Chapter III
: THE CHOU DYNASTY (c. 1028-257 B.C.)
1 Cultural origin of the Chou and end of the Shang dynasty 2
Feudalism in the new empire 3 Fusion of Chou and Shang 4 Limitation
of the imperial power 5 Changes in the relative strength of the feudal
states 6 Confucius 7 Lao Tz[)u]




Chapter IV
: THE CONTENDING STATES (481-256 B.C.): DISSOLUTION OF
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
1 Social and military changes 2 Economic changes 3 Cultural changes




Chapter V

: THE CH'IN DYNASTY (256-207 B.C.)
1 Towards the unitary State 2 Centralization in every field 3 Frontier
Defence. Internal collapse
THE MIDDLE AGES



Chapter VI
: THE HAN DYNASTY (206 B.C.-A.D. 220)
1 Development of the gentry-state 2 Situation of the Hsiung-nu empire;
its relation to the Han empire. Incorporation of South China 3 Brief
feudal reaction. Consolidation of the gentry 4 Turkestan policy. End of
the Hsiung-nu empire 5 Impoverishment. Cliques. End of the Dynasty
6 The pseudo-socialistic dictatorship. Revolt of the "Red Eyebrows" 7
Reaction and Restoration: the Later Han dynasty 8 Hsiung-nu policy 9
Economic situation. Rebellion of the "Yellow Turbans". Collapse of the
Han dynasty 10 Literature and Art




Chapter VII
: THE EPOCH OF THE FIRST DIVISION OF CHINA (A.D. 220-580)
(A) The three kingdoms (A.D. 220-265) 1 Social, intellectual, and
economic problems during the period of the first division 2 Status of
the two southern Kingdoms 3 The northern State of Wei
(B) The Western Chin dynasty (265-317) 1 Internal situation in the
Chin empire 2 Effect on the frontier peoples 3 Struggles for the throne
4 Migration of Chinese 5 Victory of the Huns. The Hun Han dynasty
(later renamed the Earlier Chao dynasty)
(C) _The alien empires in North China, down to the Toba_ (A.D.

317-385) 1 The Later Chao dynasty in eastern North China (Hun;
329-352) 2 Earlier Yen dynasty in the north-east (proto-Mongol;
352-370), and the Earlier Ch'in dynasty in all north China (Tibetan;
351-394) 3 The fragmentation of north China 4 Sociological analysis of
the two great alien empires 5 Sociological analysis of the petty States 6
Spread of Buddhism
(D) The Toba empire in North China (A.D. 385-550) 1 The rise of the
Toba State 2 The Hun kingdom of the Hsia (407-431) 3 Rise of the
Toba to a great power 4 Economic and social conditions 5 Victory and
retreat of Buddhism
(E) Succession States of the Toba (A.D. 550-580): _Northern Ch'i
dynasty, Northern Chou dynasty_ 1 Reasons for the splitting of the
Toba empire 2 Appearance of the (Gök) Turks 3 The Northern Ch'i
dynasty; the Northern Chou dynasty
(F) The southern empires 1 Economic and social situation in the south
2 Struggles between cliques under the Eastern Chin