A History of China

A history of China., [3d ed. rev.
and enl.], by

Wolfram Eberhard This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give
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Title: A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.]
Author: Wolfram Eberhard
Release Date: February 7, 2006 [EBook #17695]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A
HISTORY OF CHINA., [3D ED. ***

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A HISTORY OF CHINA
by WOLFRAM EBERHARD of the University of California
Illustrated

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley and Los Angeles
1969

First published in U. S. A. by University of California Press Berkeley
and Los Angeles California
Second printing 1955 Third printing 1956 Second edition (revised by
the author and reset) 1960 Reprinted 1966 Third edition (revised and
enlarged) 1969

To My Wife

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
THE EARLIEST TIMES
Chapter I
: PREHISTORY
1 Sources for the earliest history 7 2 The Peking Man 8 3 The
Palaeolithic Age 8 4 The Neolithic Age 9 5 The eight principal
prehistoric cultures 10 6 The Yang-shao culture 12 7 The Lung-shan
culture 15 8 The first petty States in Shansi 16
Chapter II
: THE SHANG DYNASTY (c. 1600-1028 B.C.)
1 Period, origin, material culture 19 2 Writing and Religion 22 3
Transition to feudalism 24

ANTIQUITY
Chapter III
: THE CHOU DYNASTY (c. 1028-257 B.C.)
1 Cultural origin of the Chou and end of the Shang dynasty 29 2
Feudalism in the new empire 30 3 Fusion of Chou and Shang 32 4
Limitation of the imperial power 36 5 Changes in the relative strength
of the feudal states 38 6 Confucius 40 7 Lao Tzu 45
Chapter IV
: THE CONTENDING STATES (481-256 B.C.):
DISSOLUTION OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
1 Social and military changes 51 2 Economic changes 53 3 Cultural
changes 57
Chapter V
: THE CHIN DYNASTY (256-207 B.C.)
1 Towards the unitary State 62 2 Centralization in every field 64 3
Frontier Defence. Internal collapse 67
THE MIDDLE AGES
Chapter VI
: THE HAN DYNASTY (206 B.C.-A.D. 220)
1 Development of the gentry-state 71 2 Situation of the Hsiung-nu
empire; its relation to the Han empire. Incorporation of South China 75
3 Brief feudal reaction. Consolidation of the gentry 77 4 Turkestan
policy. End of the Hsiung-nu empire 86 5 Impoverishment. Cliques.
End of the Dynasty 90 6 The pseudo-socialistic dictatorship. Revolt of

the "Red Eyebrows" 93 7 Reaction and Restoration: the Later Han
dynasty 96 8 Hsiung-nu policy 97 9 Economic situation. Rebellion of
the "Yellow Turbans". Collapse of the Han dynasty 99 10 Literature
and Art 103
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 107 2 Status of the two southern Kingdoms 109 3 The
northern State of Wei 113
(B) The Western Chin dynasty (265-317)
1 Internal situation in the Chin empire 115 2 Effect on the frontier
peoples 116 3 Struggles for the throne 119 4 Migration of Chinese 120
5 Victory of the Huns. The Hun Han dynasty (later renamed the Earlier
Chao dynasty) 121
(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) 123 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) 126 3 The
fragmentation of north China 128 4 Sociological analysis of the two
great alien empires 131 5 Sociological analysis of the petty States 132 6
Spread of Buddhism 133
(D) The Toba empire in North China (A.D. 385-550)
1 The rise of the Toba State 136 2 The Hun kingdom of the Hsia
(407-431) 139 3 Rise of the Toba to a great power 139 4 Economic and
social conditions 142 5 Victory and retreat of Buddhism 145

(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 148 2 Appearance of the
(Gök) Turks 149 3 The Northern Ch'i dynasty; the Northern Chou
dynasty 150
(F) The southern empires
1 Economic and social situation in the south 152 2 Struggles between
cliques under the Eastern Chin dynasty (A.D. 317-419) 155 3 The
Liu-Sung dynasty (A.D. 420-478) and the Southern Ch'i dynasty (A.D.
479-501) 159 4 The Liang dynasty (A.D. 502-556) 161 5 The Ch'en
dynasty (A.D. 557-588) and its ending by the Sui 162 6