Japanese culture and arts only grew after absorbing Chinese traditions via Korea and China from 600 to 838 AD. Absorption was the most during the…
View More China and Japan – Part 2Tag: World History (Books)
From Mao to Modernity
On 2 Sep 1945, Japan formally surrendered. China designated 3 Sep 1945 as “Victory Day” to commemorate its victory over Japan. This year, on 3…
View More From Mao to ModernityYellow and two recent books on China
These 2 recent books were bought by me to understand how far China has progressed since 1949. China Resurrected (2025) is a political history from…
View More Yellow and two recent books on ChinaThe Hidden Power of Yongzheng
Silas H.L. Wu wrote two excellent books back in the 1970s, published by Harvard University Press, on two topics not duplicated in any books since…
View More The Hidden Power of YongzhengYongzheng
There are no English biographies on Emperor Yongzheng as far as I know. To the uninitiated, he is an unimpressive emperor compared to his father,…
View More YongzhengThe Economic Rollercoaster – Part 2
More: The 10,000 Year Rise of the World Economy by Philip Coggan is a tour de force. This 2020 book surveys how the world economy…
View More The Economic Rollercoaster – Part 2The Steep Trail of Reform
Never Turn Back by Julian Gewirtz, published 2022, is a history of China in the 1980s. Julian using Chinese sources shows a China that was…
View More The Steep Trail of ReformThe Economic Rollercoaster – Part 1
More: The 10,000-Year Rise of the World Economy by Philip Coggan is a tour de force. Published in 2020 this excellent book surveys how the…
View More The Economic Rollercoaster – Part 1The Fragile Strength of the Qing Dynasty – Part 2
It is a fallacy to think that the Chinese emperors made decisions arbitrarily. Since the time of the Northern Song, the emperors felt compelled to…
View More The Fragile Strength of the Qing Dynasty – Part 2Rediscovering China Through French Lenses
The strength of The Republic of China 1912-1949 by Xavier Paules [ published 2019 ] is his many citations of French historians’ works. This is…
View More Rediscovering China Through French Lenses