Books Details
Author : Patricia Buckley Ebrey Pages : pages Publisher :
Language : eng ISBN-10 : 052166991X ISBN-13 : 9780521669917
Books Descriptions
To compress 8,000 years of a civilization's life into a single
volume is a daunting task, but University of Illinois historian
Patricia Ebrey does the job with authority and considerable
flair. Writing with an eye to explaining recurring themes in
Chinese history, she discusses ideas of order and statecraft,
resource allocation and use, imperialism and population growth.
Along the way she makes interesting asides, noting, among other
things, that the Mongol conquerors of China monopolized the
bamboo trade because they did not want the ethnic Chinese to
make weapons, and she gives stimulating overviews of such
matters as the manufacture of silk, hardwood furniture, and
ceramics.
