This book was written by the renowned Sinologist couple Owen and Eleanor Lattimore, drawing on their years of life in China and academic research. It is a concise history of China with a distinctive perspective. Organized into four parts and twelve chapters, titled "The Land and the People," "The Oldest Living Civilization," "Modern China," and "China in the Modern World," it gives a detailed account of recent history and a briefer overview of earlier periods, covering China from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties through the 1940s. In particular, it challenges the traditional distinction between "Chinese" and "barbarian" in ancient historiography and, from the perspective that "both sides of the Great Wall are home," offers a new interpretation of the patterns behind the rise and fall of China's successive dynasties. It also analyzes the changes and new developments in China in modern times, exposes Japan's invasion of China and Western nations' tolerance of Japanese aggression, looks ahead to China's important role in the world, and offers views on how to consider China and American policy toward China in a global context.
