This book is a work written by the famous sinologists Lattimore and his wife based on many years of life and academic research experience in China. It is a unique and concise Chinese history work. This book is divided into four parts and twelve chapters, including "Land and People", "The Oldest Existing Civilization", "Modern China", and "China in the Modern World". It narrates the history of China from the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties to the 1940s in detail. In particular, it breaks the stereotype of "Chinese and Yi" in ancient historiography, and stands from the perspective of "homeland both inside and outside the Great Wall" , reinterpreted the laws of the rise and fall of China's past dynasties, analyzed the new changes and new trends in China since modern times, exposed Japan's aggression against China and Western countries' connivance of Japan's aggression, looked forward to China's important position in the world, and expressed opinions on how to think about China's issues in the world context and the United States' China policy.
