Chinese Lives Hardcover by Victor H Mair; Sanping Chen; Frances Wood

Product Details

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson (2013-05-07)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 232 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780500251928
• Item Weight: 697.41 grams
• Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.18 x 2.41 cm

3000 years of Chinese history presented through the lives of ninety-six illustrious participants from all periods and all parts of the country

China is the most populous country on earth, with the longest history of any modern nation. Here, the full range of Chinese cultural and scientific achievements, as well as its military conquests, wars, rebellions, and political and philosophical movements, are told through the eyes of real people who created or were involved in them. 

The subjects include emperors and empresses, concubines, officials and political figures, rebels, exiles, philosophers, writers and poets, artists, musicians, scientists, military leaders, and committed pacifists. From Fu Hao, an early warrior lady of the thirteenth century BC, to the late twentieth-century leader Deng Xiaoping, their careers, achievements, misdeeds, disasters, punishments, ideas and love stories make this an unforgettable read. 

Illustrated with portraits, paintings, written documents, bronzes, sculptures, and location maps, and written in an authoritative yet accessible style, Chinese Lives provides the perfect introduction to China’s history and her peoples.

About the Author

Victor H. Mair is professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of many books including The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West.

Sanping Chen articles have appeared in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Journal of the American Oriental Society, and others. He lives in Canada.

Frances Wood is head of the Chinese Collections at the British Library.