I love history, and Chinese history is no exception. I’ve compiled the top 2012 Chinese history books, due for release throughout 2012. You won’t regret checking out these great history books!
“The Forbidden City” was the home of the Chinese emperor and royal court for several hundred years. It was forbidden (hence the name!) for commoners to enter, making it one of the most secretive and elusive architectural buildings in Chinese history. If you’re looking to learn more about this amazing city, look no further than this new release from Somogy Art Publishers.
Title: “The Forbidden City”
Author: Jean-Paul Desorches, Guillaume Fonkenell, Isabelle Leroy-Jay Lemaistre
ISBN: 978-2757204481
Publisher: Somogy Art Publishers
Publication Date: June 1, 2012
Summary: A lively examination of that long-forbidden world, the Forbidden City of Peking. The work focuses on the conception of “The Forbidden City,” as well as the massive undertaking required to construct the City, and how the city transformed during five centuries of history.
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Today, the internet lets us view photos of just about anywhere in the world with a few clicks of a button. But believe it or not, postcards used to be the only way that many people ever saw glimpses of those far off places around the world. This new release from Tuttle Publishing showcases the finest postcards of Imperial Beijing to give us a glimpse of what people in the past saw of this remarkable city.
Title: “Old Beijing: Postcards from the Imperial City”
Author: Felicitas Titus
ISBN: 978-0804841856
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Publication Date: May 10, 2012
Summary: A collection of 355 postcards from the last years of Imperial China through the Japanese invasion of 1937. A unique look at the last years of Old Beijing through the postcards sent around the world.
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“The Silk Road” is one of the first notable trade routes in history, linking China with the outside world via the trade of Chinese exported goods. Silk, paper, inks, spices and other fine items were traded on this route, making it one of the first known large scale exporting route in the world.
Title: “The Silk Road: A New History”
Author: Valerie Hansen
ISBN: 978-0195159318
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication Date: August, 2012
Summary: “The Silk Road” has long conjured up an image of a mysterious long road trekked by camels carrying silk and other treasures from China. But in this new history, Valerie Hansen hopes to explore the reality of “The Silk Road,” which was far more complicated (and far more interesting!) than the typical fantasy conjured up by previously vague historical works on the trade route.
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Although much has been published on China during the 1950s and 1960s, there has been surprisingly little in the way of English books on the period of time that came after the turbulent 50s and 60s. This new release from The Chinese University Press compiles essays from 2008 – 2011 to fully explore China during this period.
Title: “The Seventies: Recollecting a Forgotten Time in China”
Author: Theordore Huters
ISBN: 978-9629964948
Publisher: The Chinese University Press
Publication Date: July 3, 2012
Summary: China in the 1970s is a sorely under-explored subject. This work compiles a selection of essays on life in 1970s China, originally published in Hong Kong in 2008. These essays explore the rise of intellectuals in China and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of 1966 – 1976.
Sources
The information in this article has been acquired from Amazon.com. Publication dates are subject to change.