A History of China

"A History of China" by Wolfram Eberhard is a thorough record probably composed around the middle of the 20th century, which presents a wide-ranging look at China's journey through time, the fine points of its societies, and the effects of different ruling families, customs, and beliefs from the very distant past to more recent periods, all while working to provide a fair and even-handed version of China's past. The opening parts set an important mood, pointing out the need for a modern combination of Chinese history that goes past old stories and concentrates on fair study supported by new finds from digging in the ground. Eberhard brings up the idea of checking out how China's people and ways of life changed, stressing how complex past societies were, like the Yang-shao and Lung-shan cultures, along with how the Shang dynasty came about, and shines a light on how society was changing, covering the start of farming, arts, and the slow creation of writing – things that would help form what it meant to be Chinese throughout time, and begins to take down long-held wrong ideas about where Chinese society began, putting it inside a bigger picture of how people grew and changed.