Bibliography of Chinese history

This bibliography covers the English language scholarship of major studies in Chinese history.

Surveys

 * Fairbank, John King and Goldman, Merle. China: A New History. 2nd ed. Harvard U. Press, (2006). 640 pp.
 * Gernet, Jacques, J. R. Foster, and Charles Hartman. A History of Chinese Civilization (1996). One-volume survey.
 * Hsu, Cho-yun. China: A New Cultural History (Columbia University Press; 2012) 612 pp; stress on China's encounters with successive waves of globalization.
 * Hsü, Immanuel Chung-yueh. The Rise of Modern China, 6th ed. (Oxford University Press, 1999). Detailed coverage of 1644–1999, 1136 pp.
 * Huang, Ray. China, a Macro History (1997) 335 pp. A personal, essayistic approach.
 * Keay, John. China: A History (2009), 642 pp.
 * Mote, Frederick W. Imperial China, 900–1800 Harvard University Press, 1999, 1,136 pp. Authoritative treatment of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.
 * Perkins, Dorothy. Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture. Facts on File, 1999. 662 pp.
 * Roberts, J. A. G. A Concise History of China. Harvard U. Press, 1999. 341 pp.
 * Schoppa, R. Keith. The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History. Columbia U. Press, 2000. 356 pp.
 * Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China (1999), 876 pp; survey from 1644 to 1990s
 * Wang, Ke-wen, ed. Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism. Garland, 1998. 442 pp.
 * Wang, David Der-wei. A New Literary History of Modern China (2017)
 * Wright, David Curtis. History of China (2001) 257 pp.
 * Wills, Jr., John E. Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History (1994) Biographical essays on important figures.
 * Wang, David Der-wei. A New Literary History of Modern China (2017)
 * Wright, David Curtis. History of China (2001) 257 pp.
 * Wills, Jr., John E. Mountain of Fame: Portraits in Chinese History (1994) Biographical essays on important figures.

Prehistory

 * Chang, Kwang-chih. The Archaeology of Ancient China, Yale University Press, 1986.
 * Discovery of residue from fermented beverage consumed up to 9,000 years ago in Jiahu, Henan Province, China. By Dr. Patrick E McGovern, University of Pennsylvania archaeochemist and colleagues from China, Great Britain and Germany.
 * The Discovery of Early Pottery in China by Zhang Chi, Department of Archaeology, Peking University, China.
 * The Discovery of Early Pottery in China by Zhang Chi, Department of Archaeology, Peking University, China.

Shang dynasty

 * Durant, Stephen W. The Cloudy Mirror: Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian (1995).

Han dynasty

 * de Crespigny, Rafe. 1972. The Ch'iang Barbarians and the Empire of Han: A Study in Frontier Policy. Papers on Far Eastern History 16, Australian National University. Canberra.
 * de Crespigny, Rafe. 1984. Northern Frontier. The Policies and Strategies of the Later Han Empire. Rafe de Crespigny. 1984. Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University. Canberra.
 * Dubs, Homer H. 1938–55. The History of the Former Han Dynasty by Pan Ku.  (3 vol)
 * Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd centuries CE. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
 * Hulsewé, A. F. P. and Loewe, M. A. N., eds. China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 B.C. – A.D. 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty. (1979)
 * Twitchett, Denis and Loewe, Michael, eds. 1986. The Cambridge History of China. Volume I. The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – a.d. 220. Cambridge University Press.
 * Yap, Joseph P. (2009) Wars With the Xiongnu – A Translation From Zizhi tongjian, AuthorHouse. ISBN 1-4900-0604-4
 * Twitchett, Denis and Loewe, Michael, eds. 1986. The Cambridge History of China. Volume I. The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – a.d. 220. Cambridge University Press.
 * Yap, Joseph P. (2009) Wars With the Xiongnu – A Translation From Zizhi tongjian, AuthorHouse. ISBN 1-4900-0604-4

Sui dynasty

 * Wright, Arthur F. 1978. The Sui Dynasty. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. ISBN 0-394-49187-4, ISBN 0-394-32332-7 (pbk).

Tang dynasty

 * Benn, Charles. 2002. China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517665-0.
 * Lewis, Mark Edward. 2012. China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty (2012). excerpt; A standard scholarly survey.
 * Schafer, Edward H. 1967. The Vermilion Bird: T'ang Images of the South. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. Reprint 1985. ISBN 0-520-05462-8.
 * Wang, Zhenping. 1991. "T'ang Maritime Trade Administration." Wang Zhenping. Asia Major, Third Series, Vol. IV, 1991, pp. 7–38.

Liao dynasty

 * Standen, Naomi. 2004. Unbounded loyalty: Frontier crossing in Liao China. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-824-82983-4.

Song dynasty

 * Chaffee, John W. and Denis Twitchett, eds. Cambridge History of China, Vol. 5 Part 2 The Five Dynasties and Sung China, 960–1279 AD (2015).
 * Ebrey, Patricia. The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period (1990)
 * Hymes, Robert, and Conrad Schirokauer, eds. Ordering the World: Approaches to State and Society in Sung Dynasty China, U of California Press, 1993; complete text online free
 * Shiba, Yoshinobu. 1970. Commerce and Society in Sung China. Originally published in Japanese as So-dai sho-gyo – shi kenkyu-. Tokyo, Kazama shobo-, 1968. Yoshinobu Shiba. Translation by Mark Elvin, Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan.
 * Shiba, Yoshinobu. 1970. Commerce and Society in Sung China. Originally published in Japanese as So-dai sho-gyo – shi kenkyu-. Tokyo, Kazama shobo-, 1968. Yoshinobu Shiba. Translation by Mark Elvin, Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan.
 * Shiba, Yoshinobu. 1970. Commerce and Society in Sung China. Originally published in Japanese as So-dai sho-gyo – shi kenkyu-. Tokyo, Kazama shobo-, 1968. Yoshinobu Shiba. Translation by Mark Elvin, Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan.

Ming dynasty

 * Brook, Timothy. The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China. (1998).
 * 329 pages. Focus on the impact of a Little Ice Age on the empire, as the empire, beginning with a sharp drop in temperatures in the 13th century during which time the Mongol leader Kubla Khan moved south into China.
 * Dardess, John W. A Ming Society: T'ai-ho County, Kiangsi, Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries. (1983); uses advanced "new social history" complete text online free
 * Farmer, Edward. Zhu Yuanzhang and Early Ming Legislation: The Reordering of Chinese Society Following the Era of Mongol Rule.  E.J. Brill, 1995.
 * Goodrich, L. Carrington, and Chaoying Fang. Dictionary of Ming Biography. (1976).
 * Huang, Ray. 1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline. (1981).
 * Mote, Frederick W., and Denis Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 7, part 1: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644 (1988). 1008 pp. excerpt and text search
 * ——The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 8: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 2.  (1998). 1203 pp.
 * Schneewind, Sarah. A Tale of Two Melons: Emperor and Subject in Ming China. (2006).
 * Tsai, Shih-shan Henry. Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle. (2001).

Qing dynasty

 * Arthur W. Hummel. Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644–1912). (Washington: Library of Congress. Orientalia, Division; U.S. Government Printing Office,  1943). 2 vols. Reprinted: Berkshire, 2016. 800 still generally reliable biographical articles, a number of which are online: Qing Research Portal.
 * Fairbank, John K. and Liu, Kwang-Ching, ed. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 2: Late Ch'ing, 1800–1911, Part 2. Cambridge U. Press, 1980. 754 pp.
 * Mann, Susan. Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth Century (1997)
 * Naquin, Susan, and Evelyn S. Rawski. Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century (1989) excerpt and text search
 * Peterson, Willard J., ed. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 9, Part 1: The Ch'ing Dynasty to 1800. Cambridge U. Press, 2002. 753 pp.
 * Rawski, Evelyn S. The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions (2001)
 * Struve, Lynn A., ed. The Qing Formation in World-Historical Time.  (2004). 412 pp.
 * Struve, Lynn A., ed. Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm: China in Tigers' Jaws (1998)
 * Struve, Lynn A., ed. The Qing Formation in World-Historical Time.  (2004). 412 pp.
 * Struve, Lynn A., ed. Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm: China in Tigers' Jaws (1998)

Nationalist era (1912–present)

 * Bergere, Marie-Claire. Sun Yat-Sen (1998), 480 pp. Standard biography
 * Boorman, Howard L., et al., eds. Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. (Vol. I-IV and Index. 1967–1979). 600 short scholarly biographies excerpt and text search. Online at Internet Archive.
 * Dreyer, Edward L. China at War, 1901–1949. (1995). 422 pp.
 * Eastman Lloyd. Seeds of Destruction: Nationalist China in War and Revolution, 1937– 1945. (1984)
 * Eastman Lloyd et al. The Nationalist Era in China, 1927–1949 (1991)
 * Ebrey, Patricia (1996), "Surnames and Han Chinese Identity", in Melissa J. Brown, Negotiating Ethnicities in China and Taiwan, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, ISBN 1557290482.
 * Edmondson, Robert (2002), "The February 28 Incident and National Identity", in Stephane Corcuff, Momories of the Future:National Identity Issues and the Search for a New Taiwan, New York: M.E. Sharpe.
 * Fairbank, John K., ed. The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 12, Republican China 1912–1949. Part 1. (1983). 1001 pp.
 * --- and Feuerwerker, Albert, eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 13: Republican China, 1912–1949, Part 2. (1986). 1092 pp.
 * Fogel, Joshua A. The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography (2000)
 * Gordon, David M. "The China-Japan War, 1931–1945," The Journal of Military History v70#1 (2006) 137–182. Overview of important books and interpretations; online
 * Hsiung, James C. and Steven I. Levine, eds. China's Bitter Victory: The War with Japan, 1937–1945 (1992). Survey essays.
 * Hsi-sheng, Ch'i. Nationalist China at War: Military Defeats and Political Collapse, 1937–1945 (1982)
 * Mitter, Rana. Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937–1945. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013).   ISBN 978-0618894253.
 * Manthorpe, Jonathan (2008), Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan, Palgrave Macmillan.
 * Mitter, Rana. A Bitter Revolution : China's Struggle with the Modern World. (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004).   ISBN 0192803417.
 * Hung, Chang-tai. War and Popular Culture: Resistance in Modern China, 1937–1945 (1994) complete text online free
 * Lary, Diana. The Chinese People at War: Human Suffering and Social Transformation, 1937–1945 (2010)
 * James E. Sheridan, China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History, 1912–1949 (New York: Free Press; The Transformation of Modern China Series, 1975)
 * Shiroyama, Tomoko. China during the Great Depression: Market, State, and the World Economy, 1929–1937 (2008).
 * Shuyun, Sun. The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth (2007)
 * Taylor, Jay. The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China. (2009) ISBN 978-0-674-03338-2
 * Westad, Odd Arne. Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946–1950. (2003). 413 pp. A standard history.

Communist era (1949–present)

 * Barnouin, Barbara, and Yu Changgen. Zhou Enlai: A Political Life (2005)
 * Garver, John W. China's Quest: The History of the Foreign Relations of the People's Republic (2nd ed. 2016)
 * Both sympathetic and critical.
 * Kirby, William C.; Ross, Robert S.; and Gong, Li, eds. Normalization of U.S.-China Relations: An International History. (2005). 376 pp.
 * Li, Xiaobing. A History of the Modern Chinese Army (2007)
 * MacFarquhar, Roderick and Fairbank, John K., eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 15: The People's Republic, Part 2: Revolutions within the Chinese Revolution, 1966–1982. Cambridge U. Press, 1992. 1108 pp.
 * Meisner, Maurice. Mao's China and After: A History of the People's Republic, 3rd ed. (Free Press, 1999), dense book with theoretical and political science approach.
 * Pantsov, Alexander and Steven I. Levine. Deng Xiaoping : A Revolutionary Life. Oxford University Press, 2015).   ISBN 978-0199392032.
 * Pantsov, Alexander, With Steven I Levine. Mao: The Real Story. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012).   ISBN 978-1451654479.
 * Ross, John. China's Great Road: Lessons for Marxist Theory and Socialist Practices. (Praxis Press, 2021) ISBN 978-1899155118.
 * Spence, Jonathan. Mao Zedong (1999)
 * Walder, Andrew G. China under Mao: A Revolution Derailed (Harvard University Press, 2015) 413 pp. online review
 * Wang, Jing. High Culture Fever: Politics, Aesthetics, and Ideology in Deng's China (1996) complete text online free
 * Wang, Jing. High Culture Fever: Politics, Aesthetics, and Ideology in Deng's China (1996) complete text online free

Cultural Revolution, 1966–76

 * Clark, Paul. The Chinese Cultural Revolution: A History (2008), a favorable look at artistic production excerpt and text search
 * Esherick, Joseph W.; Pickowicz, Paul G.; and Walder, Andrew G., eds. The Chinese Cultural Revolution as History. (2006). 382 pp.
 * Jian, Guo; Song, Yongyi; and Zhou, Yuan. Historical Dictionary of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. (2006). 433 pp.
 * Richard Curt Kraus. The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. (New York: Oxford University Press, Very Short Introductions Series, 2012).   ISBN 978-0199740550.
 * MacFarquhar, Roderick and Fairbank, John K., eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 15: The People's Republic, Part 2: Revolutions within the Chinese Revolution, 1966–1982. Cambridge U. Press, 1992. 1108 pp.
 * MacFarquhar, Roderick and Michael Schoenhals. Mao's Last Revolution. (2006).
 * MacFarquhar, Roderick. The Origins of the Cultural Revolution. Vol. 3: The Coming of the Cataclysm, 1961–1966. (1998). 733 pp.
 * Yan, Jiaqi and Gao, Gao. Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution. (1996). 736 pp.

Economy and environment

 * Benn, James A. Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History (2015)
 * Chaffee, John W. The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China: The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750–1400 (2018)
 * Chao, Kang. Man and Land in Chinese History: An Economic Analysis (Stanford UP, 1986)
 * Chow, Gregory C. China's Economic Transformation (2nd ed. 2007)
 * Elvin, Mark. Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China. (2004). 564 pp.
 * Elvin, Mark and Liu, Ts'ui-jung, eds. Sediments of Time: Environment and Society in Chinese History. (1998). 820 pp.
 * von Glahn, Richard. The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge UP, 2016). 461 pp. online review
 * Ji, Zhaojin. A History of Modern Shanghai Banking: The Rise and Decline of China's Finance Capitalism. (2003). 325 pp.
 * Naughton, Barry. The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth (2007)
 * Rawski, Thomas G. and Lillian M. Li, eds. Chinese History in Economic Perspective, University of California Press, 1992 complete text online free
 * Sheehan, Jackie. Chinese Workers: A New History. Routledge, 1998. 269 pp.
 * Stuart-Fox, Martin. A Short History of China and Southeast Asia: Tribute, Trade and Influence. (2003). 278 pp.
 * Von Glahn, Richard. The Economic History of China: "From Antiquity to the 19th Century (2016) excerpt

Atlases

 * Stanford, Edward. Atlas of the Chinese Empire, containing separate maps of the eighteen provinces of China (2nd ed 1917) Legible color maps Online free

Women and gender

 * Ebrey, Patricia. The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period (1990)
 * Hershatter, Gail, and Wang Zheng. "Chinese History: A Useful Category of Gender Analysis," American Historical Review, Dec 2008, Vol. 113 Issue 5, pp 1404–1421
 * Hershatter, Gail. Women in China's Long Twentieth Century (2007), full text online
 * Hershatter, Gail, Emily Honig, Susan Mann, and Lisa Rofel, eds. Guide to Women's Studies in China (1998)
 * Ko, Dorothy. Teachers of Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in China, 1573–1722 (1994)
 * Mann, Susan. Precious Records: Women in China's Long Eighteenth Century (1997)
 * Wang, Shuo. "The 'New Social History' in China: The Development of Women's History," History Teacher, May 2006, Vol. 39 Issue 3, pp 315–323
 * Yan, Chen, and Karen Offen. "Women's History at the Cutting Edge: a joint paper in two voices." Women's History Review 27.1 (2018): 6-28.

Historiography

 * Clark, Hugh R. "What's the Matter with “China”? A Critique of Teleological History." Journal of Asian Studies 77.2 (2018): 295-314.
 * Chen, Yan and Karen Offen. "Women's History at the Cutting Edge: a joint paper in two voices." Women's History Review 27.1 (2018): 6-28.
 * Cohen, Paul A., Discovering History in China: American Historical Writing on the Recent Chinese Past (1984; New York: Columbia University Press; Studies of the East Asian Institute, 2010)


 * Ding, Yizhuang. "Reflections on the 'New Qing History' School in the United States," Chinese Studies in History, Winter 2009/2010, Vol. 43 Issue 2, pp 92–96.


 * Jin, Yan. "Shanghai Studies: An evolving academic field." History Compass 16.11 (2018): e12496.
 * Li, Huaiyin. Reinventing Modern China: Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing (Honolulu, 2012)
 * Mann, Susan. Gender and Sexuality in Modern Chinese History (New York: Cambridge University Press; New Approaches to Asian History, 2011)


 * Mitter, Rana. "Research Note Changed by War: The Changing Historiography Of Wartime China and New Interpretations Of Modern Chinese History." The Chinese Historical Review 17.1 (2010): 85-95.
 * Schneider, Julia C. Nation and Ethnicity: Chinese Discussions on History, Historiography, and Nationalism (1900s-1920s) (Brill, 2017) 501 pp.
 * Smith, S. A. "China, Revolution and Presentism." Past & Present 234.1 (2017): 274-289.
 * Szonyi, Michael. A Companion to Chinese History (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2016). Review-of-the-field articles on periods and topics.


 * Taylor, Jeremy E., and Grace C. Huang. "'Deep changes in interpretive currents'? Chiang Kai-shek studies in the post-cold war era." International Journal of Asian Studies 9.1 (2012): 99-121.
 * Unger, Jonathan. Using the Past to Serve the Present: Historiography and Politics in Contemporary China (1993)
 * Wilkinson, Endymion Porter. Chinese History: A New Manual (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2018). Annotated chapters on all aspects of Chinese history and culture up to 1911, including "boxes" that focus on topics of particular interest.


 * Wu, Huaiqi and Chi Zhen, eds. An Historical Sketch of Chinese Historiography (2018).
 * Zhang, Xupeng. "In and out of the west: On the past, present, and future of chinese historical theory." History and Theory 54.4 (2015): 46-63.
 * Zurndorfer, Harriet. "Oceans of history, seas of change: recent revisionist writing in western languages about China and East Asian maritime history during the period 1500–1630." International Journal of Asian Studies 13.1 (2016): 61-94.

Scholarly journals

 * Central Asian Survey
 * China Quarterly
 * Chinese Studies in History
 * East Asian History
 * Early Medieval China. Covers the period between the end of the Han and beginning of the Tang.
 * Journal of Asian Studies.
 * Journal of Modern Chinese History
 * Late Imperial China
 * Modern China: An International Journal of History and Social Science
 * Sino-Japanese Studies
 * T'oung Pao: International Journal of Chinese Studies