The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han (History of Imperial China) (edition 2010)

"The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han" by Mark Edward Lewis. Pub. 2007, 251 pp.

This is the first volume in the six-volume History of Imperial China series published by Harvard University Press; it covers the period from 221 BCE to 220 CE.

Unfortunately, unlike the series as a whole, this book is not laid out chronologically. Between a short introduction and conclusion, the ten chapters are set out thematically: one on geography, one on literature, one rural life, et cetera. This would be useful if you're looking only for information on, say, the military organization of Han era China. But it made it difficult for me to follow the overall progression of Chinese history. A particular person (with a hard to remember Chinese name) would be mentioned in different contexts in chapters on state organization, military reform, and religious views, making it hard to have a coherent picture of what was going on. This and the lack of summaries putting matters in a larger context made it hard for me to get as much out of the book as I'd hoped.

The included maps are almost useless, a problem again exacerbated by my unfamiliarity with Chinese regions and place names. They were often so zoomed in (without locator maps) that I couldn't tell where in China a place was and included no geographic features beyond (mostly unlabeled) rivers. Places are often mentioned in the text without being shown on the accompanying map and vice versa. Additionally, pictures the editor included did not strike me as particularly helpful or enlightening.

The book does have good information, however, and I enjoyed seeing how China was evolving compared with Europe at this time (when the Roman Empire was at its height). I found the chapters on family and kinship and on law very interesting. They remind one that the past, no less than China, is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

3/5, but not recommended as an introduction to Chinese history. For that you're better off with "All Under Heaven: A Complete History of China" by Rayne Kruger, a solid but not spectacular book. ( )

This is a good overview of Chinese history in the earliest dynasties. The author takes a broad approach by shifting the emphasis away from political events and onto cities, religion, law, literature etc. It's quite difficult to find good books in English on this period in chinese history. The contrast to the literature on the Roman empire is remarkable. Much remains to be written about the Qin and Han empires but for now this book works well as a general introduction.

This is the only affordable, accessible survey of the Qin and Han empires that I've been able to find; fortunately, it's quite satisfying. Lewis outlines how the Warring States era gave rise to these early empires; and then discusses social structures, the economy, rural life, relations with peoples on the edges of the empires, family structures, religion, the classics, and the law (by which the author largely means how the state applied coercive power). Some key trends I've taken away: the period saw a concentration of economic power in the hands of successful farming families, but they formed interlinked networks of villages and major lineages, rather than strictly feudal domains. The documents and material culture that survive suggest a society that placed a premium on hierarchy and stability. The state relied heavily on coercive power -- including convict labor -- rather than cultivating loyalty based on shared self-interest; and indeed that segment of society most driven by entrepreneurial self-interest, the merchants, were viewed by rulers with suspicion. All of those are pretty basic, even naive, insights, and might appall Lewis. His discussion would support more nuanced or sophisticated conclusions, but I'll probably need to go back and reread chapters to absorb them. A couple themes missing from the book include demographic change (especially population growth) as a driver for the evolution of social and political structures; and environmental changes. ( )

This book gives a thematic overview of the Qin and Han dynasties. Because of this thematic approach t there is not much of a story line in the book. However the chapter about the legal system I found impressive - and scary. ( )

Not knowing the subject matter, this seems like an excellent introduction to the social and cultural history (as opposed to political history). It's both interesting and relatively easy reading. For me, this book included a lot of cultural "ah ha!" facts.

My biggest frustration is that it includes no hanzi, a serious flaw in my view. I'm tempted to pencil them in. ( )