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.
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.
Shang dynasty
Durant, Stephen W. The Cloudy Mirror: Tension and Conflict in the Writings of Sima Qian (1995).
Zhou dynasty
Qin dynasty
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. . 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.
Jin, the Sixteen Kingdoms, and the Northern and Southern dynasties
Sui dynasty
Wright, Arthur F. 1978. The Sui Dynasty. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. , (pbk).
Tang dynasty
Benn, Charles. 2002. China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford University Press. . 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. . 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. .
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