Overview

Endymion Wilkinson's bestselling Chinese History: A New Manual has been continuously in print for fifty years. It has achieved this unusual distinction because the author expanded its scope with each new edition. In the process it has grown from a modest research guide to Chinese imperial history into an encyclopedic, 1.7-million-word introduction to Chinese civilization and the primary and secondary resources and research problems for all periods of Chinese history. In recognition of its unique value, the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (France) awarded the third edition the Stanislas Julien Prize, and in 2016, Peking University Press published the entire Manual in a three-volume Chinese edition. The sixth edition of the Manual has been revised and expanded throughout to include the latest developments in digital tools and the two dozen ancillary disciplines essential for work on Chinese history. In addition, its temporal coverage has been extended to the death of Chairman Mao. In celebration of a half century of continuous publication, the enlarged sixth edition consists of two volumes. Volume 1 covers topics ranging from Language, Education, and the Arts to Science, Technology, and the Environment. Volume 2 presents primary and secondary sources chronologically by period from the Neolithic to 1976.

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9780674260191

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Reviews

Already the size of a telephone directory by the time of its fifth edition, in 2018, Wilkinson's perennially popular Chinese History: A New Manual has now expanded still further into two volumes, with newly written introductions to each section, additions throughout, links to much recent scholarship, and new chapters that bring its account forward to the end of the Maoist era...An essential reference for even the most casual sinologist, with its pithy explanations of key historical and cultural issues, and extensive bibliographies for those who want to delve deeper. --Peter Neville-Hadley South China Morning Post (7/3/2022 12:00:00 AM)

Already the size of a telephone directory by the time of its fifth edition, in 2018, Wilkinson's perennially popular Chinese History: A New Manual has now expanded still further into two volumes, with newly written introductions to each section, additions throughout, links to much recent scholarship, and new chapters that bring its account forward to the end of the Maoist era...An essential reference for even the most casual sinologist, with its pithy explanations of key historical and cultural issues, and extensive bibliographies for those who want to delve deeper. -- Peter Neville-Hadley * South China Morning Post * A magnificent achievement; the most valuable English-language reference book on China anywhere. -- Richard J. Smith Wilkinson displays a mastery of a vast array of topics and subfields...No one undertaking serious research about Chinese history...should be without it. -- Bruce Rusk * Journal of Asian Studies [regarding the 2017 edition] * A mighty book...magnificent. -- Jonathan Mirsky * New York Review of Books blog [regarding the 2015 edition] * The book is in every way absolutely indispensable to work in Chinese history. -- Carla Nappi * New Books in East Asian Studies [regarding the 2013 edition] *

Author Information

Endymion Wilkinson is a scholar and a diplomat, EU Ambassador to China, 1994–2001.

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