From bronze-age chopsticks, grain stews, the dawn of the dumpling in the C4th, and the astonishing super-abundance of rice feeding a vast population, to modern fast food in the Chinese diasp... read more
His father, Ai Qing, was China's most celebrated poet. This epic story of his father's legacy and his own life is a window onto 1000 years of Chinese history. (A new selection of his poems a... read more
Argues that the West's strategy with China has failed: trade and contact with the West have left it more aggressive, repressive and threatening than ever.
A brilliant narrative of the interconnected lives of two Renaissance Portuguese men whose travels to India and China unseated contemporary certainties. Dazzling.
From the perspective of the people who have worked and lived there since 1862, when it was a fishing village, rather than of the imperial powers who controlled it.
Xi Jinping is head of the CCP, head of state and commander-in-chief of the military, with an indefinite period in office; he's centralised power, increased state control of the economy and i... read more
The distinguished historian of China, author of Vermeer's Hat, argues that it was not so much the Manchu invasion as climate change that brought collapse to the Ming Dynasty.
Argues that the British/Chinese relationship has shaped the modern world. While Britain dominated in the age of the Opium Wars, the balance has now decisively shifted.
The author has been travelling in China for 30 years. This is her first book, and it is a compelling portrait of the country's culture and its recent mutations.
Macartney's 1793 mission was a failure, but the Dutch were better informed. This new study argues that the Qing court was not arrogant and narrow-minded, as the English concluded, but was in... read more
Reframes the Silk Road as a diplomatic route, not simply a commercial thoroughfare, especially during the late Tang and Five Dynasties period. Draws on documents from Dunhuang.
Street scenes, portraits, people at work, a classroom, children: this is powerful and poignant record of Kashgar as it used to be. All the photographs were taken in 1998, on the cusp of swee... read more