The Open Empire: A History of China Through 1600

This is a fascinating book which I enjoyed thoroughly.As at least one other reviewer had mentioned, the book is not a straightforward military-political history. Hansen pauses frequently to make long excursions into social/cultural topics (her favorite topics being the ever-changing status of women in Chinese culture, and archaeological finds—particularly those relating to our knowledge of religious beliefs and practices).This all makes for quite fascinating reading, IF you already have a handful of books on Chinese history under your belt, and already have a decent grasp of the broad strokes of Chinese history.However, it’s possible that it would make slightly frustrating reading for a complete newcomer to the topic. Someone in that boat might want to first seek out a book that provides a straightforward military-political history of China. If that’s what your looking for, I have a few recommendations that fit the bill:(1.) The Cambridge Illustrated History of China by Patricia Ebrey(2.) J. A. G. Roberts’ two-volume history. His first book is titled, A History of China - Volume 1: Prehistory to C.1800; and the second volume is titled, Modern China: An Illustrated History (which covers the period c.1800 – 1990). Despite their oddly-inconsistent titles, Roberts’ two books ARE explicitly companion volumes.But after you read one or both of these — or something else like them — please don’t forget to return to Hansen’s book! It is a very rewarding read for the reader with a just-above-basic knowledge of Chinese history who is now looking to fill in some details.

Valerie Hansen is an authority on Chinese history, especially the history of women and the poor. Her account of China’s dazzling openness to foreign ideas, religions and trade is a pleasure to read.Her book on the use of contracts in everyday life is also impressive.

This is a great book for any sinophile. While the great bulk of it is familiar to anyone who's read Chinese history with any attention, it also includes material due to recent archaeological work, for example the tomb of a Qin dynasty official. The Qin dynasty has been excoriated for millenia because of its harsh treatment of the Confucians and their books. But the laws found in this official's tomb show that, at least on paper, the Qin's laws were not appreciably harsher than those of subsequent dynasties. It reminds you of the famous dictum that history is written by the winners, in this case the succeeding Han dynasty. The discussion of the painting of Yang Guifei's sisters is a priceless little vignette of its own. Every one who's read Chinese history or poetry has heard of Yang Guifei, China's Helen of Troy. But this painting of her sisters conveys a great deal of information about Yang and about Chinese women in general. I can't help wondering if this book's title is a reference to Peyrefitte's book "The Immobile Empire", an account of George MacCartney's mission to China in 1790.

I started out by getting Valerie Hansen's other book, "Negotiating Daily Life in Traditional China: How Ordinary People Used Contracts, 600-1400", which had a more scholarly feel to it. For me, this book provides a touch stone for other topics. I find myself looking up in Google Books the titles and authors she mentions in this book.I don't agree that the book is opinionated, it it is an overview book and brushes over a lot of subjects only lightly, but I think the really nice thing about the book is that it mentions a lot of other authors and titles of books published in traditional China and provides lots of touch points to go track down. It can provide a guide for other exploration.As someone who has a deep interest in the periods this book covers, I've had a hard time reading this book quickly since I keep going to my laptop to surf Google Books and then Amazon to see if I can track down the books and authors she mentions. Don't expect this book to be a deep and scholarly book with lots of footnotes, but for someone just starting out their exploration of Chinese history, this book is a good place to start.For people, who've been reading and following the threads and tracking things down, as I have, it can still provide some surprises too.I consider this book money well spent.

The Open Empire is a textbook of Chinese history from the beginnings to 1600. The books' best points are the descriptions of current discoveries, new interpretations, and unexplored facets of Chinese history. Particularly interesting, but not over emphasized, are the discussions of womens' roles in the different ages. Military, artistic and philosophic topics are also well covered. In all, a fine read.

There are some marking on the book. However, these marking save my time. I dont need to read the whole book

Decent Book but Boring.

Excellent history, even for somebody who has read a lot of Chinese history! Great book for beginners or devotees.

Really well written and easy to read account, with well structured reference sections to keep dates and events in context. I have read a couple of books about Chinese history but this is the first time that I have managed to get a clear picture of dates and dynasties, and how they relate to sights, monuments and artworks that I have seen as a tourist.

just to understand the history of China