China’s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty (History of Imperial China)

This was the first book in the History of Imperial China series that I've read, and if the other volumes live up to the informative and comprehensive quality of this one, I can see this series perhaps supplanting the unwieldy Cambridge series. Mr. Lewis provides a surprisingly detailed survey of one of the most interesting Chinese dynasties in about 300 pages (plus appendices, notes and index). No small feat, considering the vast wealth of in-depth scholarly work available regarding the Tang. That is not to say, of course, that this is a merely a brief skimming of the highlights; to the contrary, Mr. Lewis gives us a wonderful grounding in the geographic and political climate before taking us deep into the streets of Chang'an and Luoyang, to the countryside of the Central Plain, or to the mountain retreats of the eremitic Tang poets. Ample citations of Tang prose and poetry, as well as cultural anecdotes, are present to give the reader a learned picture of what it meant to be a student of the 'jinshi' examinations, a singer in the pleasure quarter, or a court poet. This is, however, a scholarly work through and through. Well cited and referenced, the information given is well-chosen and aimed squarely at those seeking to learn about the Great Tang, as opposed to being simply entertained by its many colorful nuances. Mr. Lewis is a strong writer for this kind of book, and his prose is easy to follow and to the point. This may not be the best choice for bedtime reading, but it is accessible to all readers, especially those new to the subject. I highly recommend this book to any beginning student of Chinese imperial history, and to any reader interested in learned writing on one of the most important eras in one of the most important civilizations in the world.

The emergence of the Tang Dynasty in 618 followed the Yellow River in northern China from present-day Xian across Shaanxi's plateau to the east, and westward through Gansu's mountain corridor through the deserts of Xinjiang. It was a tremendous expansion that rivaled and surpassed the Han Dynasty. At its greatest extent, it reached parts of Vietnam and influenced Korea and Japan's development. The rise was abruptly curtailed in 756 by the An Lushan rebellion in the west, which led to civil unrest and border wars until the Tang's collapse in 907. During the decline of the empire frequent fighting with Tibetans, Uighurs and Arabs reversed Tang pre-eminence among bordering kingdoms. After this period, China's center of gravity would shift permanently south to the Yangtze river valley. This volume of Harvard's recent six-part history of Imperial China is authored by Mark Lewis, who also wrote the two earlier volumes on the Qin-Han and Southern-Northern dynasties. Lewis is a professor of history at Stanford University in California. The high standard of writing in the series is maintained here. His first book on the Han won a prize from the Belles-Lettres Academy of France. As with the other volumes, this is a hybrid of chronological and thematic history. After the basic narrative of the dynastic foundation, rebellion and dissolution is told, chapters on cities, countryside, family, religion, and literature follow. There is an extended look at Tang relations with the outer world. Commerce and religion on silk road routes brought conflict with Turks to the west and nomads in the north. Although written in a scholarly manner, this book may be enjoyable for a general reader. It contains enough cultural information beyond dates, places, and events to maintain interest. Compressing three centuries of civilization into three hundred pages becomes too abbreviated. I wish there were more histories of the Tang dynasty beyond the basic textbooks​. This is the best I've found, and it's very good.

Good

It's a useful book, but the unadvertised omission of the illustrations is just disgraceful. Both Belknap and Amazon should be embarrassed, but good luck with that.

China’s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty is an outstanding exploration of one of China’s most vibrant and globally connected eras. The authors present the political, cultural, and economic dynamics of the Tang Dynasty with clarity and depth, making even the more complex historical themes accessible and engaging. If you’re interested in Chinese history, Silk Road exchange, or imperial-era governance, this book is absolutely worth reading. That said, I would strongly recommend the print edition over the Kindle version. Nearly every image in the Kindle edition displays a message saying “refer to the print edition to see this photo,” which defeats the purpose of including illustrations at all. Additionally, some words, characters, and numbers render poorly—distorted or unevenly spaced—making certain sections harder to read than they should be. The content itself is excellent, but the digital formatting issues hold the Kindle edition back. If you want the full experience, go with the physical book.

I enjoyed reading about the Tang Dynasty for a Chinese history elective class. The book was fairly easy to read and provided nice graphics with timelines.

There is no table of contents in the TOC menu, just a link to the actual TOC and "Go to beginning". The actual TOC does at least link to chapter and appendices. The footnotes provide no link and are located in a separate section, so reading footnotes while reading the text is a complex problem on remembering the current location in the text, the current chapter and the footnote number, then going to the TOC, then the notes appendix, then paging forward in the footnote appendix until you find the current chapter, then paging forward until you find the footnote you were curious about within the chapter you are currently reading. Of course, after navigating to and then reading the footnote, you now have to recall the location number where you were reading and navigate back to continue reading. Most grievous: all 24 "figures" listed, (and not linked, no page or location provided) just after the TOC and 17 maps (not linked, no page or location provided), do not exist in the kindle edition. Instead each figure is replaced with text that says "To view this image, refer to the print version of this title". Of course, having access to the kindle version does not provide access to the print version, which is priced at $101, while the kindle version price is $14.75. There is no indication in the description that the "figures" are not available in the kindle edition. I am also curious why no page numbers, only location numbers, are available in the kindle version. Surely in the print edition the TOC, maps list and figures list use page numbers to help you find the chapters, maps and figures. Clearly that would be helpful in the kindle version. There is no way to find a map in the kindle version except by stumbling across it while reading or searching for it.

Nice

This series of books on Chinese history and Dynasties has put more of a focus on societal functions, farming, transportation, law, administration and religion. So after the rise of Buddhism and spread of Islam, the book shows the cultural shift and more relaxed and less rigid form of China. Containing numerous Tang poems and context behind it along with highlighting differences in letting Turkic peoples into the service. This book is informative on the Empire as a whole and not just the founder of the Tang, Wu Zeitian or An Lushan. A fantastic book and book series for those interested in the dynasty and not only the emperors.

Il libro è scritto molto bene, per quanto riguarda le ricerche specifiche che stavo facendo io mi è stato d'aiuto solo in modo limitato (particolare periodo 650-705 Wu Zhao) ma se si è interessati al periodo Tang in generale (parla in minima parte anche delle dinastie Sui e Song) è sicuramente molto completo! Nel conplesso consigliato! Anche per i non madrelingua inglese, con un livello medio (circa b2)

Une fois de plus pour s'instruire dans notre ex beau pays il faut connaitre la langue anglaise...Ce tome sur l'empire Tang répond bien à une analyse de l'évolution de la civilisation chinoise et assimilés "barbares". Il ne s'agit pas vraiment d'une revue historique chronologique ou venementielle militaire mais plutôt d'une explication des étapes de cette dynastie jusqu'à sa chute. Livre sérieux mais facile à lire pour un francophone. Achat utile de toute la série pour les spécialistes sinon chaque tome se suffit à lui-même.

This is a very good and readable introduction and I certainly recommend it as a book, but it’s a real shame that the publisher did not do a better job with the Kindle edition: you have to go back to the contents page to navigate to different chapters (no “go to” option); the footnotes are not linked, so you have to go to the back of the book to locate them, which makes the ebook unnecessarily fiddly to use. Worst of all, the illustrations are not included: the reader just gets told to refer to the print version if you want to see them. This really does a disservice to the work.

Pool quality! Fake one!