Review: The Story of China: A Portrait of a Civilisation and Its People

The Story of China: A Portrait of a Civilisation and Its People by Michael Wood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hooter: Four thousand years of Chinese history eloquently summarized in one volume.

The quote "History may not repeat itself but it sure does rhyme" doesn't ring any more true than reading this capsule of Chinese history oscillating between military strife and golden renaissance of unified empire through it's history as dynasties and kingdoms change but the struggles, the rise and the fall follow a similar pattern. Starting with Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing to the CCP ending with a footnote on Xi Jinping. I personally wasn't aware of these many kingdoms and their varying diversities.

The beauty of this historical rendition is how Michael Wood intersperses historical facts with stories of individuals from various economic strata of society sharing their perspectives of paramount changes in their society. This information had been gleaned from letters , edicts and other archaeological finds that were discovered. The idea that printing presses and the written word have existed for centuries in this part of the world make it for a lot more colorful a picture across the centuries.

I presume since the author needs the good offices of the current government, the last century of the Chinese party seems to get a very watered down treatment when you compare to the kaleidoscopic depth of the historical dynasties.

The other interesting aspect is how he brings out the women poets through the ages who were the exceptions in otherwise a pretty chauvinistic society and recounted their experiences and journeys in scope of the eras they lived in. Their commentary adds color to the life of the people.

Though surprisingly Great Wall gets a passing mention which I was keen to understand the dynamics around that phase. Yuan dynasty run by non Chinese i.e. Mongols make for an interesting phase of Chinese history and the author tends to explain how that put the seeds of the inward looking philosophies that form the basis of current templates. An interesting fact was the string of pearls strategy has been a philosophy followed for centuries and not a recent phenomenon.


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