The theme of this book is China's relations with the non-Chinese world, not only political and economic, but cultural, social and technological as well. It seeks to show that China's history is part of everyone's history. In particular it traces China's relationship since the 13th century to the emergent world order and the various world institutions of which that order is composed. Each chapter discusses China's comparative place in the world, the avenues of contact between China and other civilizations, and who and what passed along those channels.
S. A. M. Adshead is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Introduction - World Apart: China in Antiquity, 200 BC to 400 AD - World Centre: China in Late Antiquity, 400 to 1000 - World Axis: China in the Middle Ages, 1000 to 1350 - World Horizon: China in the Renaissance, 1350 to 1650 - World Within a World: China in the Enlightenment, 1650 to 1833 - Between Two Worlds: China in the Modern Age, 1833 to 1976 - Postscript - Notes - Bibliography - Index