The Story of China: A portrait of a civilisation and its people Paperback – 5 Aug. 2021

This book will give the reader an excellent insight into Chinese history and the Chinese mindset.It covers all the dynasties of China and also gives the perspectives of families and individuals during the different epochs of Chinese history.Some parts are a bit long-winded, and I think the author could have discussed 20th century Chinese history in more detail. It also stops just short of 2020, when Covid and Zero Covid was starting (though the Zero Covid era is partially covered in the Afterward).But overall this book is quite fascinating and describes the great drama and vicissitudes of the China story.

Incredible book, well written, deeply insightful and fascinating. Great if you know little about China and Chinese history. Definitely would recommend. Deals with controversial points in Chinese history objectively and even-handedly.Only issue probably is sometimes the author rambles on too much about some obscure story when you, as the reader, just want to focus on the history itself. But more often than not, the author’s ‘rambles’ are quite important and insightful into understanding the context of events.

Best book to understand China .I would recommend it for its extensive research. Michael wood has done a good job in this book

I had read other books by Michael Wood and enjoyed his style and his erudition. I was looking for an introduction to the history of China, and this book has it all, starting from before the beginning and ending very, very recently. Having looked at competing books, I could find very few that had both the erudition, the style and the completeness of this book. It was a great pleasure to read.The book is full of interesting facts and analyses, and the links to individual stories, books and myths is very useful to contrast historical events with how it affected people on the ground. I have enjoyed it immensely, and I will read it again with pleasure. This book also enabled me to better understand some episodes in Chinese history and their links to the history of the wider world, and to understand the context of some current events.

I bought this to give me the prehistoric and historic background to current affairs. 4000 years in just 539 pages is always going to be an abbreviation, but Michael Woods is an excellent writer and has a knack of weaving personal lives into political events that gives a much more human perspective on the subject he is dealing with. I now know a lot more about the land, environment, and natural disasters of enormous scale that have shaped the people, and how Confucian thought has underpinned Chinese Society until recent times. Worryingly I realise how much of their momentous modern history washed over me hardly unheeded during my childhood and I don't belive I was ever told that Chinese workers were sent to help the allies in the 1st World War. Definitely a book to be kept and reread. Considering how large a population and economy China has this is a topic we should all know more about.My only regret is that I should probably have bought the hard back edition as the maps (so helpful) would have been easier to read.

Great book with another slant on Chinese history, it's a big read though.

It was a very enjoyable read and was more a tribute to Chinas long and fascinating history - It was a little sugar coated in places. Stories of individuals and the perspectives of writers of the time did help add a human touch to the timeline.I would however recommend this to be read in addition to other writings on Chinese history which then I think would make it a more enjoyable read. I felt it did leave out some important aspects such as the role of the Dowager Cixi in the late Qing who was only briefly mentioned. And I felt the chapter from 1911 to 1976 was incorrectly lumped together - Republican China was skimmed over and put in with Mao's China which were very distinct periods of modern Chinese history.The last chapter about the new China was generally well written however. A nice takeaway from this book is a new found appreciation of what some individuals like poets and writers said about their time which were often quite profound and many have parallels with today.

Will be hard work but so far a good read. Especially with all the names.