author - "Wolfram Eberhard"
have also been concerned not to leave out of accountChina's relations with her neighbours. Now that we have a betterknowledge of China's neighbours, the Turks, Mongols, Tibetans, Tunguses,Tai, not confined to the narratives of Chinese, who always speak only of"barbarians", we are better able to realize how closely China has beenassociated with her neighbours from the first day of her history to thepresent time; how greatly she is indebted to them, and how much she hasgiven them. We no longer see China as a great civilization surrounded bybarbarians, but we study the Chinese coming to terms with theirneighbours, who had civilizations of quite different types butnevertheless developed ones.
It is usual to split up Chinese history under the various dynasties thathave ruled China or parts thereof. The beginning or end of a dynastydoes not always indicate the beginning or the end of a definite periodof China's social or cultural development. We have tried to breakChina's history down into the thre
have also been concerned not to leave out of accountChina's relations with her neighbours. Now that we have a betterknowledge of China's neighbours, the Turks, Mongols, Tibetans, Tunguses,Tai, not confined to the narratives of Chinese, who always speak only of"barbarians", we are better able to realize how closely China has beenassociated with her neighbours from the first day of her history to thepresent time; how greatly she is indebted to them, and how much she hasgiven them. We no longer see China as a great civilization surrounded bybarbarians, but we study the Chinese coming to terms with theirneighbours, who had civilizations of quite different types butnevertheless developed ones.
It is usual to split up Chinese history under the various dynasties thathave ruled China or parts thereof. The beginning or end of a dynastydoes not always indicate the beginning or the end of a definite periodof China's social or cultural development. We have tried to breakChina's history down into the thre