No nation has lived as long as China. From the bronze rituals of the Shang and Zhou to the moral revolution of Confucius and the Hundred Schools, from the iron will of the First Emperor to the Han caravans that opened the Silk Road, this is the story of the only civilization that has endured, unbroken, for four thousand years. Here are the examination halls that built an empire of merit, the golden ages of the Tang and the Song, the thundering conquests of Mongols and Manchus, and the great Ming fleets that touched Africa before the West set sail. Here too is the Century of Humiliation, the Opium Wars, the fall of the emperors, the convulsions of revolution, Mao and the long road through Deng’s reforms to the economic miracle that reshaped the world. Elegant, balanced and unflinching, this sweeping narrative neither romanticizes nor condemns. It simply lets the longest human story speak — and asks where it leads next.
No nation has lived as long as China. From the bronze rituals of the Shang and Zhou to the moral revolution of Confucius and the Hundred Schools, from the iron will of the First Emperor to the Han caravans that opened the Silk Road, this is the story of the only civilization that has endured, unb...