Includes bibliographical references and index.

1 Prehistoric China and the Shang Dynasty -- 2 The Zhou dynasty -- 3 The Qin Empire -- 4 The Han Dynasty -- 5 The Period of division -- 6 The Sui and Tang Dynasties -- 7 China and the world in the Early imperial Period -- 8 Thought, religion and Culture under the Sui and Tang dynasties -- 9 The Song Dynasty -- 10 The Yuan dynasty -- 11 The Ming dynasty -- 12 The Qing dynasty to c. 1800 -- 13 China at the beginning of the nineteenth Century -- 14 The Opium Wars -- 15 Rebellion and restoration -- 16 Restoration and Self-strengthening -- 17 Imperialism in the late Qing period -- 18 Nationalism and reform in late imperial China -- 19 The 1911 Revolution -- 20 The Early Republic, 1912-28 -- 21 The rise of the guomindang and the Nanjing decade -- 22 The Sino-Japanese war and the civil war -- 23 The people's republic of China; the Revolutionary Period and the great leap forward -- 24 From the cultural revolution to the death of Mao -- 25 From the Death of Mao to the death of Deng