Product Description

A one-volume narrative history of China, from the earliest inhabitants to the twentieth century, for a popular readership

China is a country with an ancient and highly sophisticated civilization of which the Chinese have been justly proud.When the countries of Europe were struggling to move beyond mud huts and stone tools the Chinese already had a highly complex society and were creating works of great beauty. Yet, although it has for many years been a source of great fascination to the West, the history of China remains a mystery to the layman. In this highly accessible narrative written for the general reader, Rayne Kruger produces a synthesis of Chinese history for the non-specialist reader.

Rayne Kruger was born in South Africa and began his working life in a Johannesburg goldmine before becoming in succession a lawyer, broadcaster and actor. He emigrated to England in 1947 where he joined the BBC. He wrote a number of successful novels, followed by a history of South Africa (1959) Goodbye Dolly Gray, which has remained in print ever since. An astute business man, he then founded a property group. He subsequently went into partnership with his wife, the successful restauranteur and cookery school entrepreneur Prue Leith (business woman of the year 1990). He died on 21 December 2002.  

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #985865 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
“…this work serves as a vital pre-history to the modern nation…” (Lloyds List International, 26 November 2004)

From the Inside Flap
China is a country with an ancient and highly sophisticated civilization of which the Chinese are justly proud. When many of the countries of Europe were struggling to move beyond mud huts and stone tools, the Chinese already had a highly complex society and were creating works of great beauty.

Although China has for many years been a source of great fascination to the West, its history, for many, remains shrouded in mystery. In this compelling narrative written for the general reader, Rayne Kruger, produces a synthesis of Chinese history, mythology and customs that provides an accessible and enlightening introduction to the history and culture of China.

From the Back Cover
The history of China has been one in which beauty and cruelty, sexual and political power have been inexorably intertwined. This ancient and highly sophisticated civilization developed largely in isolation from the West for many thousands of years. It is a civilization that: 

• developed the compass 1000 years before Europe
• invented paper 1500 years before Europe
• invented printing 600 years before Europe
• developed a calendar 1000 years before the Ancient Greeks

to name just a few of its many achievements. It valued, poetry, scholarship and art, yet produced some of the most notorious tyrants, cruellest warriors and dangerous femmes fatales in history.

In this single volume narrative history of China, Rayne Kruger provides an insight into the compelling history, mythology and culture of China from the first humans to the twentieth century. 

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive, Brief & Confusing
I was very much interested in this book when I found it on Amazon.ca, especially with regards to the title "A Complete History of China". I expected a review of historical events with a proper timeline, yet what I found in this book was a narrative story with the timeline, but tend to be circling around on certain subjects. Rather than describing all the major events in the Chinese history, the author was a bit heavy on certain subjects in every of his chapters. For example, in one chapter regarding the Chou era, he put a lot of stress on Confucius rather than the then government/political leaders.
There are some interesting points that the Author made in this book such as how cast iron was highly developed in China meanwhile the Western civilations were still in the simpler and less capacity wrought iron technology. But even there, the Author lacked a more in-depth on why and how it occured.
Another point I'd include here is the language that the Author uses, which is rather hard for me to digest. I had to read one paragraph at least twice to understand the main points.
If English is your second language or reading book is not your natural talent, I'd suggest to find another reference for learning the Chinese history.