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List of Illustrations | |
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List of Maps and Diagrams | |
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Acknowledgements | |
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Introduction | |
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Rewriting the past | |
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Spadework | |
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Cradle, core and beyond | |
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The dynastic dynamic | |
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The triumph of Pinyin | |
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A matter of scale | |
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Rites To Writing, Pre c. 1050 BC | |
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The Great Beginning | |
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Glint of bronze | |
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Finding family | |
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In the oracular | |
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Sages and Heroes, c. 1050-c. 250 BC | |
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Footprints of Zhou | |
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Less spring than autumn | |
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The Confucian conveyance | |
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Warring states and statist wars | |
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The First Empire, c. 250-210 BC | |
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Stone Cattle Road | |
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Qin's cultural revolution | |
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Crumbling wall, hidden tomb | |
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Han Ascendant, 210-141 BC | |
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Qin implodes | |
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Pawn to king | |
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Jaded monarchs | |
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Within and Beyond, 141 BC-AD 1 | |
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Han and Hun | |
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Explorer Zhang and the Western Regions | |
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Administering an empire | |
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Confucian fundamentalism | |
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Wang Mang and the Han Reprise, AD 1-189 | |
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A one-man dynasty | |
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Across the watershed | |
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Decline and fall | |
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Four Hundred Years of Vicissitude, 189-550 | |
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Three Kingdoms and the Red Cliffs | |
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Dao and the Celestial Masters | |
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Enter the Enlightened One | |
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Into the abyss | |
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Luoyang again | |
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Sui, Tang and the Second Empire, 550-650 | |
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Intercalary conjunction | |
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Sui-cide | |
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Sons of the sunset and the sunrise | |
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Beyond the Jade Gate | |
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High Tang, 650-755 | |
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Wanton, not wayward | |
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The greatest power in Asia | |
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Like a breath of spring | |
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A turning point | |
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Reconfiguring the Empire, 755-1005 | |
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Low Tang | |
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Five Dynasties or Ten Kingdoms | |
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Song and Liao | |
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Caving In, 1005-1235 | |
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The Great State of White and High | |
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Reform and reappraisal | |
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In Singing-girl Towers | |
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Jin and Song | |
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By Land and Sea, 1235-1405 | |
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Sunset of the Song | |
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Mongol reunification | |
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Mongol misadventures | |
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Triumph of the Ming | |
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The Rites of Ming, 1405-1620 | |
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From the edge of the sky to the ends of the earth | |
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Misadventures and misfortunes | |
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The Great Rites Controversy | |
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Landmarks and inroads | |
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The Manchu Conquest, 1620-1760 | |
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Overwhelming Ming | |
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From Jurchen to Manchu | |
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Much in demand | |
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Zungharia, Xinjiang and Tibet | |
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Death Throes of Empire, 1760-1880 | |
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Self-evident truths | |
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Insults and opium | |
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Taiping and Tianjin | |
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Republicans and Nationalists, 1880-1950 | |
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Brush to pen | |
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From empire to republic | |
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War and more war | |
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Long March, long war | |
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Epilogue | |
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Notes | |
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Bibliography | |
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Index | |