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Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty
This thorough exploration of the aspects of everyday life in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) provides fascinating insight into a culture and time that is often misunderstood, especially by those from western cultures. Here students will find the details of what life was really like for these people. How was their society structured? How did they entertain themselves? What sorts of food did they eat? The answers to these and other questions are provided in full detail to bring this golden age of Chinese culture alive for the modern reader.
Based mainly on classical translations from the Chinese themselves, each chapter addresses a specific aspect of daily living in the voices of those who lived during the time. A myriad of interesting details are provided to help readers discover, among other things, what life was like in the city, what homes and gardens were like, how the role's of men and women differed, and the many rituals in which people participated. Detailed descriptions of the clothes and materials people wore, the games they played and the cooking methods they used for specific foods provide readers with the ability to experiment on their own to recreate the time and place, so they can have a better understanding of this intriguing culture.
Based mainly on classical translations from the Chinese themselves, each chapter addresses a specific aspect of daily living in the voices of those who lived during the time. A myriad of interesting details are provided to help readers discover, among other things, what life was like in the city, what homes and gardens were like, how the role's of men and women differed, and the many rituals in which people participated. Detailed descriptions of the clothes and materials people wore, the games they played and the cooking methods they used for specific foods provide readers with the ability to experiment on their own to recreate the time and place, so they can have a better understanding of this intriguing culture.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published December 30, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 5, 2015
An Arab merchant in the late Tang did not think much of Chinese cleanliness, observing that they did not wash their hands after using the privy, but merely wiped themselves with paper. Clearly, the people that he encountered were not among the most sophisticated.
The choice of such a vulgar epigraph was deliberate. This book teems with such observations, most are culled from Chinese classics and bereft of any attribution. Benn utilizes such as if the excerpt was anthropological data. There is a distinct lack of rigor on display. Benn offers little of statistics or comparison. This is the Age of Anecdote.
I found the sections on Tang legal issues, including punishment and clemency, rather compelling as were their ideas on health and mortality. That said, I do want to read more about Empress Wu but feel left in the dark otherwise.
The choice of such a vulgar epigraph was deliberate. This book teems with such observations, most are culled from Chinese classics and bereft of any attribution. Benn utilizes such as if the excerpt was anthropological data. There is a distinct lack of rigor on display. Benn offers little of statistics or comparison. This is the Age of Anecdote.
I found the sections on Tang legal issues, including punishment and clemency, rather compelling as were their ideas on health and mortality. That said, I do want to read more about Empress Wu but feel left in the dark otherwise.
November 17, 2020
Why is the Tang Dynasty supposed to be the golden age of Chinese History? If you expect to have the answer to that question from this book, I am sorry to disappoint you but you won’t. In fact he, perhaps unintentionally, argues against the adjective when briefly discussing the Song Dynasty that would replace (after a few decades of chaos and smaller states/warlords) the Tang Dynasty. The Song had more trade, a more advanced monetary system than the Tang (which did have lending both by merchants and Taoist/Buddhist monasteries), more and bigger cities, more individual freedom, better medical knowledge, more technological and economic innovation, less corruption in the examination system, more merit based government and while not as militaristic as the Tang, I fail to see this as a damming factor. Charles Benn underlines how the Song never even attempted to recapture lost Tang regions in outer Mongolia, Tibet and xingjiang but I don’t see how this makes the Tang better than the Song. The Tang were a dynasty that relied on it’s connections to Turkic nomadic peoples and the silk road that was facilitated by Buddhism as a common factor. The song were a southern dynasty in line with a trend that even Charles Benn has to mention in this book, namely that Chinese population was drifting south-east wards, which facilitated a greater integration in the maritime south east Asian commercial world.
The only factor of the Song that does objectively made life worse for part of the population, was footbinding which became a sign of wealth and status. But Charles Benn description of Tang China has countless slave like status concubines whose lives weren’t exactly a symbol of feminine welfare either …. Speaking of women, Empress Wu, the full blown Chinese empress who ruled China late 7th early 8th century is of three persons to feature prominently in this book, alongside the emperor Xuanzong the socalled Illustrious august (early half 8th century) and the rebellious and rival dynasty founder military governor An Lushan ( second half 8th century). As with the claim of Tang China as the golden Age, Charles Benn chooses to uncritically parrot commonplace connotation. Thus Empress Wu is presented as a vile tyrant, emperor Xuanzong as the ideal ruler and An Lushan as the cause of the eventual downfall of the Tang Dynasty. The problem I have with it, is that once more he unintentionally argues against his own case.
Empress Wu is presented as a bad ruler who executed many to ensure her rule and she serves as the antagonist for emperor Xuanzong who after a chaotic period of succession after empress Wu’ death took over and then ruled decades as the good emperor. Lets face it, this isn’t an objective analysis, this is parroting classic misogynistic Confucian scholarship that has always dismissed women; without doubt strengthened by the empress favoring of Buddhism over Confucianism and Taoism, both of whom competed with Buddhism for imperial favor. To back this up, apparently as Charles Benn testifies, only under empress Wu was the corruption in the examination system dealt with via use of anonymous tests and it was her appointment of generals which led to successful campaings in korea and her choice of officials which endured under the tumultuous succession period. All of this Charles Benn lists but in the same breath repeats empty assertion that Empress Wu was a terrible ruler, while I do not discredit the claim of executions, it is not like other emperors even in the Tang were such benevolent rulers that refrained from this tool of governance. I find it suspicious to blame her undermining rule of law when you also discuss how commonplace bribes were and how erratic punishments in the Tang as a whole.
Emperor Xuanzong then is presented as the good ruler and again Charles Benn is a master in unintentionally arguing against his own client when he casually tells how the emperor had built a whole mini palace near some hot springs he favored, had a whole stable of dancing horses and spent at least a decade of his rule in obsession of beautiful women. Is this supposed to be the austere and diligent ruler as Charles Benn wants us to believe? I find it curious that his “good years” seems to overlap with the presence of the officials appointed by empress Wu Zeitan but apparently this was purely a coincidence? but hey I guess we have to stick to tradition when talking about this ruler?
To be fair, this book is not a political history of Tang China, this is everyday life in Tang Dynasty. If you are a fan of anecdotes then this book is bound to please. An almost endless litany of little stories linked to the subject of the chapter is presented to the reader, food, clothing, travel, funerals, hairstyle, fascination/revulsion for Turkic culture, religion, festivals and so on. To me it was a bit much. I like an occasional anecdote but Charles Benn overdoes it for my taste and once again misses an opportunity to tell the reader why this was supposed to be a golden time; surely most if not everything should be better then before or after right? But we Halas never really get that contemplation. We do get quite a few interesting drawings and illustrations, something I can always appreciate.
One aspect which really surprised me though was ghost stories. I knew ghosts are a part of east Asian cultures but I never knew how many ghost stories must have circulated if so many have survived to this day. These ghost stories tell us not only about concepts of afterlife, spirituality and filial piety, but are an interesting window on a wide range of subjects. Ghosts in privy’s complaining about the smell, hungry ghosts in taverns and at feasts, mad ghosts clinging to their old beds, disturbing ghosts causing disease; I never really appreciated what an interesting source material these ghost stories could be. What other narrative literary source could there be to learn about privy’s of 8th century urban China? Through the medium (pun intended) of these ghosts one can learn apparently about a whole slew of subjects indirectly addressed in these.
In the end what really will stick by (besides the ghost stories as source material) is what exactly inspired the Heian Japanese. They modeled their imperial system and court/noble life on Tang China. Like Tang China it revolved around the rituals and daily life in the palace capital where the emperor resided. It combined a high degree of state control of those living in the capital, while outsourcing affairs in the rest of the state to local semi autonomy’s military sub dynasties and exiled Princes/mandarins. It placed enormous focus on the social mores and moral of those near the court (for examples the severe and strict 27 month mourning for deceased parents) while beyond the capital the quality of rule was erratic. One could have genuine concerned and able rulers in one province and cruel or slothful governors in the next. Travel was slow and dangerous thus even more restricting the attention of the court to the capital. While This became even more extreme in Japan than it had been in China, where occasional rulers such as empress Wu showed a keen active interest in ruling beyond the court and capital, it is striking how similar their fates were. In both cases revolts by rural military governors critically weakened the imperial system which let to the burning of the splendid court and strictly organized capital. No Wonder then that the Sung dynasty did not feel inclined to once more invest in military governors to rule most of their empire if you ask me, golden age? I tend to disagree…..
The only factor of the Song that does objectively made life worse for part of the population, was footbinding which became a sign of wealth and status. But Charles Benn description of Tang China has countless slave like status concubines whose lives weren’t exactly a symbol of feminine welfare either …. Speaking of women, Empress Wu, the full blown Chinese empress who ruled China late 7th early 8th century is of three persons to feature prominently in this book, alongside the emperor Xuanzong the socalled Illustrious august (early half 8th century) and the rebellious and rival dynasty founder military governor An Lushan ( second half 8th century). As with the claim of Tang China as the golden Age, Charles Benn chooses to uncritically parrot commonplace connotation. Thus Empress Wu is presented as a vile tyrant, emperor Xuanzong as the ideal ruler and An Lushan as the cause of the eventual downfall of the Tang Dynasty. The problem I have with it, is that once more he unintentionally argues against his own case.
Empress Wu is presented as a bad ruler who executed many to ensure her rule and she serves as the antagonist for emperor Xuanzong who after a chaotic period of succession after empress Wu’ death took over and then ruled decades as the good emperor. Lets face it, this isn’t an objective analysis, this is parroting classic misogynistic Confucian scholarship that has always dismissed women; without doubt strengthened by the empress favoring of Buddhism over Confucianism and Taoism, both of whom competed with Buddhism for imperial favor. To back this up, apparently as Charles Benn testifies, only under empress Wu was the corruption in the examination system dealt with via use of anonymous tests and it was her appointment of generals which led to successful campaings in korea and her choice of officials which endured under the tumultuous succession period. All of this Charles Benn lists but in the same breath repeats empty assertion that Empress Wu was a terrible ruler, while I do not discredit the claim of executions, it is not like other emperors even in the Tang were such benevolent rulers that refrained from this tool of governance. I find it suspicious to blame her undermining rule of law when you also discuss how commonplace bribes were and how erratic punishments in the Tang as a whole.
Emperor Xuanzong then is presented as the good ruler and again Charles Benn is a master in unintentionally arguing against his own client when he casually tells how the emperor had built a whole mini palace near some hot springs he favored, had a whole stable of dancing horses and spent at least a decade of his rule in obsession of beautiful women. Is this supposed to be the austere and diligent ruler as Charles Benn wants us to believe? I find it curious that his “good years” seems to overlap with the presence of the officials appointed by empress Wu Zeitan but apparently this was purely a coincidence? but hey I guess we have to stick to tradition when talking about this ruler?
To be fair, this book is not a political history of Tang China, this is everyday life in Tang Dynasty. If you are a fan of anecdotes then this book is bound to please. An almost endless litany of little stories linked to the subject of the chapter is presented to the reader, food, clothing, travel, funerals, hairstyle, fascination/revulsion for Turkic culture, religion, festivals and so on. To me it was a bit much. I like an occasional anecdote but Charles Benn overdoes it for my taste and once again misses an opportunity to tell the reader why this was supposed to be a golden time; surely most if not everything should be better then before or after right? But we Halas never really get that contemplation. We do get quite a few interesting drawings and illustrations, something I can always appreciate.
One aspect which really surprised me though was ghost stories. I knew ghosts are a part of east Asian cultures but I never knew how many ghost stories must have circulated if so many have survived to this day. These ghost stories tell us not only about concepts of afterlife, spirituality and filial piety, but are an interesting window on a wide range of subjects. Ghosts in privy’s complaining about the smell, hungry ghosts in taverns and at feasts, mad ghosts clinging to their old beds, disturbing ghosts causing disease; I never really appreciated what an interesting source material these ghost stories could be. What other narrative literary source could there be to learn about privy’s of 8th century urban China? Through the medium (pun intended) of these ghosts one can learn apparently about a whole slew of subjects indirectly addressed in these.
In the end what really will stick by (besides the ghost stories as source material) is what exactly inspired the Heian Japanese. They modeled their imperial system and court/noble life on Tang China. Like Tang China it revolved around the rituals and daily life in the palace capital where the emperor resided. It combined a high degree of state control of those living in the capital, while outsourcing affairs in the rest of the state to local semi autonomy’s military sub dynasties and exiled Princes/mandarins. It placed enormous focus on the social mores and moral of those near the court (for examples the severe and strict 27 month mourning for deceased parents) while beyond the capital the quality of rule was erratic. One could have genuine concerned and able rulers in one province and cruel or slothful governors in the next. Travel was slow and dangerous thus even more restricting the attention of the court to the capital. While This became even more extreme in Japan than it had been in China, where occasional rulers such as empress Wu showed a keen active interest in ruling beyond the court and capital, it is striking how similar their fates were. In both cases revolts by rural military governors critically weakened the imperial system which let to the burning of the splendid court and strictly organized capital. No Wonder then that the Sung dynasty did not feel inclined to once more invest in military governors to rule most of their empire if you ask me, golden age? I tend to disagree…..
May 31, 2022
3.5... this book is frustrating bc one the one hand it's a great overview of the social/cultural side of Tang China, but it comes across as kind of patronizingly, annoyingly "pop history" a lot. Like, the anecdotes are fun and fine, but why go to the conscious effort of anonymizing the names of key figures? "The emperor" "a famous, upright statesman" bruh just say their name lmao. It's not like they're randos, they're famous individuals and knowing the name would go a long way to contextualizing the stories or help the reader in researching further details if they're curious. Oh, and Benn provides no citations, so good luck with finding original sources I guess?? What a strange editorial choice 💀
Also there was a huge shortage of pictures imo. Benn goes on these half-page long descriptions of some fascinating mechanical wonder or hairstyles or dishes, and I'm scrambling trying to hold together all these details in my brain and I'm still pretty sure I imagined them completely wrong. And searching them up is ofc impossible bc he doesn't give sources or the Chinese names. :///
Speaking of Chinese names, Benn is like allergic to them or something. Like maybe he thinks readers are babies who despite being willing to read a whole history book on Tang China, will be scared away by a bit of pinyin??? He just gives dull, literal translations. Dragon Boat Festival, or duan wu jie (端午节), both names which the festival is much more well known by, is just "Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon" and he doesn't mention the two aforementioned names at all 💀💀 He does this with everything and it's very annoying.
But that said... ig it was still a very comprehensive read, written in an engaging manner. I liked the topic divisions and thought that generally the depth vs breadth of each subject was done well, if still veering towards the anecdotal/sensational. I learned a lot, and also I appreciated that Benn hand-traced all those drawings himself, that was actually oddly endearing to imagine lol
Also there was a huge shortage of pictures imo. Benn goes on these half-page long descriptions of some fascinating mechanical wonder or hairstyles or dishes, and I'm scrambling trying to hold together all these details in my brain and I'm still pretty sure I imagined them completely wrong. And searching them up is ofc impossible bc he doesn't give sources or the Chinese names. :///
Speaking of Chinese names, Benn is like allergic to them or something. Like maybe he thinks readers are babies who despite being willing to read a whole history book on Tang China, will be scared away by a bit of pinyin??? He just gives dull, literal translations. Dragon Boat Festival, or duan wu jie (端午节), both names which the festival is much more well known by, is just "Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon" and he doesn't mention the two aforementioned names at all 💀💀 He does this with everything and it's very annoying.
But that said... ig it was still a very comprehensive read, written in an engaging manner. I liked the topic divisions and thought that generally the depth vs breadth of each subject was done well, if still veering towards the anecdotal/sensational. I learned a lot, and also I appreciated that Benn hand-traced all those drawings himself, that was actually oddly endearing to imagine lol
June 30, 2015
This book is...weird. As its subtitle indicates, it's about everyday life in Tang China. That period runs roughly from the 7th-10th centuries CE. To be honest, the more of it I read, the more annoying I found it. Each chapter of the book focuses on a single subject; food, housing, crime and punishment, "life cycle" (marriage, work, etc.), death, and so on. The author seems to have just grouped information from source materials by subject and just threw that information into its given chapter with little regard for timelines. There's also no attempt to explain anything, so straightforward accounts of, say, a legal proceeding might be followed by a ghost story. The ghost story isn't problematic in itself, but just presenting it without any discussion about it is off-putting. I should note that Benn, the author, does make a point of explaining in the introduction to the book that he won't be citing any source or using foot- or endnotes because (I'm paraphrasing here) "the source material is only available to specialist scholars". I think this must mean they're not available in translation and to cite them would be difficult and interrupt the flow of the text...but their lack really made me look at all the material skeptically. I got to feeling like the author didn't care about the image of the people he was discussing. Like he was okay with having his readers think the Tang-era Chinese were a bunch of gullible, offal-devouring idiots. It almost seemed like medieval travelogues in which the author claims that dog-headed people and giants and monopods live in far-off lands. I am sure that isn't true but that's the impression I came away with.
Overall, a frustrating read. I really wish it had had more (any!) insight into the behavior of its subjects, instead of being a random catalog of factoids.
Overall, a frustrating read. I really wish it had had more (any!) insight into the behavior of its subjects, instead of being a random catalog of factoids.
October 9, 2007
This is one of two textbooks I had to read as a part of the East Asian History (to 1500), AKA HIST 280 at the University of Alberta. It really did help flesh out my understanding of China. It only covers the Tang Dynasty (609 - 918, I think, or therabouts), but it really was a fascinating glimpse into classical chinese culture.
Concepts I only partially understood before (such as the broad umbrella of "Confucian values") became incredibly obvious, and almost second nature. One could say that this book filled in all of the blanks.
I also enjoyed all of the little example stories that the author threw in to illustrate his points. They would begin with something like "Merchant Wu was..." or "Farmer Li was..." and would add an element of narrative to the work, so it wasn't just straight "The bureaucrats of Changan spent three weeks in the winter compiling etc.etc."
I was also encredibly amused by the story of the Patron Spirit of Lavatories. Poor, poor girl; she was killed by her lover, and her body was thrown into an out-house pit, but the gods took pity on her and "rewarded" her by making her the spirit of the toilet. "Rewarded", yes. Cool, eh?
However, I got the impression as I read that the author didn't entirely understand some of the longer words he was using. Oh, sure, they were all technically and gramatically correct, but they just carried incorrect connotations for the situation. But perhaps I'm just being picky.
In any case, I was amazed by the sheer amount of information that that book managed to make my brain retain. Awesome! Now I can only hope I'll do so well on the midterm and final exam because of this book...
Concepts I only partially understood before (such as the broad umbrella of "Confucian values") became incredibly obvious, and almost second nature. One could say that this book filled in all of the blanks.
I also enjoyed all of the little example stories that the author threw in to illustrate his points. They would begin with something like "Merchant Wu was..." or "Farmer Li was..." and would add an element of narrative to the work, so it wasn't just straight "The bureaucrats of Changan spent three weeks in the winter compiling etc.etc."
I was also encredibly amused by the story of the Patron Spirit of Lavatories. Poor, poor girl; she was killed by her lover, and her body was thrown into an out-house pit, but the gods took pity on her and "rewarded" her by making her the spirit of the toilet. "Rewarded", yes. Cool, eh?
However, I got the impression as I read that the author didn't entirely understand some of the longer words he was using. Oh, sure, they were all technically and gramatically correct, but they just carried incorrect connotations for the situation. But perhaps I'm just being picky.
In any case, I was amazed by the sheer amount of information that that book managed to make my brain retain. Awesome! Now I can only hope I'll do so well on the midterm and final exam because of this book...
March 21, 2017
Descriptively-rich book on daily life in the Tang. The nature of historical sources means that there's an emphasis on the lives of the upper classes, particularly the imperial house, however, Benn does his best to mitigate this by hypothesising the extent to which these accounts can be applied to peasants and merchants etc., as well as drawing on illustrative written examples of commoners' lives. Extremely useful and interesting work.
In some chapters, Benn describes things that don't make sense. For example, in the section on dress, he describes several types of women's hairstyles, however, he has clearly never attempted to do any of them himself, as the descriptions cannot be followed. A related issue is that many of the illustrative examples have been translated from Chinese, but poorly, so that the subject of a story or characters are not always clear. This should've been picked up during editing.
Benn provides a good bibliography at the end to help readers explore the various topics further (food, death, kinship etc.). Consequently, this is a useful book for people interested in the topic, but not familiar with China. However, the book has very few references. As a student of Chinese history, I knew where most of the information comes from or could be sourced, so the lack of references was not a problem. However, it's frustrating generally when an author doesn't cite their sources, particularly for the lesser-known anecdotes of daily life!
In some chapters, Benn describes things that don't make sense. For example, in the section on dress, he describes several types of women's hairstyles, however, he has clearly never attempted to do any of them himself, as the descriptions cannot be followed. A related issue is that many of the illustrative examples have been translated from Chinese, but poorly, so that the subject of a story or characters are not always clear. This should've been picked up during editing.
Benn provides a good bibliography at the end to help readers explore the various topics further (food, death, kinship etc.). Consequently, this is a useful book for people interested in the topic, but not familiar with China. However, the book has very few references. As a student of Chinese history, I knew where most of the information comes from or could be sourced, so the lack of references was not a problem. However, it's frustrating generally when an author doesn't cite their sources, particularly for the lesser-known anecdotes of daily life!
Read
October 4, 2015Extremely accessible book that is based completely on secondary sources and cites other reference books. It is a very handy introductory primer to what life generally was like for the average Chinese person. While obviously focused on the Tang Dynasty, it is a solid place for a start as serious readers/history buffs can build off of this solid foundation as they research more on their own. It is a very light read compared to the more academic texts that I usually recommend but personally this one of my favorites.
November 13, 2020
At the beginning, I was excited by this book. At the end, I was disappointed. Much information is in there, but I truly cannot recognise whether it is related to historical facts or to legends and traditional beliefs. Some anecdotes are just put in a paragraph without further explanation about the source of the information. I wished to use this text for an academic research, but I guess I'll look for something else.
August 17, 2017
Interesting look at the daily life of a fascinating period of Chinese history, this is the China I think of when watching the great Wuxia movies I love so much.
November 9, 2024
This is not the book for you if you want rigorous, nuanced historical commentary. There are no footnotes, and the author doesn't clearly state his sources--primary documents in ancient Chinese, which most people couldn't read. Instead of diving deep into one subject, it offers a broad sweep of life in the Tang dynasty, mostly for the aristocracy, describing things like dietary practice, dress fashions, popular entertainments, folk religions, etc. Oftentimes the writing zooms in on minor figures and events at the expense of broader context.
That said, as a fiction writer, this book was a gold mine. It's stuffed full of hyper-specific anecdotes and fantastically strange facts, which paint a hyper vivid picture of what it might be like to live in this period. And while sometimes the book rambles, it is usually very surprising and very funny. It offers a lot of the colour you'd find in a novel, while maintaining enough historical background to help you situate yourself.
If you too are writing a short story styled as a Tang dynasty folk tale, I would highly recommend this book.
That said, as a fiction writer, this book was a gold mine. It's stuffed full of hyper-specific anecdotes and fantastically strange facts, which paint a hyper vivid picture of what it might be like to live in this period. And while sometimes the book rambles, it is usually very surprising and very funny. It offers a lot of the colour you'd find in a novel, while maintaining enough historical background to help you situate yourself.
If you too are writing a short story styled as a Tang dynasty folk tale, I would highly recommend this book.
November 12, 2023
More a book for the topic specialist than the casual reader.
The opening section - the history of the dynasty- is a succinct overview of the politics of the era and reads well. Thereafter, the book is certainly interesting, a bit of time machine trip back to the period, and may be too granular for many of us. The author walks the reader through wide range of topics - society, cities and urban life, houses and gardens, clothes and hygiene, food and feasts, leisure and entertainment, to mention just a part of the discussion. Again, the adjective, interesting is justified, but much washed over me as excessive detail......so put me in the casual reader cohort!!
The opening section - the history of the dynasty- is a succinct overview of the politics of the era and reads well. Thereafter, the book is certainly interesting, a bit of time machine trip back to the period, and may be too granular for many of us. The author walks the reader through wide range of topics - society, cities and urban life, houses and gardens, clothes and hygiene, food and feasts, leisure and entertainment, to mention just a part of the discussion. Again, the adjective, interesting is justified, but much washed over me as excessive detail......so put me in the casual reader cohort!!
May 5, 2019
Very good, despite some flaws that would probably be fatal in other books.
I'm dubious you'll find a more comprehensive book on this topic in English. It's very densely packed information, covering a lot of ground (e.g., rammed earth home construction, how Tang cities were policed and governed, social strata, traditional medicine/diet, how non-Chinese integrated into society).
It's a bit dry; you get the facts but it doesn't really come alive. Also, I noticed several typos and misplaced section headers.
I'm dubious you'll find a more comprehensive book on this topic in English. It's very densely packed information, covering a lot of ground (e.g., rammed earth home construction, how Tang cities were policed and governed, social strata, traditional medicine/diet, how non-Chinese integrated into society).
It's a bit dry; you get the facts but it doesn't really come alive. Also, I noticed several typos and misplaced section headers.
December 2, 2018
I have read the beginning of this book but I can already judge that it is an excellent history book. It is very difficult to write a seriously researched book which is also entertaining and an easy read as it is this one. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in history.
November 25, 2025
Not as scholarly as the works of, say, Susan Whitfield or Victor Xiong, but it reads smoothly and has a wealth of excellent interior illustrations. If the subject interests you at all - and perhaps even if you're not sure it will - this book is worth seeking out.
4 stars.
4 stars.
November 6, 2023
Highly informative look at the history, culture, and quotidian life in the Tang Dynasty
November 19, 2023
Very informative but a dense read. It was not easy to get through and took me some time to finish it but I am glad that I did.
August 27, 2016
This is an informative general read about the Tang era, however I was surprised to see other reviewers comment that they use it as a textbook. I did find it lacking in academic rigour, namely quoting sources, or in backing up its many sweeping statements. It does focus solely on the Tang, but if sources were lost in the Cultural Revolution or other periods, it would be helpful to know that - similarly if the perceptions of the Tang changed. It would have been helpful to have more timelines included also, as well as a greater explanation of the commercial processes.
That being said, this is a very helpful introduction to a very large topic, and I'm glad I read it. The author's coverage of the role of the monasteries was also very enlightening.
That being said, this is a very helpful introduction to a very large topic, and I'm glad I read it. The author's coverage of the role of the monasteries was also very enlightening.
March 25, 2013
Easy for the non-scholar to read. Good source book.
September 16, 2024
Read for #history class
July 11, 2011
The progress of the Tang Dynasty is simply amazing.
November 20, 2012
I am reading this book for a college class on Traditional China.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews