China Quotes

“In a world that respects usefulness, Zhuangzi finds value in uselessness, pointing out that a great, crooked tree, useless for timber, will live long, while the trees that are useful to men are abused and their lives cut short.”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“Since large, powerful landowners were better able to resist taxation than individual families, this often meant that the state’s tax revenue declined.”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“Qin Shi Huangdi died”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“the people organized into groups for mutual surveillance and mutual responsibility.”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“Little wonder that the armies of Qin ate away steadily at the lands of their neighbors,”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“laying the foundations of what later became Confucianism”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“That task was conceived of and carried out by men who placed a higher value on power than on culture or morality.”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“Aside from their function as carriers of meaning”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“Zhuangzi is more concerned with escaping from the world”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“Filial piety was an essential ingredient in making these hierarchical relationships work.”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“they did share some core assumptions: they regarded disunity and chaos as a problem to be solved,”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“Edward L. Shaughnessy”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“so the Mandate of Heaven had shifted to the Zhou.”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“he who would control the Central Plains from the Wei Valley must control Luoyang as well.”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“Around 1200 BCE”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“The Shandong Peninsula was an island,”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History (Volume 1): From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,

“It was not merely that they enjoyed these things (though they certainly did); a man’s career depended on his talents in the arts, particularly poetry and calligraphy.”
― Harold M. Tanner, China: A History: From Neolithic Cultures through the Great Qing Empire,