{"product_id":"the-rise-of-the-chinese-chun-shu-chang-9780472115341","title":"The Rise of the Chinese Empire: Frontier, Immigration, and Empire in Han China, 130 B.C.-A.D.157 Volume 2","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe second and first centuries B.C. were a critical period in Chinese history--they saw the birth and development of the new Chinese empire and its earliest expansion and acquisition of frontier territories. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut for almost two thousand years, because of gaps in the available records, this essential chapter in the history was missing. Fortunately, with the discovery during the last century of about sixty thousand Han-period documents in Central Asia and western China preserved on strips of wood and bamboo, scholars have been able, for the first time, to put together many of the missing pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this second volume of his monumental history, Chun-shu Chang provides the first systematic reconstruction of the history of the acquisitions and colonization undertaken by the Chinese empire. In never before seen detail, Chang discusses the actions taken by the Chinese empire to develop the Han frontier: the government promoted massive immigration to the newly conquered virgin land; an innovative and complex garrison system was created; and civil institutions and a land system, as well as a regular imperial administration, were established over the region. Chang investigates the long and massive campaigns of the Han territorial expansion movement, considers the impact of early nation-building, and explores the formation and growth of the Chinese empire and its changing national identity. Chang's comprehensive reconstruction of ancient and early Imperial Chinese history, based on literary, archaeological, and recently discovered ancient texts and classics, reveals the process and mechanics of the Han frontier development through an innovative and complex system of colonization, the core mechanics of the Han empire-building enterprise.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChun-shu Chang\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of History at the University of Michigan and is the author, with Shelley Hsueh-lun Chang, of \u003ci\u003eCrisis and Transformation in Seventeenth-Century China\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRedefining History: Ghosts, Spirits, and Human Society in P'u Sung-ling's World, 1640 \u003c\/i\u003e- \u003ci\u003e1715\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"An extraordinary survey of the political and administrative history of early imperial China, which makes available a body of evidence and scholarship otherwise inaccessible to English-readers. The underpinning of research is truly stupendous.\"\u003cbr\u003e--Ray Van Dam, Professor, Department of History, University of Michigan \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Powerfully argues from literary and archaeological records that empire, modeled on Han paradigms, has largely defined Chinese civilization ever since.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e--Joanna Waley-Cohen, Professor, Department of History, New York University\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Chun-Shu Chang\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0472115340\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780472115341\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Michigan Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/2006\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.43h x 6.65w x 1.16d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/01\/2008 pg. 1216","brand":"Chun-Shu Chang","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48086705307903,"sku":"9780472115341","price":95.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_56168451-b448-4766-838e-16916ead5082.jpg?v=1769096101","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-rise-of-the-chinese-chun-shu-chang-9780472115341","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}