How far I get along with any of this is any man's guess. Rather than reading the books I have, let me count those I have not.
Well, I have bemoaned (and bemoaned) my lack of Eastern Zhou and Qin Civilizations by Liu Xueqin and translated by K.C. Chang (who wrote Shang Civilization among others).
Seeking to compensate, I foraged around. A book on Western Chou Civilization must not cover the same territory as Eastern Zhou, but would be interesting. (Chou, like Zhou, lies beyond my price range.) There is one review, by Louis Petrillo, who has reviewed other China titles. He lists several positive points:
Well, I have bemoaned (and bemoaned) my lack of Eastern Zhou and Qin Civilizations by Liu Xueqin and translated by K.C. Chang (who wrote Shang Civilization among others).
Seeking to compensate, I foraged around. A book on Western Chou Civilization must not cover the same territory as Eastern Zhou, but would be interesting. (Chou, like Zhou, lies beyond my price range.) There is one review, by Louis Petrillo, who has reviewed other China titles. He lists several positive points:
1. the text contains the Chinese characters for people and place names which is very helpful as any romanization can still be ambiguous;
2. the numerous references to recent architectural discoveries are very well footnoted to sources in Chinese;
3. there are numerous pictures of and rubbings from the bronzes cited in the text;
4. there are numerous tie-ins between the archaeological sources and the classical Chinese texts (Shi Jing, Shan Shu, Chun Qiu, Zuo Zhuan, etc.)
And several negative:
1. the romanization scheme used is Wade-Giles rather than pinyin;
2. the English translations of the Chinese originals are those by James Legge which by now are somewhat archaic. Possibly Watson's translation of the Zuo Zhuan wasn't available. And unfortunately Legge is still the only one who has translated the Shan Shu and the Chun Qiu.
3. the book is already rather dated as new discoveries continue to be made. For example, there is no mention made of the discoveries of Sanxingdui or various Han tombs that have greatly enriched our knowledge of the classical writings.
All of Mr. Petrillo's positives strike me as very positive; and for me his negatory "Wade-Giles" would be very much a positive. (If I had a magic wand I would banish pinyin from the land.) He suggests a revised edition may come out one day, and if it does, in spite of the unavoidable pinyin, I could climb aboard—cost permitting of course.
To make up for my lack of anything about the Chou—and it obviously is the Eastern that I am lamenting—I've determined that my only recourse is to look into some whole-cloth histories, outdated though they (may) be, and so, I expect to glance into A History of Chinese Civilization by Jacques Gernet and into China's Imperial Past by Charles Hucker. It's a crapshoot. I intend only to look at the relevant chapters—unless one or the other (or both) offers prose that compels me to continue, in which case outdatedness be damned & full speed ahead ("lucid" prose as said of Finley's as may betoken punctilious thought).
A book came the other day, The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization by Li Chi, considered the doyen of Chinese archeologists—at least in Chang's time. He (so I understand) really spearheaded the An-yang excavations and Chang refers to him a lot. The book itself is a little pearl of refinement. Three lectures with a cumulative page count of about 100, large print type, many illustrations and black & white photographs—plus a clarity of prose. (The introduction by his Western host recounts the discovery of oracle bone fragments if not in so amusing fashion as Chang's later retelling.) I felt such a joy when I opened this little book, because, notwithstanding the difficulty I had with Chang's Shang Civilization, it felt a little bit like coming home. Much as I whinge about archeology in the right hands it satisfies me well enough.
Where that leaves The Evolution of Urban Society I cannot guess. I have no genuine intention to read it, but will do so if compelled; and Li Chi's book, similarly, I expect to put on the shelf for future reference. Like the gourmand who wants to try a surplus of dishes that he sees, I shall be lucky to taste but a slim percentage of the banquet of books I contemplate. And again, I croak instead of reading anyhow.
Mind you, none of this is my subject; and I am not a reader anyhow.
Saying that, as a final note, let me mention, that I frequently link to Amazon.com, not as an endorsement—and I am not set up to receive any kickback for traffic I may direct that way—but because it seems the most available common source for information about books. Even—as above—I have occasionally noted what reviewers have said about books there: an important source for information and opinion, when the books I like don't get much notice or review anyhow, even if they happen to be of recent minting (which is not often the case). For the record.
To make up for my lack of anything about the Chou—and it obviously is the Eastern that I am lamenting—I've determined that my only recourse is to look into some whole-cloth histories, outdated though they (may) be, and so, I expect to glance into A History of Chinese Civilization by Jacques Gernet and into China's Imperial Past by Charles Hucker. It's a crapshoot. I intend only to look at the relevant chapters—unless one or the other (or both) offers prose that compels me to continue, in which case outdatedness be damned & full speed ahead ("lucid" prose as said of Finley's as may betoken punctilious thought).
A book came the other day, The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization by Li Chi, considered the doyen of Chinese archeologists—at least in Chang's time. He (so I understand) really spearheaded the An-yang excavations and Chang refers to him a lot. The book itself is a little pearl of refinement. Three lectures with a cumulative page count of about 100, large print type, many illustrations and black & white photographs—plus a clarity of prose. (The introduction by his Western host recounts the discovery of oracle bone fragments if not in so amusing fashion as Chang's later retelling.) I felt such a joy when I opened this little book, because, notwithstanding the difficulty I had with Chang's Shang Civilization, it felt a little bit like coming home. Much as I whinge about archeology in the right hands it satisfies me well enough.
Where that leaves The Evolution of Urban Society I cannot guess. I have no genuine intention to read it, but will do so if compelled; and Li Chi's book, similarly, I expect to put on the shelf for future reference. Like the gourmand who wants to try a surplus of dishes that he sees, I shall be lucky to taste but a slim percentage of the banquet of books I contemplate. And again, I croak instead of reading anyhow.
Mind you, none of this is my subject; and I am not a reader anyhow.
Saying that, as a final note, let me mention, that I frequently link to Amazon.com, not as an endorsement—and I am not set up to receive any kickback for traffic I may direct that way—but because it seems the most available common source for information about books. Even—as above—I have occasionally noted what reviewers have said about books there: an important source for information and opinion, when the books I like don't get much notice or review anyhow, even if they happen to be of recent minting (which is not often the case). For the record.
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