"Making Sense of Chinese History: A Reading List" Topic

"Razib Khan and Omar Ali, friends of mine who blog at Brown Pundits, invited me onto their podcast this week to talk about Chinese history, literature, and geopolitics. Our discussion was wide ranging. Among other things, we talked about the role that Chinese history plays in modern Chinese rhetoric and pop culture, the "four great novels" of Chinese literature, my extreme skepticism with the claim that there is a "Chinese way of war," common misconceptions about Chinese history, how the growing purchase of Indian, Japanese, and Korean pop culture among the Chinese people might shape Chinese relations with these countries in the future, the vision PRC leaders have articulated for the sort of world order they wish to create, and what "socialism" means to the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

One of the first questions that Omar asked me was what a complete beginner should do to get into Chinese history. I did not answer that question as straight as I ought to have. Instead, we focused on why someone hoping to understand modern China should care about the philosophers, poets, and historical figures of China's past. In making this case I invoked Mortimer Alder's description of the Western canon as a "great conversation." Here is how he put this idea:…"
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Amicalement
Armand

We should have a way to identify precious reference posts around here. This one is definitely one of them. Good pick, Armand!

Happy for that my friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand