All Under Heaven: A Complete History of China - Hardcover

Kruger, Rayne

3.45

64 ratings by Goodreads

9780470865330: All Under Heaven: A Complete History of China

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470865334 ISBN 13: 9780470865330

Publisher: Wiley, 2003

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A one-volume narrative history of China, from the earliest inhabitants to the twentieth century, for a popular readership

China is a country with an ancient and highly sophisticated civilization of which the Chinese have been justly proud.When the countries of Europe were struggling to move beyond mud huts and stone tools the Chinese already had a highly complex society and were creating works of great beauty. Yet, although it has for many years been a source of great fascination to the West, the history of China remains a mystery to the layman. In this highly accessible narrative written for the general reader, Rayne Kruger produces a synthesis of Chinese history for the non-specialist reader.

Rayne Kruger was born in South Africa and began his working life in a Johannesburg goldmine before becoming in succession a lawyer, broadcaster and actor. He emigrated to England in 1947 where he joined the BBC. He wrote a number of successful novels, followed by a history of South Africa (1959) Goodbye Dolly Gray, which has remained in print ever since. An astute business man, he then founded a property group. He subsequently went into partnership with his wife, the successful restauranteur and cookery school entrepreneur Prue Leith (business woman of the year 1990). He died on 21 December 2002.

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From the Back Cover:

The history of China has been one in which beauty and cruelty, sexual and political power have been inexorably intertwined. This ancient and highly sophisticated civilization developed largely in isolation from the West for many thousands of years. It is a civilization that:

developed the compass 1000 years before Europe
invented paper 1500 years before Europe
invented printing 600 years before Europe
developed a calendar 1000 years before the Ancient Greeks

to name just a few of its many achievements. It valued, poetry, scholarship and art, yet produced some of the most notorious tyrants, cruellest warriors and dangerous femmes fatales in history.

In this single volume narrative history of China, Rayne Kruger provides an insight into the compelling history, mythology and culture of China from the first humans to the twentieth century.

From the Inside Flap:

China is a country with an ancient and highly sophisticated civilization of which the Chinese are justly proud. When many of the countries of Europe were struggling to move beyond mud huts and stone tools, the Chinese already had a highly complex society and were creating works of great beauty.

Although China has for many years been a source of great fascination to the West, its history, for many, remains shrouded in mystery. In this compelling narrative written for the general reader, Rayne Kruger, produces a synthesis of Chinese history, mythology and customs that provides an accessible and enlightening introduction to the history and culture of China.

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