This is a volume in the New Oxford World History series. According to the Editor’s Preface, the aim of this series is to "offer readers an informed, up-to-date and lively history of the world" that avoids the ethnocentric bias of traditional "world histories" of only focusing on Europe and the United States. This series contains three types of books. First, eight books in the series deal with different periods in world history. Second, certain volumes concern world history using a thematic perspective, focusing on topics such as city, democracy, technology, migration, etc. Finally, there are books that deal with specific countries or regions, and Paul S. Ropp's China in World History belongs to this category.
In the book, Ropp states that his goal is to provide an account of Chinese history that places China in a global context. To do this, he focuses on China's historical interactions with foreign countries and compares aspects of Chinese society with others around the world. The book is divided into nine chapters that examine Chinese history in chronological order. Chapter One deals with the earliest periods up to the 3rd century BCE. Chapter Two describes the Qin and Han dynasties (221 BCE - 220 CE). Chapter Three explores the period of disunity from 220 to 589 CE. Chapter Four examines the reunification of China under the Sui and Tang dynasties (618 - 907 CE). Chapter Five recounts events during the Song and Yuan periods (960 - 1368 CE). Chapter Six looks at the early modern period of the Ming and early Qing dynasties (1368 - 1800 CE). Chapter Seven describes the fall and aftermath of the Qing dynasty (1800 - 1920 CE). Chapter Eight deals with the period from 1920 to 1949 and looks at the civil wars, the Japanese invasion, and the rise of the Communist Party. The last chapter is about the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to today.
