There are many more people in the world today who consider themselves Chinese than there are residents of all of Europe and North America combined. How did China as a culture and a state grow to be so large? Why hasn't it broken up like the Roman or Ottoman empires? How has it been possible for a single government to rule so many people?

In The Cambridge Illustrated History of China Patricia Ebrey pursues these and other basic questions about the shaping of Chinese civilization. Her scope is phenomenal, embracing all aspects of Chinese arts, culture, economics and society, as well as China's treatment of women, foreign policy, emigrations and politics. However, key emphasis is placed throughout on the major social and cultural developments and on the way in which these wider forces impinged on the lives of ordinary people.

Aware that hers is an outsider's interpretation, Professor Ebrey compensates by referring wherever possible to traditional Chinese interpretations of events and developments. Both a comprehensive introduction to this extraordinary civilization, and a detailed exploration of the continuities and disjunctures of Chinese history, this book is essential reading for all those interested in China, its society and culture.