Understanding Imperial China: Dynasties, Life, and Culture

Thoroughly enjoyed this deep dive into a subject that I've long wanted to know more about.

I'm ethnically Chinese and live in the Chinese diaspora in Singapore, so although a lot of names and stories here were familiar to me, there was an equal amount of information here that I had no idea about. It focuses not so much on what happened in which dynasty, or which emperors came after the other (indeed, that would take way too long for any audiobook), but rather on some key moments of China's 5000 year history and how it affected its common folk. Some traditions (such as wedding customs from centuries ago still happened on my own wedding day) are still being practised today, albeit in a modified and modern form.

I loved finding out about how Confucianism gave way to neo-Confucianism in the Song dynasty and how that affected (and continues to affect) the way Chinese women are treated and seen within the culture. How China's international relations changed throughout the centuries, and that they've had thriving business with so many countries around the world even centuries and centuries ago. Having been brought up with a more Western-centric education, I think we're wont to think that China has generally been closed off most of history which led to their “century of humiliation” in the 20th century, but that is so so far from the case.

This is an engaging, people-centric dive into the annals of Chinese history with interesting anecdotes that changed even my mind about what I thought I knew about it. Highly recommend for anyone interested in the topic.