China's story

China's story is exceptionally rich and dramatic. Now, Michael Wood, one of Britain's foremost historians, brings it all together in a single volume, A History of China, an essential book for anyone who wants to understand its growing role in the world today. China is the oldest living civilization on Earth, yet its history remains, surprisingly, largely unknown to the world. Michael Wood's brilliant narrative, which blends sweeping historical narrative with local and personal stories, interweaving them with the author's travel notes, is a captivating account of China's four-thousand-year tradition, showcasing life on the Great Wall or inside the Forbidden City. The story is rich with the latest archaeological and documentary discoveries, correspondence and court cases dating back to the Qin and Han dynasties, family letters from soldiers in the real Terracotta Army, stories from Silk Road traders and Buddhist travelers, along with the memoirs and diaries of emperors, poets, and peasants. Set in the modern era, the book is packed with new insights, with the powerful accounts of feminist revolutionaries Qiu Jin and He Chen; extraordinary eyewitness accounts of the Japanese invasion, the Great Famine, and the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao; and fascinating newly published sources on major turning points in China's modern history, including the 1989 Tiananmen Square crisis and the new regime of President Xi Jinping. A compelling portrait of a single civilization over a vast period of time, the audiobook is packed with intimate detail and colorful voices, taking us from the desolate Mongolian steppes to the hypermodern world of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. The book also asks: What forces have held China together for so long? Why did the West overtake China after the 18th century? What lies behind China's extraordinary rise today? The Story of China tells a thrilling story filled with intense drama, stunning creativity, and profound humanity; a portrait of a country that will be of profound importance to the world in the 21st century.