The Civilization of China, written by the famous British sinologist Herbert Giles, briefly introduces the Chinese history and social conditions during the latter half of 19th century and early 20th century.
Herbert Allen Giles (8 December 1845 – 13 February 1935) was a British diplomat and sinologist who was the professor of Chinese at Cambridge University for 35 years.
CHAPTER I—THE FEUDAL AGE
CHAPTER II—LAW AND GOVERNMENT
CHAPTER III—RELIGION AND SUPERSTITION
CHAPTER IV—A.D. 220–1200
CHAPTER V—WOMEN AND CHILDREN
CHAPTER VI—LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
CHAPTER VII—PHILOSOPHY AND SPORT
CHAPTER VIII—RECREATION
CHAPTER IX—THE MONGOLS, 1260–1368
CHAPTER X—MINGS AND CH‘INGS, 1368–1911
CHAPTER XI—CHINESE AND FOREIGNERS
CHAPTER XII—THE OUTLOOK
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In the earliest ages of which history professes to take cognizance, persons who wished to dispose of their goods were obliged to have recourse to barter. By and by shells were adopted as a medium of exchange, and then pieces of stamped silk, linen, and deerskin. These were followed by circular discs of copper, pierced with a round hole, the forerunners of the ordinary copper coins of a century or two later, which had square holes, and bore inscriptions, as they still do in the present day. Money was also cast in the shape of “knives” and of “trouser,” by which names specimens of this early coinage (mostly fakes) are known to connoisseurs. Some of these were beautifully finished, and even inlaid with gold. Early in the ninth century, bills of exchange came into use; and from the middle of the twelfth century paper money became quite common, and is still in general use all over China, notes being issued in some places for amounts less even than a shilling.
The aim of this work is to suggest a rough outline of Chinese civilization from the earliest times down to the present period of rapid and startling transition.
It has been written, primarily, for readers who know little or nothing of China, in the hope that it may succeed in alluring them to a wider and more methodical survey.
H. A. G.
Cambridge, May 12, 1911.
