Rating: 
Summary: gorgeous photographs, and content?
Review: Ebrey succeeds in condensing the history of China into a compact and very readable book. It was probably one of the most enjoyable reading I had for a history class. The photographs are gorgeous, and the author really tried to balance social and culture trends with the political events. However, the book fells short when it comes to content. The 600-year period between the fall of Han and the founding of Sui was described in about 3 pages. The enormously important Warring States Period had barely 5 pages of coverage. The depth of content - well, let's just say this is laughable by college standars. Of course, it is impossible to cover over 3000 years of history in this compact book. However, when some of the most influential periods in Chinese history are reduced to bare footnote, perhaps it indicates that the author has been over zealous in trimming her materials. That being said, this is still a good introduction. If you are clueless about Chinese history, this book serve as a great start. If you know anything more than the fundamentals, however, look elsewhere for information.
Rating:
Summary: gorgeous photographs, and content?
Review: Ebrey succeeds in condensing the history of China into a compact and very readable book. It was probably one of the most enjoyable reading I had for a history class. The photographs are gorgeous, and the author really tried to balance social and culture trends with the political events. However, the book fells short when it comes to content. The 600-year period between the fall of Han and the founding of Sui was described in about 3 pages. The enormously important Warring States Period had barely 5 pages of coverage. The depth of content - well, let's just say this is laughable by college standars. Of course, it is impossible to cover over 3000 years of history in this compact book. However, when some of the most influential periods in Chinese history are reduced to bare footnote, perhaps it indicates that the author has been over zealous in trimming her materials. That being said, this is still a good introduction. If you are clueless about Chinese history, this book serve as a great start. If you know anything more than the fundamentals, however, look elsewhere for information.
Rating:
Summary: easy reading of 3000 years of chinese history
Review: Ebrey's "Cambridge Illustrated History of China" is a great textbook for the student or reader desiring only to get a basic overview of chinese history. The book is exceptionally smooth reading and enjoyable, yet it is not exactly suited for students with an existing knowledge of China. The book is greatly complimented by Roberts' "A Concise History of China" which discusses more material into greater fact-packed detail, but not as smooth or enjoyable to read alone.
Rating:
Summary: easy reading of 3000 years of chinese history
Review: Ebrey's "Cambridge Illustrated History of China" is a great textbook for the student or reader desiring only to get a basic overview of chinese history. The book is exceptionally smooth reading and enjoyable, yet it is not exactly suited for students with an existing knowledge of China. The book is greatly complimented by Roberts' "A Concise History of China" which discusses more material into greater fact-packed detail, but not as smooth or enjoyable to read alone.
Rating: 
Summary: Bored to tears
Review: I faithfully read this book as a text for a class. The fact that it was boring wasn't such a problem because reading the book was unpleasant. In fact, it wasn't such a bad read, for a textbook. However, I was bored enough that I retained next to nothing from each chapter.
I personally find Chinese history fascinating (I speak the language, studied in Beijing, and majored in Chinese studies) but this book was a snoozer. For what you are going to get out of this book, take my short synopsis instead and forget the rest:
Qin Dynasty 220 BC: Unified China, Machiavellian
Han Dynasty 200 BC - 200 AD: Confucian
Tang Dynasty 600-900: Cosmopolitan
Song Dynasty Around 1000 AD: Confucian revival
Yuan Dynasty Around 1200: Mongols
Ming Dynasty 1300-1600: VERY Chinese
Qing Dynasty 1600-1900: Manchus
Rating: 
Summary: Thousands of years of history packed into 1 book!
Review: If you only had room for one book on Chinese history, this should be it. It amazingly covers history from China's early beginnings to more recent events.
Rating:
Summary: very good, very brief
Review: If you're looking for a general overview or first book to read on Chinese history, this it. It's concise and very clearly organized, giving an even coverage over the whole course of Chinese history. The many photos are generally quite relevant to the text, though I found the maps made little sense to me. She uses pinyin for all names regardless of time or place -- which is mostly good. I found her writing very dry, but you'll notice some reviewers say she's a great writer. I think the book is strongest on high culture (as opposed to politics and battles and emperors and such) Don't expect this brief book to overflow with details. If you want details, then you'll have to read Jacques Gernet's "A History of Chinese Civilization".
Rating:
Summary: Easy to understand
Review: My Professor used this text and I find that it is easy to understand and read. One of the feature of this book is that at the end of every chapter, the author would include her opinions and at the same time, she will relay what happened in Europe or U.S. at that particular time. For instance, in 1700-1800, China was ruled by the last empire- the Manchu and it was also during this time that the Americans gained independence. To me, it's always nice to know what happened during a particular period in the opposite side of the world. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants to know more about the Chinese history as it's very easy to follow.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to understand
Review: My Professor used this text and I find that it is easy to understand and read. One of the feature of this book is that at the end of every chapter, the author would include her opinions and at the same time, she will relay what happened in Europe or U.S. at that particular time. For instance, in 1700-1800, China was ruled by the last empire- the Manchu and it was also during this time that the Americans gained independence. To me, it's always nice to know what happened during a particular period in the opposite side of the world. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants to know more about the Chinese history as it's very easy to follow.
Rating: 
Summary: Factual, but dry
Review: One of the interesting things about this book is that it uses standard Mandarin Pinyin (Chiang Kai-Shek is Jiang Jieshi, Sun Yat-Sen is Sun Zhongshan, etc). While this can be very helpful to those who know Mandarin Pinyin, it can be somewhat confusing to those who do not. For the most part, the book is factual and unbiased, although Ebrey does allow her anti-Maoist bias to slant her discussion of post-1949 China. The read is extremely dry, however, and often comes across as a colorless collection of irrelevant facts.
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