Even today the economic powerhouse of modern China takes strength and nourishment from its legacy of antiquity. Ancient China illuminates this venerable heritage with unprecedented scholarship and vividness.

This book is a comprehensive book about China's art, life, and culture. Using the latest discoveries by historians this book explores China's literature, music, religions, economy and cuisine.

A leading scholar in the United States on Chinese archaeology challenges long-standing conceptions of the rise of political authority in ancient China. Questioning Marx's concept of an "Asiatic" mode of production, Wittfogel's "hydraulic hypothesis," and cultural-materialist theories on the importance of technology, K. C. Chang builds an impressive counterargument, one which ranges widely from recent archaeological discoveries to studies of mythology, ancient Chinese poetry, and the iconography of Shang food vessels.

Festivals give life to any society. They reflect the way of life, myth and art. In this ancient history book for kids, we’re going to dive into some of the most celebrated Chinese festivals. It is hoped that through this book, children will see festivals as more than just parties and colors. They’re also reflections of cultures too. Grab a copy today!

Ancient Egypt includes accounts of key themes that have long preoccupied the popular imagination, including the religious mysteries of the great temples of Karnak and Luxor and the secrets of the hieroglyphs.

'During the Tang dynasty, the Chinese artist Wu Tao-tzu was one day standing looking at a mural he had just completed. Suddenly, he clapped his hands and the temple gate opened. He went into his work and the gates closed behind him.' Thus begins Sven Lindqvist's profound meditation on art and its relationship with life, first published in 1967, and a classic in his home country - it has never been out of print. As a young man, Sven Lindqvist was fascinated by the myth of Wu Tao-tzu, and by the possibility of entering a work of art and making it a way of life. He was drawn to artists and writers who shared this vision, especially Hermann Hesse, in his novel Glass Bead Game. Partly inspired by Hesse's work, Lindqvist lived in China for two years, learning classical calligraphy from a master teacher. There he was drawn deeper into the idea of a life of artistic perfectionism and retreat from the world. But when he left China for India and then Afghanistan, and saw the grotesque effects of poverty and extreme inequality, Lindqvist suffered a crisis of confidence and started to question his ideas about complete immersion in art at the expense of a proper engagement with life. The Myth of Wu Tao-tzu takes us on a fascinating journey through a young man's moral awakening and his grappling with profound questions of aesthetics. It contains the bracing moral anger, and poetic, intensely atmospheric travel writing Lindqvist's readers have come to love.