Reddit reviews The Cambridge Illustrated History of China

Well, this is more of a textbook than a regular book, but Patricia Ebrey's The Cambridge Illustrated History of China would be a pretty good place to start. I may be a little biased in choosing this book over some other one, since I have read a lot of Ebrey's works on the Song dynasty, and I really enjoyed reading them. The problem with stuffing thousands of years of history into one book (that is, one book that doesn't seem as long as history itself) is that too many things are generalised, but that can still be a good place to start. A textbook like this will help you learn which areas of Chinese history interest you more, and then you can delve ever deeper, learning about whatever aspects, or time periods, you choose.

Also, in case you have not already checked it out, why not stop by /r/chinesehistory? I'll link you to two older posts there where people were asking similar questions, as you may find some of the answers helpful:

Link 1, Link 2

I hope you know what you are asking for. Chinese history is extremely vast, and pretty much by itself is as extensive or more than European history.

Unless you are looking for a specific period or dynasty, I would pick up something like China: Five Thousand Years of History & Civilization, to to really dig into the grand scope of their history and to get a sense of all the different periods, dynasties, and cultures that existed within China. Fair warning, this is a pretty dense book.

If you are looking for something a little less dense and more accessable, I would recommend The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. I havent read this one myself, but it is very well recommended for it's approachability, and reviews highly.

I'd strongly recommend the "Understanding China through Comics" series. Currently only vols. 1 and 2 are out, but vol. 3 should be coming out in the next month or so.

It does a good job of presenting the most important figures in a dynastic overview, as well as touching on aspects of social and economic history, in an easy to read comic format.

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-China-through-Comics-Jing/dp/0983830819/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369408144&sr=8-1&keywords=understanding+china+comics

After going through this overview, you will probably be better set to tackle thicker books. To which I'd recommend, though not quite as strongly, the Cambridge Illustrated History of China.

http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Illustrated-History-China/dp/0521124336/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369408241&sr=1-1&keywords=cambridge+illustrated+history

History

The classic Fairbanks book, China: a New History for overview.

The always classic, Cambridge Illustrated History of China for reference. Though the real reference is the completely 12 volumes of The Cambridge History of China, which is not for the faint of heart. At that point, you might as learn Chinese and read The Comprehensive Mirror yourself.

For an aspiring historian
China: A Macro Hisotry



Culture

For old pre-revolutionary China, My Country and My People by Lin Yutang

For modern China, you're better off watching TV dramas. I recommend Ode to Joy as a start.

If you don't mind buying a real book, the Cambridge Illustrated History of China by Patricia Buckley Ebrey is one of the best. The most recent is the 2nd edition.

It is very readable and also gives you some issues to think about. Plus it has awesome color pics alongside the text. It's one of those books I bought for class (I'm a Chinese major) that I'm not ever going to sell back. Definitely a good investment.

So here's some of the textbooks I read (and still own) from my Asian History courses at college. All are worth reading over, but you'll also want teachers to help you, to talk with historians from China, and eventually just to go to China and see a lot of stuff for yourself.

The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, by Patricia Ebrey.

Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, edited by Patricia Ebrey.

Quotations from Mao Tse-Tung, written by the man himself.

Fiction:

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie.

The Outlaws of the Marsh, by Shi Nai'An and Sidney Shapiro.

The Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu and Ken Liu.

These are a relatively good start to help you get a grounding in China's history. Everyone in this thread has also given some good suggestions. And visit /r/askhistorians; they'll have some better sources you can check out.