Cultural creativity in China between 1796 and 1912 demonstrated extraordinary resilience at a time of intense external and internal warfare and socioeconomic turmoil. Innovation can be seen in material culture (including print, painting, calligraphy, textiles, fashion, jewellery, ceramics, lacquer, glass, arms and armour, silver, and photography) during a century in which China’s art, literature, crafts and technology faced unprecedented exposure to global influences. 1796 – the official end of the reign of the Qianlong emperor – is viewed as the close of the ‘high Qing’ and the start of a period of protracted crisis. In 1912, the last emperor, Puyi, abdicated after the revolution of 1911, bringing to an end some 2,000 years of dynastic rule and making way for the republic. Until recently the 19th century in China has been often defined – and dismissed – as an era of cultural decline. Built on new research from a four-year project supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and with chapter contributions by international scholars from leading institutions, this beautifully illustrated, 336-page book edited by Jessica Harrison-Hall and Julia Lovell sets out a fresh understanding of this important era. It presents a stunning array of objects and artworks to create a detailed visual account of responses to war, technology, urbanisation, political transformations and external influences.

Discover the stories of 100 women and men whose activities in the 19th century laid the foundations of modern China. Through telling the lives of one hundred significant individuals, this book explores how China transformed from dynastic empire to modern republican nation during the period 1796 to 1912. Both famous and surprisingly little-known women and men are brought together in eight thematic sections that bring to life the complexities of China’s path to modernity. Featured figures include the Dowager Empress Cixi, the power behind the throne of the Qing dynasty for fifty years; Yu Rongling, the aristocratic daughter of a Qing diplomat who trained in Paris with Isadora Duncan and is now seen as one of the founders of modern dance in China; Shi Yang, the most powerful woman pirate in the world, celebrated in popular culture as a female icon; the Manchu-Chinese Duanfang, a lynchpin of late Qing government and an avid collector of international art, murdered by his own troops in the 1911 Revolution that ended dynastic rule; Luo Zhenyu, a pioneer of Chinese archaeology whose discoveries and research empirically confirmed the antiquity of Chinese civilization; and many others. Written by an international team of specialists, this book populates the landscapes of modern Chinese history with extraordinary individuals, making sense of the drama and creativity of the country’s ‘long 19th century’.

Sir Percival David made one of the finest collections of Chinese ceramics outside Asia. It includes many items of imperial quality, with beautiful examples of extremely rare Ru and guan wares as well as the famous David vases. Their inscriptions date to 1351, making them an internationally acknowledged yardstick for the dating of Chinese blue and white porcelain. Here are 50 selected highlights, all illustrated with colour photographs taken especially for this publication. The accompanying text provides details and draws out the important features of each piece. The range and scope of the collection provide the material for a stunning overview and accessible introduction to Chinese ceramic art.

Cultural creativity in China between 1796 and 1912 demonstrated extraordinary resilience in a time of warfare, land shortages, famine, and uprisings. Innovation can be seen in material culture (including print, painting, calligraphy, textiles, jewelry, ceramics, lacquer, arms and armor, and photography) during a century in which China’s art, literature, crafts, and technology faced unprecedented exposure to global influences. Until recently the nineteenth century in China has been defined as an era of cultural stagnation. Built on new research, this book sets out a fresh understanding of this important period and creates a detailed visual account of responses to war, technology, urbanization, political transformations, and external influences. The narratives are brought to life and individualized through illustrated biographical accounts that highlight the diversity of voices and experiences contributing to this fascinating, turbulent period in Chinese history. Exhibition dates: British Museum, May–October 2023

This illustrated introduction to the history of China offers a fresh understanding of China's progress from the Neolithic age to the present. Told in six chapters arranged chronologically, through art, artefacts, people and places, and richly illustrated with expertly selected objects and artworks, it firmly connects today's China with its internationally engaged past. From the earliest archaeological relics and rituals, through the development of writing and state, to the advent of empire, the author charts China's transformation from ancient civilization into the world's most populous nation and influential economy, offering the reader a myriad historical insights and cultural treasures along the way. This accessible book presents an eclectic mix of materials including Chinese theatre, the decorative arts, costume, jewelry and furniture-making, running through to the most recent diffusion of Chinese culture. Published to coincide with the reopening of the British Museum's Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia, this book will stimulate, fascinate and inform anyone interested in one of the greatest and most influential nations of the modern world.

The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) is regarded as China's 'golden age', equivalent in British history to the Elizabethan era. Through the themes of people and places and a wealth of objects, this beautifully illustrated little book provides a concise and fascinating introduction to the Ming period. The colourful and rich nature of life for the emperors and their families within the vast palaces of Nanjing, Beijing and beyond is captured in the exquisite imperial portraits, paintings, costumes and jewellery. Beyond the courts, outdoor spaces were enjoyed by many people, and journeys into the countryside undertaken for different purposes. Parties were held in gardens with friends and sports such as football and golf kept people fit. Amongst other goods, Chinese porcelain and silk were highly regarded throughout the world at this time. The author looks at the main production centres, the extensive distribution networks, and the roles of craftsmen, salesmen and customers. As so much of our knowledge of Ming China derives from archaeology, tombs of royals and non-royals are featured and major finds from them illustrated. Religious sites - monasteries, temples and mosques - are also explored; rare surviving examples of architecture from the Ming period. The book concludes with an introduction to some of the imagined spaces of the Ming, including realms for various gods. Here are palaces and parks; tombs and temples; silk-production sites and sacred mountains; emperors and empresses; soldiers and salesmen; princes and potters: a visual feast that captures the flavour of the remarkable Ming dynasty.

Winner of the IBP 2017 Specialist Publication Accolade awarded by the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) This ground-breaking, beautifully illustrated publication is the outcome of the conference 'Ming: Courts and Contacts 1400-1450' that accompanied the British Museum's major exhibition Ming: 50 years that changed China (September 2014-January 2015). The scope of the exhibition and conference focused on Ming dynasty China in the years 1400 to 1450, a time when China was the largest (and one of the most prosperous) states in the world, ruled by a single family through a network of imperial and regional courts. During this period, many cultural, social and political themes that were to dominate China's history from this point onwards were either created or consolidated. These include the definitive decision to place the political capital in the north, while the south-central region evolved as an economically dominant entity, a dichotomy that still remains today. This is also a period when contacts of unprecedented scale took place between the Ming empire and the wider world, particularly between courts, through embassies, an aggressive military forward policy and court-sponsored maritime expeditions. The early Ming also remains a period that defines contemporary Chinese conceptions of their own history, and that history's relations to the rest of the world. Where previous scholarship may have focused on specific aspects of the period or dealt with a range of issues covering the whole of the Ming dynasty, this volume presents the first detailed examination of the crucial years from the Yongle to the Zhengtong era through a diverse range of approaches and materials. It integrates more fully material culture perspectives with the work of social, political, economic, intellectual and cultural historians and situates early Ming court culture within a wider global context.