Ancient China: A History surveys the East Asian Heartland Region (the geographical area that eventually became known as China), from the Neolithic period through the Bronze Age. For most of that long span of time there was no such place as "China"; the vast and varied territory of the Heartland Region was home to many diverse cultures that only slowly coalesced to form the first recognizably Chinese empires.
The field of Early China studies is currently being revolutionized by many archaeologically recovered texts and artefacts. Major and Cook draw on this new evidence and a wealth of contemporary scholarship to present a leading-edge account of ancient China.

1. Introduction to Ancient China

2. Geography, Climate, and the Physical Setting of Chinese History

3. The Neolithic Era and the Jade Age

4. The Early Bronze Age

5. The Shang Dynasty

6. The Western Zhou Period

7. The Spring and Autumn Period

8. The Warring States Period

9. The Rise and Fall of the Qin Dynasty

10. The Han Dynasty through the Reign of Emperor Wu

11. The Later Western Han and the Wang Mang Interregnum

12. The Han Restoration, the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Three Kingdoms

John S. Major taught East Asian History at Dartmouth College, US, from 1971 to 1984. Thereafter he has been an independent scholar based in New York City, US.

Constance A. Cook is Professor of Modern Languages and Literature at Lehigh University, US.