Understanding Imperial China: Dynasties, Life, and Culture

With an astonishing 5,000 years of history, China is one of the world’s great civilizations, as well as a burgeoning superpower on the world stage. For a major portion of its existence—until as recently as the early 20th century—China was an empire, one of the greatest and most powerful the world has ever known.

It was during this long and diverse imperial era that the iconic features of Chinese civilization came into being: its art, architecture, literature, philosophy, spiritual traditions, social and bureaucratic structures, technological innovations, and more.

A knowledge of China’s imperial past is essential for any understanding of its present, as today’s China is linked in numerous ways to the remarkable culture of its empire. But a standard historical approach—looking at political, social, or economic events from a distance—is apt to leave us on the outside of China’s imperial experience, one of the most richly fascinating and revealing chapters in the story of civilization.

Here, then, is a brilliant and riveting alternate look at history, and a course unlike any other you’ll find on China. Understanding Imperial China: Dynasties, Life, and Culture takes you to the heart of life during China’s imperial dynasties, revealing the empire’s historical unfolding through the lives of individual people of all walks of life, spanning the centuries from the empire’s founding in 221 BCE to its dissolution in 1912. The inspired and detailed presentation of Professor Andrew R. Wilson of the U.S. Naval War College is vivid cultural history at its most compelling and insightful.

Journey to One of History’s Greatest Empires

In 24 extraordinary lectures, you’ll explore numerous vital facets of life in imperial China, such as these:

Visit the Qin imperial necropolis in 211 BCE, where an army of masons, painters, and potters labored to assemble the 7,000 terra-cotta warriors, promising emperor Qinshi Huangdi martial dominance in the afterlife.
Observe how a Chinese daughter became a guixiu or cultivated young lady, from mastering graceful behavior and household skills to the painful rite of foot binding— witness her marriage arrangements, wedding festivities, and her duties as wife.
Grasp the deeply integral role and meaning of poetry in the Tang Dynasty; see how poetry of distinct genres such as court poetry, nature poetry, and occasional poetry was employed in specific social settings—even including verses scribbled on the flesh of courtesans.
Travel to Xanadu, the bejeweled imperial seat of Kublai Khan, and witness the multiculturalism of the Mongol rulers of China through the eyes of Marco Polo, the missionary Giovanni de Montecorvino, and other Western observers.

Understanding Imperial China: Dynasties, Life, and Culture shows you how life was actually lived in the world-shaping times of China’s empire. Across the span of the course, you’ll discover what daily existence was like for government bureaucrats, scholars, and women of the court, as well as for soldiers, merchants, craftspeople, and even for concubines, eunuchs, and imperial cooks. Drawing on decades of dedicated research, Professor Wilson uncovers how these people and many others lived, what they ate, and what their activities and concerns were—their world and their worldview—all set against the backdrop of the richness, the diversity, the genius, and the splendor of imperial China.

Through these intimate glimpses of individual lives—across the great dynastic eras of the Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing—you’ll gain an inside look at China’s empire, how its traditions developed, and how the Chinese civilization we know came to be.

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