Description
By (author) Zhuang, Yijie
Short /annotation:
24 Hours in Ancient China invites you to meet a wide range of fascinating characters from all parts of society to experience what life was really like during this incredible time and empire.
:
Spend 24 hours with the ancient Chinese.
The year is
AD
17. The Han dynasty is in power and we are in and around Chang’an, the capital and one of the most developed regions of the empire
, which
is enjoying a
prolonged economic and cultural pinnacle.
There are
extraordinary palaces, military bases and city walls. Households are benefitting from the
invention of numerous agricultural technologies and an
unprecedented level of craft production, which includes ceramics, bronzes, iron objects and many other elaborate goods.
This is an age that is both vibrant and innovative but also riven with conflict and contradictions. For as successful as the empire is, the reality is that life for the ordinary inhabitants is still about the same problems: earning money, work struggles and family dramas.
Discover what
one day in ancient China is like by spending twenty-four hours with the people who lived there. Every hour we meet a different person – from
dancers to
doctors,
priests to
convicts,
textile workers to
tomb looters – and build a
multi-layered picture of the social fabric of ancient China and this
fascinating period in history.
Biographical note:
Dr Yijie Zhuang obtained his PhD in archaeology from Cambridge University and is now as Associate Professor in Chinese archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. He is primarily interested in ancient water-management systems and agricultural histories of China and South East Asia and has published many peer-reviewed articles and he has recenetly been surveying at an Iron Age site in Myanmar. He edited 30 Second Ancient China (Ivy Press).
Promotional headline:
24 Hours in Ancient China invites you to meet a wide range of fascinating characters from all parts of society to experience what life was really like during this incredible time and empire.
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