The rhythms of Chinese history

Book review of The Story of China: A Portrait of a Civilisation and its People

Michael Wood, the author of  The Story of China,  is a well-known historian, film maker and broadcaster who did a popular history TV series with the same title. There are several published histories of China but this is a most readable and absorbing narrative. It has a scholar’s rigour but manages to avoid pedantic prose, focussing attention on what really makes Chinese civilisation distinctive. Structured chronologically it flows smoothly, highlighting templates from the past that continue to influence the present. 

The opening chapter on Roots looks at prehistory, the contours of which have become clearer with recent archaeological finds. While the