{"id":8981,"date":"2021-11-22T08:00:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T08:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=8981"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:48:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:48:27","slug":"how-understanding-chinese-history-can-help-your-business-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/how-understanding-chinese-history-can-help-your-business-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"How understanding Chinese history can help your business in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s trade with China during the Qing dynasty and the UK<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s current obsession with Huawei may have more in common than you think. Sinologist Linda Jaivin<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s \u2018The Shortest History of China\u2019 attempts to condense the country<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s <\/span>\u2018<\/span>unruly complexity<\/span>\u2019 into a genuinely useful book for anyone trying to understand the country better.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Paul French finds out more.<\/span><\/h2>\n

The books in the <\/span>\u201cShortest Histories\u201d series are <\/span>not actually that short \u2013 250 pages or so \u2013 but it\u2019s still a massive challenge to fit everything from China\u2019s Warring States period to Xi Jinping into that tight space. Even more challenging when you\u2019re trying to explain an awful lot of history, dynasties and rulers while also balancing ideas about China\u2019s inherent contradictions, new assertiveness and ongoing challenges. Still more of a gigantic task if you\u2019re also explaining Chinese creativity over the centuries, the country\u2019s ethnic and linguistic diversity, as well as putting women back at the heart of China\u2019s story. <\/span><\/p>\n

As we all get back to work, travelling and being busy again, perhaps \u2018The Shortest History of China\u2019 is just what we need to better understand the country we\u2019re doing business with. As Jaivin, a noted Australia-based scholar, translator and writer on a myriad of China-related issues, argues in her opening gambit \u2013 \u201cChina contains a multitude. Its unruly complexity is part of its grandeur.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"launchpad<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the idea behind the concept of the \u201cshortest history\u201d of China?<\/span><\/h4>\n

Chinese history is long, life is short. Many people today understand that they need to know a lot more than they do about China, but don\u2019t have the time or patience for long, academic histories. Ever since studying Chinese history at university, many years ago now, it\u2019s been my dream to write a popular history of China, one that gives a sense of the great sweep of its history, demonstrates the importance of culture to China\u2019s sense of itself as a nation, introduces more of the great women than usually make it into the shorter histories, and illuminates the ancient philosophies and preoccupations that continue to inform contemporary politics. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are fantastic books on China that focus on one or another period of its history, or influential figures, or specific aspects of history. But to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, you need an overview. On the one hand, I wanted to offer enough general information that a reader could see how one era flows \u2013 or crashes \u2013 into the next, and on the other to provide enough vivid detail so that the people and events that shaped this history come alive.<\/span><\/p>\n