Preface

The book tries to give a concise account of Chinese history and culture through telling stories of individual historical figures. The history textbook is usually flat and dull, while the stories about a person might be interesting and legendary. It’s man who created and carried on history and culture, and through depicting them, one could see more backgrounds about historical and cultural circumstances. The book includes 104 pieces (some pieces include 2 or more names). There must be hundreds of thousands of heroes and heroines in Chinese history, so, these 100-plus persons included were the elites of elites. Everyone represented an important mark in Chinese culture.

Following are some characteristics on writing the book:

1. The book orients readers both at home and abroad. On orienting abroad, it targets two groups of people, foreigners and overseas Chinese. The book is available for those with or without some basic knowledge of traditional Chinese history and culture to get a general image. It is also suitable for readers of mainland China, as many of them don’t necessarily know well about their own history and culture especially the current youngsters who know less about their forefathers. The book provides them with a whole view and a “basic-line” of the knowledge.

2. Due to the limitation of the space, the author on one hand made an introduction of each individual and on the other hand focused on the vivid and detailed description on their deeds. The writing style was simple but clear to make easier to understand for readers of different nations and cultural backgrounds.

3. The list of the 100-plus names was arranged chronologically. It could help readers get a basic image about the line of Chinese historical development.

4. Each name was followed by a short sub-line describing what he or she was. For foreigners, it could help them easily accept the strange names written in Chinese pinyin.

5. The description in the book sometimes could shift one story into another. When introducing Wu Daozi, a painter in Tang Dynasty, the author brought out Dunhuang Fresco. This is the same case when introducing Zhang Daoling, founder of Tao Religion in Han Dynasty. Just name but a few.

In addition, the book is also a supplement for those who are interested in English.

Zhou Ji

2015-9