China, a Macro History, by Ray Huang

Ray Huang lived from 1918 to 2000. He was Chinese and fought on the side of the Nationalist forces against the Japanese in Burma. He earned his BA, Masters and PhD in history from the University of Michigan, the latter in 1964. He taught history in the United States and is well known for having promoted macrohistory.

The book is described as exploring the trends in government, military, cultural and religious institutions from ancient to modern times. This was one of the books I used in gathering information about China, and I found it easy reading. It's been used as a text book and appreciated as concise and a "good introduction."

One customer reviewing the book at Amazon.com writes: "This is one of the most enlightening books I've read. Maybe only a person with Ray Huang's life experience, his mastery of both the eastern and western languages and culture can write a book so refreshing and so uncolored by party politics or ideological beliefs."

It has been suggested that "some economic historians, like Kenneth Pomeranz," have an advanced take on China's economic development in the 18th and 19th centuries.