Imperial China: 900–1800 is a history book written by Frederick W. Mote, Professor of Chinese History and Civilization, Emeritus, at Princeton University. The book was published in 1999 by Harvard University Press.

Scope

As the title suggests, Imperial China covers the 900-year period from the year 900 to 1800. In terms of Chinese history, it covers the period from the fall of the Tang dynasty to the middle of the Qing dynasty, shortly before the beginning of China's Century of Humiliation at the end of the Qing dynasty. It covers the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Liao dynasty, Song dynasty, Western Xia state, Jin dynasty, Yuan dynasty, Ming dynasty and the first 150 years of the Qing dynasty.

Contents

The nearly 1,000 pages of text are divided into five parts and are further divided into 36 chapters.

Part One

Conquest Dynasties and the Northern Song: 900–1127

Part Two

Conquest Dynasties and the Southern Song: 1127–1279

Part Three

China and the Mongol World

Part Four

The Restoration of Native Rule Under the Ming

Part Five

China and the World in Early Qing Times

Reception

Reviewers generally considered the book comprehensive. Lucian Pye's review for Foreign Affairs characterized it as "history on a grand scale but with intimate details", lauding it for making "vivid the full dimensions of China's greatest centuries." Denis Sinor, writing for The Historian, felt that that the book's coverage of fine arts was lacking but nevertheless praised the way it used political history as a backdrop for many other subjects, such as economics and religious philosophy, and wrote that Mote "deserves our gratitude for assembling, to our benefit, this vast material."