Within the World

Name: Within the World
ISBN: 9787559879530

张笑宇Guangxi Normal University Press2025

3.7

Word count: 274 words
Chapters: 12
ISBN: 9787559879530

Report an error Find this book

Summary

Where does the name "China" come from? Are there deeper connections between the Qin system and Persia and the Xiongnu? Could one of the main actors of the Silk Road be the obscure Sogdians? Did the Chinese of Southeast Asia really establish a "republic"? Within the World is Zhang Xiaoyu's follow-up to his "Civilization Trilogy" (Technology and Civilization, Commerce and Civilization, and Industry and Civilization), in which he places "China" back within the context of Eurasia and even global civilizational interaction and reexamines it. The book spans from China's remote antiquity to the late Qing, selecting ten little-known yet far-reaching historical episodes and discussing them one by one: how the Central Plains, the frontiers and the ancient peoples of Eurasia shaped one another in different eras; how foreign technology, religious ideas, trade networks and fiscal institutions penetrated the turning points of Chinese history. Blending theories from political science, economics, international relations and archaeology, the author uses a method of "bold hypotheses, careful verification" to raise a series of quite challenging questions. Across these chapters, the core judgment the author wants to present is this: China is not a self-enclosed civilization developing along a single line, but a China shaped jointly by the diverse forces of the world. The book has a grand vision and a candid touch; it tells history and also asks "who we are" and "what we might have been."

Editor's review

张笑宇在《技术与文明》拿到首届亚洲图书奖之后，一度被读者视为“商业文明论”的旗手（亚洲图书奖由香港亚洲周刊等机构主办，授予《技术与文明》）。这本书延续了他惯用的写法：不做编年史，而是挑出十个“可疑”的历史切面，把中国史重新放回世界史中审视。书里最抓人的是提问方式。“中国为什么叫中国”、秦始皇是否对亚历山大式王权有所耳闻、道教是否受过外来弥赛亚观念影响、怛罗斯与安史之乱背后的粟特人、宋代财政国家与阿拉伯商人的关系、地理大发现与一条鞭法的白银链条，这些问题听起来像“脑洞”，但作者在考古材料、域外文献与制度史之间反复比对，力图把想象落在可讨论的地面上。何怀宏、刘擎、刘苏里、罗振宇、施展、许纪霖等人为本书撰写了推荐语。它未必同意所有专业史学者的看法，但作为一本面向大众的历史读物，它提供了足够多的“开关”，能让读者带着问题回望中原与边疆、内陆与海洋、编户赋役与商贸财政之间的往复。

Who it's for

A good fit for

读过“文明三部曲”、认可张笑宇写作风格的读者
对中外文明交流史、丝绸之路与欧亚史感兴趣的人
喜欢用大问题切入历史的通识型读者
希望跳出“中原中心”叙事、重看中国史的普通读者

Not a good fit for

期待严格学术考证与完整注释体系的专业史学研究者
需要编年体通史、教科书式叙事的入门读者

Reading tips

先读自序和结语，把握作者“把中国放回世界”的整体问题意识，再进入各章。
每章可视为独立篇目，按兴趣跳读亦可，但建议把一至四章按顺序读完，以理解其方法论。
对结论存疑时，不妨查阅相关领域的专门研究，把本书当作问题清单而非定论手册。

About the publisher

Guangxi Normal University Press China · Founded in 1986

Guangxi Normal University Press is a publisher known for literature, foreign literature and history titles. Its 1,175 books in the database show a solid accumulation in classics and prose collections, including foreign literary works such as Les Fleurs du mal: Annotated Poems of Baudelaire, Snow Country, Dubliners and The Wild Palms, as well as modern prose compilations like The Complete Prose of Zhou Zuoren. History and philosophy also hold a notable share, with titles such as Running Dogs: Clerks and Runners in Qing County Yamen and The History and Thought of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reflecting attention to Qing local administration and modern history. In art literature there is the 16-volume Ten Bamboo Studio Painting and Calligraphy Manual. Its author resources include foreign writers Charles Baudelaire and Yasunari Kawabata, translators and annotators Liu Nanqi and Zou Bo, and scholars such as Zhong Shuhe, Bradly W. Reed and You Chenjun. As public information is limited, this characterization is based only on the books in the database, which together present a profile balancing Chinese and foreign literary classics with academic works in the humanities and social sciences.

Preface
Chapter 1 Why Is China Called China?
Chapter 2 Did the First Emperor of Qin Worship Alexander the Great?
Chapter 3 Is Daoism a "Messianic" Religion?
Chapter 4 The Xiongnu and the Han Were Originally One Family
Chapter 5 Murong Fu's True Enemy Was Goguryeo
Chapter 6 The Sogdians and the Historical Turn of the Tang Empire
Chapter 7 Arab Merchants and the Rise of the Song Fiscal State
Chapter 8 Without the Age of Discovery, Would There Have Been Zhang Juzheng's Single Whip Reform?
Chapter 9 Did Overseas Chinese Once "March Toward a Republic"?
Chapter 10 Sun Yat-sen's Teacher Advocated Building a Modern Fiscal State
Conclusion "Who We Are" and "What We Might Have Been"

FAQ

《世界之中》是张笑宇“文明三部曲”的续作吗？

它并不是严格意义上的“第四部曲”，但延续了作者把中国放入全球文明互动中考察的思路，可以说是“文明三部曲”之后面向中国史的一次转写。

这本书是通史还是专题史？

不是编年通史。出版社的介绍显示，全书由从远古到清末的十个专题章节加自序、结语组成，各章讨论一个历史切面。

读这本书需要多少历史基础？

作者用大众化的语言写作，但涉及波斯、粟特、阿拉伯商人、财政国家等概念，具备中学历史基础、愿意查资料即可顺畅阅读。

书中的观点是否属于学界共识？

部分论断属于作者的推想与假设，学界未必一致认可。书中主张“大胆假设、小心求证”，读者宜结合专业研究自行判断。

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

张笑宇 Author

Zhang Xiaoyu is an author whose writing focuses on world history. Publicly available information about him is limited, and two works can be confirmed: Rebuilding the Continent: Reflections on Five Hundred Years of World Order and Within the World. Judging from the titles and their common classification, his writing centers on world history and historical reading, paying attention to the formation and evolution of the modern world order and reflecting on established historical narratives. He tends to adopt a long-term and holistic perspective, taking five hundred years of global change as his subject and discussing the relationships among continents, order, and civilization. His works are categorized as world history and historical reading and are intended for readers interested in broad historical questions. Since no reliable public information is available about his dates of birth and death, nationality, or educational background, no inferences are made here; readers may understand his work mainly through the themes and approaches of these two books.