Life and Afterlife in Ancient China

Name: Life and Afterlife in Ancient China
Brand: Penguin Random House NZ
SKU: 9780141994512
Price: 40.0 NZD
Availability: InStock

By Jessica Rawson

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Brief Description

An epic new history of Ancient China told through the prism of a dozen extraordinary tombs. The three millennia up to the establishment of the first imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC cemented many of the distinctive elements of Chinese civilisation still in place today. Records... Read More

Format: Paperback / softback

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Life and Afterlife in Ancient China

$40⁰⁰

Life and Afterlife in Ancient China

Description

An epic new history of Ancient China told through the prism of a dozen extraordinary tombs.

The three millennia up to the establishment of the first imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC cemented many of the distinctive elements of Chinese civilisation still in place today. Records of these early achievements, and their diverse and unexpected expressions, often lie not in written history but in the ways people marked the end of their lives.

Jessica Rawson here explores twelve grand tombs—each from a specific historical moment and place—showing how they reveal wider political, dynastic, and cultural developments, culminating in the lavish ambition of the First Emperor's monument, guarded by his army of terracotta warriors.

Drawing on the latest archaeological discoveries, Life and Afterlife in Ancient China illuminates a constellation of beliefs about life and death very different from our own and provides a remarkable new perspective on one of the oldest civilisations in the world.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780141994512

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 July 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 409g

Pages: 560

Collections

Ancient & Classical History Arts & Culture Asian History History & Military Jessica Rawson Non-Fiction Penguin Books Religion & Spirituality

About the Author

Jessica Rawson, Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology and former Warden of Merton College, Oxford (1994-2010), was made Honorary Professor in the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University in 2019. For over twenty years before moving to Oxford, she worked in the Department of Oriental Antiquities (now the Asia Department) at the British Museum, as Keeper from 1987 to 1994. In 2005-06, she led the group of curators of the China- The Three Emperors, 1662-1795 exhibition at the Royal Academy, bringing to London magnificent works of art from the Palace Museum in Beijing. For more than forty years, she has visited, researched and lectured in most of China's provinces, including at archaeological sites on both sides of its borders with Mongolia and South Siberia.