Preface Ⅰ /1 PrefaceⅡ/5 1 Ancient Chinese History/1 1.1 Earliest Period:From Legends to Xia and Shang Dynasties/1 1.2 Zhou Dynasty(周朝) /8 1.3 Qin Dynasty(秦朝):The First Empire/10 1.4 I-tan Dynasty(漢朝):Consolidation of Empire/13 1.5 The Three Kingdom8,Jin,Southern and Northern Dynasties(三國兩晉南北朝) /16 1.6 Sui and Tang(隋唐):Restoration of Empire/20 1.7 Song Dynasty(宋朝):A Weak Empire/24 1.8 YuarrDynasty(元朝):An Empire with the Largest Territory/27 l.9 Ming Dynasty(明朝) /29 1.10 Qing Dynasty in Its Earlier Period(清朝前期) /32 2 Ancient Chinese Philosophy/36 2.l A Brief Introduction/36 2.2 Philosophy During the Pre-Qin Period/39 2.3 Philosophy From the Western Han Dynasty to the Southem and Northern Dynasties/83 2.4 Philosophy During the Tang and Song Dynasties/94 2.5 Philosophy During the Ming and Qing Dynasties/I ll 3 Chinese Religions/117 3.1 Primitive and Ancient Religion/1 17 3.2 Chinese Buddhism/1 19 3.3 Taoism /127 3.4 Western Religions/131 4 Ancient Chinese Economic Thoughts and Business Culture/133 4.1 Fundamental Economic Thought in Confucianism/133 4.2 The Economists:From Ji Ran to Guan Zhong/142 4.3 Monopoly and Decentralization in The Debate on Salt and Iron/145 4.4 Wang Anshi and the New Policies/146 4.5 Laisser—Faire and Its Chinese Origin—Wuwei /147 4.6 Taxation in Ancient China/148 4.7 State Monopoly in Ancient China/153 4.8 Social Rank of Merchants and Business Culture in Ancient China/163 4.9 Ancient Chinese Currencies /190 4.10 Advertising in Ancient China/207 4.11 The God of Fortune/214 4.12 The Silk Road rSi chou zhi lu) /216 5 Chinese Literature /226 5.1 The Book ofSongs/226 5.2 Chi Ci/232 5.3 yue一Fu/237 5.4 Tang Poetry/244 5.5 Song Ci/267 5.6 The Yuan Variety Play/277 5.7 Ming and Qing Fiction/293 6 Chinese Language and Characters/307 6.1 A Brief Introduction to the Chinese Language/307 6.2 A Brief Introduction to Chinese Characters/311 6.3 aguwen/313 6.4 The Structure of Chinese Characters /316 6.5 Unique Characteristics of Chinese Characters/322 7 Chinese Calligraphy and Painting/325 7.1 Chinese Calligraphy/325 7.2 Chinese Painting/337 Appendix/348 Bibliorgraphy/350 Postscript/354