ABSTRACT
How does culture shape history, and history shape culture? This book answers this question by bringing readers on a fascinating journey through the evolution of Chinese culture, political and legal institutions, and "national character" of historical and contemporary China. It illustrates how "national character" evolves endogenously along with an institutional environment through the use of economic theories. Recognizing the unique role of "personality" in violence and social order – important variables that contribute to successful economies, the book provides a meaningful take on "personality" from the "average personality" of a country’s people. It analyses the relationship between culture, institution and "national character", providing gainful, interesting insights into the monumental transformation of China.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |11 pages
Introduction
part |33 pages
Geography, nomadic threat, and the size of ancient China
chapter |7 pages
Why has China stayed a single big country?
chapter |8 pages
How can a large agrarian country deter powerful horse warriors?
chapter |9 pages
How did China become a single big country?
part |36 pages
The formation of national character in ancient China
chapter |9 pages
Economics of the optimal personality in ancient China
chapter |9 pages
Meritocracy in ancient China: Keju
chapter |10 pages
Personality and culture of lawless (nomadic) tribes
part |30 pages
How did the ancient dynasties manage the large country of China?
chapter |8 pages
From the Tang Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty
chapter |8 pages
The Ming Dynasty
chapter |12 pages
The Qing Dynasty
part |35 pages
An introduction to ancient Japan and the First Sino–Japanese War
chapter |10 pages
Bushido: The soul of (ancient) Japan
chapter |6 pages
The arrival of Perry, Meiji Restoration, and rise of Japan
chapter |9 pages
The First Sino–Japanese War
part |16 pages
National humiliations in the late Qing Dynasty and the New Culture Movement
chapter |6 pages
National humiliations at the end of the Qing Dynasty
chapter |8 pages
New Culture Movement
part |67 pages
Japanese atrocities and the transformation of the Chinese personality
chapter |5 pages
Japan's invasion of Manchuria
chapter |8 pages
The Second Sino–Japanese War
chapter |10 pages
Japanese atrocities and the growth of Chinese communist troops
chapter |8 pages
Who killed 2.12 million Japanese troops in World War II?
chapter |11 pages
War rape and “comfort women”
part |19 pages
The establishment of communist China and the Chinese national character