This book is a comprehensive study of the art and history of China, seen through the work of artists who recorded the life and times around them. Each chapter focuses on a time period, covering the history of art from 1100 B.C. to 20th century China.

'This work is concerned with abstracting the essence of the history of China primarily through its art; to select the visions the artist has used to portray the history of his country.'

(Abstract from preface by Bradley Smith)

Within this handsome book is a key to understanding the long road that China, one of the great powers of the ancient and the modern world, has traveled in its dramatic history.