Already the size of a telephone directory by the time of its fifth edition, in 2018, Wilkinson’s perennially popular Chinese History: A New Manual has now expanded still further into two volumes, with newly written introductions to each section, additions throughout, links to much recent scholarship, and new chapters that bring its account forward to the end of the Maoist era…An essential reference for even the most casual sinologist, with its pithy explanations of key historical and cultural issues, and extensive bibliographies for those who want to delve deeper.

A magnificent achievement; the most valuable English-language reference book on China anywhere.

Wilkinson displays a mastery of a vast array of topics and subfields… No one undertaking serious research about Chinese history…should be without it.

A mighty book…magnificent.

The book is in every way absolutely indispensable to work in Chinese history.