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The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A study of Tang exotics by Edward H. Schafer is probably one of the earliest, if not the earliest, book written about the Tang dynasty. It's more encyclopedia than book, and for that reason it's the first book about China that I haven't read cover to cover in a long time. Each chapter is devoted to a different aspect of culture, metals, clothing, jewels, food, books, animals, etc. The book is concerned primarily with the exotic items given to the dynasty as tributes from the surrounding nations. So in a way it looks far more at the cultures around the Tang than it does on the Tang itself. A lot can be learned from this information about the upper class, it's sort of a reverse idea to the "everyday life" books.
The first chapter, "The Glory of the Tang" was in itself simply amazing and may be worth getting the book for just in itself. It gave descriptions of the major trade towns and transportation in rich and vivid detail and you could really feel like you were there and seeing it all for yourself. The rich prose continued throughout the rest of the book, Schafer borrowed from Poems, stories, and travel writings to illustrate his points. Each chapter contained a small overview of the subject being discussed before going into detail about each item. Unless it was an area I had particular interest in I have to admit I did skip much of the later descriptions.
The emphasis was clearly on the exotic however. While describing in great detail different objects and where they came from he left out a great deal of the practical side of things. When talking of salt for instance, he mentioned where it came from in china, and that a little was imported, but mentioned nothing about the formation of the salt monopoly or the merchants who gained from it, or the huge impact this had on Tang culture.
Still it will make for good reference, as it did contain a huge amount of information, about all sorts of things. There were lots of really interesting bits scattered throught the text, particularly about Empress Wu, and religious practices. It was an odd little book, well written, though with a definite touch of the "mystique of the east". It also seemed to be going to great lengths to point out how much China was influenced by it's neighbors, and how it was the neighbors who seemed to have all the really great things. I enjoyed it, though I wish it had been written in a less encyclopedic format. At times it felt like I was reading a role-playing product and not a history book. That can't be a good sign...
The first chapter, "The Glory of the Tang" was in itself simply amazing and may be worth getting the book for just in itself. It gave descriptions of the major trade towns and transportation in rich and vivid detail and you could really feel like you were there and seeing it all for yourself. The rich prose continued throughout the rest of the book, Schafer borrowed from Poems, stories, and travel writings to illustrate his points. Each chapter contained a small overview of the subject being discussed before going into detail about each item. Unless it was an area I had particular interest in I have to admit I did skip much of the later descriptions.
The emphasis was clearly on the exotic however. While describing in great detail different objects and where they came from he left out a great deal of the practical side of things. When talking of salt for instance, he mentioned where it came from in china, and that a little was imported, but mentioned nothing about the formation of the salt monopoly or the merchants who gained from it, or the huge impact this had on Tang culture.
Still it will make for good reference, as it did contain a huge amount of information, about all sorts of things. There were lots of really interesting bits scattered throught the text, particularly about Empress Wu, and religious practices. It was an odd little book, well written, though with a definite touch of the "mystique of the east". It also seemed to be going to great lengths to point out how much China was influenced by it's neighbors, and how it was the neighbors who seemed to have all the really great things. I enjoyed it, though I wish it had been written in a less encyclopedic format. At times it felt like I was reading a role-playing product and not a history book. That can't be a good sign...