本书是冀朝鼎1934年在哥伦比亚大学的经济学博士论文。本书强调水利系统对中国历史的经济区影响，以及与政治区域发展变化的关系，论证了中国统一与分裂的经济基础和地方区划的地理基础。在书中，作者假设农业社会结构凝固、水利建设服从于统治目的以及认定气候对水利工程无决定性影响等，开创性提出了“基本经济区”这一概念，同时还大致按照中国历史上经济中心从黄河流域向长江流域过渡的时间顺序，分析作为国家一项职能的水利事业的发展与作者所提出的“基本经济区”的相互关系。此外，本书还分析了海河流域的开发，黄河流域的土壤侵蚀，江南围田的利用及山区土地的利用等内容。 强调从水利系统这一角度分析其在基本经济区的发展、演变中的作用，自冀朝鼎之后也成为经济史研究中的一家之言

The essays assembled here represent a turning point in the study of Chinese economic history. Previous work has emphasized the institutional and social bases of economic change. These studies break new ground, bringing Western economic theory to the study of China's economy since the seventeenth century.

芮沃寿(ArthurF.Wright，1913－1976)，20世纪中叶美国汉学研究的领军人物之一，与费正清同为美国汉学研究的奠基人。1947年获哈佛大学哲学博士学位，专攻佛教及隋唐史，曾任斯坦福大学及耶鲁大学教授。1951年与费正清等成立中国思想研究会，担任主席。他还是美国历史协会、美国亚洲研究协会会员，并长期担任中华文明研究委员会会长。

芮沃寿(ArthurF.Wright，1913－1976)，20世纪中叶美国汉学研究的领军人物之一，与费正清同为美国汉学研究的奠基人。1947年获哈佛大学哲学博士学位，专攻佛教及隋唐史，曾任斯坦福大学及耶鲁大学教授。1951年与费正清等成立中国思想研究会，担任主席。他还是美国历史协会、美国亚洲研究协会会员，并长期担任中华文明研究委员会会长。

芮沃寿(ArthurF.Wright，1913－1976)，20世纪中叶美国汉学研究的领军人物之一，与费正清同为美国汉学研究的奠基人。1947年获哈佛大学哲学博士学位，专攻佛教及隋唐史，曾任斯坦福大学及耶鲁大学教授。1951年与费正清等成立中国思想研究会，担任主席。他还是美国历史协会、美国亚洲研究协会会员，并长期担任中华文明研究委员会会长。

Masculinities in Chinese History is the first historical survey of the many ways men have acted, thought, and behaved throughout China’s long past. Bret Hinsch introduces readers to the basic characteristics of historical Chinese masculinity while highlighting the dynamic changes in male identity over the centuries. He covers the full span of Chinese history, from the Zhou dyna...(展开全部)

Chinese rulers and statesmen were naturally concerned about the issue of war, when to wage it, when it was justified, and when to avoid it. Although much has been asserted about how these issues were understood in Chinese culture, this work is the first study actually to focus on the debates themselves. These debates at court proceeded from specific understandings of what const...(展开全部)

Yang Lien-sheng The first fulltime Chinese historian in the Department of Far Eastern Languages, Yang Lien-sheng 楊聯陞 (1914-1990) was born in Baoding, Hubei province. He received his undergraduate education at Qinghua University, where he studied economics and completed his thesis under the direction of the historian Chen Yinke. He then came to Harvard University and became on o...(展开全部)

Chinese rulers and statesmen were naturally concerned about the issue of war, when to wage it, when it was justified, and when to avoid it. Although much has been asserted about how these issues were understood in Chinese culture, this work is the first study actually to focus on the debates themselves. These debates at court proceeded from specific understandings of what const...(展开全部)