Whatever aspect of China interests the reader, this illustrated volume should provide a thought-provoking look at this complex and often volatile country. Said to be the oldest continuous civilisation, China is a country full of contradictions; it is at once tranquil and dramatic, unified and diverse. "China: Ancient Culture, Modern Land" gives the reader the experience of living in China today as well as an overview of ancient Chinese history and culture. A team of scholars has collaborated in this review of China through the ages. Their essays should lead readers from the roots of Chinese civilisation in the Neolithic and the early Bronze Age - when urban centres, writing systems, and shamanistic rituals developed - to the First Emperor of Qin and his army of terracotta warriors, and through the rise and fall of China's emperors to the 20th century's Republican Revolution and the emergence of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party. A final chapter discusses the prospects of China today as a superpower wrestling with a market economy while confronting the difficult issues of population, pollution and Party control.