This book was compiled by the Handbook of the Knowledge of Chinese History Editing Group from the Institute of History of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and is intended to be used in conjunction with History of China: A Concise Reader.

It compiled basic Chinese historical information in a concise handbook of Chinese History for readers. This book is comprised of four parts: glossary of Chinese history, a timeline of Chinese history, lists of monarchs of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties and the dates of their Reign and a table of era names of the imperial dynasties, and it covers historical, theoretical concepts and the whole of Chinese history from the origin of human beings to the end of the Qing dynasty.

This book presents brief and concise historical concepts. It described the basic knowledge of Chinese history with simple language which is easy to understand. The arrangement of the terms is based on the following sequence: The name of the dynasty, the name of the state, political events, political system, economic system, legal system, military system, ethnicity and foreign relations, historical geography, science and technology, thought and culture, book names, peoples’ names. Names of dynasties, names of states and political events are all arranged according to dates.