FROM YAO TO MAO 5000 Years of Chinese History

Professor Hammond covers all of Chinese history in chronological order, dealing primarily with large political and cultural shifts. He knows the material, organizes it well, and delivers it clearly, with few verbal bobbles, though his nasal tone sometimes irritates. The narrative sometimes threatens to become a recitation of the rise and fall of dynasties, but Hammond varies this march of regimes with excursions into philosophy, literature, and religion. Accompanying pamphlets are a useful aid. Still, the subject is too vast to treat in any detail, so the listener will not learn all about China through this program. But it's a very good place to start. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 04]