Recently started reading China's Last Empire: The Great Qing, by William Rowe. It's a good read, and covers a really interesting period of Chinese history. As the title of the book suggests it was a great dynasty—probably in the top five, if not the top three as far as reputations of Chinese dynasties go—but, because of the fact that it was the last imperial dynasty, and it took China through the turbulent years of modernisation that were taking place around the world at that time, it is also a very historically important dynasty.
Perhaps the most astonishing thing about it all is though, that the dynasty was not actually formed of ethnic Han, or "Chinese" people—the Manchus really didn't exist as an important factor in Chinese history right up until they took over the whole empire! The book goes so far as to suggest that their race and culture was almost an invention of political convenience to give legitimacy to the band of warriors who had taken over the empire.
Anyway, I think I might be getting out of my depth here talking about all this, so I'll stop before I say something wrong and suggest you read the book if you're interested in Chinese history like me.
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