"Their acute awareness of the political uncertainty and the precarious natural conditions in which they lived made them more resilient, adaptive and innovative when it came to improving their lives..."

An excellent re-imagining of 24 "views from below", that made me realise how my (terribly fragmentary) understanding of ancient China is still framed through "kings and battles".

Details of the lives of everyday citizens in the Han dynasty are rendered in a lively and engaging style. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading these 24 "1-hour" snapshots.

A great example of how social (and ancient!) history can be rendered relatively accessible to mainstream audiences.

Hour by hour, you meet a different person living during the Han dynasty - From Graverobbers to Princesses to Midwives. Nice and digestible, but lacked a bit of substance.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Found this book to be quite enjoyable. With Chinese history spanning millennia you only focus on the period around the waring states. It gives you a nice look at the day to day lives of the people back then, while showcasing some humour along the way.

Now you never get the whole fleshed out story of characters and your often left at a clif hanger since you only have an hour with each one. Hour being chapter not actual reading hour. But I like the characters you meet.

My favorites were the 3 female family members milling wheat, and the one about a teenager from a silk farm family being woken up to do the chores. Relatable experiences that show if you take out tech and level of scientific knowledge were all still pretty much the relatable.

4 out 5!