author
Wolfram Eberhard
1909–1989
A wide-ranging scholar of China and Asia, he brought folklore, social history, and everyday culture into academic study in fresh and memorable ways. His work crossed borders and disciplines, from Chinese folktales to village life in Turkey, India, and beyond.
2 Audiobooks
![A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.]](/api/img/6637fb4d829d50c265d77316/cover.jpg)
A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.]
by Wolfram Eberhard
A History of China
by Wolfram Eberhard
About the author
Born in Potsdam, Germany, in 1909, Wolfram Eberhard studied Chinese, sociology, and philosophy in Berlin and completed his doctorate in the early 1930s. Early in his career he taught and conducted research in China, and later worked in Turkey before eventually moving to the United States.
Eberhard became especially known for his work on Chinese folklore, popular literature, minority cultures, and social history. Rather than focusing only on elites or official texts, he paid close attention to stories, customs, and everyday life, helping open up new ways of understanding Chinese society and its regional diversity.
From 1949 until his retirement in 1976, he taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as a professor of sociology with a broad interest in Western, Central, and Eastern Asian societies. He died in California in 1989, leaving behind a body of work remembered for its range, curiosity, and strong feel for the links between culture and social life.