The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China by Philip Ball
Water has played a key role in the history of China. There have been great water projects in many eras of the China's history. Canals date from well over 2000 years ago. The modern Three Gorges Dam is one of biggest in the world. Control of water for crops has contributed to strength of central government. China has had a navy and sailed through other nearby areas of Asia. However, they never had the bold exploration ambitions of Europeans. This was in part due to the great distances to travel and the lower importance of Chinese coastline.
This book has an interesting thesis. It does get a bit confusing as it is organized on topics, and will go through the history from one topic, then explore the same history from another point of view. There are certain areas (such as Maoist and modern China) that do get more coverage.
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