If you have Adobe Reader, download all the PDF files on these site:

Introduction to East Asian Civilisations
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~kaplan/eas201

A History of Chinese Statecraft
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~kaplan/H370

The first is focused on the social and economic history of China, Japan and Korea, and the second is about the evolution of Chinese political culture and political thought. Very educational and very fun to read!