China: A History - Hardcover

The Field Museum; Bardoe, Cheryl

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1419721216 ISBN 13: 9781419721212

Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2019

Synopsis

Discover the history of one of the world’s most influential civilizations. Based on the Cyrus Tang Hall of China exhibit at The Field Museum, China: A History traces the 7,000-year story of this diverse land. Full-color maps, photos, and illustrations of the people, landscape, artifacts, and rare objects bring the history of this nation to life! Young readers learn about prehistoric China, follow the reign of emperors and dynasties, and come to understand how China became the world power that it is today. The book also explores the role of children and women in everyday life as well as how religion, politics, and economics shaped the deep traditions and dynamic changes of modern China. This book stands alone from the exhibition and is a go-to resource for young readers looking to learn more about this powerful nation. It includes a timeline, bibliography, and index.

About this title

About the Author

Cheryl Bardoe is a former senior project manager of exhibitions at The Field Museum in Chicago. She is the author of Gregor Mendel and Mammoths and Mastodons and lives in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Reviews

Gr 4-8-As rich as the history it relates, this book is thoroughly illustrated with artwork, maps, and photographs-most from the Field Museum Collection. As in Bardoe's other works, the writing is lucid and thoughtful, though the pace is very rapid; hundreds of years can pass in a paragraph. From the start, Bardoe stresses that there are "many Chinas." Five chapters cover prehistory (while introducing archaeological practices), early dynastic China, philosophies (Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, folk religion), interaction with other countries (14th to the 20th centuries), and China's future. Among the most attractive features in the book are the regular invitations for readers to imagine themselves living a specific cultural moment or role: in a Neolithic village, as a scholar-official, a nun, or a resident of Guangzhou during the Opium Wars. Politics (before the 1900s) and economics, agriculture and technology, are all given weight. Along the way, Bardoe describes the many contributions of China to culture and civilization, including several pages on opera, as well as acknowledging roles for, and restrictions on, the non-noble classes and women. VERDICT An excellent primer on an important world power. Most middle school and YA collections will want to consider.-Patricia D. Lothrop, formerly at St. George's School, Newport, RIα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1419721216
• ISBN 13: 9781419721212
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 176