The Enduring Legacy of Ancient China

Both an illustrated teacher's guide and a textbook, The Enduring Legacy of Ancient China: Primary Source Lessons for Teachers and Students offers teachers and students a treasure trove of resources. Authored by Primary Source, the book and CD-ROM combine thoughtful lessons with vivid, authentic materials that create opportunities for students to form their own understanding of Chinese culture and artifacts. The first of two volumes, it will be followed by a companion on modern China.

The lessons in The Enduring Legacy of Ancient China are organized in a modular way so teachers have the flexibility to select the order in which they teach an entire course. Schools who do not offer a course dedicated to Chinese culture may choose one or more chapters as China segments within their existing world studies course. The first of two volumes, The Enduring Legacy of Ancient China will be followed by a companion on modern China.

From the Introduction:

Why China?

The relationship between China and the United States will be one of the greatest challenges and opportunities that our children face in the twenty-first century. With one-fifth of the world's population and the world's most rapidly growing economy, China is poised to become a global superpower. To be contributing, responsible citizens of the world, our students need to learn about China, to appreciate the country's immense contributions, and to understand her people.

For millenia, the Chinese considered themselves the Middle Kingdom--the center of the world. Those beyond their borders they called barbarians, demons and, in more recent times, foreign devils. Surrounded by vast deserts, the world's tallest mountains, and the Pacific Ocean, the Chinese created an enduring civilization, ruled by a succession of dynasties. They saw their imperial regimes as cyclical--when rulers failed to meet the needs of the people, the dynasty failed and was eventually replaced by another. Ancient China had no established religion; instead people fused ancestor workship, local cults, Confucian and Daoist philosophies, and Buddhism, to create a culture that esteemed elders, scholarship, literature, esthetics, and powers that transcended the human order.

The people of the Middle Kingdom invented paper, printing, the compass, gunpowder, the kite, and numerous other technical devices that gradually made their way across the world. They transformed cocoons into silk. They diverted rivers, built vast canals and locks, and constructed the Great Wall. In times of peace, the population flourished and grew. The people also suffered unfathomable horrors as a result of floods, famines, invasions, and civil wars. They celebrated life's gifts and their hopes for prosperity with spectacular lunar festivals. The Chinese have a history like no other people, and they took great pains to record it for posterity.

Our Goal in This Publication

Chinese history is rich and complex. In this book we make no attempt to cover several thousand years of history, though we do provide a chronology of the dynasties for reference. The topics have roots in China's ancient civilization. Theya re ones with which we believe students should be familiar if they are to understand China in the twenty-first century--topics with an enduring legacy. We end the book in the period that saw the ascendancy of European nations. The book is designed so that virtually every lesson can be taught independently of the others. Since they are organized thematically, they can be taught in almost any sequence. Teachers can select the topics that best fit into the time frame they have available.

While this book is designed as a teacher resource, we believe many students, especially with strong reading skills, could use the book directly. As a primary text, The Enduring Legacy of Ancient China offers students an engaging and challenging learning approach and direct access to all the primary sources. Before students begin assigned activities, they should be sure to access the full text of the documents on the CD-ROM.