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In China, we do not teach too much ancient western history. Many people never heard of the crusades, for example. But on the other hand, most westerners never heard of Qin dynasty of China. Equally "ignorant" at least.
I don't want to be Euro-centric in my response, but there is a distinction. The Qin dynasty may have made a huge difference to China, but not much to the rest of the world. The Crusades had a major impact on Europe, large parts of Asia and Africa and indirectly on the discovery of the New World.
I don't want to be Euro-centric in my response, but there is a distinction. The Qin dynasty may have made a huge difference to China, but not much to the rest of the world. The Crusades had a major impact on Europe, large parts of Asia and Africa and indirectly on the discovery of the New World.
I don't want to be Euro-centric in my response, but there is a distinction. The Qin dynasty may have made a huge difference to China, but not much to the rest of the world. The Crusades had a major impact on Europe, large parts of Asia and Africa and indirectly on the discovery of the New World.
Qin dynasty is the first unified dynasty of China (East Asia). Qin government built the Great Wall, regulated Chinese characters, ended the feudal system, burnt books of ideas disfavored by government, murdered scholars, conquered tribes/nations of south China, chased the Huns to the west...All of those things had a tremendous impact on East Asia and Central Asia.
100 years in the future, East Asia will be as important as Europe, if not more. When people look back, they will see how influential Qin dynasty had been.
Qin dynasty is the first unified dynasty of China (East Asia). Qin government built the Great Wall, regulated Chinese characters, ended the feudal system, burnt books of ideas disfavored by government, murdered scholars, conquered tribes/nations of south China, chased the Huns to the west...All of those things had a tremendous impact on East Asia and Central Asia.
100 years in the future, East Asia will be as important as Europe, if not more. When people look back, they will see how influential Qin dynasty had been.
You definitely have a point, if indeed they created a unitary China from a bunch of mini-states. I'm repping this point and thank you for the education.
I ran into a Canadian schoolteacher who did not know of the Montcalm-Wolfe battle at the Plains of Abraham, Quebec City. That would be the equivalent of an American not knowing of the Battle of Bunker Hill or Gettysburg.
I ran into a Canadian schoolteacher who did not know of the Montcalm-Wolfe battle at the Plains of Abraham, Quebec City. That would be the equivalent of an American not knowing of the Battle of Bunker Hill or Gettysburg.
ooooooh, an ancient thread revived!
I have a neighbor from Scotland who has a book about how the Scottish could have won that war--seems that they had invented some amazing type of gun. Trouble was, the general thought it was too cruel to use it. So they didn't. Something like that, but I'm not very interested in battles and guns so I didn't pay really good attention. He has an entire book about contributions made by the Scots.
My schooling, back 1000 years ago, emphasized understanding history, not memorizing. Therefore I am poor at names and dates. But one good way they got us to learn history was the outside reading assignments. Even the books we had to read in English class usually taught us some history but I always used to wish that when we read the books in English class, the era in history would be the same as what we were studying in social studies. I guess that was kind of impossible to do though. We also learned a lot by doing research papers, short ones in grades 7 & 8, but long and in depth ones in high school.
I don't know too many young people so I don't know what they don't know (thank goodness.) Most of the adults, educated in the 50s and 60s really know their stuff though.
I ran into a Canadian schoolteacher who did not know of the Montcalm-Wolfe battle at the Plains of Abraham, Quebec City. That would be the equivalent of an American not knowing of the Battle of Bunker Hill or Gettysburg.
That's interesting. Growing up in Oklahoma we learned about that battle in grade school. I couldn't now remember the name of the battle but I remember the teacher telling us the British "scaled the cliffs of Quebec" to fight the battle. So after your post I looked it up on the Goog and sure enough it talked about the British and the cliffs.
Even the books we had to read in English class usually taught us some history but I always used to wish that when we read the books in English class, the era in history would be the same as what we were studying in social studies. I guess that was kind of impossible to do though. We also learned a lot by doing research papers, short ones in grades 7 & 8, but long and in depth ones in high school.
Not impossible at all. My kids went to high school in the 1980s and English and History were taught together with a team of teachers. English books did include the period being taught in history.
Years ago I was in Munich, having lunch with some guys from our Munich office and 2 guys from the US. One guy, who was 10 years younger, so would have been 35 when the Berlin Wall fell, asked the guys from Munich, "So... how did there get to be an East Germany and a West Germany?"
I wanted to sink under the table. He was an accountant but hey, I was a Math major and I read the papers.
Not impossible at all. My kids went to high school in the 1980s and English and History were taught together with a team of teachers. English books did include the period being taught in history.
Oh, that's great! They are so intertwined and would be more meaningful as well as easier to understand and remember if taught together.
Just remembered something--a German exchange student told me the American kids asked him if they lived in houses in Germany. He said he felt like telling them that they lived in teepees.
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emphasized understanding history, not memorizing. Therefore I am poor at names and dates. But one good way they got us to learn history was the outside reading assignments. Even the books we had to read in English class usually taught us some history but I always used to wish that when we read the books in English class, the era in history would be the same as what we were studying in social studies. I guess that was kind of impossible to do though. We also learned a lot by doing research papers, short ones in grades 7 & 8, but long and in depth ones in high school. 
