tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post4537765642543731208..comments2024-02-11T19:28:27.997+11:00Comments on Personal Reflections: China and the West - a note on the importance of dates in comparative historyJim Belshawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-64128670242640468122008-09-23T12:33:00.000+10:002008-09-23T12:33:00.000+10:00Good, Neil, that you found this post a little odd....Good, Neil, that you found this post a little odd. I am challenging stereotypes, my own views included.<BR/><BR/>I was quite serious when I commented on my surprise at just how recent much Chinese history was. Of course, there are ancient traditions. <BR/><BR/>The Shang Dynasty, the first bronze age dynasty in what is now China, date from 1600-1850 BCE. According to Wikepidia, Upper and Lower Eygpt were unified around 3,150 BCE.<BR/><BR/>To take another more modern example, Taiwan was colonised by the Europeans before the Han Chinese.<BR/><BR/>When I was first taught history at school, we started with the ancient world of the middle east, then followed through. The somewhat later empires that arose in India (2600–1900 BCE)and a little later China were ignored.<BR/><BR/>This was a mistake. However, I think that we are guilty of another mistake now in unquestionally accepting some modern interpretations.<BR/><BR/>There is, of course, a definitional issue in all this. The point, and I am pleased that you did this in junior history, is that cross-references provide a corrective context.Jim Belshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10075614280789984767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24338064.post-14627785408125183732008-09-23T11:50:00.000+10:002008-09-23T11:50:00.000+10:00Having once come first in Asian History at Sydney ...Having once come first in Asian History at Sydney U, I find this post a little odd. One could argue that the most significant slice of European history dates from the 15th or 16th centuries, or even the 18th, so in a sense we too are "recent". On the other hand, if you want to go back to Sumer... But then the Chinese can go back to the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang_Dynasty" REL="nofollow">Shang</A> -- from which there is a degree of continuity, and that predates Greece or Rome.<BR/><BR/>BTW, whenever I taught any topic in junior history at school -- and I began doing this in the late 1960s -- I always did a "what was happening elsewhere at the time" lesson, often just a timeline that I would talk through. I have always thought pulling back from the topic or period at hand to look at the whole planet as far as one can, even sketchily, was a valuable exercise.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com