China 高三 History

1. Sel.3 Cultural exchange and transmission

Chinese culture and its world significance · Diverse world cultures · Migration and cultural identity · Trade routes and exchange · War and cultural encounters · Heritage and its protection

• Diverse World Cultures: What Each Region Gave the World – A culture is the shared way of life of a group: its food, language, art, beliefs and ideas. Before 1500 many regions grew rich cultures of their own. West Asia and Africa gave early cities, writing and law. Europe gave public debate, drama, philosophy and later Renaissance science. South Asia gave zero, the decimal system, yoga and Buddhism. East Asia gave paper, printing, silk and the compass. The Americas gave maize, potato, tomato and exact calendars. None grew alone. Trade, travel and war carried ideas between them, so every culture today is a mix.
• Migration and Cultural Identity: How Moving People Make New Cultures – Migration is the movement of people to live in a new place. People move because of push factors (hunger, war, no jobs) and pull factors (land, work, safety). Ancient migration spread farmers, herders and languages over thousands of years. Colonial migration, from about 1500, moved settlers, enslaved people and indentured workers across oceans, often by force, and reshaped many countries. Modern migration is faster and goes both ways, for study, work and family, and sends money (remittances) home. Wherever newcomers and locals meet, food, language, music and festivals mix, and people build layered identities. Cultural identity is a sense of who we are and which groups we belong to; it can hold more than one culture.
• Trade Networks of the World, c. 1200–1450 – Between about 1200 and 1450, three great networks linked Afro-Eurasia: the overland Silk Roads, the sea routes of the Indian Ocean and the camel routes across the Sahara. Trade grew because regions had different goods, new technology made travel safer and cheaper, and strong states (the Song and Ming in China, the Mongol Empire, Mali, the Swahili city-states and Muslim sultanates) protected merchants. Along these routes moved not only silk, spices, gold and salt, but also religions, technologies, crops and disease. Meanwhile, states in East Asia, Dar al-Islam, South and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas grew in their own ways.
• War and Cultural Encounters – War and conquest bring different peoples face to face. After contact, technology, art, food, words and ideas travel both ways. The result can be a blend, one culture taking over, or two cultures living side by side. War can also destroy heritage. This holds in ancient, modern and present-day conflicts.
• Cultural Heritage – Cultural heritage is everything a community receives from the past, values today and wants to pass on: buildings and monuments, objects in museums, languages, music, dance, festivals, crafts, food and knowledge. Tangible heritage can be touched (immovable like temples and bridges, movable like coins and manuscripts); intangible heritage is lived and practised; natural heritage covers special landscapes and wildlife. Heritage gives identity, teaches history, brings income through tourism and links people across cultures. It is threatened by weathering, pollution, crowds, careless development, neglect and conflict, and is protected by conservation, laws, museums, heritage lists, education and local communities.

2. Elective 1: Introduction to historiography

History and historiography; historical materialism; traditions; calendars; methods; interpretation; research paper

• Historical Thinking: How Historians Work – History is the study of the past using evidence. Put events in order on a timeline and read them in their context. Use primary sources (made at the time) and secondary sources (made later). Judge each source: who made it, when, why, and what is missing. Events have many causes: slow long-term causes and a short trigger. Look for both change and continuity, decide what was significant, and build an argument backed by evidence.

3. Elective 2: Reading sources

Documentary, material, oral, visual and audiovisual sources; digital resources

• Historical Thinking: How Historians Work – History is the study of the past using evidence. Put events in order on a timeline and read them in their context. Use primary sources (made at the time) and secondary sources (made later). Judge each source: who made it, when, why, and what is missing. Events have many causes: slow long-term causes and a short trigger. Look for both change and continuity, decide what was significant, and build an argument backed by evidence.

4. 高考 review

Comprehensive review

Coming soon