In room 310 of the Middle School Building during lunchtime on April 23rd, the 7th and 8th graders’ third lecture on ancient Chinese History was delivered by High School history teacher, Ms. Zhou Shen. She first helped the students review the dynasties (from Shang Dynasty to Han Dynasty), which were introduced in the former two lectures. She then used a timeline to show a relatively complete picture of the rise and fall of the dynasties before the Tang Dynasty. The teacher and students discussed the appropriate source material people should refer to when they want to know more about the Three Kingdoms Period. The students also learned about the cultural diffusion during the Period of Two Jins and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, which set the background for the rise of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Next, she emphatically introduced the great emperors during the flourishing age of the Tang Dynasty through telling the stories of Xuanwu Gate incident, the relationship between Emperor Taizong and Wei Zheng, the perfection of the imperial examination, and the reign of Empress Wu Zetian.

The teacher kept asking questions during the lecture and the students seemed to have a great interest in the imperial examination. They wanted to know the contents of the ancient exams and asked more inspiring questions like whether the children from the nobles or aristocrats’ families enjoyed privileges during the exam and why the imperial exam was system used for so long although it had many disadvantages.

What factors led the fall of the Tang Dynasty? How did the Song Emperors try to avoid the same mistakes made by the previous rulers? Please look forward to attending the lecture next week.

(Written by Shen Zhou      Pictures by Lu Chen)