World Ancient History

Author: Zhou Qidi, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-09-01
Features: In the century-long development of Beijing Normal University, the history department has always held an important position. Through the unremitting efforts of several generations, today's History Department of BNU has become a significant base for historical teaching and research in China. It not only produces academic excellence but also emphasizes teaching reform, updating teaching content and curricula, and improving the course structure. The teaching reform of the History Department spanned 20 years, initiated in the 1980s and deepened in the 1990s. The teaching reform in the 1980s was led by the renowned historian Bai Shouyi, focusing on teaching content and curricula. Due to its pioneering nature, it won the First-Class National Teaching Achievement Award in 1989. After entering the 1990s, the teaching reform continued to deepen. To strengthen foundational teaching, perfect students' knowledge structure, and align with the teaching needs of the History Department as a "National Base for Cultivating Talent and Conducting Scientific Research in Foundational Disciplines of Liberal Arts," the department organized teachers to compile and publish a series of foundational textbooks for history majors. This series covers the core courses of the history discipline and meets the learning needs of undergraduate history majors. It has received widespread praise from students after multiple rounds of use within the department. At the same time, due to its rigorous compilation, logical structure, appropriate length, and broad applicability, the textbooks have been widely welcomed by history departments in various universities.
For this revision, the principle of adhering to historical materialism as the guiding ideology remains unchanged. Combining the needs of academic development and teaching reform, new academic achievements and teaching concepts are incorporated to align with the current trends in higher education and the teaching of history. This aims to provide a relatively novel, comprehensive, and widely applicable foundational textbook series for university history education in the 21st century. Considering the existing features and advantages of the textbooks, no significant changes are planned for the overall framework. Specifically, the original chapter, section, and sub-item structure remains largely unchanged. Several illustrations are added before the main text, and illustrations and maps are included in the text as needed. Each chapter ends with several thought-provoking questions, and a reference bibliography is appended at the end of the book.
In the century-long development of Beijing Normal University, the history department has always held an important position. Through the unremitting efforts of several generations, today's History Department of BNU has become a significant base for historical teaching and research in China. It not only produces academic excellence but also emphasizes teaching reform, updating teaching content and curricula, and improving the course structure. The teaching reform of the History Department spanned 20 years, initiated in the 1980s and deepened in the 1990s. The teaching reform in the 1980s was led by the renowned historian Bai Shouyi, focusing on teaching content and curricula. Due to its pioneering nature, it won the First-Class National Teaching Achievement Award in 1989. After entering the 1990s, the teaching reform continued to deepen. To strengthen foundational teaching, perfect students' knowledge structure, and align with the teaching needs of the History Department as a "National Base for Cultivating Talent and Conducting Scientific Research in Foundational Disciplines of Liberal Arts," the department organized teachers to compile and publish a series of foundational textbooks for history majors. This series covers the core courses of the history discipline and meets the learning needs of undergraduate history majors. It has received widespread praise from students after multiple rounds of use within the department. At the same time, due to its rigorous compilation, logical structure, appropriate length, and broad applicability, the textbooks have been widely welcomed by history departments in various universities.
Today, with the acceleration of reform and opening-up, the History Department is adjusting its strategic goals, designing its development path based on its disciplinary strengths and characteristics. In accordance with the university's deployment, the New Century History Textbook Editorial Committee has been established. With the strong support and cooperation of Beijing Normal University Press, the revision of the foundational history textbooks published in the 1990s was prioritized. The aim is to promote the improvement of teaching quality and the achievement of new talent cultivation goals through the revision and use of high-quality textbooks.
For this revision, the principle of adhering to historical materialism as the guiding ideology remains unchanged. Combining the needs of academic development and teaching reform, new academic achievements and teaching concepts are incorporated to align with the current trends in higher education and the teaching of history. This aims to provide a relatively novel, comprehensive, and widely applicable foundational textbook series for university history education in the 21st century. Considering the existing features and advantages of the textbooks, no significant changes are planned for the overall framework. Specifically, the original chapter, section, and sub-item structure remains largely unchanged. Several illustrations are added before the main text, and illustrations and maps are included in the text as needed. Each chapter ends with several thought-provoking questions, and a reference bibliography is appended at the end of the book.