Cradles of Civilization: China

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), March, 1995 by Gerald F. Kreyche

edited by Robert E Murowchick University of Oklahoma Press, 1994, pp. 192, $34.95

Reviewed by GERALD F. KREYCHE American Thought Editor, USA Today, and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, DePaul University, Chicago, III.

Tracing the history and culture of China--probably the longest continuous civilization in the world--this book tells about its land, peoples, resources, and history from the ancient past to the present. Contributing international authors were chosen for their specialties and ability to distill reams of data into easy-reading prose.

Pres. Richard Nixon's visit to China reopened the door to this mysterious nation, and we have been peering inside ever since. It is a country that has suffered upheavals such as the opium wars, the Boxer Rebellion, the split between Mao Tse-tung and Chiang Kai-shek, the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, and Tiananmen Square. Its legacy includes Peking man; gunpowder; bronze, jade, and terra cotta art; a love of poetry; and respect for elders and tradition.

China's economy is booming; many of its people are hungry for democracy; and xenophobia is being conquered. Governed by principles of Confucianism for nearly 2,000 years and by communism for the last five decades, China is changing once again. Unquestionably, Americans must get to know better this nation with its 1,000,000,000 people making up one-fourth of the world's population and occupying one-tenth of its arable land.

The name, China, comes from the Qin dynasty (c. 200 B.C.), which gave its subsequent governing bodies a lasting taste of authoritarianism. If laborers are the wealth of a nation, China is wealthy indeed. Most do agricultural work and need permission to move to the big cities. The limit of one child to a family is honored more in the breech than in the observance in rural areas, although the 1981 edict is observed quite rigidly in urban centers.

China now seems to acknowledge the need for the skills and technology of the West in its quest for modernization. Yet, it is loathe to take the good with the badi--i.e., "decadent" Western values and the West's know-how for making life easier and more rewarding.

In anticipation of continuing development, education in the cities is intense and rigorous. Increasingly, English is stressed from grammar school through college.

Through brilliant photography and a generous format, this book does justice to the scenes and artwork typifying China. It is not one to be left on the cocktail ta- [INCOMPLETE TEXT FROM ORIGINAL PUBLICATION]