ARAM

That’s because Chinese students aged 14 to 15 study Ancient Greece as a compulsory history topic. Their textbook shows how Greece’s mountains and long coastline encouraged maritime trade and the growth of small, independent city-states. It also explains the social structure of the time: political rights were limited to adult male citizens, while women, free foreigners, and slaves were excluded. When comparing Athens and Sparta, it describes the direct democracy of the Periclean era — officials chosen by lot and paid to participate — while noting its weaknesses: the system was easily manipulated by ambitious individuals, decisions were unstable, and miscarriages of justice occurred. Sparta, by contrast, is presented as an oligarchy built on the exploitation of the helots. In the cultural section, students cover a wide range of Greek achievements: the anthropomorphic character of Greek mythology and the literary value of the Homeric epics; Herodotus, often called the “Father of History,” whose Histories recorded the Greco-Persian Wars; sculptures such as the Discobolus that emphasize human strength and beauty; the Acropolis in Athens, especially the Parthenon, which combined architecture and sculpture; the ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; and the scientific work of Euclid and Archimedes. The textbook also discusses the ancient Olympic Games, which began in 776 BC and during which city-states suspended hostilities, as well as Greek drama, which originated in festivals honoring Dionysus and later influenced Western literature through both tragedy and comedy. Importantly, the textbook does not encourage blind admiration. It asks students to examine the class nature and limits of Athenian democracy, emphasizing that it rested on slavery and was restricted to a small privileged group. Assignments require them to correctly order the timeline from the Minoan civilization and the rise of city-states through the reforms in Athens to Alexander the Great’s eastern campaigns, and to study images of the Acropolis, analyzing its column styles, spatial layout, and function. While Chinese teenagers systematically study and critically examine Western history, political systems, philosophy, science, and culture, many people in the West still view China largely through stereotypes of kung fu, pandas, and the Great Wall — and call Chinese people “brainwashed.” That is a pity.