Making expansive illustrative use of the collections belonging to the Field Museum in Chicago, this cultural history of China covers thousands of years. Covering so much in a juvenile nonfiction work of less than 200 pages is a daunting endeavor, but Bardoe, a former senior projects manager at the museum, does her best to give a broad overview encapsulating high points of the region's accomplishments. Dynastic government systems, art, trade, and technological advancements are compared and contrasted with Western civilizations, offering readers a broader view of the world today and its roots. "Imagine Being" sections are windows to the past, giving an idea of what it would be like to be a Chinese scholar, farmer, and even an empress. A time line links highlights of different periods to simultaneous events in other parts of the world. Illustrations include not only artifacts and maps but also photos of archaeologists in the field. Highly recommended as a way to introduce historical diversity to all collections.

Leveraging the rich collections of the Field Museum, Bardoe paints a broad history of China from the Stone Age to the present.This ambitious project opens with an assertion that further challenges its mission: "There is no single China." From the outset, the author acknowledges the great diversity of people, governance, and geography that make up what readers may understand as China. Yet over millennia, China's rulers forged an empire that lasted through the 20th century, with cultural traditions that persist even today. Across this huge span of time, the author gathers the central threads of Chinese history, including innovations in ceramics and metal work in the early days, the trying work of empire-building, the development of major schools of thought, and China's uneasy engagement with the rest of the world. Notwithstanding its vast scope, the narrative, supported by expertise and artifacts from the Field Museum, offers focus and insight. Each chapter concludes with an opportunity for reflection ("Imagine being Empress Dowager Cixi…"), bringing readers into the text. Readers may wonder at the extremely cursory mention of recent history, but, despite the book's title, the author is fairly clear about her intention to focus elsewhere.A bit dry for casual readers but nonetheless an excellent resource and a beautifully presented, nuanced introduction to pre-20th-century Chinese history. (timeline, source notes, selected bibliography, image credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10-adult)

Gr 4-8 As rich as the history it relates, this book is thoroughly illustrated with artwork, maps, and photographsmost from the Field Museum Collection. As in Bardoe's other works, the writing is lucid and thoughtful, though the pace is very rapid; hundreds of years can pass in a paragraph. From the start, Bardoe stresses that there are "many Chinas." Five chapters cover prehistory (while introducing archaeological practices), early dynastic China, philosophies (Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, folk religion), interaction with other countries (14th to the 20th centuries), and China's future. Among the most attractive features in the book are the regular invitations for readers to imagine themselves living a specific cultural moment or role: in a Neolithic village, as a scholar-official, a nun, or a resident of Guangzhou during the Opium Wars. Politics (before the 1900s) and economics, agriculture and technology, are all given weight. Along the way, Bardoe describes the many contributions of China to culture and civilization, including several pages on opera, as well as acknowledging roles for, and restrictions on, the non-noble classes and women. VERDICT An excellent primer on an important world power. Most middle school and YA collections will want to consider. Patricia D. Lothrop, formerly at St. George's School, Newport, RI