While I would love to give my children a good education in Chinese history, I have had great trouble finding books I want to use. Books are rarely balanced in their perspectives, and few are engaging for young readers. I have flip-flopped between resources available to me and made changes many times, and expect to continue making changes throughout our homeschool career.
At the moment, my eldest is entering 4th grade, and my second is entering kindergarten. Here is my rough plan for history, as of 2025/2026.
Grades 1-6
The two main options I have looked at are 寫給兒童的中國歷史 published by 小魯, and the first edition of 上下五千年 written by 林漢達.
寫給 covers all of Chinese history at least up to the Civil War in 1949. It is published in Taiwan, and while I haven’t read the later volumes, so far it seems even handed. It touches on economic and social history, but it was somewhat difficult to follow and not engaging enough for young readers in first and second grade. I think the target audience is likely fourth through sixth grade. It is also less detailed than I would prefer. If I could add a biography or two each year, I think this could be a perfect option.
上下五千年 is a Mainland publication with an interesting history. The author had started writing it, but did not complete it due to his imprisonment during the Cultural Revolution. It was later edited and finished by a different person and published in the 1980s. I believe the first edition goes to the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. The first edition was written in an engaging manner, but has communist over tones here and there. Two editions have been published since then, and the newest edition is heavily communist and the writing quality is very poor. I found a digital version of the first edition on the internet, and have enjoyed it out loud reading it to my son, while skipping over the more communist sentiments (usually a sentence or two at the end of chapters).
With 上下五千年, the main problem for us has been that it’s a bit more than I’m willing to devote school time to. For someone who aspires to a more rigorous homeschool, or who spends less time on Western history and literature, it might work. But at this point I prefer a lighter workload.
As I begin to consider school for my daughter, I think I will use 上下五千年 in grades 1 and 2 to cover history up until the end of the Han Dynasty. This would be 1-2 stories a week. Grades 3 to 6, we will read 寫給兒童的中國.
Grades 7-8
These are the years I am least confident in. I would like to continue enjoying famous Chinese history stories, while also learning to think about the economic and social contexts of history. For what it’s worth, here are some of the books on my shelf I might consider using:
The first two volumes of 哇!歷史原來可以這樣學 (volumes 1, volume 2). From briefly glancing through, these seem to be easy to read, while providing an overview of the main events from Chinese history, as well as some of the social, economical, and political context. I was less impressed with volumes 3 & 4.
吳姊姊講歷史故事 is a very nicely done series of the most famous Chinese history stories. I would love to have the entire series available for my children to read. However, it is too long to cover in school, and while it is an excellent collection of stories, it does not really explore the political or economic backgrounds. I will likely add the first volume or two over the course of grades 7 and 8, since I consider the early stories of Chinese history foundation to understanding Chinese culture.
Grades 9-12
The only two texts I would seriously consider for high school are Jonathan Spence’ The Search for Modern China, and Immanuel C. Y. Hsu’s The Rise of Modern China. Either of these I would spread out to be read slowly over the 4 years of high school. Both of these are available in the original English as well as in Chinese translation. Reviews seem to think poorly of the Chinese translation of Spence’ work, but the Chinese University of Hong Kong published a well received Chinese translation of Immanuel Hsu’s work (中國近代史, 徐中約 著).