A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization is a well‐designed, attractive site covering ten subject areas of Chinese history: geography, archaeology (ancient tombs), religion (Buddhism), calligraphy, military technology, painting, homes, gardens, clothing, and the graphic arts. The stated purpose of this site is “to add to the material teachers can use to help their students understand Chinese history, culture, and society”. This site is to be used in conjunction with a textbook on Chinese history.
The initial screen is uncluttered and provides seven options for further exploration. Buttons are available for Purpose, Contents, Timeline, Sitemap, Teachers' guide, Acknowledgements, and Copyright issues. The Teachers' Guide is extremely useful, including pdfs for the ten individual units. Using this feature, teachers may print off lesson plans of interest. Included in each unit are objectives and teaching strategies, as well as suggestions for when to teach the unit. Questions are peppered throughout the units, some with the answers provided and others that ask for opinions and observations. Bibliographical resources for each unit are included in the Teachers' guide section. The Timeline page features information on the Chinese dynasties, including corresponding colourful maps and links to subjects of interest for each dynasty. Numerous high‐quality illustrations are provided.
Internet Explorer 4 or higher on an IBM compatible computer with a screen resolution of 1024 by 768 is recommended for optimum viewing. The pages load quickly, and the layout is easy to navigate. The site is attractive and visually appealing, making good use of colour, illustrations, and maps. The historical maps and uncredited maps of Chinese provinces were created for the site. Users may navigate around the site with ease thanks to logically assigned buttons and uncluttered screens. It is usually easy to get back to the initial screen and table of contents page from every level. Minor glitches occur on the Acknowledgements and Copyright Issues pages where the Home button is not active and on the Teachers' guide page, which lacks a Home button. There are a couple of spelling errors, but overall the site is relatively error‐free.
This site is housed on the University of Washington's Web server, with funding provided by the Education Division of the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency, the Freeman Foundation, and the Chiang Ching‐Kuo Foundation. The University of Washington's Center for Advanced Research Technology in the Arts and Humanities provides technical assistance. The Acknowledgments page lists numerous teachers and scholars who assisted in the development of the site.
A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization provides a wealth of information packaged with an attractive design and an easily navigable layout. This site is highly recommended for teachers, students, and the general user interested in learning more about Chinese civilization.
