心怀世界，开拓视野——“21世纪·VIPKID”杯高中组冠军孙仲文的英语学习之道

My Love of Learning about 

Chinese History

History is the study of the past, to improve the present, and prepare for the future. That is what inspired my love for history. But since most of you here probably know more about Chinese history than I do, I want to focus more on the lessons that we gain from it and how we apply them in daily life.

The first is practical benefits. By analyzing overall trends of past dynasties we’re able to learn from the past successes and avoid the mistakes made by our predecessors. For example, the Tang Dynasty ended due to its negligence of internal affairs; the Song Dynasty, on the other hand, ended due to a Mongolian invasion. From this we can see the importance of striking a balance between military strength and societal wellbeing. That’s why lessons from history can help guide current politics. That’s how the latest One Belt One Road Initiative was inspired by the traditional Silk Road.

The second is role models in history. In today’s world of tons of pop-stars and actors and gossip columns airing all of their dirty laundry, it’s hard to find a proper role model. But yet there are always those in history whose names are still respected even after decades, because of their strong character and positive influence on society. One such examples is Mr.Sun Yat-Sen, who as we all know is considered as the founding father of modern day China and also praised for he’s perseverance and determination; or the icon of filial piety and loyalty, who fought diligently for his country also never forgetting his roots.

The third is cultural identity. China is one of the world’s foremost ancient civilizations with a history, written history dating back to more than three thousand years. China has a very rich culture, especially with all the hardships and obstacles that we as Chinese have had to go through, we’ve still managed to come out of it. It’s stronger and tougher than ever before, especially with China’s long-lasting impact in the world, with inventions ranging from gunpowder to the compass, China will continue to do so in the future. And that’s why it’s so important to us to learn about our history, to remind ourselves of whom we are and the morals and achievements that our ancestors left behind for us.

However, we still need to take our history with a grain of thought; although there’s popular saying history repeats itself. In today’s world, with technology every improving, we need to take matters into our own hands, because nothing is ever set in stone. It is crucial for us, the keys to the future, to be creative and adaptive for society to progress. That’s why maybe in just ten, fifteen years, kids just like you and I will be talking about how we created history.