If you are familiar with the "Eyewitness books", then you know how this book is set up. Set up into very short chapters (or 2 to 4 pages), the book includes amazing photographs of everything from Ancient China. The chapters include information about China as an ancient empire, the art of war, emperors, inventions, architecture, clothing, food/drink, festivals, religion, arts/crafts, and the end of the empire. The chapters begin with a short one or two paragraph overview of the topic and the pages are dominated by the pictures. Each picture has a short, detailed description, providing a lot of information in a small amount of space. The best way to describe it, perhaps, is if a very extensive exhibit on China were on display at a museum: TONS of things to look at with descriptions, but without interest or a little bit of background knowledge, students get bored quickly.

This is NOT a reading book (e.g., a novel), but can be used by the teacher to show students various aspects of ancient China (e.g., the ships, the swords, the pottery, the masks, the religious statues) or to provide a short synopsis of a topic. Some intermediate elementary students (e.g., grades 3 through 5), will LOVE to sit down and read all of these facts (these are the same kids who love reading the Guiness Book of Records). Most kids, I think, will be overwhelmed by the amount of information in here. If a teacher wanted all students to review this book, a scavenger hunt would be a great way to use it or as a resource book if the students are creating descriptions of Ancient China.