Ancient China: Historical Significance

How to determine significance

Significance depends upon one’s perspective and purpose.

How we each see things from our own point of view.

Ask the following questions or apply the statements to the invention:

• Relevance: what relevance is there to people living at the time. Is something significant to our present lives even if it had only little importance in the past? Relevance to increase our understanding of the present-day.
• Resonance: does it have resonance (meaning) to people’s experience, beliefs or situations at the time. People like to make analogies (comparisons) with it; it is possible to connect with beliefs or attitudes across time and place.
• Remarked: it is remarked (commented) on by people at the time and still talked about today
• Remembered: it is remembered within the collective memory of a group of people. It was important at some stage within the collective memory of the group/s.
• Revealing: it revealed some other aspect of the past
• Resulting in change: it had consequences for the future; what changed as a result of this; how important were the consequences of this?
• Effects: caused great harm or brought great benefits to many
• Durability: lasting effects; for how long were people’s lives affected?
• Quantity: how many lives were affected?
• Profound: how deeply were people’s lives affected?

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To determine the significance of an event or person ask the following questions:

1. How important was it to the people at the time?

2. How many people were affected?

3. How deeply were people's lives affected?

4. For how long did these effects last?

5. How relevant is it to modern life?