Mr. Wang, a Xi'an citizen, shows off his grandfather's primary school textbook in this recent photo. [Photo: Huangshang Bao]

Do you still keep your primary school textbooks? Or at least remember their contents? For many, the answer may be "no." Nevertheless, you can have a look at a 96-year-old textbook.

A man in northwest Chinese city of Xi'an, surnamed Wang, inherits the Chinese language textbook from his grandfather.

The second volume of "New Textbook on Chinese Language" was published in 1912 by the Commercial Press, China's first modern publishing house.

It includes 50 finely-illustrated texts, most of which comprise 20 to 30 characters.

One of the lessons teaches about rat: "A rats has big ears, a long tail, a pointed snout and sharp teeth. It bites things and comes out at only night. It fears human and especially cats. You can raise a cat to keep rats away."

"The contents are interesting!" a man surnamed Liu commented after reading the book.