Please read these selections ahead of our class. We'll meet at USC at 9 and work there until 11.

The Ming dynasty was built by a peasant turned general. Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the Mongol Yuan dynasty and established his capital in 1368 at Nanjing (a city near present-day Shanghai). The capital was later moved to Beijing. The Ming ruled until 1644 when the Manchus invaded and defeated them. The Manchus established their capital at Beijing. Their dynasty lasted until 1911.

Listening to the lecture, specifically regarding the Mongols, brought clarity to my own teaching. In my classes we analyze each of the dynasties with regards to territory, power, trade, length of rule, and contributions. I was interested to find out some background about how Mongols orignally wanted to kill all the Chinese and turn the lands into grazing land. I would like to have my students propose ideas why grazing lands might benfit the Mongols, and why they chose to tax the people. I also thought it was interesting to learn about the gunpowder because it is an item that is very recognizable to 7th grade students. We discuss about how gunpowder was used in fireworks first, but it was never really clear as to how it spread, other than due to trade. I will now be able to educate students that the reason why gunpowder made it to Europe is due to the Mongols and their military conquests. The last piece of information that I will be able to use with my students is about the 5-tired system. I have a close reading article I use to explain how the Mongols "opened the door" for other foreigners, but it only mentions that the Chinese were on the last tier. I never knew that that the Northern Chinese were held to a higher regard by the Mongols, due to them already being ruled by the Jurchen previously. My students had asked me why the Chinese were treated poorly within their own country, and we just chalked it up to foreigners being in charge. But now I will be able to clarify that the Southern Chinese were actually seen as the lowest level. An activity that might be useful while teaching this next year, would be to have the students pretend that they were the Mongols. Then we could have all of the different tiers randomly spread out with their descriptions ( Mongols, Muslims, Northern and Southern Chinese, and other foreigners). The students would have to rank each tier according to what would benefit them (as Mongols) and be prepared to explain why. This could be done in pairs or groups of three to encourage collaboration, problem solving and communication.

What I found surprising from today’s lecture is that the saying, Communism with Chinese Characteristics really has characteristics that go back hundreds of years. I did not know that Mao Zedong would compare himself to the Han and Ming founding emperors in order to be seen as centralizing power. Another aspect of today's lecture which I found interesting was how some people were buried in jade suits. I wondered why would people want to be buried with a jade suit was it as a means of connecting with the afterlife? Was jade seen as being connected to water, life and organic material? 

 After reading "Commercial Activities" and "Penal Servitude in Qin Law" I think that Chinese governance has been based on very specific laws and cultural norms.  The more I read about Chinese laws and specific rules and contracts, the more I I observe the inflexibility that Chinese governance imposed on its society.  Chinese governance has been dominated by different philosophies during different time periods, but the commonality I have observed is that very specific contracts and guidelines were developed for very specific situations by all ruling dynasties.  My opinion is that China may have demonstrated an infexibility that may have made them economically successsful, but at the expense of other great benefits.  For example, in "Penal Servitude in Qin Law" the Legalist impunities of absolute punishment offered very little hope for Chinese society members to rehabiliate.  The Chinese laws  offered very minimal options to improve the quality of life of one who had been convicted of an infraction.  In "Penal Servitude in Qin Law"  the punishments are described very specifically and seem somewhat severe.  In "Commercial Activities" their contracts were so specific and focused on the idea of commercial distrust. The focus on governance was rigid at best and was very specific for many particular situations.  In addition, "Commercial Activities"  also offered examples of sample contracts that were based on commercial distrust.  In my opinion, the contradicting dynamics of Confucian views that were based on the innate goodness of humans clashed with the idea of the creation of so many specific contracts that focused on the distrust due to the profit motive.  To believe that humans are innately good, yet to develop such a distrustful attitude towards commercial activity was contradictory at best.  It seems that these rigid laws and practices were created and enforced to benefit those with socio-economic power.  In essence, the Chinese seemed very focused on preventing negative behaviors or selfish attitudes from having an impact on their society.  The different dynsties operated under different philosophies, but their commercial contracts and penal servitude laws ensured that Chinese society maintained a certain level of order.

Reading through this text made me think of how we take contracts for granted these days. I never really looked into the origins of the contract or the purposes behind them. Then to have read through these sample contracts makes me realize that not only did it help maintain order but also offered a standardized form of legal compacts to be created when need be. What was a bit disconcerting was reading through the section of buying and selling concubines and sons. Once sold and if they happened to die that was that. Kind of scary to think of that from today's standards where we always have some connection to family. I was also surprising to read that workers also would sign a contract and have to go by its terms whether good or bad.

Zhang han's essay gave me some insight into perceptions Ming officials had towards people in different regions of the empire. According to Zhang, foreigners in the North were "recalcitrant and their greed knows no bounds......we cannot rid ourselves of their demands. What is more, the greedy heart is unpredictable.....I don't think our present trade with them will ensure us a century of peace." This shows that the Ming already perceived troubles to the north. It also shows that people to the north were more a threat than a stable realm of trade. On the other hand you have the south where, "foreigners trade with China under the name of tributary conditions. That means China's authority is established and the foreigners are submissive...the southeast foreigners are more concerned with trading with China than gaining gifts." This shows that the south was more amiable to Ming authority and in a way it was a "double win" for all sides. What is interesting to note is that the Ming were dealing with various groups of people with different cultures. On the one hand you had trade going on and on the other a form of cultural exchange and diffusion. Like Dr. Dube pointed out in our first meeting, China has multiple countries surrounding it and each one has different. 

This document is useful to give students a glimpse of the geographic distances that officials had to cover, and the vast differences in trade and forms of peace that the officials and the Emperor had to deal and making it all work. It gives students a good perspective on the different attitudes officials had with different kingdoms. This could be a good point to focus on when talking about present day US politics and our president's perception of Mexico vis a vis Canada or better yet Puerto Rico and England to make a better comparison from the 8th grade perspective one could look at how colonist perceived Native Americans in the Northeast as opposed to the South, and the different ways they made peace and agreements with them. I recall visiting the Native American museum in Washington D.C. and seeing William Penn's wampum after having purchased Pennsylvania from the Lenape people. This document could serve multiple purposes and could give students a deeper insight into how the Ming and the US ran and run their governments.

I found the piece Proclamations of the Hongwu Emperor to be an interesting read as it portrays a lucid depiction of the the values and thoughts of the ruler Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming dynasty and offers a glimpse into the methods he used to rule over China.  He begins by encouraging officials to refrain from evil and persuades them to do so by stating that if they do as he says, they will bring glory to their ancestors, wives, children and themselves and be able to assist him in his ruling of the people.  According to Zhu, the key to effectively ruling over a big country like China, is to maintain law and order and he does this by persuading leaders to free themselves of corruption and join in his efforts to reestablish order and enforce the laws.  Considering that the Ming dynasty was one of China's most stable and autocratic dynasties, we can conclude that Zhu's style of governance was effective in controling his subjects.  I found this reading not only interesting but easy to read and so it could easily be used with students.  I would use this reading as a primary text to get students to consider what the text reveals about Zhu's ruling style, his values and what that might say about the Ming dynasty and can tie into larger questions of power and governance.

In AP World History, our ongoing theme is Mongols are the exception to every rule. Students have a lot of fun with this throughout the year, and many students remember Mongols above all else after taking the course. One lesson I especially enjoy is a DBQ Project lesson on whether or not the Mongols are barbaric. The question is: How barbaric were the "barbarians?" The point of the lesson is to discuss sourcing (especially point of view). When it comes to the Mongols, sourcing the data is vital. The Mongols are viewed as barbaric savages by most historians of the Middle East and Asia. It is interesting to look at what western sources have to say and compare these documents to eastern sources. This can be a great lesson to modify for 7th grade and introduce students to bias/point of view. 

I have used this lesson to write a DBQ and I have also used it for a class debate. Either way, students are very engaged in the discussion and use the documents as evidence to support their arguments. 

I cannot attach the packet due to the file size being too large. Here is a link to the PDF:

https://www.dbqproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/sample-mongols.pdf