Overview

The Contemporary China course has provided a broad overview of all of the key issues surrounding the political, economic, social, and cultural issues facing China, along with their short and long term domestic and foreign policy goals. As a World and US History teacher, the class has given me a much greater field of view of China and its history, with an eye towards providing the same to my students. The collaborative atmosphere of my cohort, and well as the openness of the professor to engage in dialogue about the topics discussed during our online lectures, has allowed me to pull from a diverse source of information to help create in-depth lesson plans far beyond what could have been created if I were attempting to research the information discussed on my own. Thoughts on how the topics covered in each session could be used in the classroom are contained below:

Session 1

1a. Geography/Demography

In World History, we often refer to, and illustrate maps in order to understand the geopolitical realities of a particular country. China and its topography are an excellent example of the predictive power of geography. Maps of China across its history help to explain the Dynastic Period up through its civil war and Cultural Revolution. Moreover, China’s effort to revive the Silk Road via the OBOR initiative could not be understood if not for extensive examination of trade routes. Using color and short narrative timelines, maps can facilitate process of memorization and deeper understanding of the affects that our physical environment have on our daily lives.

Additionally, the study of the physical environment will lend itself to discussions of natural resources, scarcity, and the inevitable shift in birth rates the result. Asking students to make predictions about how a society changes if a population has a greater number of older or younger people is a good starting off point for learning about the demographic changes that are occurring in China, as well as the United States. Examining all of these concepts is best done within a comparative framework (China and Russia, China and the US, etc.), as students are better able to understand elements are history that are compared and contrasted with other narratives they are already familiar with.

1b. The Communist Party and the Hukou (household registration) System

The techniques and effects of central planning within communist governments are most clearly illustrated in this aspect of Chinese history. This a very good starting-off point for an assignment that asks students to address a public policy issue that their community is facing, with careful attention paid to the internal and external affects implementation of a particular policy prescription might have (SWOT analysis); whereupon students would research and report historical examples of the results that communities and governments had with similar efforts.

Sessions 2 & 3

2a. Reform and Opening & 3a. Expanding Choices 

An assignment that engage student in the concept of political and economic opening is asking students to conduct an interview. In particular, students would select someone who travelled from another country to live in the United States, and ask them what life was like in their country of origin, why they left, and how has it changed since they left. These types of questions are almost certain to provide answers related to politics and economics, which would facilitate discussions about how and why societies change over time.

2b. China Shakes the World & 3b. Individual Choices Today

This topic is tailor made for a discussion of cyclical economic modeling (id est, the business cycle) and the nature of fiat currencies and their relationship to production models in a globalist economic framework. The Chinese economic expansion is an apropos case study for seniors to examine when engaging in Socratic Seminars about the domestic and international effects of globalization on a particular society.

Session 4

4a. Generations

This section of the class would fit nicely with the comments made above in the subsection “2a. Reform and Opening & 3a. Expanding Choices”.

4b. Environmental Degradation

This section of the class would fit nicely with the comments made above in the subsection “1a. Geography/Demography”

Session 5

5a. U.S.-China Relations & 5b. Global China

This section of the class was perhaps the most valuable in terms of attempting to examine and explain how China fits into the world that the students are currently experiencing on a daily basis. Both US and World History classes would benefit from lessons related to complexity of the relationship between China and the US. For example, the use of Dueling Mind Maps is useful to suss out the pros and cons of trade between China and the US (from both perspectives):

China’s Mind Map (address the following): How do we benefit from trade with the US? How does trade with the US harm Chinese interests?

US’s Mind Map: How do we benefit from trade with China? How does trade with the China harm US interests?

Discussion Questions: Where do US and Chinese interests overlap? From the perspective of both countries, are there areas of the trade relationship that are equally problematic?