I really enjoyed the myht of Tan'gun from the first video.  It made me think about how so many cultures (Christianity in particular, as well as Greek myths) focus on man being created first and woman being created from man or to punish man.  It was interesting to see a culture where a woman was created first, and that man was created for her because she was lonely.  I think it would be something cool for students in history or mythology classes to explore human creation myths and compare them to each other.  Students can then discuss societal values of the time, based off of what was shown to be valued in the myths.

I was thinking the same thing about the myth of creation and the similarities between this version and the myths of Anciet Greek Mythology. I recently read a Fictional story based on Greek mythology about a couple being transformed into lions to forever wander the earth for angering Zeus and Athena. Its interesting to see how some cultures continue to have similar concepts despite not having contact or really knowing about that specific tale. I think it would be interesting to ask students to compare ultiple creation myths I think they would come up with some interesting thoughts and opinions about each religion.

I was really interested in looking more at Sin Saimdang because I had taken a Korean Art Course in my final year of getting my Bachelors, the thing is I do not remember once learning about her and her work. Especially because she is so important and her work is one the currency in Korea. But I was intrigued by her life story and her ability to be so well educated. I wonder if that created problems for her in life as a painter and being a well educated female. Or did it balance out becuase she ended up being a good wife and mother to her children. I forget which country we reviewed but the continuation of not taking a name unless its the husbands name is interesting for women as in the article I believe it mentioned she didnt have her name written so we don't know what it was previou to marriage. 

I have talked previously about how it is awkward to teach in a chronology of one civilization then rewind a few thousand years and teach another civilization from start to finish. I feel taching East Asia and other geographic centers in unison could be fruitful for students. I found the Mongol takeover of Korea and their connection to the silk roads as excellent connecting points that could make teaching the different civilizations concurrently a real possibility. 

I feel connecting the civilizations of China, Korea, and Japan through the lens of Mongol invasion could be a fascinating exercise for students. Although the Mongols are not a part of my curriculum I believe tracing their expansion and comparing how these civilizations resisted, coalesced, or were dominated by the Mongols would be an excellent activity for students. I feel diving into the response to the Mongols could help students glean a lot about the civilizations of East Asia. It appears that China was dominated, Korea coalesced and Japan was able to fend off the Mongol invasions. Diving deep into the factors that led to these outcomes could lead to excellent discussions and debates in the classroom. Understanding the factors that led to either Mongol takeover or Mongol defeat in Japan's case could be very beneficial for students to build understanding of the region of East Asia. 

Korea's role in the Silk Roads is another entry point in which the civilizations of east Asia can be connected. I feel often times students have very little understanding of how connected the world was even in ancient times. Showing students that even Japan and Korea were just one of many parts of the silk roads could show them the interconnectedness of the ancient world. Teaching China, Korea, and Japan concurrently would also benefit from the teaching of the spread of Buddhism along the silk roads. It seems this course has given me many entry points on how to teach these civilizations concurrently and show how connected the ancient world really was.

One of the things I have really enjoyed learning about east Asia, either through my own research or through this course, is my own personal discovery of how many things were invented in Asia before they were in Europe. As a student of history it seems I have been bombarded with the idea that Europe was far more advanced than societies elsewhere. One major example of this is the printing press. In the western cannopn it seems that the invention of the printing press is a watershed moment for Europe as it led to the increase in available information allowing for Europeans to advance rapidly. you would imagine my surprise then when I found out that the printing press was actually invented in Asia first. This is not the first and I am sure not the last time I will figure out that something was actually invented prior to European discovery. I feel it is extremely important to bring this information to student's attention. I think we do a dissevice to students by teaching history through a western lens and it is the responsibility of world history teachers to fight back against this narrative. The idea of Europeans being the trend setters of history I feel is at the root cause of racism. It seems to me that people get this idea that Europe was civilized and it was them that brought civilization to the rest of the world which I am sure you all realize is not the case. The printing press is just one of many examples we can use as teachers to fight back against the western dominated narrative of history.

I found the conversation of Christianity in Korea very intriguing and did not realize how much inroads were actually made by Christian missionaries at such an early age. I think an interesting activity for students would be to compare and contrast how Christian missionaries conducted themselves in say Africa compared to Asia. It was interesting to see how Christianity was presented to Koreans as "Western learning" because the missionaries understood that the Koreans were interested in scholarship. This seems vastly different than how missionaries introduced Christianity in Africa. The back and forth between allowing Koreans to be Christian but still participate in Confucian ceremonies was very intriguing to me as well. The mixing or morphing of religion in order for it to succeed in different regions always interests me. A comparison I can draw is how Islam was morphed in Africa to make it more digestable by allowing women to have more rights that were traditional in Africa. It would be interesing to compare and contrast the religious timelines in Korea v. Japan because Japan practically cut themselves off from the western world to keep Christian missionaries out. What benifits did Christianity bring to Korea? What negatives did Christianity bring to Korea. I feel this would be a fruitful debate for students to partake in.

Three kingdoms and two Koreas

I spent one month working at a winter camp for middle school students at Korea University in South Korea many years ago. The students and teachers stayed in dormitories on campus. We ate at one of the university’s cafeterias, and we used the universities classrooms.

I had been living in Shanghai, China for many years by the time I visited South Korea, so the change from a bone chilling Shanghai winter, to a snowy but seemingly warmer South Korea was a welcome and much needed change. I traveled from the airport to the university, first by bus, and then by train. The neon Christian crosses that dotted the Korean landscape were a surprise. I hadn’t seen so many Christian crosses and churches since I spent some time living in Akron, Ohio years before.  

The young Korean college students who served as our teachers’ aides were polite and deeply proud of their university and their country. I don’t recall having any conversations with them of a political nature. We mainly talked about entertainment and food.

Many years later, I took a trip to North Korea. It was in North Korea that I first saw a map of the Three Kingdoms. The map was shown and explained to our tour group at a museum. It was interesting to learn that Korea had three powerful kingdoms. 

I would like to know if (and how) the Three Kingdoms were ever unified. And if so, did the unfied Korean people see themselves as one (in ancient times) or did members of each respective kingdom see each other as culturally different?