URL:http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_china.htm
The Asia for educators website that is run by Columbia University is an excellent resource for all teachers that are required to teach East Asia as a part of the curriculum. This website is probably not ideal for middle school students to peruse themselves but I feel this website would be great for higher level high school students to act as a place to start research. As a seventh grade teacher i find this website as an excellent resource to gather materials that could then be modified for middle school students. The website offers resources on China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia.
The resources available cover a variety of topics and there is a plethora of primary sources. What I really like is that there is a large amount of sources having to do with religion that are specific to each country. The website also categorizes the resources into many different sub-topics such as literature, military, government, and even categorizes resources by era or dynasty.
As I previously said this may not be the best site to send middle school students but it is an excellent website for educators. Often times the hardest part of being an educator is finding the resources you need in order to teach students. This website makes teacher's lives easier as it is one stop shopping. True history education occurs through the analyzing of documents that transport students to the past. With this website teachers can bring East Asia to life for their students. If you are teaching about East Asia this website should be your first step. There is not only a wide array of sources but it is laid out in a way that makes it easy to find specific resources.
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