[Cynthia Jackson]

• This spring has been a difficult one on top of a difficult school year, but I am glad that I could finish the Origins seminar. I first completed the Modern East Asia seminar in the fall, from which I created ten lessons for my class and implemented nine of those this year. When re-examining the standards, I knew I needed to sign up for the Origins seminar so that I could finish designing the unit and provide my students with a more accurate picture of ancient and modern East Asia. 

 

Although I’ve learned about East Asia before, I still learn something new each week. If I’m being honest, I learn a lot more than just one new thing. This seminar has taught me about China’s very different dynasties and their interactions with other cultures during each one. For the first time, as I confidently list China’s dynasties in my head, I am thinking about all the ways I learned to teach these to 7th grade students in the past two months. We could investigate archaeological evidence and secondary sources to decide if the Xia dynasty existed. We could learn about the four schools of thought and how legalism led to a unified China during the Qin. We could investigate if Marco Polo visited China during the Yuan dynasty. We could analyze literary and art samples from the culturally blooming Ming period. There are so many things I can teach my students about and I can approach from various lenses including cultural accomplishments, gender equality, religion, ethnic diversity, technological advancements, and foreign relations (including trade). I can’t wait to continue planning this unit and I’m so thankful to everyone who contributed to this seminar!

 

[Cynthia Jackson]

Sean, I like your idea of potentially making this a DBQ. Good sources and an engaging prompt always make DBQs more accessible for our 7th graders. Since we’ll probably teach part of the East Asia unit in the spring next year (after Model U.N.), I wonder if we could make this into a practice DBQ to help them learn time management and outlining skills (similar to what I did with the colonialism in Africa DBQ). Some of the sources listed on this page like the map, timeline, paintings, and an excerpt from his book could make good sources. It would be a good idea to add a couple of primary sources about the Yuan empire around the same time period and a secondary source that casts doubt on the validity of Marco Polo having ever visited China. Then students would have to reference four sources as they answer the question: Did Marco Polo go to China? Explain why or why not. When students finish analyzing the sources in pairs, groups, or as a class, then we could teach them how to outline an essay and have them practice finishing the body paragraphs over two more days. Source: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/big-history-project/expansion-interconnection/exploration-interconnection/a/marco-polo

[Cynthia Jackson]

Next year, I think it would be a good idea to also learn about religious minorities in East Asia. As the persecution of religious minorites is an ongoing issue, is might be possible to introduce the spread of Islam in East and Southeast Asia by learning about it as part of the Yuan Dynasty’s identifying characteristics. If I show students the empire’s territory and discuss the ethnic and religious diversity of this empire, students will have an easier time drawing connections to Islam spreading from Southwest Asia to Southeast Asia through both trade and ethnic groups conquering each other. They will also have a better understanding of Asia as a connected continent instead of imagining Southwest Asia and East Asia as regions on opposite sides of the globe.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Today, we were asked if we taught religions in our courses and if so, then how do we approach doing so. I find it difficult to prioritize teaching religions as there seem to be so many other cultural factors and history to teach. I find that I highlight the ways economics influenced leadership and how ethnic and racial dynamics shaped social structures, whereas other teachers sometimes omit these topics in favor of others such as religion and gender roles. I don’t avoid teaching about religion, but it rarely gets highlighted as a lesson by itself. The most attention it gets is during the Southwest Asia mini unit when I teach about Islam because students can hold pretty harmful stereotypes about Muslims and because it’s intertwined with our learning about current issues in Turkey, Iran, and Syria. Instead of forming stand out lessons, religion is blended into our source analysis or learning about daily life and politics. Since religion influences so many aspects of individual lives and national policies around the world, I’ll briefly teach about a religion’s main ideas and focus more on the impact it has. Next year, I would like to take more time to highlight the origins of the world’s major religions, examine where and how they spread over time, and identify major beliefs of each one.

[Cynthia Jackson]

As the longest lasting kingdom from 57 B.C.E.-936 C.E. and one that managed to form an alliance with China and then dispel them from their territory, the kingdom of Silla makes a great case study for ancient Korea. Particularly, I was interested in ancient Korea’s gender roles and the positions that aristocratic women filled. In the Hwarang (“flower youths”) aristocratic young men and women trained side by side- something that is not typical in Christian based, western cultures many of my students are familiar with. Learning about the training of the Hwarang can lead to the analysis and discussion of the name of this group, their daily life, and the purpose of their training, as they were all considered future leaders. Then learning about the accomplishments of Queen Seondeok such as the unification of the kingdom, the establishing of a culture distinct from China and Japan, and technological advancements will reinforce that classic gender roles in Korea were fairly equitable and community involvement from everyone was valued. I like this topic as it also complicates and will widen the narrow view of feminism my young students have learned thus far in their lives.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Although Mongolia is in East Asia, Massachusetts standards only ask that students can identify it on a political map. However, it has become clear the Mongol invasions played a large role in medieval Chinese and Japanese history. Since one of the standards states, “Describe the impact of encounters, such as through trade, religion, and conquest, among the ancient civilizations of China, Japan, and Korea,” I think teaching the Mongol invasions across China, Korea, and towards Japan can explain the transfer of some cultural practices in the 13th century. Comparing the Mongol invasion to the Columbian Exchange, which students will have already learned about at the beginning of the year in our Central America & Caribbean unit, will provide a framework for understanding the ways conquest and colonization spread culture. Additionally, it can provide an opportunity for students to identify Mongolian culture characteristics that were passed on to China and Korea.

[Cynthia Jackson]

As I’ve been looking for ways to have students compare and contrast cultures in similar geographical regions, I want to take advantage of the opportunities East Asia offers. One of the ways I want to do this is by teaching students about myths from China, Japan, and Korea. Myths are always popular lessons for those that teach Greece and Rome because students love learning about the different gods, goddesses, and heroes. Although cultures all around the world have myths and folktales, those besides the Greek and Roman ones are hardly ever taught and I think it suggests to students that Greece and Rome are more interesting to learn about than other places. I want students to be fascinated by Japan’s origins and understand their cultural values and religions in a way that acknowledges and capitalizes on the fact they are kids. If I start with a creation myth, I can lead students in comparing China, Japan, and Korea’s creation myths, first focusing on their similarities and what they suggest about which culture had the most influence over the others, then focusing on their differences and having students draw conclusions about each culture’s unique characteristics.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Last year, I participated in a study group to help unit plan the curriculum changes my grade experienced this year and will continue to experience next year. Originally, my colleague and I discussed East Asia’s role in international affairs and wanted to create opportunities for students to understand the stories they hear in the news about China, Japan, North Korea, and South Korea. The plan was to end our East Asia unit with a focus on these essential questions: “How has trade influenced international collaboration and conflict in Asia? How do political structures differ across Asian countries and to what degree do they influence a country’s role in international relations? How are international disputes and conflicts solved?” I have designed earlier parts of the unit to help kids begin learning about what an economy is, its relationship to resources, and the difference between economic growth and economic development. I have also planned the end of this unit which teaches students about the South China Sea conflict, however I felt like something was missing. Teaching about China’s Belt & Road Initiative will fill in the gap and help students understand that China is attempting to control routes on land and sea in the region. Giving students an insight into both the BRI and island building in the South China Sea will help students identify the resources China seeks to control, determine which foreign countries are supporting their initiatives and thus serve as allies (pressured or not), and study the ways this influences their trading partners and policies. I’m very excited we learned about the BRI and what the future of my unit could be!

[Cynthia Jackson]

Sean, I agree with the several good points you make here. Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Sun Tzu’s philosophies are still prevalent in China today and have spread to other countries throughout the common era because each of them is distinct enough to be remembered but can also be used collectively to promote balance in all areas of life. Alone they can’t be successful because they focus too much on family and home life or too much on government and building empires. However, together they provide strong and detailed philosophies for building an empire that protects educated and cultured communities sustained by China’s families and class structure. Mohism has sunk to lesser recognition over the centuries because it attempted to be the blending of these philosophies without having as strong identifying characteristics as the other schools and without being effective for empire building.

[Cynthia Jackson]

I imagine that the Qin Dynasty didn’t immediately need a softer face because their role in the list of dynasties became the power that unified China and ended the wars and lawlessness of the time period before. However, each empire afterwards would not be able to claim that accomplishment again and as time passed on, there was less of a need for such intensity with crimes and punishment. A loyal and safer China meant that people would eventually become dissatisfied with laws that they could stifle or inconvenience their lives. Most people are like this. If they do not immediately see the need for the law and it happens to inconvenience them, they discount the original purpose of the law. Blending legalism with popular Confucianism, which helped shape court and family values, and Taoism, which encouraged people to love and live in good ways would mean that China could remain united and cultured, and rulers could temper social unrest caused as a result of total legalism across all facets of empire life.

[Cynthia Jackson]

I think it would be worth getting students a translated and modified version of this story to help them understand Legalism more in depth. If you were teaching the four schools of thought before assessing students with the role-play debate, then this could be Day 6 or Day 7 (if you include the comparison lessons I mentioned in my previous post, you’ll at least need this many days). This day would focus on helping students analyze cultural stories by blending in ELA standards such as identifying main characters, central plot points including the conflict, and summarizing the end. Depending on your comfort with the ELA standards, you could also lead students in examining sentence structure and word choice to determine the author’s purpose and audience. Lastly students could complete two reflections before a discussion with the class. The first would ask students to reflect on the story’s plot and its overall moral or meaning. The second would ask students to reflect on the story’s literary structure and what it indicates about the legalists and Chinese society overall in the 4th-3rd centuries B.C.E.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Legalism probably ended the debate and helped end the Warring States Period because it was the most pragmatic. As such, legalism could be implemented immediately as it solely focused on developing laws and systems for society and government to run smoothly, with more emphasis on government since that was the organization most in crises. Legalism provided something that the other schools of thought could not- it provided encouragement for a centralized empire and leaders wanting to take strong action without incurring social rebellions. The only other school of thought that came close to this goal was Mohism, which probably served as the foundation for the legalists' success with driving the Qin Dynasty. Their emphasis on studying agriculture to grow resources and produce riches also draws from the scientific practices of Taoism. Lastly, like in some educational practices, legalism uses operative conditioning to train citizens how to behave. As this is based on the idea that people are inherently bad and you need to make sure their individual interests align with the general interests, we see more references to Confucianism and Mohism. Although legalism helped end the Autumn and Spring Period and was a driving force during the Qin Dynasty unlike the other schools of thought, it was able to do this because it drew from their strengths and combined them with rational and efficient ways of centralizing power.

[Cynthia Jackson]

It makes sense that Taoists were wary of Buddhism, which was a spreading religion and could possibly be more persuasive than a school of thought. Given that they had similarities and Buddhism and Confucianism were founded around the same century, it also wouldn’t be difficult to surmise that Taoism was an interpretation of Buddhism that was seen through the lens of early Chinese tradition. It seems to draw from Buddhism’s main ideas but differentiate itself from other Chinese philosophies by rejecting the focus on highly structured societal and political expectations. It could be valuable to have students compare and contrast Buddhism and Taoism, helping them further understand the differences between philosophies and religions. It can help them understand another higher level concept as well- that culture can inform religions or philosophies and vice versa.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Popular mental health practices are heavily influenced by religions that originated in South and East Asia. Some examples of this include yoga, meditation, self-talk and positive affirmations. These practices combine thought, speech, and physical movement to develop skills such as quieting your thoughts, being present in the moment, physical health, and intentions. To me, all these practices seem most closely related to Buddhism and Taoism as they emphasize reaching a version of enlightenment or good living. For people, looking for cross-curricular learning opportunities, exploring the origins of these practices and their benefits could be done by partnering with one of your school’s health or P.E. teachers.

[Cynthia Jackson]

Logic tells us that Taoism had to be created by a group of individuals, however this group opted to invent a “front man” instead of electing one of them to serve as the face of this school of thought. I have two theories about why this happened. The first theory is that the group declined to elect one individual as the face of this philosophy because this went against “the way”. The way may have discouraged the uplifting of individuals as that can lead to jealousies and corruptions in society and government. With Taoism rejecting the elevation of leaders or heroes, the first Taoists may have thought it was better to invent a folk story- one in which a humble but admirable character learned about Taoism and changed his life to align with the way. The second theory is that there was a sort of class issue with the individuals that could have become the face of Taoism. It’s possible that they wished to draw attention away from their families and themselves being members of the upper class or that they were considered members of the lower class and couldn’t draw people towards taoism if that was widely known.

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