[Esther Dupree]

My librarian does such a great job of finding all sorts of writing resources for us.  Here are some Sijo poetry resources she shared earlier this year.

http://sejongculturalsociety.org/writing/current/music.php

http://sejongculturalsociety.org/writing/current/teach.php

[Esther Dupree]

I am used to asking why questions instead of why not questions.  I love that contrast in teaching your students to try to see truth by noticing what isn't mentioned or what isn't visible.  I think a great lesson in symbolism could be really fun using this as a springboard.  Have students interpret the meaning of those symbols, but then create their own origin story--for whatever, the class, the country, the earth...etc.  Thank you for the post; great ideas!

[Esther Dupree]

First, I want to thank you for spending so much time on women in Korean history.  It's breathtaking to learn so much about their contributions and the dynamics of women in Korean history.  Sim Saimdang has some beautifully preserved work that informs us of Korean culture and values in many ways.  I would love to use her art in my classroom for some lessons.  Many of my students take art and I plan to collaborate with the art teacher and have him assign some work influenced by Sim Saimdang.  I can then use that to give an art lesson in my own class about Korean art.  My students have mod/severe autism and so we have to simplify our assignments, but this would be a great way to teach them new techniques as well as expose them to cultural aspects of Korea they are unfamiliar with.  

[Esther Dupree]

I find it very interesting that you describe Japanese builders ultimately resistant to completely modernizing and holding onto traditional architectural influences.  This subject would be such a great way to teach students about cultural values and influences as manifested through architecture.  We could have graphic organizers for religion, politics, natural resources/geography, etc. and write how each area influenced the architecture--and not just with Japan, but with multiple countries.  They could then have a discussion comparing and contrasting the different manifestations for different countries, areas and time periods.  The work you show is quite beautiful and is such a tribute to Japanese architecture.

[Esther Dupree]

Reading about how influential Prince Shotoku (due to his father's adoption of Bhuddism) was in helping spread Bhuddism shows how influential government leaders have been in creating mass following of a specific religion.  It would be a cool project to do with students to compare different rulers and how their personal religious beliefs being made into state policy affected their governments and ultimately, civilization.  They could do a venn diagram of similarities and differences between the rulers, their beliefs and the effects of their philosophies.  A question I have about Bhuddism is, what is it about Asia that was so fertile for the spread of Bhuddism that wasn't in other countries like in Africa or Europe?  There was a little spread later on, but nothing like the Asian adoption of Bhuddism.

[Esther Dupree]

First, I think you will get a kick out of this.  I showed the Samurai outfit to my husband who said he wants it to protect himself from COVID -19.  

In all seriousness, this design and intricacy is manifested in Japanese culture outright.  The attention to detail and the patience in create beauty along with functional pieces is incredible.  My sister said the Denny's in Japan was so fun because every single dish would come out looking exactly like the picture on the menu.  And if even a cherry fell over to the side, they would take it back to the kitchen and make a new one.  The Samurai warrior outfit has dozens of techniques and materials incorporated in such a strong, yet magnificently beautiful product.  The Japanese paintings on display at the MET for the Tale of Genji include a video showing the painting technique.  It requires so many subtle and detailed levels of skill to complete this type of art work.  I really appreciate seeing the value placed on doing things well and being detailed in their completion.  I can't tell you how many times I have said to my students, good enough!  Because we don't have time to keep working on it.  

Working on this level of attention and detail could be taught in a way where we teach students a small task that requires many little steps.  I have attempted origami with my students and have had to reteach them the steps many times because they have a difficult time grasping the precision needed to make it right.  I think this could easily be used to teach them about the meticulous nature of Japanese art and culture.

[Esther Dupree]

As a Confucian, morals and values are in place for a reason.  We must do our best to live up to these ideals as best we can.  The only reason I have had a life any any success in it is due to my parents devotion to loving and teaching me what is right.  It is my duty as their daughter to accept any punishment on their behalf.  I was not a perfect child and they suffered many punishments for my misbehavior.  I have the honor and duty to accept this punishment for their mistakes.  When we are selfish and only look out for ourselves, our society will break down and there will be nobody around to help lift each other up.  If I can start by lifting my own family up, this will help others grow and be lifted as well.

[Esther Dupree]

It is interesting to see when reading the warrior codes the manifestation of China's need to have ethical and legal codes.  Just about every civilization develops codes of conduct and legal codes for people to live by.  We could show our students this really relates to how organizations today are putting a major emphasis on creating mission statements.  What do we stand for and why?  If the students could use these codes to create a mission statement based on these codes, that would be an excellent classroom activity.  Then have them make their own codes, just as Meghann suggested and use those to create a mission statement.

[Esther Dupree]

This is parallel to the way China runs its government today--do not question, trust your leaders...

It would be a great acctivity to have students use this to analyze different Chinese actions, for better or for worse, during the COVID 19 outbreak.  How does this excerpt apply to these different actions and how are other countries responding differently?  What are the differences in philosophies today vs the ones outlined in this exerpt?  What are the differences between different countries and how do values affect the government practices today?

[Esther Dupree]

I feel like this could be someone's current instagram account.  They love nature and beauty, but after using Tinder, they have some definite opinions about how to be treated after sleeping with a guy.  Sei Shonagon was a lady in waiting to the Empress Teishi, who was only 13 when she got married, had three kids and died at 24.  I wonder how the short life spans and early marrying ages affected the maturity of people back then, especially privileged people who are insulated from a lot of the daily wear and tear of living.  I definitely wouldn't share this piece with a class before college age.  I don't feel high schoolers are mature enough to read about a cavelier attitude towards promiscuity and understand that her life may not be the way that all women are or want to be.  High school students are still trying to discern fact from fiction when it comes to life outcomes.  I remember too many boys in my high school acting like Beavis and Butthead because they were not mature enough to realize it was sattire.  I think it is an excellent piece for a psychology class in college, but too much for high schoolers, let along middle schoolers.

[Esther Dupree]

I know just about every civilization has at least one female leader that we can spend a lot of time puzzling about because they are so few.  I wonder if there has been any formal research papers comparing her to Catherine the Great or Queen Elizabeth I.  And I wonder how much of her reported 'negative' actions and traits were actually attributable to her.  Historians write history and we often see grudges come out in historical records.  I did find a shorter piece comparing Catherine the Great, Empress Wu and the legendary (if likely fictional) Popess Joan--https://eastwest.eu/en/the-tsarina-the-empress-and-the-popess/.  Since she was the only female Emperor, I wonder what actions were taken by government leaders and bureaucrats to prevent women from ascending the throne again.  

[Esther Dupree]

I had to go and find the original source to see if this was sattire.  It doesn't seem to be.  These seem to be illustrated stories that have traditionally been passed down orally as model behaviors of Chinese children to their parents.  I guess I seem so shocked by it because they are so different from western fairy tales.  Even the European ones often talk about a moral underdog being launched into wealth and comfort due to their personal hard work and integrity and often neglect relational obligation.  This collection seems like a book an overbearing parent would give their child.  However, I am really touched by how family based Confucianism is.  I think we have gone the opposite direction in our modern culture, to the point that the idea of filial devotion seems like a joke.  I also thought it was amusing how in many of the stories the outcome wasn't grandiose wealth and power and notoriety, but a modest increase in socioeconomic status.  The difference in values are so evident from reading this.  We have people in our country today who want to be famous for doing almost nothing and even feel entitled to it.  This shows the value of modesty and devotion.  Clearly, it is quite an overbearing and exaggerated sense of circumstances, but the heart of it has a lot to offer.

[Esther Dupree]

I know I am supposed to defend Confucianism in the upcoming meeting, but his debate is going to make that difficult, haha.  I think it is a great piece of history as we can see some very educated discourse on complex allocation and regulation of resources and mercantile liberties.  The scholars do an excellent job of calling out the government leaders for their corruption and exploitation of their control of the market.  They accuse the leaders of cornering the market on goods so they can make the most profit.  They also have the ability to force the market to make what they want and then charge what they want so that the people are burned multiple times on having to give up production of normal products and forced to sell to the government at a low price and then forced to buy their goods at a higher price.  This definitely plays out in many nations around the world today.  I think the scholars' defense of Confucianism is a mechanism to call the government corrupt and that a corrupt government cannot serve the needs of the people.  However, the conclusions the Confucians draw seem naive.  They think that just by having moral leaders, everything will fall into place including the economy and diplomacy.  Both sides are trying to keep what they want and not acknowledge any of the benefits of their opponents--another parallel to today's political climate.  I think this would be a great class project to have students pick a side and find modern day parallels to that group's ideology and to present them in class.

[Esther Dupree]

It is interesting to see a country where philosophy has such a distinct and impactful history on political and societal outcomes.  We see how in the US today our president likes to misinterpret things according to his own desire.  It seems that Chinese leaders often do the same thing.  They reinterpret history and embrace or reject aspects of it to suit their current desired narrative.  As someone with a history degree, I wish more leaders held the truth in high regard.  I wonder how much history in China has been completely ommitted from current understanding due to various purges over the millenia.  

There are so many correlations between some of the ancient Chinese leaders and ancient Egyptian leaders.  I know little about Chinese history and wonder what the communication between those two areas of the world was like over the centuries.  The afterlife tombs with riches and art work correlate so well.  I wonder if the oracle bones were influential to a majority of every day residents or if they were mostly for upperclass members of society.

[Esther Dupree]

I didn't know that the founders of AIG also founded a charitible foundation to emphasize the importance of East Asia and foster educational instruction about it in schools.  One of the reasons I signed up for this course is because I feel my understanding of East Asia is limited, even though it is such an important part of our world economy and culture.  

I appreciate the Coronovirus being explained in the context of how we interact with East Asia.  It was nice to have a conversation about it that included actual information involving history and impact instead of supposition and hand sanitizer.  

The population map showing how different parts of China compare to other nations puts a lot of perspective into the massive infrastructure challenges in China.  We see the incredible diversity in the different regions of the US.  I wonder how that compares in China.  Patrick Chovanec's map of the different regions in his interpretation helps us to have some reference to the different functions of different regions in China.  I watched the recent documentary about the Chinese run factory in Ohio and how there were a lot of clashes between the work culture of China and the work culture of the US.  China must face many of the same challenges that Americans face, but their culture manages those challenges in very different ways.  I look forward to finding out how that culture developed into the China as we know it today.

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