Seminar for Teaching about East Asia

Spring 2001

Prof. Stephen Averill

History Department, Michigan State University

Contacting the Instructor: Office hours: M, W, 1-3 p.m. Office phone: 517-355-3417; Home phone: 517-332-6139; Fax (History Dept.): 517-353-5599. E-mail: averill@msu.edu.

Course Overview The seminar is intended to provide a broad overview of the history and cultures of the East Asian countries of China, Japan, and Korea. Because the topical and chronological scope of the material to be covered is so great, and the time available is so limited, it will be impossible to provide comprehensive or detailed coverage of any given topic or region. Instead, the emphasis will be on familiarizing teachers with major concepts and trends, and on acquainting them with resources that they can use to deepen their own knowledge in the future.

Attendance and Participation Policy Each participant is required to engage in 30 contact hours. If a participant must miss class for an acceptable reason (such as illness or coaching), the participant must make up the contact hours. The form of the make-up is at the discretion of the instructor, but the substitute contact hours will be linked to the course. Seminar members will also be expected to prepare for and to participate actively in the seminar sessions; as part of their responsibilities, participants may be asked to prepare and present brief oral reports on current events and/or useful pedagogical materials and resources.

Snow days or Emergency Days If school is cancelled in the school district in which the seminar meets, the seminar will also be cancelled and the class session will be made up. If there might be confusion about the class cancellation, the instructor will call the Indiana University East Asian Studies Center to inform them of the situation. Participants in the seminar may then call the following toll-free number to find out if the class will be held: 1-800-441-EASC.

The Teacher Implementation Plan (TIP) All participants must develop a TIP for use at their respective schools. As a minimum, each TIP should include the following items: An explanation of what opportunities you will have to teach about Asia next semester (level, subject area, hours of instruction); three lesson plans (one each for China, Japan, and Korea); a brief essay on the pedagogical philosophy that underlies your choices; an explanation of how you will apply the seminar to your own teaching; an extensive resource list citing books, periodicals, videos, and websites related to the lesson plans. More detailed information will be provided in class.

Stipends Upon completion of the 30 hour seminar and submission of a satisfactory implementation plan, each participant will receive a stipend of $300. During the following school year, the participant’s school will receive up to $300 for the purchase of teaching resources. This $300 is intended for the school at which the participant is employed. If the participant changes schools, it is the participant’s responsibility to inform the Indiana University East Asian Studies Center, in order that the stipend may be processed correctly. At the end of that school year, the participant will receive an additional stipend of $200 upon submission of a report describing the success of classroom implementation and suggestions for improvement.

Graduate Credit Participants who wish to receive graduate credit for the course from Indiana University will be asked to complete additional requirements. Details will be provided by the instructor.

Materials Copies of the following books and other materials will be made available to all seminar participants. Additional materials may be distributed in handout form from time to time during the seminar:

Rhoads Murphey, East Asia: A New History, 2nd edition. This is the newest edition of one of the standard college textbooks that covers the entire span of East Asian history.

Richard Kim, Lost Names. A novel/memoir about a child and his family living in Korea during the time when it was a colony of Japan.

Rae Yang, Spider Eaters. A memoir of a Chinese woman living through the period before and during the Cultural Revolution.

Elizabeth Bumiller, The Secrets of Mariko. A account of a year in the life of a contemporary Japanese housewife, as told by an American journalist.

To Live. A videotaped version of an award-winning Chinese film by the well known director Zhang Yimou. The film focuses on the experiences of a Chinese family during the period from approximately the late 1940s down into the 1970s.

SPICE materials: Mapping Asia and Demystifying the Chinese Language. SPICE (Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education) is a non-profit educational program at Stanford University that since 1976 has produced a wide range of curriculum materials for use by elementary and secondary school teachers. Two of their curriculum units will be distributed to you; copies of a number of other units will be available for you to examine.

OUTLINE OF CLASS SESSIONS

Note: In addition to the topics and activities outlined below, time will be set aside during most class periods for brief discussions of current events, useful websites, and classroom implementation of topics presented. There will almost certainly be other video viewings in the latter part of the course in addition to those already listed below.

January 25 Session 1. Introduction: Lands & Peoples of East Asia

Topics: Introduction to course and requirements; self-introductions of participants; introduction to East Asian geography, peoples, and languages.

Video: Misunderstanding China.

Reading Assignment: No reading will be assigned before class; SPICE units on Mapping Asia and Demystifying the Chinese Language will be distributed and discussed briefly in class.

February 1 Session 2. East Asia’s Ancient Civilizations

Topics: Political/cultural overview: The Neolithic in East Asia; the first historical states (Shang, Zhou, Qin, and Han in China; Yamato, etc. in Japan, etc.); the Silk Road; development of early political ideas, bureaucracy, Mandate of Heaven, etc.; China’s political/religious traditions: Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism.

Video: Selection from The Confucian Tradition.

Reading Assignment: Rhoads Murphey, East Asia: A New History, Chapts. 1-4,

February 8 Session 3. Imperial China

Topics: Political/cultural overview of China’s mid- and late-imperial history (Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and early Qing dynasties); notions of dynastic cycle, “Central Kingdom”-tributary system, etc.; cultural overview: Buddhism vs. Neo-Confucianism; literati culture and the gentry; civil service examinations; notions of family/kinship.

Video: China’s Cosmopolitan Age: the Tang.

Reading Assignment: Murphey, East Asia, Chapts. 5-8 (to p.161).

February 15 Session 4. Early Japan and Korea

Topics: Political/cultural overview of the early history of Japan and Korea (including the Heian, Kamakura, Ashikaga, and early Tokugawa periods in Japan, and through much of the history of the Yi Dynasty in Korea); political styles and dynamics of rule; extent of Chinese influence; Shinto and Buddhism.

Video: Shinto: Nature, Gods, and Man.

Reading Assignment: Murphey, Chapts. 9 (material on Korea, pp.174-87)-11, 13.

February 22-24 Session 5. East Asian Civilization through Art

Topics: Slide presentation and lecture by an outside speaker on some major traditions of artistic expression in East Asia. The classroom presentation will take place as usual on Thursday evening. As a follow-up to the classroom presentation, on Sunday Feb.25 there will be a field trip to U. of Michigan Art Museum. Details will be provided in class.

Reading Assignment: Begin reading Murphey, East Asia, Chapts. 12, 14-15, which will be discussed in class on March 1.

March 1 Session 6. East Asia and the West

Topics: Canton system of trade and its tensions; the mid-century rebellions; Opium Wars and the unequal treaties; the Perry Mission and its aftermath; the Self-Strengthening Movement and the Meiji Restoration. Discussion of teaching the Opium War, Perry and the contact between Japan and the West, etc.

Reading Assignment: Finish Murphey, East Asia, Chapts. 12, 14-15; begin reading Rae Yang’s Spider Eaters.

March 8 NO CLASS—MSU SPRING BREAK—BUILDINGS CLOSED

Reading Assignment: Murphey, East Asia, Chapts. 17-18 (through p. 351); continue reading Rae Yang’s Spider Eaters. If you have time, view the video of the film To Live.

March 15 Session 7. China in Revolution

Topics: China from the 1890s through the 1960s; the collapse of the imperial system, the rise of revolution; the Anti-Japanese War and Communist victory; Mao’s China: the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

Video: Selections from China in Revolution.

Reading Assignment: Finish Rae Yang’s Spider Eaters. Also, before class view the video of the film To Live, if you have not already done so.

March 22 NO CLASS—INSTRUCTOR ATTENDING CONVENTION

Reading Assignment: Murphey, East Asia, Chapt. 18, pp. 351-61; begin reading Richard Kim, Lost Names.

March 29 Session 8. Japan’s Empire and the Pacific War

Topics: Japan during the first half of the 20th century; the tensions of modernization; the acquisition of empire; the road to Pearl Harbor; war in China and in the Pacific; the American Occupation; Korea under Japanese rule; the Korean War.

Reading Assignment: Murphey, Chapts. 16 (material on Korea, pp.304-08), 19; complete Richard Kim, Lost Names.

April 5 NO CLASS—LANSING AREA SCHOOLS’ SPRING BREAK

Reading Assignment: Murphey, East Asia, Chapt. 21, Chapt. 22, pp. 426-33; begin reading Elizabeth Bumiller, The Secrets of Mariko.

April 12 Session 9. Contemporary Japan

Topics: Political/cultural overview of Japan since the Occupation; postwar political dynamics; Japan’s “economic miracle” and its consequences; contemporary salaryman life and culture; relations among Japan, Asian nations, and the U.S.

Reading Assignment: Complete Elizabeth Bumiller, Secrets of Mariko.

April 19 Session 10. Contemporary China

Topics: China since the Cultural Revolution; the post-Mao reforms; the tensions of reform; the protests of Spring 1989 and the June 4 crackdown; the PRC, Taiwan, and Hong Kong; China and the U.S.

Reading Assignment: Murphey, East Asia, Chapt. 20