Printable Map Maps
of Chinese Dynasties: Sui Dynasty [The
Art of Asia, Minneapolis Institute of Arts]
Color map showing land ruled by China's Sui dynasty relative to present-day
political boundaries. Can be downloaded as a .pdf file.
Sui
Dynasty, 581-618 [The Art of Asia, Minneapolis
Institute of Arts]
"First ruled by a progressive leader and then by his ne'er-do-well
son, this brief period closed with the arrival of a third emperor,
one who would usher in the T'ang dynasty, another Chinese golden
age." A brief one-paragraph overview, along with images of two
objects representative of the period.
Art
of the Silk Road: Cultures: The Sui Dynasty [University
of Washington, Simpson Center for the Humanities]
An overview of the Sui dynasty, with a map and image of one related
artifact. Part of an online exhibit "organized as part of Silk
Road Seattle, a collaborative public education project exploring
cultural interaction across Eurasia from the first century BCE to
the sixteenth century CE."
Did the Middle Kingdom have a Middle Ages? [Education About Asia]
In seeking to answer this question, the author, Keith N. Knapp, examines China, from 200-1000 CE, early medieval Europe from 500-1000 CE, and the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties (661-1250 CE) in the Arab world to delineate a common set of characteristics that can be called "medieval" across Eurasia. Download PDF on page.
Note to Teachers The journal Education about Asia has many excellent teaching resources on-line on all topics related to East, South and SE Asia.
Printable Map Maps
of Chinese Dynasties: Tang Dynasty [The
Art of Asia, Minneapolis Institute of Arts]
Color map showing land ruled by China's Tang dynasty relative to
present-day political boundaries. Can be downloaded as a .pdf file.
Tang
Dynasty (618-906) [Timeline of Art History,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art]
A brief overview of artistic production during Tang dynasty China.
With 10 related artworks.
• Wu Zhao: Ruler of Tang Dynasty China [Education About Asia]
An Effective but Controversial Ruler, Wu Zhao (624-705), also known as Empress Wu Zetian, was the first and only woman emperor of China. With her exceptional intelligence, extraordinary competence in politics, and inordinate ambition, she ruled as the "Holy and Divine Emperor" of the Second Zhou Dynasty (690-705) for fifteen years. Her remarkable political leadership is recognized and is comparable in some ways to other notable women in later periods of world history, such as Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, and Catherine the Great. It must be noted, though, that whether completely deserved or not, Wu has a reputation of being one of the most cruel rulers in China's history. She remains a controversial figure primarily because of stories about her personal actions against rivals. Male Confucian officials who were deeply prejudiced against strong and ambitious women undoubtedly exaggerated this aspect of Wu's life in later accounts of her reign. Still, there is also substantial verifiable evidence of her ruthlessness toward powerful real or imagined opponents. Download PDF on page.
Art
of the Silk Road: Cultures: The Tang Dynasty [University of Washington, Simpson Center for the Humanities]
An overview of the Tang dynasty, with additional information about the city of Chang'an (Xian). Also includes a map. Part of an online exhibit "organized as part of Silk Road Seattle, a collaborative public education project exploring cultural interaction across Eurasia from the first century BCE to the sixteenth century CE."
• Using The Journey to the West to Teach about Tang China History and Culture [Education About Asia]
"In addition to teaching Tang Era history, this essay also shows how the novel reflects, and can be used to teach, a number of more general early Chinese culture topics. The Silk Road, Buddhism, Daoism, and imperial state structures-topics whose significances are not limited to the Tang dynasty-also loom large in this classic tale. As such, I suggest ways The Journey to the West can be used to give students a better sense of traditional Chinese cultural values and worldviews more broadly, rather than strictly providing lessons in Tang Era history." Download PDF on page.
A Tang
Newspaper [China Institute]
Background reading with suggestions on topics for creating a newspaper on the period.
Printable Map Maps
of Chinese Dynasties: Five Dynasties Period [The
Art of Asia, Minneapolis Institute of Arts]
Color map showing land governed during China's Five Dynasties Period
relative to present-day political boundaries. Can be downloaded as
a .pdf file.
China's
Liao Dynasty [Asia Society]
"A Chinese dynasty and kingdom existed roughly in parallel to
the better-known Song Dynasty, but this one ruled by the nomadic
Khitans. A fascinating essay on governance, international relations,
technology and exchange in China and its northern frontiers from
907-1123."
More Silk Road-related content can be found in the Religion, Philosophy, Thought section, the Economy, Work, Trade, Foreign Relations section, and the Literature section, below.
The Travel Records of Chinese Pilgrims Faxian, Xuanzang, and Yijing:
Sources for Cross-cultural Encounters between Ancient China and
Ancient India [Education About Asia,
Association for Asian Studies]
Article about three Chinese monks who traveled to India: Faxian (337?-422?),
Xuanzang (600?-664), and Yijing (635-713). With maps. Reprinted with
permission of the Association for Asian Studies. Download PDF on page.
Note to Teachers The journal Education about Asia has many excellent teaching resources on-line on all topics related to East, South and SE Asia.
Lesson Plan + DBQs Religions
along the Silk Roads >> Xuanzang's Pilgrimage to India [PDF] [China
Institute]
Unit Q from From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive
view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. In this lesson "students will travel with the pilgrim-monk
Xuanzang (c. 596-664) and share some of the hardships of his journey.
They will learn about religious pilgrimage from a Buddhist point
of view."
Xuanzang:
The Monk Who Brought Buddhism East [Asia Society]
"The life and adventures of a Chinese monk who made a 17-year journey to bring Buddhist teachings from India to China. Xuanzang
subsequently became a main character in the great Chinese epic Journey
to the West."
The Silk Road
AFE Special Topic Guide The
Silk Road [Asia for Educators]
AFE's own compilation of recommended resources about the Silk Road.
Belief Systems along the Silk Roads [Asia Society]
"Religious beliefs of the peoples of the Silk Road changed radically over time and was largely due to the effects of travel and trade on the Silk Road itself. For over two thousand years the Silk Road was a network of roads for the travel and dissemination of religious beliefs across Eurasia."
Primary Source Excerpts from Religious Texts [Asia Society]
"The Silk Roads encompassed a diversity of cultures embracing numerous religions and world views from a vast region stretching from Venice, Italy, to Heian (present day Kyoto), Japan. Between these two geographic endpoints, belief systems that are represented include Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Shinto. ... This reading features thematic comparisons among texts of [these] great world religions."
Lesson Plan Belief Systems along the Silk Roads [Asia Society]
Uses excerpts of translated religious texts (link above). The activity "asks students to reflect on similarities and differences among belief systems" and "organize these quotations into broad themes."
Lesson Plan Silk Road Encounters: Golden Rule of Reciprocity [Asia Society]
Uses excerpts of translated religious texts (link above). "Students learn about Golden Rule of Reciprocity by comparing quotes from the major world religions. Students then create their own rendition of the Golden Rule."
Buddhism on the Silk Road [International Dunhuang Project]
"The civilizations which flourished along the Silk Road in the first millennium CE were open to cultural and religious influences from both East and West. Many religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, gained new followers. But it was Buddhism, travelling the trade routes of the Silk Road, which became the common factor uniting the different peoples of the Silk Road." See especially the section on Chinese Buddhism on the Silk Roads. Also see the IDP website's Education section for more units about the Silk Road.
Lesson Plan + DBQs Religions
along the Silk Roads >> Central Ideas of Buddhism [PDF] [China
Institute]
Unit N from From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. "This unit consists of three lessons. Students will (1) read about the life of the Buddha and reflect on some very different
ways of defining success; (2) learn about the Bodhisattva ideal and
the Bodhisattva Guanyin, the Buddhist 'Goddess of Mercy'; and (3),
look at the Buddhist view of morality."
AFE Special Topic Guide Buddhism [OMuRAA,
Asia for Educators]
AFE's compilation of recommended resources about Buddhism on OMuRAA, Online
Museum Resources on Asian Art.
Buddhism [A
Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization, University of Washington]
"This unit offers evidence of how Buddhism changed China's visual
culture, showing the evolution of images of deities, plus views of
temples and people practicing Buddhism." A Visual Sourcebook
of Chinese Civilization was prepared by University of Washington
history professor Patricia Buckley Ebrey. With questions for discussion,
timelines, maps, and suggested readings. Select HOME to find link
to teachers' guides for all topics featured on the website.
Buddhism:
The "Imported" Tradition [Asia for Educators]
This section of the AFE teaching module, Living in the Chinese
Cosmos: Understanding Religion in Late-Imperial China, 1644-1911,
examines the history of Buddhism in China. Includes a general overview
of Buddhism and its origins in India.
Buddhism
in China [Asia Society]
"A short introduction to Buddhism in China. In understanding
Chinese belief systems, it is important not to take terms at face
value; the word "religion" (zongjiao), for example, did
not exist in the Chinese lexicon until the 19th century. Appreciating
the complexity of Chinese belief systems is crucial to understanding
the forces that helped shape China."
The Chan (Zen) School of Buddhism
Ox-Herding: Stages of Zen Practice [ExEAS, Columbia
University]
The ten ox-herding pictures and commentaries presented here depict the stages of practice leading to the enlightenment at which Zen (Chan) Buddhism aims. The story of the ox and oxherd is an old Taoist story, updated and modified by a twelfth-century Chinese Buddhist master to explain the path to enlightenment.
Huineng, 638-713,
Sixth Patriarch of the Chan (Zen) school
Primary Source w/DBQs The
Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch [PDF] [Asia
for Educators]
Linji Yixuan, d. 867, founder
of the Linji (Rinzai) school
Primary Source w/DBQs Seeing
into One's Own Nature [PDF] [Asia for Educators]
Reactions of Confucianists and Daoists to the influence of Buddhism during this period
Han Yu, 768-824
Primary Source w/DBQs Memorial
on the Bone of the Buddha [PDF] [Asia for
Educators]
Emperor Wuzong, r. 841-846
Primary Source w/DBQs Emperor
Wuzong's Edict on the Suppression of Buddhism: The Edict of the Eight
Month [PDF] [Asia for Educators]
Lesson Plan + DBQs Religions
along the Silk Roads >> Central Ideas of Islam [PDF] [China
Institute]
Unit O from From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. "This unit consists of two lessons. Students will learn about (1) the life of the Prophet Muhammad (c. 570-632) and the establishment
of the Muslim community, and (2) the 'Five Pillars' which comprise
the basic religious practices of Islam."
Lesson Plan + DBQs Ethnic
Relations and Political History along the Silk Roads >> The
Spread of Islam (634-750) [PDF] [China
Institute]
Unit E from From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. "Students will learn about the spread of Islam in the context of the geography and history of West Asia in the seventh
and eighth centuries CE."
Lesson Plan + DBQs Art
along the Silk Roads >> Mosques in the Islamic World and
China [PDF] [China Institute]
Unit T from From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. "Students will look at mosques in Central Asia, Iran, and North Africa, and study some of their basic architectural features.
They will also compare them with two mosques, one ancient and one
modern, in Xi’an, China. They will see how the appearance of
a mosque can reflect changing views of what it means to be a Muslim
in contemporary China."
More content on Tang-dynasty poetry can be found in the Literature section, below.
The Chinese Scholar-Official [Asia for Educators]
This reading explores the role and importance of the scholar-official in traditional China, highlighting the relationship between education and political status and the dual role of the artist as poet and politician. Includes selected passages from the writings of the Tang poet Wang Wei. Concludes with discussion questions.
Writing
as a Way to Cultivate the Self [Asia Society]
"In China, calligraphic writing expressed not only the meaning of the words but the inner feelings and personality of the writer, whose writing became a work of visual as well as textual beauty and often exemplified Confucian and/or Daoist values." Includes extended discussion of the Tang scholar poets Wang Wei, Li Bo, and Du Fu.
Emperor
Taizong, r. 626-649
Primary Source w/DBQs Emperor
Taizong on Effective Government [PDF] [Asia
for Educators]
Zhangsun Wuji,
d. 659
Primary Source w/DBQs The
Great Tang Code: Article 6, "The Ten Abominations" [PDF] [Asia
for Educators]
Yang Yan, 727-781;
Lu Zhi, 754-805
Primary Source w/DBQs Tang
Debate on the Twice-a-Year Tax [PDF] [Asia
for Educators]
Lesson Plan + DBQs Exchange
of Goods and Ideas along the Silk Roads >> East-West Exchange:
Silk, Paper, Porcelain [PDF] [China Institute]
Unit J from From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. "What was the importance of East-West cultural exchange? Paper, silk, and porcelain were all invented in China and exported to the West. Students will evaluate the importance of these three products as elements in cultural diffusion along the Silk Roads."
Emperor
Taizong, r. 626-649
Primary Source w/DBQs Emperor
Taizong on Effective Government: "Maintaining Military Forces" [PDF] [Asia
for Educators]
Li Bo, 701-762
Primary Source w/DBQs "Fighting
South of the Ramparts" [PDF] [Asia
for Educators]
Du Fu, 712-770
Primary Source w/DBQs "A
Song of War Chariots" [PDF] [Asia for
Educators]
Silk
Road: Spreading Ideas and Innovations [Asia
Society]
"Good ideas and innovation travel easily — and far. Historically,
these ideas spread along trade routes. This essay looks at the great
Eurasian Silk Roads as a transmitter of people, goods, ideas, beliefs
and inventions."
Lesson Plan Silk
Road Encounters: Trade along the Silk Roads [Asia
Society]
Students create an illustrated atlas of Silk Road trade goods.
Lesson Plan Silk
Road Encounters: Trade in the Silk Road Cities [Asia
Society]
"Students will explore elements of trade along the Silk Roads
by examining the products of various locations along the route — production,
influences of resources and environment, challenges of transportation,
and economic exchange. Through their investigations, students will
gain an understanding of what was traded along the Silk Roads and
the unique challenges that these routes presented to the merchants
that sought to profit from the exchanges."
Lesson Plan + DBQs Exchange
of Goods and Ideas along the Silk Roads >> East-West Exchange:
Silk, Paper, Porcelain [PDF] [China Institute]
Unit J from From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. Description and unit listings outlines above on this page.
The Japanese Missions to Tang China, 7th-9th Centuries [About Japan: A Teacher's Resource]
"On nineteen occasions from 630 to 894, the Japanese court appointed
official envoys to Tang China known as kentôshi to serve as
political and cultural representatives to China. Fourteen of these
missions completed the arduous journey to and from the Chinese capital.
The missions brought back elements of Tang civilization that profoundly
affected Japan's government, economics, culture, and religion." An
in-depth article on the topic, by Hawaii Tokai International College
professor Douglas Fuqua.
Primary Source w/DBQs Deed
of a Sale of a Slave [PDF] [Asia for Educators]
Tang China was not a slave society in the sense of having an economy
that relied on chattel slavery along the lines of the economies of
the Roman Empire or the ante-bellum American south. However, slavery
did exist.
Dutiful
Daughters: Seven Moral Exemplars in Chinese History [World
History Connected, University of Illinois]
Essay with "illustrative examples of mortal-moral women in Chinese
culture from the Han (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.) and Tang (618-907 C.E.)
dynasties. The fundamental lesson of these stories was that women,
in order to fulfill their highest moral duties, could not simply
be passive, obedient figures. Instead, virtuous behavior required
action."
Song Ruozhao, 8th
century
Primary Source w/DBQs Analects
for Women [PDF] [Asia for Educators]
Yan Zhitui, 531-591
Primary Source w/DBQs House
Instructions of Mr. Yan (Yanshi Jiaxun) [PDF] [Asia
for Educators]
Primary Source w/DBQs Record of Family Division [PDF] [Asia for Educators]
Steeped in Tea [PDF] [UCLA Fowler Museum]
The
Chinese Scholar-Official [Asia for Educators]
This reading explores the role and importance of the scholar-official
in traditional China, highlighting the relationship between education
and political status and the dual role of the artist as poet and
politician. Includes selected passages from the writings of the Tang
poet Wang Wei (699-761). Concludes with discussion questions.
Chinese Poetry and Other Arts [Smith College]
Smith college students...created a curatorial remix of the exhibit Words and Images in Chinese Culture. They redesigned the exhibition by adding new works (paintings and poems), new interpretations, and multimedia (poetry recitations). Intended for sharing with public audiences, this exhibition aims to contribute to scholarly discussion in the public sphere.
Primary Source w/DBQs Selected Poems: "Fields and Gardens by the River Qi"; "Deer Fence"; "Villa on Zhong-nan Mountain"; "Reading the Classic of Mountains and Sea, I" [PDF] [Asia for Educators]
Primary Source w/DBQs "Fighting South of the Ramparts" [PDF] [Asia for Educators]
Primary Source w/DBQs Selected Poems: "At Yellow Crane Tower Taking Leave of Meng Hao-jan as He Sets Off for Kuang-ling"; "Summer Days in the Mountains"; "Drinking Alone under the Moon" [PDF] [Asia for Educators]
"Spring
Gaze," by Du Fu [Asia for Educators]
Here a poem by Du Fu is presented in Chinese characters with the
romanization for each character, the English meaning of each character,
and an English translation of the poem.
Primary Source w/DBQs Selected Poems: "On the River"; "I Stand Alone"; "Views in Springtime" [PDF] [Asia for Educators]
Reading a Tang Dynasty Poem [China Institute/China360]
This lesson uses a poem by well-known Chinese poet Du Fu to illustrate the aesthetic principles of regulated verse and parallelism in Chinese poetry that are based on the traditional Chinese cosmological perspective. Students will leave class with an appreciation for translation between different cultures as an important process for understanding other cultures in a multi-cultural world.
Lesson Plan + DBQs Religions
along the Silk Roads >> Magical Pilgrims on the Silk Roads:
The Adventure in the "Cart-Slow Kingdom" from Journey
to the West [PDF] [China Institute]
Unit R from From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive
view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. Includes excerpts from the Journey to the West, introducing Monkey and his companions. With lesson plans for analyzing the story.
Video Unit The Monkey King and Youth Appeal: Anthony Yu on Journey
to the West [Asia Society]
Interview with Dr. Anthony C. Yu, translator of the Journey to the West. Dr. Yu discusses his experience of reading the book as a boy and the joys and challenges of translating cultures and language. (Youtube; Recorded from a presentation at the National Conference on Chinese Language Teaching, April 2010.)
Background Information for Teaching Journey to the West [ExEAS, Columbia University]
Many approaches can be taken when teaching excerpts from Journey to the West, a novel that incorporates the three major religions and philosophies of China: Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. This introduction centers on Buddhist elements within the text, with the goal of providing instructors with background materials to enlarge their understanding of the text, whether spending one day on an excerpt or one or two weeks on a larger reading selection from the novel.
Buddhism in the Classic Chinese Novel Journey to the West: Teaching Two Episodes [ExEAS, Columbia University]
Many approaches can be taken when teaching excerpts from Journey to the West, a novel that incorporates the three major religions and philosophies of China: Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. This unit centers on Buddhist elements of the text, with the goal of providing instructors with materials for discussing in depth two specific passages from Chapter 14 that highlight Buddhist ideas.
China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD [The Metropolitan Museum of Art]
This catalogue accompanied the exhibit "China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD" and is now available to download or read online. "The exhibition comprises some three hundred objects, most of them excavated in recent years and many never before seen outside China. Each work is discussed in terms of its aesthetic qualities and art-historical significance and in the context of the philosophical and religious ideas that are reflected in iconography and style."
The
Arts of the Silk Roads [Asia Society]
"The blending and dissemination of art is closely related to
the larger context of the travel of people, their beliefs, ideas,
and technology. This essay explores some of the art traditions, many
of them devotional in nature, of the Silk Roads."
Lesson Plan Treasures
along the Silk Roads [Asia Society]
"Using images of art objects from the Silk Roads, students will
generate word maps that act as creative writing prompts. The archaeological
finds from western China act as entry points to introduce students
to the rich cultural and artistic exchanges on the Silk Roads."
Lesson Plan + DBQs Art
along the Silk Roads >> The Arts Travel the Silk Roads [PDF] [China
Institute]
Unit W from the curriculum guide From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. "Students will look at three groups of artifacts representing
cross-cultural exchange along the Silk Roads: (A) Buddhist Religious
Objects; (B) Exotic and Luxurious Things; (C) Symbols of Power and
Prestige: The Phoenix and the Dragon. By studying them, they will
learn to think critically about art as an agent of cultural diffusion;
by closely 'reading' these objects, they will also become more visually
literate."
Lesson Plan + DBQs Art
along the Silk Roads >> Buddhist Images Cultural Exchange
between India and China [PDF] [China Institute]
Unit S from the curriculum guide From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. "Students will (1) look at some of the stylistic and
iconographic elements important to Buddhist craftsmen and the Buddhist
faithful; (2) study changes in artistic style as Buddhism traveled
from India through Central Asia to China; (3) explore the magical
side of religious art by seeing how religious images are invested
with power."
Lesson Plan + DBQs Religions
along the Silk Roads >> Dunhuang and Its Buddhist Communities
[PDF] [China Institute]
Unit P from the curriculum guide From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. "Students will determine the geographical importance
of Dunhuang and examine the influence of Buddhism on society by looking
at documents and wall paintings found in the Mogao caves."
Lesson Plan + DBQs Art
along the Silk Roads >> Two Mogao Cave Paintings and Two
Jataka Tales [PDF] [China Institute]
Unit V from the curriculum guide From Silk to Oil, a comprehensive view of the Silk Roads over four thousand years. "In reading two Jataka tales and studying the Mogao
cave paintings that illustrate them, students will be able to understand
how narrative can be translated from one artistic medium to another.
They will also compare and contrast two Jataka tales and their respective
paintings in terms of themes and narrative techniques."
Find more art-related
resources for China,
600-1000 CE
at OMuRAA (Online Museum Resources on Asian
Art)
Calligraphy [A
Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization, University of Washington]
A Visual Sourcebook of Chinese Civilization, prepared by University
of Washington history professor Patricia Buckley Ebrey, is an excellent
resource, with images, questions for discussion, timelines, maps,
and suggested readings throughout. This particular unit discusses
types of Chinese calligraphic script; techniques of transmission;
and calligraphy during three periods of Chinese history — the
Six Dynasties period, the Tang period, and modern China.
Chinese
Calligraphy [Asia Society]
"Chinese calligraphy has a two-millennia long history. [This
background essay explores] the beginnings of, ideas behind, reasons
for, and technologies that gave rise to this compelling art form."
Music
of the Silk Roads [Asia Society]
"Like religion, music readily spreads beyond its land of origin
because people bring their music with them when they travel, just
as they bring with them their own faith and rituals. Familiar chants,
songs, and instruments sustained pilgrims and traders who, at the
same time, absorbed musical influences they encountered in their
travels."
Lesson Plan Musical
Innovations Along the Silk Routes: Creating a Tube-la [Asia
Society]
"Using images of art objects from the Silk Roads, students will
generate word maps that act as creative writing prompts. The archaeological
finds from western China act as entry points to introduce students
to the rich cultural and artistic exchanges on the Silk Roads."