My DD wants to study Eastern Civ...

[Greensa]

and it has really worked well to study Great Books and history together previous years. Problem is, I don't have a clue what books I should have her read.

 

She'll be in 9th grade. We'll be using Human Odyssey for a spine (quickly through western world to keep our place in history, linger on eastern) along with watching Teaching Company From Lao to Mao for history of China. My thought is about half the year on China, then about 1/4 each on Japan and India. To me these are the three big cultures, with the others intersecting and interacting with them.

 

Any thoughts / recommendations for literature to accompany? I want about 6-7 books and some short literature to flesh out our studies. What have you read and enjoyed? What have you found great to bring these cultures to life?

 

Sara

[Amy in TX]

Here are some threads with lists of world literature. Look particularly at Eliana's posts.

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114742

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68624

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43719

 

HTH,

Amy

[JennW in SoCal]

I have an MA in Chinese Studies -- I'm going to give you too long a list, but you'll find a few things you might enjoy.

 

The Analects of Confucius is the biggie of ancient China. It isn't long and is fairly straight forward. Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ch'ing is poetry -- if you have a philosophical bent you might enjoy it. It's rather, inscrutable.

 

Monkey, A Journey to the West, translated by David Kherdian is a fun book. It is one of the mythological foundations of East Asia, as many comic strips, cartoons and Beijing Opera productions are based on Monkey's exploits. It is the mythological story, a true epic, of how Buddhism was brought to China.

 

T'ang and Song dynasty poetry can't be missed. Just search on Amazon for a collection that has good reviews -- so much depends on the translators.

 

The single best book I read to understand Imperial China(and I sadly don't have my copy of it anymore) is by Jonathon Spence, Emperor of China: Self Portrait of K'ang Hsi. It is a translation of the diary of one of the early Qing dynasty emperors.

 

Dream of the Red Chamber is another classic. It is an epic soap opera, one of the first novels written in China, following a family during the Qing Dynasty. I didn't really like reading it, to be honest!!

 

Pearl Buck's Good Earth is a realistic story of peasant life, pre-revolution.

 

The short stories by Lu Xun are heartbreakingly real. You really get a feel for the plight of the poor in China in the early 20th century. He was one of the first writers to write in the vernacular, rather than in classical Chinese. Family, by Ba Jin is a good and memorable story that takes place in the early 20th century.

 

The Soong Dynasty is about the 3 Soong sisters who all married men who shaped modern China. One married Sun Yat Sen, the father of the Chinese Revolution (the 1911 one) another married Chiang Kai Shek -- the leader of the Nationalist Chinese that fought against Mao. I think the 3rd sister married a financier?

 

Red Star Over China is good about WWII and the Communists.

 

A recent biography of Joseph Needham, called The Man Who Loved China, written by Simon Winchester, is fascinating. Joseph Needham was a scientist in England who discovered China during the early stages of WWII and wound up learning the language and writing the definitive encyclopedia of all things science in China. The encyclopedia is called Science and Civilization in China.

 

The most recent China book that I read is called Country Driving. It is by a journalist who lived in China for the past 20 years or so. It really captures the dizzying speed of modernization and the changes it has brought.

 

The recent movie Red Cliff is an epic action movie featuring another Chinese heroic tale. The Chinese version is a two parter, but there is an edited down version for American audiences which should be sufficient for y'all.

 

I'm drawing a blank on the wonderful Japanese literature I read in college. If I remember them I'll come back and post.

 

I found it hard to find good translations of Ramayana, but they must exist. I read Bagava Gita (sp??) in college and remember liking it. We've learned more about Indian culture through the art we've seen in museums and through some children's picture books that feature the stories of individual gods!

 

The Metropolitan Museum has a terrific web site that shows you all their Asian art collection -- it is worth exploring.

[Greensa]

Thank you so much, Amy & Jennifer.

 

Amy, I don't know how I missed Elaine and those threads, except that there is so much posted about literature (and obviously, I need to get better at boolean searches so I can find it!) that I overlooked her. Thank you for pointing me in her direction.

 

And Jennifer, thank you for your suggestions. DD's been China-mad ever since we had an opportunity to tag along on a business trip my husband took and plans to study Mandarin this year along with the eastern history. I think these will make her very happy.

 

Sara