Ancient China and/or Japan

[chocolate-chip chooky]

I'm in the process of planning for next year and I'd like to do a study of either Ancient China or Japan, and possibly both if interest, time and energy allows.

I'd love some recommendations of good resources to get us started.

We particularly like narrative non-fiction, historical fiction and Great Courses, but we'll also use straight non-fiction books too.

My daughter is 12.

Thanks heaps ? 

[Slache]

I have Asia, Its History and People and I'm not impressed. I got it from Free Homeschool Giveaways or whatever it's called if you want to see if it's still available for free.

Sonlight/Bookshark have an Eastern Hemesphere people seem to like and I believe Beautiful Feet Books has recently come out with something similar.

[Porridge]

We have enjoyed:

Oxford University Press's The Ancient Chinese World (get it on Abebooks)

Chinese history stories from the Imperial Era (Renee TIng) - this is not as "ancient" as the Zhou Dynasty volume

Chinese history stories from the Zhou Dynasty (Renee Ting) 

It made for a nice 12 week unit. 

[Porridge]

There is also a great comic book history of China:

https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Chinese-Civilization-Emperor-Understanding/dp/1611720273/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5CCXTDB8WS65G2QYPSGY

we didn't find out about this until we had moved on to another civilization, but my DD is still reading through for fun.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

25 minutes ago, JHLWTM said:

There is also a great comic book history of China:

https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Chinese-Civilization-Emperor-Understanding/dp/1611720273/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5CCXTDB8WS65G2QYPSGY

we didn't find out about this until we had moved on to another civilization, but my DD is still reading through for fun.

Thank you! I've ordered the first one in the series, as it looks like a good place to start, along with some library books.

 

[Farrar]

Honestly, that comics series is the best thing I've ever seen for Chinese history. And that was my college major.

There's a lot more for imperial and modern China than ancient. I do think a precocious 12 yo could maybe read Monkey if you wanted to do some literature, though I don't know what you're considering "ancient" in terms of time periods. There's a PBS series that's very recent and very well done called The Story of China - the first episode would probably be in the scope of what you're talking about.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Just now, Farrar said:

Honestly, that comics series is the best thing I've ever seen for Chinese history. And that was my college major.

There's a lot more for imperial and modern China than ancient. I do think a precocious 12 yo could maybe read Monkey if you wanted to do some literature, though I don't know what you're considering "ancient" in terms of time periods. There's a PBS series that's very recent and very well done called The Story of China - the first episode would probably be in the scope of what you're talking about.

I'm so glad to get more positive feedback on the comic, as I ordered it quite impulsively. Normally I umm and ahh and deliberate for ages, but this time I just clicked 'buy'. Phew.

Yes, she's kind of precocious...what is Monkey?

Also, I really liked the look of this one, that was recommended up above by JHLWTM:  Oxford University Press's The Ancient Chinese World, but I can only find it for about $75 AUD. Ouch.

Honestly, I know so little about this area, that I don't really know what I mean by 'ancient' ?

I just know that Asian history is a gap in our general knowledge and I'd like to start filling it.

Thanks heaps for the help folks. i really appreciate it, as always ? 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Is this it?

https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Journey-West-David-Kherdian/dp/1590302583 

[Farrar]

31 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

I'm so glad to get more positive feedback on the comic, as I ordered it quite impulsively. Normally I umm and ahh and deliberate for ages, but this time I just clicked 'buy'. Phew.

Yes, she's kind of precocious...what is Monkey?

Also, I really liked the look of this one, that was recommended up above by JHLWTM:  Oxford University Press's The Ancient Chinese World, but I can only find it for about $75 AUD. Ouch.

Honestly, I know so little about this area, that I don't really know what I mean by 'ancient' ?

I just know that Asian history is a gap in our general knowledge and I'd like to start filling it.

Thanks heaps for the help folks. i really appreciate it, as always ? 

I meant the Arthur Waley version, not the one you linked above. But both are shortened versions of Journey to the West, the most fun of China's Four Great Novels. I mean, at least, the Monkey parts are fun. It really drags in the middle. I'm literally in the midst of writing a 9th grade humanities core that has a long China section and was just looking at these resources, so I will also link you the most fun video about Monkey that I found...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN3_6efimoQ&t=206s
Believe it or not, they're totally being straight up that this is how weird it all is.

I think *probably* if you're trying to cover Chinese history but not modern China that you either want everything before the Yuan Dynasty (aka, the Mongols) or everything before the Qing Dynasty (aka, the one that fell in 1911 after being plagued by Western incursions for more than a century).

Honestly, read those comics, look at some art, learn about Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism... And you'll be set.

 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Thanks, Farrar. I appreciate your help.

[sdobis]

6 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

I'm so glad to get more positive feedback on the comic, as I ordered it quite impulsively. Normally I umm and ahh and deliberate for ages, but this time I just clicked 'buy'. Phew.

Yes, she's kind of precocious...what is Monkey?

Also, I really liked the look of this one, that was recommended up above by JHLWTM:  Oxford University Press's The Ancient Chinese World, but I can only find it for about $75 AUD. Ouch.

Honestly, I know so little about this area, that I don't really know what I mean by 'ancient' ?

I just know that Asian history is a gap in our general knowledge and I'd like to start filling it.

Thanks heaps for the help folks. i really appreciate it, as always ? 

Thanks to Farrar, my daughter is reading through the Comics series and loves them! 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Do you have any particular suggestions for interesting reading regarding the history of The Great Wall?

[Porridge]

1 hour ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

Do you have any particular suggestions for interesting reading regarding the history of The Great Wall?

Elizabeth Mann has a nice book on the Great Wall

[madteaparty]

We visited the Terra Cotta soldiers and sections of the Great Wall and forbidden city and all that this year—DS blogged about it—I couldn’t find any one resource that was singularly great, on the train to Xi’an we watched  select great courses lectures, until we decided to turn it off because the fellow passengers were very taken with images of the opium culture stuff and of course they could not hear the narration which was totally balanced (earphones), so it felt sort of offensive on our part. DS also read a book, something about learning about China through proverbs which was sort of different and enjoyable. 

[chocolate-chip chooky]

@JHLWTM and @Farrar - Thank you both for the recommendation of the comic series. It was an absolute hit.

Do you have any recommendations for post-Dynasty China? Early 1900s - now? 

I wish that comic series had one more book   *sigh*

[Lori D.]

JAPAN

books
Demon in the Teahouse (Hoobler) -- gr. 5-8; fiction/mystery; first in the Samurai mystery series; 1700sAD
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Coerr) -- gr. 5-7; historical fiction of real person/events 1950s -- so modern, not ancient
The Master Puppeteer (Paterson) -- gr. 6-9; historical fiction; 1700sAD
The Sign of the Chrysanthemum (Paterson) -- gr. 6-9; historical fiction; samurai, 1700sAD
The Samurai's Tale (Haugaard) -- gr. 8+; historical fiction; 1600-1700sAD
Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain (Ray) -- picture book, but text heavy, and a lovely book on Japan's famous 18th/19th century artist
Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho (Spivak & Demi) -- picture book, much less text, but haiku-inspired (Basho is Japan's famed 17th century haiku poet)
Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shoguns (Blumberg)-- gr.5-8; nonfiction; 1850sAD
Inside Story: Samurai Castle (MacDonald) -- gr. 5-8; nonfiction -- samurai era is medieval, not ancient 
Simple Guides: Shinto (Reader) -- 7/8+; nonfiction
Life in Ancient Japan (Richardson) -- gr. 4-7; nonfiction
Step Into series: Ancient Japan (MacDonald) -- gr. 4-7; nonfiction -- ancient and medieval

movies
Spirited Away (2001) -- animated; modern setting, but a good feel for Japanese spirit world
Hidden Fortress (1958)  -- dir.: Akira Kurasawa; the movie George Lucas based Star Wars on; samurai times (1600s-1700sAD)
Seven Samurai (1954) -- dir.: Akira Kurasawa; U.S. wester The Magnificent Seven based on this beautiful classic; samurai times (1600s-1700sAD)

possibly explore
videos on different Japanese theater types: Kabuki, Noh, and Bunkaku

CHINA

books
The Cat Who Went to Heaven (Coatsworth) -- gr. 4-6; fiction/follktale, Buddhism
ChiLi Purse (Fang) -- fiction/folktales -- not sure how ancient
Life in Ancient China (Challen) -- gr. 4-7; nonfiction
Science in Ancient China (Beshore)-- gr. 4-6; nonfiction; young for your 12yo, but a very nice overview of inventions, tech, medicine, etc. of early China
Confucious: The Golden Rule (Freedman) -- nonfiction; ancient (500sBC); picture book, but text-heavy and a good intro to the man and his philosophy
Inside Buddhism (Hazen) -- gr. 5-8; nonfiction

movies/documentaries
Forbidden Kingdom (2008) -- ancient -- feature film; monkey king story/tribute by western filmmakers, starring Jet Li and Jackie Chan
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) -- ancient -- 2 brief s*x scenes, no nudity; lots of swordplay, deaths but not buckets o'blood
Hero (2002) -- ancient -- ONE brief s*x scene, no nudity; lots of arrows, swordplay, deaths but not buckets o'blood
NOVA: Secrets of Lost Empires: China Bridge -- recreate a bridge from a Song Dynasty (1000AD) painting
NOVA: China's Age of Invention -- ancient/medieval -- Song Dynasty, 960AD-1280AD
NOVA: Mysterious Mummies of China -- ancient -- 3000yo mummies
PBS: China's Terracotta Warriors -- ancient -- 210BC

possibly explore
Monkey King myths (from the medieval Journey to the West saga) -- perhaps this graphic novel??

Buddhism and Shintoism were both established in ancient (pre-AD) times, so both fit in with a study of Ancient China and Japan.

ETA -- Aarrrgggh! Didn't realize this was an old thread resurrected! Please disregard.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Lori D.

[Porridge]

3 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

@JHLWTM and @Farrar - Thank you both for the recommendation of the comic series. It was an absolute hit.

Do you have any recommendations for post-Dynasty China? Early 1900s - now? 

I wish that comic series had one more book   *sigh*

Unfortunately we haven’t looped back to modern times, yet. For 12 years old, you could try to find a bunch of good biographies- Sun Yatsen, Chiang Kai Shek, Hudson Taylor, etc.

for a more holistic approach, This one looks concise but comprehensive, but the reviews say the writing is a bit dry...

Rana Mitter

Modern China: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

 

[Lori D.]

4 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

Do you have any recommendations for post-Dynasty China? Early 1900s...

early 1900s books
- Young Fu of the Upper Yangtzee (Lewis) -- 1920s China; fiction; gr. 7-9
- Homesick: My Own Story (Fritz) -- 1920s; author Jean Fitz' memories of growing up in China as the child of missionaries; I confess, I found her tone to be very whiny and resentful; some of her other books seem to have an angry edge toward Christianity, and I would guess it stems from her childhood?

early 1900s movies
- The Last Emperor (1987) -- beautiful movie, but preview for suitability (adult content); it follows China's last emperor from 1908 - 1950s

post 1950 books
- Red Scarf Girl (Jiang) -- 1960s; gr. 8+; memoir
- Revolution is Not a Dinner Party (Compestine) -- 1970s; gr. 5-8; memoir
- Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Sijie) -- Cultural Revolution 1960s/70s; high school/adult; fiction but semi-autobiographical
 

[Bocky]

Seconding Red Scarf Girl or Revolution is Not a Dinner Party, both good for middle school IMO. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is more mature in its themes - my DD15 would not have appreciated it at 12 yrs. She read it and also the Making of Modern China comic series as part of Farrar's GPS East Asia Unit.

She enjoyed Adeline Yeh Mah, China: Land of Dragons and Emperors in middle school. The last 2 chapters cover modern China.

[Farrar]

Seconding most of the above. Rana Mitter's Very Short Introduction is very short and succinct, but also a little bit academic feeling. Still, I used in in the high school core that I wrote.

I wouldn't suggest Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress before high school for most students, though it's lovely. But it does mention sex and abortion. It would depend on the student though. My boys read it last year for ninth grade and one really enjoyed it.

Seconding Revolution is Not a Dinner Party and Red Scarf Girl, both of which are great. Also appropriate for this age is Little White Duck, which is a graphic novel, also focused on the Cultural Revolution.

Really, most of the Cultural Revolution memoirs out there are okay for this age if you're motivated and interested. A few have violent or raunchy bits, but not most. Many of them are actually less bleak than Red Scarf Girl, where the protagonist is so young and deals with what I think was likely some depression - that makes her descriptions feel even more bleak. I know the suicide in the memoir feels starker to me than some others I've read. If you're really interested, I think the two best are two of the oldest - first, Life and Death in Shanghai, which paints a great portrait of resistance to oppression. The protagonist is older and the focus is a little different - on art and business. But it's very interesting. She had a very unique CR experience. The other is Jung Chang's Wild Swans, which traces her family from the late Qing to the end of the CR, following her grandmother, her mother, and herself. It's wonderful and very compelling. Nothing inappropriate beyond all the things that are already inappropriate in reading about such an oppressive period. Wild Swans does a really good job of explaining the history in detail as well as her own experiences and oral history.

Going back a little farther, two suggestions. One is Boxers and Saints, the graphic novel duo by Gene Yang. It's a masterpiece of graphic novel storytelling and really fascinating - about the Boxer Rebellion. Another thing I'd suggest as interesting if you're super motivated would be A Daughter of Han, which is an oral history of a working class woman in the late 1800's and early 1900's. A relatively quick read and very interesting.

Also, I'll second The Last Emperor. It's a beautiful film. There is some nudity and sexual themes... it's mostly not the focus.

Fast forwarding to now... there are many, many good films. I especially suggest Not One Less, from about 20 years ago, about a girl in a very rural village. The technology is out of date, and some things have gotten better in China, but there is still a huge gap between city and country and the gulf between rich and poor has grown by leaps and bounds, so the themes are very current. It's loosely based on a true story and the filmmaker - Zhang Yimou, who is one of China's greatest filmmakers of all time - used real people instead of actors for the film, giving it a very interesting feel. Also, Vote for Me is a great little documentary from about a decade about the first class president election at one Chinese school - traditionally, teachers would just choose a teacher's pet to be class president, so this is exploring how things are changing. It's just an interesting peek into a typical Chinese school and the lives of typical kids. 

There aren't a lot of great resources about some of the more recent topics in Chinese history - I don't know of anything geared toward this age or for adults but shorter/more engaging about the Tiananmen Massacre, for example, or about China's economic boom or current issues - though there are plenty of mini-videos or general news documentaries about those sorts of topics.

Fiction... a 12 yo could easily read a short story by Lao She or Lu Xun, China's great early 20th century writers. There are poems you could find for any point in the 20th century as well. The "Misty Poets" were a group of poets writing when China first opened up in the 70's and 80's. Fiction from today is harder... a lot of it is just not that accessible to younger readers. But I will second that writers like Pearl Buck (who was American, but grew up in China) and Asian American authors like Lisa See and Amy Tan have some great historical fiction that reads like page turners and could be an enjoyable part of a China unit.

 

Edited July 5, 2019 by Farrar

[J-rap]

We did a unit on ancient China.  Unfortunately I'm not home so don't have access to my syllabus.  But, I'd recommend ancient China.  It is absolutely fascinating.  They were so advanced early on!  We did find several movies on Netflix that took place in ancient China and based on real history, and those really helped us imagine what it was like.

[Porridge]

@Farrar what’s your website?

[Farrar]

1 hour ago, JHLWTM said:

@Farrar what’s your website?

There's links in my sig. But you can find me at my professional site, where that high school humanities core that I mentioned is sold, or my personal site, where I blog about random stuff. 

[domestic_engineer]

On 7/4/2019 at 2:39 PM, chocolate-chip chooky said:

@JHLWTM and @Farrar - Thank you both for the recommendation of the comic series. It was an absolute hit.

Do you have any recommendations for post-Dynasty China? Early 1900s - now? 

I wish that comic series had one more book   *sigh*

Resurrecting an old thread to mention that the 5th book in the series is being written right now with the hopes of having it published in the next year.  I heard this news from this youtube interview with the author.