Happy Lunar New Year from the USC US-China Institute!
Teaching About Asia - April 2010
USCI's monthly e-newsletter on news and resources for teaching about Asia
April 15, 2010
Teaching About Asia Newsletter
April 2010
How do we know what we know about China and other places? Often our views are shaped by print and broadcast news coverage. On April 21, the USC US-China Institute will screen a rough cut of Assignment China: Back to Beijing, a 40 minute documentary on the work of American reporters in China just after the US and China reestablished diplomatic relations. The documentary features interviews with many correspondents, footage of their reporting, as well as an interview with the Chinese official responsible for overseeing their work. This documentary will allow teachers to explore with students the challenges of reporting on a big and complicated place for a distant audience. Correspondents candidly note the challenges they faced, the mistakes they made, and their successes at helping reading and viewing audiences getting a better grasp on a dramatically changing China.
Our April newsletter also brings various learning opportunities that will help teachers implement East Asian studies into K-12 curriculum. Everyone can benefit by attending any of the East Asia-focused lectures, exhibitions, and documentary screening events in the Los Angeles area. UCLA will also host citywide events including a lecture on Nestorians and Manichaeans on the South China Coast in the time of Marco Polo on April 22, 2010. The Bowers Museum is currently exhibiting Secrets of the Silk Road until July 25, 2010 which features over 150 objects relating to all aspects of the people and cultures of the Silk Road.
Also included are learning opportunities available to K-12 educators. On Saturday, May 1, 2010, K12 teachers have the opportunity to attend the "Integrating Human Rights into the Curriculum" workshop at USC. Guest speakers will use case studies from East Timor, Korea, and China to enhance understanding of contemporary Asian cultures and regimes, of international human rights standards and the human rights work of governmental and non-governmental entities. Register for this free all-day workshop by April 26. This summer, also at USC, USCI will offer an intensive nine-day residential summer seminar, "East Asia Since 1800," for educators employed outside of the greater Los Angeles area. The deadline to apply is Friday, July 9, 2010. For additional information and to download applications/registration forms for any of our seminars and workshops, please visit the K-12 section of our website: http://china.usc.edu. Global Exploration for Educators Organization also provides learning opportunities for teachers by encouraging and helping them to travel abroad. The organization provides resources to help teachers use their travel learning experiences and incorporate them in the classroom.
Please share this newsletter with your colleagues and encourage them to subscribe by visiting the USCI website`s newsletter subscription page and selecting the "K-12 Education" subscriber category.
In this issue:
Asia in the Classroom - USC campus events
Asia in Los Angeles - Citywide events
Learning Opportunities for Teachers
Museum Exhibitions on Asia
Teachers on Asia
♦ Asia in the Classroom - USC campus events
⇒ USCI Documentary - Assignment China
Date: April 21, 2010
Time: 4:00pm to 6:00 pm
Location: USC Davidson Conference Center
Address: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Cost: Free; RSVP appreciated but not required: uschina@usc.edu or 213-821-4382.
The USC U.S.-China Institute has launched a new multimedia project exploring the work of China correspondents and the role they have played in shaping American perceptions of China and U.S. policy toward China. USCI Senior Fellow Mike Chinoy serves as the lead reporter. Chinoy`s widely known for his more than two decades of award-winning reporting from China for CNN. And again, USCI students handle the research, transcription, videography, and editing. Assignment China features interviews with journalists who were based in China and Hong Kong.
Sponsored by USC U.S.-China Institute
⇒ USC Conference- The Everlasting King---King Hu and Come Drink with Me
Date: April 30, 2010
Time: 1:00pm to 5:30 pm
Location: Leavey Library Auditorium
Address: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Cost: Free; RSVP to eascrsvp@usc.edu
This conference on East Asian popular culture will feature a film screening of Come Drink with Me, a round table discussion, and special guest, Actress Cheng Pei Pei.
Sponsored by the USC East Asian Studies Center and the USC Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
⇒ USCI Workshop- Integrating Human Rights into Your Curriculum: Case Studies from Asia
Date: May 1, 2010
Time: 9:00am to 4:00 pm
Location: USC Taper Hall (THH) Room 118
Address: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Cost: Free; Register by April 26, 2010
The workshop will use case studies from Asia to enhance understanding of contemporary Asian cultures and regimes, of international human rights standards and the human rights work of governmental and non-governmental entities. In addition, participants will learn how to share this understanding with their students. Participants will be provided with materials and assistance in developing their own lessons to strengthen content competence and to develop grade and subject-appropriate analytical and communication skills.
Sponsored by USC U.S.-China Institute
♦ Asia in Los Angeles - Citywide events
Date: April 16, 2010
Time: 3:00pm-4:30pm
Location: 243 Royce Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
A Numata Colloquium Series talk by Professor Robert Campany, USC
In this talk he will first introduce the text and the larger miracle-tale genre to which it belongs. He will then offer remarks on selected themes in the text that are of interest to historians of Buddhism, Chinese religions, and comparative religions. One of these themes will be the relation, in general, between miracle tales and the social and religious networks that produce them. Another will be the extent to which Mingxiang ji exemplifies the “sinification” of Buddhism—and what this might mean.
Date: Thursday, April 22, 2010
Time: 4:00 to 6:00 pm
Location: 243 Royce Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
This lecture and power-point presentation is based on material finds of Christian (both Nestorian and Catholic) and Manichaean remains found at the port-city of Quanzhou which was famous under the name of Zayton in the time of Marco Polo as a great centre of foreign residents on the South China Coast.
⇒ Free Screening of "Tibet in Song" (2008, Tibet)
Date: April 23, 2010
Time: 7:30pm-9:30pm
Location: James Bridges Theater, 1409 Melnitz , Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
Ngawang Choephel`s stirring documentary tells of the rpression of Tibetan traditional music under Chinese occupation. Choephel, a former political prisoner in Chinese-occupied Tibet, introduces us to an array of Tibetans who contend with the forced disappearance of their culture and courageously fight for its preservation and restoration.
Part of the UCLA International Institute Human Rights Film Series.
♦ Learning Opportunities for Teachers
⇒ USCI-Summer Residential Seminar: East Asia Since 1800
APPLICATION DEADLINE: FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2010, or until seminar is full
The USC U.S. – China Institute (USCI) and the National Consortium for Teaching About Asia (NCTA) are offering a nine-day residential summer seminar for educators employed outside of the greater Los Angeles area. The seminar will be held at USC and participants housed at the USC Radisson Hotel. Enrollment is limited to 24 participants and priority will be given to high school world history and language arts teachers, though all K-12 educators are invited to apply. Sessions will meet at the USC Davidson Conference Center from 9 am to 3 pm from Monday, August 2 to Friday, August 6 and Monday, August 9 to Thursday, August 12, 2010. For these meeting days, participants will be provided with housing and parking at the USC Radisson Hotel, as well as breakfast and refreshments. One seminar meeting day (TBD) will be devoted to an all-expenses-paid field trip to Asia-specific cultural sites around Los Angeles.
Seminar Benefits include:
-$200 in East Asian reference and teaching materials
-$200 East Asia-focused resource materials for use in the classroom
-$500 Stipend
-Six USC Rossier School of Education Continuing Education Units (CEUs), processing fee applicable
To Apply: china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx
⇒ Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO)
Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO) is a 501c3 non-profit organization that helps and encourages educators to travel abroad. GEEO hopes to make America more outward-looking by helping teachers travel and then giving them an effective way to share these experiences in their classrooms. GEEO is now taking reservations for summer travel programs to India, Panama, Peru, Tunisia, Southern Africa (South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe) and China.
Educators can earn graduate school credit and professional development credit while seeing the world. Trips are designed for teachers and include activities such as school visits and homestays that give participants authentic exposure to local culture. Trips are also deeply discounted so as to be affordable to teachers. GEEO also helps teachers find funding to subsidize the cost of the trips.
Additional information can be found here: http://www.geeo.org.
♦ Museum Exhibitions on Asia
⇒ JACCC - Intertwined: Bamboo & Stem
Dates: April 24, 2010 - May 9, 2010
Location: Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC), George J. Doizaki Gallery, 244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 12:00 to 5:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 11:00 am to 4 pm
Admission: Free
The JACCC welcomes Kenichi Nagakura, an internationally recognized contemporary bamboo master and artist. Passionate about jazz, classical, and rock music, he strives to elicit the “rhythm and harmony” of bamboo. His organic sculptural baskets are rooted in tradition but reflect a wide range of influences including Pop Art and Jomon ceramics from Japan’s pre-historic period.
⇒ Bowers Museum - Secrets of the Silk Road
Dates: Through July 25, 2010
Location: 2002 North Main St., Santa Ana, CA 92706
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm; open late the fourth Thursday of every month until 8:00 pm
Admission: Adults $18; seniors (62+), students and children (6-17) $16; children under 6 free
Education coordinator: Linda Kahn, 714-567-3679
This landmark exhibition features more than 150 objects relating to all aspects of the people and cultures of the Silk Road during its early period. The legendary trade route linked Xian, the then-capitol of China in the East, to major Mediterranean cities in the West such as Rome and Baghdad. For more on the exhibit, log on to www.bowers.org.
⇒ Santa Barbara Museum of Art - Experiencing Indian Art and Culture
Date: May 2, 2010
Location: 1130 State Street, Santa Barbara CA 93101
Hours: Tuesday - Sunday 11 am to 5 pm, Closed Mondays
Admission: Adults $9, Seniors (age 65+) $6, Students with ID $6, Ages 6-17 $6, Under 6 free
The Museum`s Indian collection includes gifts from two prominent scholars of Indian art: Dr. Stephen Huyler and Dr. Pratapaditya Pal. This exhibition, covering a span of 4,000 years, celebrates diversity in Indian art, highlighting sculptures made of clay, stone, and bronze, and paintings of various schools. Hindu and Buddhist works of art from Kashmir, Nepal, and Tibet are also included.
⇒ Pacific Asia Museum - China Modern: Designing Popular Culture 1910-1970
Dates: August 5, 2010 to February 6,2011
Location: 46 North Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101
Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Admission: General $9; students/seniors $7; free every 4th Friday of the month
China Modern: Designing Popular Culture 1910-1970 demonstrates how political ideologies and cultural values are transmitted via everyday objects, with a selection of over 100 iconic pieces. The exhibition focuses on the creation of advertising images, along with commodities, and things made for the modern home in two main periods: `Cosmopolitan Capitalism: Shanghai Under the Republic, 1910-1949` and `A Revolution in Culture: Designing the People’s Republic, 1949-1970`.
⇒ Pacific Asia Museum- Silk Road Storytime
Dates: May 1, 2010 ( Or first Saturday of every month)
Location: 46 North Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101
Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Admission: General $9; students/seniors $7; free every 4th Friday of the month
This family event takes place the first Saturday of every month at 10:30am, held about three times a year. For this one of a kind, exclusive event, gather in the travelers’ tent for fabulous tales from along the Silk Road. Family events are some of the most popular at Pacific Asia Museum.Event is included with admission.
⇒ Pacific Asia Museum- Pakistan Family Festival
Date: May 1, 2010
Location: 46 North Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101
Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Admission: General $9; students/seniors $7; free every 4th Friday of the month
This family festival takes place May 1, 2010 from 12pm to 4pm, and it is included with admission. Celebrate the arts and culture of Pakistan! Enjoy music, crafts, demonstrations, dance performances, and more! Explore the galleries on your own or come early for a family friendly docent-led tour at 11am.
♦ Teachers on Asia
Teachers of all levels and subjects are invited to join our "Asia in My Classroom" web forum. To become a registered user (enabling you to post to the board), please e-mail us your request along with your name, school, and the grades and subjects you teach. What teachers have been talking about:
⇒ On free documentary on Hulu: "I came across an interesting documentary on manga as a literary genre that would be a great resource for middle and high school students. This would be especially great for teachers who have taught the basic literary genres and is looking to go a bit deeper. In Japan, comics and graphic novels are regarded as their own genre equal to novels, poetry, and drama. Manga Mad traces it back to the wood block prints of the Edo Period. Western culture did not have such easy access to easily and cheaply reproduced books of essays and poetry with images until it was too late. Western culture was conditioned to accept books of text as scholarly where Japanese culture accepts text and images. This became more important during the Meiji Period because these books were a very cheap form of entertainment. This is available on Hulu for free."
- Joanne Dragich, Firebaugh High School
⇒ On Chinese Propaganda Posters: "Several times a semester my students create propaganda posters, and I use the book Chinese Propaganda Posters to illustrate what a good poster does. Students are fascinated by the rosy-cheeked people who are always happy, well-fed, and in simple but always clean clothes. A perfect example of `perception is reality.`"
- AJ Galloway, Franklin High School
⇒ On using the Discovery Channel website: "The Discovery Channel has resources to use in the classroom. I found some lesson plans about the Korean War there... Once you get to the link, click on "Classroom Resources", and you can search topics related to East Asia and China. I found some lessons on The Great Wall and the Korean War. Of course, the Discovery Channel has tons of different programming subjects, as does the History Channel. And you can link other channels as well through the Discovery Channel website."
- Kristian Engle, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School
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USC U.S. - China Institute
南加州大学美中学院
3535 S. Figueroa Street, FIG 202
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1262
United States of America
web: http://china.usc.edu/
e-mail: uschina@usc.edu
phone: 213-821-4382
fax: 213-821-2382
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