In the Curriculum Review Section of "Education About Asia" (Winter, 2007), there is a great commentary regarding an Educational Unit of Study developed by the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) institute.
A major strength of the unit is that it relies heavily on the perspective of Chinese students. The unit builds an awareness of student life in China during the Cultural Revolution. Using primary sources, students read and participate in activities that help them understand the period.
A brief summary of the content:
- An overview of the Revolution using a mixed up timeline of events - and drawing on student resources to put events in order.
- Teacher led daily morning exercises that mirror Chinese student academic life.
- Student performances of Revolutionary Songs to popular rhythms they have created.
- Propaganda poster analysis
- Reading "Red Scarf Girl"
The reviewer highly recommends the unit because of the variety of content involved - from a comparison of Mao and Confucius quotes, to student re-enactments of typical expeeriences, to modern day textbook versions of events. The unit comes with a compact disc that includes music and visuals of the propoganda posters.
To learn more about the unit and how to order it, visit the SPICE website at http://spice.stanford.edu/catalog/chinas_cultural_revolution/.
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China's Cultural Revolution
04/20/2008 05:56 PM
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China's Cultural Revolution
I'm very excited about this website. It would work perfectly in connection with Animal Farm. We discuss politics around the world and this would be an excellent lesson to tie in with Mao.
agreed. this is a phenomenal resource for animal farm.
Anything that involves interactive activities is always excellent! I'm definitely going to have to use at least bits and parts of it!
There are many resources for lesson plans for "Red Scarf Girl" on the Internet. If you want a male perspective from South China read "China's Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution".
Author Da Chen is told that he cannot go to school because his family, landowners, have had enough education [in the past] and that it is time to offer the peasants the opportunity. His older sisters and brothers have to quit school and work in the fields. At the end of the Cultural Revolution, he and a cousin get to attend school, study hard to pass the examinations and continue their educations at university. Chen ends up studying English and moving to the US.
This is a good comparison/contrast between male/female and city/country during the Cultural Revolution.
Both are easy reads--reading level 6-7 grade--but have much to discuss and ponder for any grade level 6-12.
Today Nepal's monarchy came to a quiet end after over 200 years. It was voted by the parliament back in december to abolish the monarchy in a deal with ex-rebels. I guess Nepal is know going to be known as the Himalayan Republic. This seems like a pretty big deal to me and I wonder how it might affect Nepal's relationship with China. it will be interesting to see.
That was a very moving lecture we had on the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The films we viewed really sent home the message how devastating this time period was for the Chinese people. The Red Guards were university students who were sent out to control all forms of expression, sadly enough. Now, we know just how important artistic forms of expression can be, because we have witnessed how people suffer when it is taken away from them.
Good heads up on the SPICE institute. Whenever you can include lessons that show material from a certain perspective such as that of the Chinese students during the Cultural Revolution you have a solid lesson. When I do my unit on WWI I always read excerpts from "All Quiet on the Western Front" because it shows the students a German perspective. I will definitely be checking out the lesson plans on the SPICE institute.
I had no clue what the Cultural Revolution was all about until I attended this seminar. I had heard the term used by others but did not comprehend the full extent of what occurred in China during the Cultural Revolution. It was sad to hear the accounts of the people who suffered. At the same time I admired Mao's ability to get such a large number of people mobilized even if they had no centralized control system. To see bands of young people mobilized was inspiring but at the same time some of the things they did were also scary.
William Joseph of Wellesley College visited China during 1972 and took many photos. He's just made them available at a website entitled "Serve the People: Images of Daily Life During the Cultural Revolution."
Please visit the site at: http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/China1972/main.html and let us know what you think of it. [Edit by="Clay Dube on Aug 21, 6:39:39 PM"][/Edit]