Tuesday night we watched "The Way Home." I focused on the cultural aspect of the film. It shows the utmost tolerance on the grandmother's part. She wanted to turn the grandchild around with kindness and generosity. Great contrast of a city boy that is utterly spoiled and is forced to witness the hardships of a village life. Nicely done![Edit by="amohammed on Aug 2, 6:07:01 PM"][/Edit]
A great study of the Samurai which could be used in your classroom to learn about the 11th century and on. This book has wonderful full colored photos, black and white photos, and much more. You could use this book as your text. It was written by Stephen Turnbull who has his PhD from Leeds University in Japanese religious history. SAMURAI The World of the Warrior, is a great read.
ASIAN LAUGHTER - An Anthology of Oriental Satire and Humor edited by Leonard Feinberg (1971). Well the title says it all! The catagories are as follows: On Chinese Humor - Jokes, Anecdotes, Poetry, Drama, Novels, Essays, Proverbs. On Japanese Humor - Jokes, Poetry, Drama, Stories and Sketches, Novels, Proverbs. On Indian Humor - Folktales and Fables, Anecdotes, Poetry, Stories and Sketches, Novels, Proverbs. On Ceylonese Humor - Folktales, Anecdotes, Sketches, Proverbs.
This is a nice cross-section of material that the teacher could use to compare different genres or different cultures. It's uses are endless for the History or L/A teacher. Hey Chinese and Japanese Jokes oh yes! ??? sometimes it makes us think of the culture ........
One Chinese- The Manly Way, "You come out this minute!" the wife commanded. "A man's a man." he answered. "When he says he won't come out, there's nothing you can do about it. He won't come out."
The Bowers not only has nice informative exhibits, but is also a great place for books to help support the curriculum you teach. I picked up a wonderful book on the Silk Road titled "Silk Road, Monks, Warriors, and Merchants." I also picked up great books on the Incas, Maya, Aztecs, and "The Wisdom of the Buddha." All four of these books are from the same series called Discoveries. They have lots of great pictures and the information is presented in a very simple informative way.
Language Arts teachers- this is a must see film. "Mummy 3" is a perfect movie to teach the concept of historical fiction. Jet Li plays a powerful, Emperor Ch'in Shihuangdi, who becomes the Dragon King. Great Chinese icons and symbols are perfect to teach setting. It is full of action and drama, at times it was a tear jerker, put the humor remained throughout. "Mummy 3" has powerful scenes of the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors. I am going to use this movie in my class to reinforce the idea of historical fiction.
A very good novel to read and use, perhaps in a high school world history class, is "Native Speaker" by Chang Rae Lee.
Excerpts of the novel can be used to Koreans in history to Korean Americans today. The story follows the life of a young Korean American man and focuses on his relationship with his caucasian girlfriend, her parents, and his strict Korean father. The book is very very good at engaging the reader, especially because the story is from the first person point of view.
The book covers many asian american issues that include: the tendency for Korean immigrants to move to the United States and experience downward mobility in their occupation; how the Korean community helps its members, especially those who represent them; racial tensions between blacks and Koreans; and the Korean-American identity issue of not being Korean enough, and not being "white" enough. One of the best exceprts one should use lies in the central characters inner thoughts about his father's inabilty to continue practicing medicine in America and his subsequent feelings about being forced to work in a working class occupation. A very good read.
Two outstanding films that can be used during a unit on World War 2 would be Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima". Both of them are excellent and should be watched as a pair. Nevertheless, "Letters from Iwo Jima" stands out because the film is from the Japanese point of view - and the film does an amazing job of painting characters that real, diverse, and very close to home.
The central character of "Letters" is Saigo (which in Japanese means "last"), a baker from a small town who is forced by the government to fight for the Japanese army. From the beginning we see aspects of his personality that illustrate how much of a "regular" guy he is - from his banter with his partners, to his grumblings as he takes out the feces of his platoon. The film has several flashbacks that show us the former lives of some of the soldiers, and how not all Japanese soldiers were committed to fighting the war.
Secondly, you can use this film to tie in a geography lesson on how the geography of the islands played into the battle of Iwo Jima.
A very good movie that is tragic and very sad. The negative thing would be the language - the film is all in Japanese, so unless you have a large screen for a projector, some students might not be able to follow the words.
Explaining Chinaby Steve Allen - yep the comedian. This is mainly based on three trips that he took to China. Two trips in 1975 and the last at least for this book in 1979. He takes you on a history trip as he travels from location to location. On July 30th, 1979 Mr. Allen tells you about his lunch at the embassy with George & Barbara Bush and Steves son Bill. Lots of facts, commentary and vacationing talk. Not always the politically correct but a good read.
A Day in the Life of China is a photographic book with only small captions. Beautiful done by various photographers. It was published by Collins Publishers in 1989. One or two of the photos are not appropriate for your students (boob shot) but the rest of this 220 page photo opt is. This is great way to bridge the gap of a far away location for your students (if the Olympics have not done it). Hey this may be where our USC China Institute got their idea from. Awe - USC has more words! I almost forgot that each picture has a simple outlined map showing the approximate site where the photo was taken. [Edit by="mstark on Aug 16, 8:50:21 PM"][/Edit] [Edit by="mstark on Aug 16, 9:23:59 PM"][/Edit]
Highlights of Beijing This is a none-book-book. Kind of reminds me of a book of large post cards, but it is not. It was distributed by "China National Publications Import & Export Corporation" in 1988. Kind of interesting - This is definitely a tourists book written in both Chinese and English. Lots of photos for your students with captioned information. A small delight for the visual learners (like me).
Tales of Old Japan compiled by and commentary by A. B. Mitford. This is very similiar to the Anthology of Japanese Literatureprovided to us except much better. Mitford provides us not only with 29 short readings, but also of the history or information behind the readings and extensive footnotes. To top this off we are provided "with '31' illustrations drawn and cut on wood by Japanese artists." Hey Clay, keep the new but bring in the old.
Park, Linda Sue The Kite Fighters, Clarion Books:New York 2000
I have searched for a good piece of juvenile fiction for medieval Korea for awhile and this is the best I've found. The setting is Seoul in 1473. The main characters are the brothers Lee, Young-sup and Kee-sup with major support from Rice Merchant Lee, their father, the boy- King, and the old kite maker.
Kee-sup is the older of the two brothers, is responsible for maintaining the family name and honor, and is being groomed to take the royal examinations for employment in the palace. Young-sup is a typical second son and jealous of the priveleges to which his brother is entitled. Though Kee-sup is not one to demand the tradional respect from his brother, Rice Merchant Lee is constantly reminding Young-sup to behave in a correct manner. Young-sup will inherit his father's business as is his due as second son.
Both boys are kite flyers, though each has his own unique talent; Kee-sup can build kites and Young-sup can fly them. One day the king comes to the hill where the boys are flying their kites. He commands that Kee-sup will make him a special kite. While Kee-sup is studying, Young-sup is out flying. He encounters the boy-King again and the king insists, in fact orders, Young-sup to treat him like any other boy as he teaches him how to fly a fighting kite. When the kite is delivered, the king is so pleased that he decides he must be involved in the kite fighting contest that caps the New Years holiday. He decides that Young-sup should fly his kite in the contest, but Rice Merchant Lee insists that the honor should go to the eldest son. How the issue is resolved, and the development of a secret weapon for winning the contest enliven the story.
Ms. Park packs a tremendous amount of historical and ethnographic material into this short book. Tok-gabi , invisible imps, affect the way kites fly; the duties to the ancestors in which Kee-sup must participate once he reaches ten years of age; the capping ceremony that turns Kee-sup from boy to man and eligible for marriage; the history of the real boy-King, King Songjong; the Confucian ethic; and the details of making and fighting kites all add zest to the narrative.
I wouldn't mind having a class set of these in paperback, but for the moment I will have to be content to have it in the library and on the class reading list. Maybe I'll get a chance to read parts of it aloud.
Just a follow up not on Peter Hessler's book Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China.. He illuminates many of the issues of concern in China i.e. urban vs. rural and the origins of the controversial Fulan Gong. I would welcome a discussion with anyone about this book.[Edit by="eamador on Aug 31, 10:23:29 PM"][/Edit]
Kure, Mitsuo Samurai: Arms, Armor, Costume. Edison, New Jersey:Chartwell Books, Inc. 2007
Dr. Kure has assembled an amazing number of Japanese costumes relating to the samurai period. Using actual historic apparel and weapons and some very precise reconstructions, he presents a photographic series that is unique and covers dress from Heian Period to the Edo Period. The detail is incredible and, as Dr. Kure mentions in his introduction, he has also tried to make the undergarments as authentic as possible. A couple of the photos show the skull cap wigs that had to be used for an authentic samurai hairdo, but for the most part, the wigs are not noticeable. One of the pluses for the book is that it includes costumes for women as well. Each costume includes a brief description and a line drawing indicating, in Japanese, the name of each part of the ensemble. I like it because the book is coffee-table size and the images are quite large. They are great for PowerPoint presentations and for wall posters. The book is available on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0785822089/ref=s9sdps_c2_14_img1-rfc_g1-frt_g1-3215_g1-3102_p?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=18WTPF0R20DTRP69RYZJ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=436516001&pf_rd_i=507846. A couple of the reviews on the above link are quite critical and are worth reading. They were not relevant to my purposes, but I found them quite interesting.
I've been reading Soul Mountain by Xingjian, as far as I know he is the only Literature Nobel prize winning Chinese writer. Soul Mountain is a long novel and sometimes confusing as he switches between first, second person narration. Text The novel seems to be formatted in vignettes of varying length, often disconnected except in that they are points on the journey to Soul Mountain. I like the emphasis on shamanism and Taoism, there are erotic parts that seem to break the Confusician prud that seem so much a part of Chinese fiction.
I will keep trying and report more later.[Edit by="kspachuk on Jun 17, 10:16:30 PM"][/Edit]
GAO Xingjian 高行健 is the only Chinese who has thus far received the Nobel Prize for Literature. There are other remarkable Chinese authors who might also be recognized for their contribution to world culture. If you'd like to read Gao's official Nobel biography, it is here:
When Gao received the award in 2000, he had been living in France for years. Within China, his award was not celebrated. Here's a NY Times article about a visit he made to Hong Kong in 2001.
Here is a selection from a 2/11/2001 Associated Press article about how Gao's work was depicted in China.
**** Breaking with the official silence in Chinese media over Nobel prize winning author Gao Xingjian, a state newspaper Sunday called him an ''awful writer'' whose honoring with the prize was ''ludicrous.''
The Yangcheng Evening News' attack marked a rare discussion of Gao in the Chinese press. China's communist government, which considers Gao an exiled dissident and bans his works, all but ignored his winning of the prize last October and no mention appeared in the entirely state controlled media.
In a lengthy criticism of the novel ''Soul Mountain,'' considered one of Gao's signature works, the Yangcheng assailed Gao's writing as simplistic and disappointing.
But the paper urged readers to buy the book so that they might know ''what kind of a joke the Swedish literature academy is playing on the Chinese people.'' The Swedish Academy is responsible for awarding the prize.
....
The article did not explain how to purchase the outlawed book, which is unavailable at bookstores.
Stunned by the Nobel committee's conferring of the prize on Gao, China's Foreign Ministry scorned it as a political maneuver by foreign enemies of China. ********
The award-winning film "Wings of Defeat" will make its U.S. broadcast premiere on May 5, 2009 on the PBS program "Independent Lens." Please check your local PBS station's listings for more information.
"'Wings of Defeat' brings viewers behind the scenes of World War II’s Pacific theater to reveal the truth about the Kamikaze—the “suicide bombers” of their day. Interviews with surviving kamikaze, rare battle footage and Japanese propaganda reveal a side of WWII never before shown on film. American vets from the greatest generation tell harrowing tales of how they survived attacks. Wings of Defeat shatters the myth of the fanatical kamikaze to reveal a generation of men forced to pay for an empire’s pride with their lives."
I don't know if anyone is interested in Japanese animation, but I recall a cartoon series from the early 90's entitled, "Akira." The animation at that time was more sophisticated than what Americans usually watch. In addition, the story lines were of a mature nature. I found it interesting that evil characters were portrayed as those who had blond hair and blue eyes, while the good characters wore black clothing and had black hair and dark eyes.
This was a major shift in how good and evil characters are portrayed. Good characters usually wear white (until Chuck Norris made it "cool" to wear black) while the villians always wore black.
Nora Lam is a Chinese American who spent most of her life in China. As a Christian missionary, the Chinese government questioned and threatened to kill her. She was separated from her family and her husband was abusive. Eventually, she escaped The People's Republic of China into Hong Kong (while it was under British control). From Hong Kong, she moved to California where she speaks frequently about human rights abuses against Christians in China. Her film, "China Cry" depicts the hardships that she endured during her younger years at the hands of the Chinese government. The viewer will understand how the Chinese government treats those who follow Christianity.
I met a Chinese American film maker who complied approximately 200 to 350 film clips about Asian characters in American films.
His documentary profiles popular Asian characters such as the Asian characters in the "Susie Wong" series. In it he interviews Asian actors and actresses about the stereotypical roles that they played in these Hollywood films.
The film debued in the spring of 2008 for a limited release. Fortunately, the buzz for the movie was good.
I saw a preview of it at a mini film festival in LA.
I am almost done with Soul Mountain and I wouldn't say I understand it very well on this first reading. I am intrigued by the "wild man" motif that keeps recurring. I don't know if he means anything like the Robert Bly "wild man" mythpoetic tradition but in any case there is much that is mysterious in the book. The narrator often switches from male to female pov or focus and the inclusion of "you" seems powerful as if Whitman inspired.
I think I see the fingerprints of Samuel Beckett, the despair, the mundane, the silence...not sure the the writer does live in France now. [Edit by="kspachuk on Jun 17, 10:10:59 PM"][/Edit]
A picture book called Wabi SabiI would recommend for any grade. I teach high school and I often teach Haiku and Japanese culture. I found this book at my local library by chance, I got it for my daughter.
This is a great book for teaching the concepts of wabi and sabi through a cat named Wabisabi. Every page has a famous haiku from Basho and Shiki that is used in the narration of the story. The cat is trying to learn what her name means and takes a journey to find out.
I have tried to teach the idea of wabi and sabi but have not succeeded in the past. Hopefully this book will help some. I think it is appropriate in the secondary and primary classroom. The book uses the both pages laid out vertically for illustration, good for a big class. There is lots of additional information about Haiku and Haibun etc... in the back.
Zhang Yimou's Hero turned out to be a very interesting film. After seeing the clips from Prof. Ye's lecture, I had no idea what a tangled web this movie would turn out being. It had so many different paths...that at times I found myself wondering what the real story was. As an art teacher, I could really use this movie to talk about Calligraphy, especially with the relationship between calligraphy and swordmanship (that would really appeal to middle school students). The different shots were like paintings themselves, incredible harmony, and wonderful composition. I liked the movie quite a bit.
The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej ISBN-10: 0300106823
I finished this book not too long ago. It was very in-depth and while difficult to follow because of the long surnames and lack of pictures / photographs, it does provide a look into the revered king Rama IX of Thailand. It goes through the 9 reigns rather quickly, and delves into the mystery of Rama VIII's death. The book continues with the accomplishments, pitfalls, and challenges this "world's longest reigning monarch has gone through these past 60 years in power.
For those who have traveled to Thailand and has a passing interest in royalty, and / or Thai culture, this is a good book.[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:08:00 PM"][/Edit]
I Don't Want to Go to Thailand ISBN-10: 0816750246
This is a fun "diary" of a kid who reluctantly has to go to northern Thailand with his archeologist father. Made for elementary level students, it begins with his disinterest in going there and meeting people, to his acceptance and enjoyment of the culture. I got it from Amazon.com - real cheap![Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:07:40 PM"][/Edit]
This elementary / middle school level book tells the adventure of these "children secret agents" that get transported to Thailand to help the royal cook prepare a meal for the queen before a deadline. Hilarity ensues as the kids are thrown out of there element into temples, open-air markets, speed boats, and fried spicy insects! A fun book. I got it at Amazon. [Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:07:23 PM"][/Edit]
How to Draw Thailand's Sights and Symbols ISBN-10: 1404227415
This is a cool book to include in the Heritage unit of 5th grade's Open Court. It talks about symbols of Thailand and shows students / teachers how to draw them. Such as: orchids, spirit houses, elephants, temples, etc.[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:07:04 PM"][/Edit]
This is an high school and up book written as a diary about a kid's life. Panrit "Gor" Daoruang had a blog about his life as a teenager, his trials and tribulations, and it's been published as a book. Interesting as it is told from the viewpoint of the teen. [Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:06:48 PM"][/Edit]
I enjoyed this book because it's a collection of other traveler's talking about their adventures in Thailand. There's a lot of things I could relate to: from being the only foreigner in a village, to adventures that sprout out of nowhere, to shopping and language fiascos. Fun to think and reflect about AFTER you're home safe and sound...[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:06:33 PM"][/Edit]
I got another book about Thailand. This one might be a bit too spicy for students, but for those who have traveled to Thailand, and perhaps in Asia in general can find things to relate to.[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:06:15 PM"][/Edit]
Is another adventure tale in the setting of Thailand. Personally, I can't get enough of Thai-themed books while I'm away from Thailand. It rekindles my desire to travel there as soon as possible.[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:06:01 PM"][/Edit]
A good story about the life of a village girl in Thailand. An easy read for upper middle school students, and possibly as a read aloud for upper elementary school students. This book as a phrasebook section, maps, and photographs.[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:05:42 PM"][/Edit]
This novel depicts samurai life in the mid-1500s as seen through the eyes of a young boy. The plot is centered around the boy's ascension into samurai life and his participation in the struggles of real-life Japanese figures, like Oda Nobunaga and Takeda Shingen.
It is a great choice for middle school (or high school I suppose) because of the young age of the protagonist and the fast-paced story-line. Not only does it reinforce the history standards, but it gives the students a genuine feel for the time period. I have a class set and have used it in World History class and my homeroom, where students read the whole thing over the course of about six weeks (c. 230 pages).
Title: The Samurai's Tale Author: Erik Christian Haugaard 1984
Title: The Man With Three Faces Author: Hans-Otto Meissner 1957
This is a biography of Richard Sorge, centering on his time spent in Japan before and during World War Two. There are other (and longer) books out there, but this is one of the earliest attempts to capture the inner-workings of his mind and the reasons for his success. Richard Sorge was a Soviet spy who worked in Japan under the cover of a German journalist. As such, he was able to gain the trust of both German and Japanese officials and pass along critical information to the Soviet Union. He is widely considered one of the great spies of all-time.
Beyond the fun of reading this book (it reads like a spy thriller because it is a real spy thriller), it also casts a light on Japanese society of the 1930s and 1940s. War mobilization and political censorship and the role of the Japanese secret police are highlighted.
There is an other excellent book about the Sorge spy ring by Chalmers Johnson titled "An Instance of Treason: Ozaki Hotsumi and the Sorge Spy Ring". It has many photos and is very well written by an authority on Japanese history and culture. I know you will enjoy it. I too have found that bit of history very interesting. There are some other books about the Sorge spy ring but their titles escape me at the moment.[Edit by="mwhittemore on May 14, 12:04:25 PM"][/Edit] [Edit by="mwhittemore on May 14, 12:05:29 PM"][/Edit]
One of the best books I have seen on Haiku and on teaching Haiku is called Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku by William Higgins and Penny Harter. One of the most important insights I got from this book is that Haiku is essentially about brevity--so in English to say that it has to be 5-7-5 is inaccurate. In fact, to approximate short syllables of Japanese (one or two letters often in length) it might be more like 3-5-3 syllable count.
I have used this book for teaching Haiku concepts such as the use a cutting word or some use of juxtaposition of images for effect. Book provides a glossy of literary terms, I found the discussion of Wabi, Sabi, and Yugen interesting but not complete (check out my recommendation of the children's book Wabi Sabi). The book has plenty of non-Japanese haiku examples, many are by Spanish or English writers. There is a discussion of Haibun, a travel prose style of Haiku writing. Finally, there are lesson plans to use in the classroom. I recommend this book along with Joseph Tsujimoto's Teaching Poetry to Adolescent Writers. Tsujimoto teaches many Hawaiian Japanese and other Asian middle school kids. He believe in starting a literary tradition in the classroom through various poetic forms.
A short documentary that I saw on Frontline World is narrated and written by Douglas Rushkoff is worth getting a hold of. It is possible 30 minutes or less in length and is about the problem with video game addiction.
Douglas Rushkoff if you don't know is a media critic, he has done two documentary for Frontline: The Persuaders and Merchants of Cool, both of which are about advertising and pop media. His books Cohersion and Media Viruses are intriguing reading. He has even written a graphic novel and a sci fi book.
Anyway the Frontline (my favorite tv show) is about how in Korea (and Seoul, possibly the most wired city in the world, even Professor Jung-Kim noted this) video game addiction can and does kill. Kids will play for 24-72 hours straight in computer game centers. As you may know, the video games now are more networked and usually involve interaction online with other players. Since Korea has extremely high speed internet connections, games are even more compelling. Education in Korea is threatened and traditional roles. You probably can watch the episode online.
One book that I have just started reading, my summer reading, The Pearl Jacket edited by Shouhua Qi (Stone Bridge Press an interesting East Asia publisher) is an anthology of very short stories or what is also called flash fiction or microfiction of contemporary China. It is my hope that next year I will try to use more of this type of fiction in the classroom, to lace in more narrative in during persuasive and expository units and to enrich the curriculum. I see myself teaching minimalism i.e. Raymond Carver, Ann Beattie, May Robinson, Grace Paley and sudden fiction at the beginning of the year before moving onto longer pieces.
Flash fiction in China is called wei xing xiao shuo or goes by the name Minute Story yi fen zhong xiao shuo which indicates the amount of time needed to read it. There are other names for this genre of fiction, another interesting one is Smoke-Long Story quite appropriate for China and Asia. The editor believes that flash fiction began with the creation myths of Nuwa (ca. 350 BC), Fuxi, and Pangu. In the volume you will find "masters of modern fiction": Lu Xun, Lao She, Guo Morou, and Yu Dafu. The selections are arranged in thematic units. All that's missing is good highly interpretative discussion questions for a Shared Inquiry/Socratic Seminar.
I recommend the documentary The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara as a good supplemental video on the Firebombing of Japan, the bombing of Hiroshima, and of course for material on the Vietnam War.
I usually teach the book Hiroshima by John Hersey and use this video to show the extensive firebombing campaign of Japan. The segment that I show has images of each of the 70 cities that were firebombed during WWII. For each image there a comparison with an American city of equivalent size--it s a powerful segment and is short.
A good pairing with Siddharta by Herman Hesse is Buddha by Osamu Tezuka. I think several sections could be used to parallel a reading of Siddharta. Also, I have used Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics for examining the genre type and format. Check out Scott McCloud's online comics for a digital take on comics.
In watching the History Channel International I came across an interesting, and very useful, one hour show called "China - The Dragon's Ascent - Two Way Traffic" that explored the topic of the opening and closing of China to trade and outside influence. It began with the archaeological dig of a Silk Trade Route city, continued with the exploration of the maritime port of Guangzhou, showed how Buddhism was spread throughout China, and ended with showing how influences from the west have permeated China's culture today.
This was an easy to understand and visually stimulating show for students to watch. It is well organized, and would be simple to formulate an accompanying cloze summary for. It is an excellent source of new information on how the archaeologists analyze what the trade between the Middle East and China was. I discovered several new pieces of information with which to pepper my teaching. A very valuable hour spent.
These two books, one Chinese (Waiting, 1999) and one Japanese (Snow Country, 1956) deal with the same theme in two entirely different ways. Both books are about married men caught up in extramarital affairs and the women they are involved with.
Waiting by Ha Jin: I've had this book in my personal library for several years now and never got around to reading it. After attending the 2009 Summer Seminar, I gave it a read and really enjoyed it. The book takes place during China's Cultural Revolution and is the story of a man, his wife, and his mistress. Lin Kong works in Muji City as a doctor and only returns home to "Goose Village" once a year to see his wife, Shuyu. Shuyu represents the traditional Chinese wife; she has bound feet which mark her as backward, and a loveless, arranged marriage.
Every year Lin Kong goes to the courthouse to try and unsuccessfully petition for divorce. His mistriss, Manna, also works in Muji City. The couple must hide their affair (unconsumated) from the authorities and others in the city. According to state law, after 18 years a divorce can be granted even if one party refuses. The book's narrative follows Lin's life from the time of his marriage to Shuyu, until the main characters are in their late middle ages.
The book does a great job of illustrating some of the more human problems of the Cultural Revolution, while allowing the reader to experience both the rural and urban, traditional and modern China. I was totally captivated by the story and will be recommending it to some of my more mature high school students. I think girls especially would find the story touching as it deals with unrequited love and unfufilled desires. The text is very accessible to grade-level readers. The narrative is straight-forward and easy to follow. There is some semi-graphic sexual content and a touch of foul language. The book has many episodes which reinforce classroom study of China's Cultural Revolution.
The author, Ha Jin, was born in China and served for a time in the People's Liberation Army. He came to the U.S. in 1985, earned a Ph.D. at Brandeis University, and now teaches at Emory. I will definitely be reading some of Jin's other novels and short story collections.
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata: Like Waiting, Snow Country is also about forbidden love, this time between a city gentleman and a geisha. The book is beautifully written, like Haiku in book form. Unfortunately, I think that this would be difficult reading for my high school students unless they were in honors. The book does offer glimpses into Japanese traditions but in a more abstract, surreal form. I enjoyed the book immensely, and I even enjoyed the emptiness I felt at the books end.
The author, Yasunari Kawabata, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. He committed suicide in 1972. [Edit by="cowen on Oct 14, 3:27:51 PM"][/Edit]
When I saw the title, Chinese Cinderella, I thought it was a fairytale version of the story of Cinderella. After reading the post, I've become intrigued and would like to read it sometime in the future. On another note, I have used the various forms of Cinderella to expose students to how different cultures can still manage to say a similar message and yet be so different. A lot of my students prefer the story of the Korean and Japanese Cinderella -- what they thought was fascinating was the different time periods as well as the attire.
Ma and Lue are two young intellectual men Under Mao’s decree, intellectuals from the city are sent to the farms to work along peasants in a program called “reeducation” Ma and Lue have to adapt to the peasant life for a certain amount of time, working the fields, carrying heavy loads, walking long distances, and working with humus fertilizer Both meet The Little Seamstress, the granddaughter of one very loved old man in their village and the one that taught her to sew. She cannot read The 2 young men decide to take her out of her ignorance They learned that in the village there is another young man that is hiding books that otherwise could have been burned by the government They decide to steel the books and read them to The Little Seamstress Throughout the movie they show scenes of mountains, the river, the lake, the homes. The movie shows people using folk medicine, using unorthodox forms of healing, there is one scene in which they need to help a general with a tooth or they could face a big problem because he heard them telling revolutionary stories At the end both are in love with her, and she had been changing a lot
Her major changes:
- got sexually involved with one of the young men, against tradition - got a clandestine abortion to save his life and her honor - started voicing her opinions, specially about the books that were being read to her, she claimed that Balzac changed her - got a hair cut - decided to leave the village - decided to leave the grandfather - did not expect the boy to marry her
I think I will show this film to my Chinese Culture Club. We can talk about tradition, obedience, the power of knowledge, female liberation, and the difficulty to adapt to a life in a different social status, etc. I would just have to fast-forward away the scenes at the lake, although there is not nudity, the sexual act is implied and is easier if we skip, even if I have parent signatures allowing us to see the film.
One of my favorite stories of classical Chinese literature is: Journey to the West , the story of Sun Wukong or the Monkey King, The novel is a fictionalized account of the myths and legends concerning the Buddhist monk Xuánzàng's pilgrimage to India during the Táng dynasty in order to obtain sūtras: Buddhist religious texts. On another note, I was extremely disappointed with Jet Li’s film representation of the story. The story could be as epic on film as “The Lord of the Rings”.
This looks like an interesting Book that could incorporate Asian studies in a Spanish class: Our History Is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution, published by Pathfinder Press. It could help led a discussion concerning the Chinese contributions to Latin America and build cross cultural bridges.
Books that I have read about China include Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian, who is the first Chinese recipient of the Nobel prize for literature and whose book describes a physical and a spiritual journey.
In the pages of the above book, I have an article about another book, which I haven't read but sounds incredible. It's titled Sky Burial and it's about a Chinese writer's journey in Tibet, offering a unique perspective to Americans.
On a more whimsical note, but still with a slice of history, is Balzac and the Chinese seamstress, about two cities boys who are sent into the country to be "re-educated" during the Cutural Revolution and who read European classics secretly to a seamstress (it's not Asia, but kind of reminds me of reading Lolita in Tehran, another great book).
I've also read The Good Earth, which was a really beautiful book, almost Tolstoyan in its scope of a man's life. I don't know enough about Chinese history to say how accurate or authentic a representation this is from this missionary daughter. I would be curious to know what Chinese people think about this book. From my perspective it was very impressive for the knowledge and love the author seems to have for the country.[Edit by="zskalkottas on Jan 31, 6:34:28 PM"][/Edit]
The Joy Luck Club is another great book, both the book and the movie are so moving, especially for mothers and daughters.
The beginning part where the mother shows the daughter the feather and says something to the effect of that it might not look like much, but it represents all her good intentions toward her daughter, is a tear-jerker! [Edit by="zskalkottas on Jan 31, 6:32:30 PM"][/Edit]
As for movies, I love Eat, Drink, Man, Woman and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, both directed by Ang Lee. What an incredible director! Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen are all amazing in CTHD. I also liked the later film, similar in style, though not quite as good--House of Flying Daggers.
[Edit by="zskalkottas on Jan 31, 6:38:59 PM"][/Edit]
Tuesday night we watched "The Way Home." I focused on the cultural aspect of the film. It shows the utmost tolerance on the grandmother's part. She wanted to turn the grandchild around with kindness and generosity. Great contrast of a city boy that is utterly spoiled and is forced to witness the hardships of a village life. Nicely done![Edit by="amohammed on Aug 2, 6:07:01 PM"][/Edit]
A great study of the Samurai which could be used in your classroom to learn about the 11th century and on. This book has wonderful full colored photos, black and white photos, and much more. You could use this book as your text. It was written by Stephen Turnbull who has his PhD from Leeds University in Japanese religious history. SAMURAI The World of the Warrior, is a great read.
ASIAN LAUGHTER - An Anthology of Oriental Satire and Humor edited by Leonard Feinberg (1971). Well the title says it all! The catagories are as follows:
On Chinese Humor - Jokes, Anecdotes, Poetry, Drama, Novels, Essays, Proverbs.
On Japanese Humor - Jokes, Poetry, Drama, Stories and Sketches, Novels, Proverbs.
On Indian Humor - Folktales and Fables, Anecdotes, Poetry, Stories and Sketches, Novels,
Proverbs.
On Ceylonese Humor - Folktales, Anecdotes, Sketches, Proverbs.
This is a nice cross-section of material that the teacher could use to compare different genres or different cultures. It's uses are endless for the History or L/A teacher. Hey Chinese and Japanese Jokes oh yes! ??? sometimes it makes us think of the culture ........
One Chinese- The Manly Way,
"You come out this minute!" the wife commanded.
"A man's a man." he answered. "When he says he won't come out, there's nothing you can do about it. He won't come out."
or not.
The Bowers not only has nice informative exhibits, but is also a great place for books to help support the curriculum you teach. I picked up a wonderful book on the Silk Road titled "Silk Road, Monks, Warriors, and Merchants." I also picked up great books on the Incas, Maya, Aztecs, and "The Wisdom of the Buddha." All four of these books are from the same series called Discoveries. They have lots of great pictures and the information is presented in a very simple informative way.
Language Arts teachers- this is a must see film. "Mummy 3" is a perfect movie to teach the concept of historical fiction. Jet Li plays a powerful, Emperor Ch'in Shihuangdi, who becomes the Dragon King. Great Chinese icons and symbols are perfect to teach setting. It is full of action and drama, at times it was a tear jerker, put the humor remained throughout. "Mummy 3" has powerful scenes of the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors.
I am going to use this movie in my class to reinforce the idea of historical fiction.
A very good novel to read and use, perhaps in a high school world history class, is "Native Speaker" by Chang Rae Lee.
Excerpts of the novel can be used to Koreans in history to Korean Americans today. The story follows the life of a young Korean American man and focuses on his relationship with his caucasian girlfriend, her parents, and his strict Korean father. The book is very very good at engaging the reader, especially because the story is from the first person point of view.
The book covers many asian american issues that include: the tendency for Korean immigrants to move to the United States and experience downward mobility in their occupation; how the Korean community helps its members, especially those who represent them; racial tensions between blacks and Koreans; and the Korean-American identity issue of not being Korean enough, and not being "white" enough. One of the best exceprts one should use lies in the central characters inner thoughts about his father's inabilty to continue practicing medicine in America and his subsequent feelings about being forced to work in a working class occupation. A very good read.
Two outstanding films that can be used during a unit on World War 2 would be Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima". Both of them are excellent and should be watched as a pair. Nevertheless, "Letters from Iwo Jima" stands out because the film is from the Japanese point of view - and the film does an amazing job of painting characters that real, diverse, and very close to home.
The central character of "Letters" is Saigo (which in Japanese means "last"), a baker from a small town who is forced by the government to fight for the Japanese army. From the beginning we see aspects of his personality that illustrate how much of a "regular" guy he is - from his banter with his partners, to his grumblings as he takes out the feces of his platoon. The film has several flashbacks that show us the former lives of some of the soldiers, and how not all Japanese soldiers were committed to fighting the war.
Secondly, you can use this film to tie in a geography lesson on how the geography of the islands played into the battle of Iwo Jima.
A very good movie that is tragic and very sad. The negative thing would be the language - the film is all in Japanese, so unless you have a large screen for a projector, some students might not be able to follow the words.
Explaining Chinaby Steve Allen - yep the comedian. This is mainly based on three trips that he took to China. Two trips in 1975 and the last at least for this book in 1979. He takes you on a history trip as he travels from location to location. On July 30th, 1979 Mr. Allen tells you about his lunch at the embassy with George & Barbara Bush and Steves son Bill. Lots of facts, commentary and vacationing talk. Not always the politically correct but a good read.
A Day in the Life of China is a photographic book with only small captions. Beautiful done by various photographers. It was published by Collins Publishers in 1989. One or two of the photos are not appropriate for your students (boob shot) but the rest of this 220 page photo opt is. This is great way to bridge the gap of a far away location for your students (if the Olympics have not done it). Hey this may be where our USC
China Institute got their idea from. Awe - USC has more words! I almost forgot that each picture has a simple outlined map showing the approximate site where the photo was taken. [Edit by="mstark on Aug 16, 8:50:21 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="mstark on Aug 16, 9:23:59 PM"][/Edit]
Highlights of Beijing This is a none-book-book. Kind of reminds me of a book of large post cards, but it is not. It was distributed by "China National Publications Import & Export Corporation" in 1988. Kind of interesting - This is definitely a tourists book written in both Chinese and English. Lots of photos for your students with captioned information. A small delight for the visual learners (like me).
Tales of Old Japan compiled by and commentary by A. B. Mitford. This is very similiar to the Anthology of Japanese Literatureprovided to us except much better. Mitford provides us not only with 29 short readings, but also of the history or information behind the readings and extensive footnotes. To top this off we are provided "with '31' illustrations drawn and cut on wood by Japanese artists." Hey Clay, keep the new but bring in the old.
Park, Linda Sue The Kite Fighters, Clarion Books:New York
2000
I have searched for a good piece of juvenile fiction for medieval Korea for awhile and this is the best I've found. The setting is Seoul in 1473. The main characters are the brothers Lee, Young-sup and Kee-sup with major support from Rice Merchant Lee, their father, the boy- King, and the old kite maker.
Kee-sup is the older of the two brothers, is responsible for maintaining the family name and honor, and is being groomed to take the royal examinations for employment in the palace. Young-sup is a typical second son and jealous of the priveleges to which his brother is entitled. Though Kee-sup is not one to demand the tradional respect from his brother, Rice Merchant Lee is constantly reminding Young-sup to behave in a correct manner. Young-sup will inherit his father's business as is his due as second son.
Both boys are kite flyers, though each has his own unique talent; Kee-sup can build kites and Young-sup can fly them. One day the king comes to the hill where the boys are flying their kites. He commands that Kee-sup will make him a special kite. While Kee-sup is studying, Young-sup is out flying. He encounters the boy-King again and the king insists, in fact orders, Young-sup to treat him like any other boy as he teaches him how to fly a fighting kite.
When the kite is delivered, the king is so pleased that he decides he must be involved in the kite fighting contest that caps the New Years holiday. He decides that Young-sup should fly his kite in the contest, but Rice Merchant Lee insists that the honor should go to the eldest son. How the issue is resolved, and the development of a secret weapon for winning the contest enliven the story.
Ms. Park packs a tremendous amount of historical and ethnographic material into this short book. Tok-gabi , invisible imps, affect the way kites fly; the duties to the ancestors in which Kee-sup must participate once he reaches ten years of age; the capping ceremony that turns Kee-sup from boy to man and eligible for marriage; the history of the real boy-King, King Songjong; the Confucian ethic; and the details of making and fighting kites all add zest to the narrative.
I wouldn't mind having a class set of these in paperback, but for the moment I will have to be content to have it in the library and on the class reading list. Maybe I'll get a chance to read parts of it aloud.
The attachment shows the books cover.
Just a follow up not on Peter Hessler's book Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China.. He illuminates many of the issues of concern in China i.e. urban vs. rural and the origins of the controversial Fulan Gong. I would welcome a discussion with anyone about this book.[Edit by="eamador on Aug 31, 10:23:29 PM"][/Edit]
Kure, Mitsuo Samurai: Arms, Armor, Costume. Edison, New Jersey:Chartwell Books, Inc.
2007
Dr. Kure has assembled an amazing number of Japanese costumes relating to the samurai period. Using actual historic apparel and weapons and some very precise reconstructions, he presents a photographic series that is unique and covers dress from Heian Period to the Edo Period. The detail is incredible and, as Dr. Kure mentions in his introduction, he has also tried to make the undergarments as authentic as possible. A couple of the photos show the skull cap wigs that had to be used for an authentic samurai hairdo, but for the most part, the wigs are not noticeable. One of the pluses for the book is that it includes costumes for women as well. Each costume includes a brief description and a line drawing indicating, in Japanese, the name of each part of the ensemble.
I like it because the book is coffee-table size and the images are quite large. They are great for PowerPoint presentations and for wall posters.
The book is available on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0785822089/ref=s9sdps_c2_14_img1-rfc_g1-frt_g1-3215_g1-3102_p?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=18WTPF0R20DTRP69RYZJ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=436516001&pf_rd_i=507846. A couple of the reviews on the above link are quite critical and are worth reading. They were not relevant to my purposes, but I found them quite interesting.
I've been reading Soul Mountain by Xingjian, as far as I know he is the only Literature Nobel prize winning Chinese writer. Soul Mountain is a long novel and sometimes confusing as he switches between first, second person narration. Text The novel seems to be formatted in vignettes of varying length, often disconnected except in that they are points on the journey to Soul Mountain. I like the emphasis on shamanism and Taoism, there are erotic parts that seem to break the Confusician prud that seem so much a part of Chinese fiction.
I will keep trying and report more later.[Edit by="kspachuk on Jun 17, 10:16:30 PM"][/Edit]
GAO Xingjian 高行健 is the only Chinese who has thus far received the Nobel Prize for Literature. There are other remarkable Chinese authors who might also be recognized for their contribution to world culture. If you'd like to read Gao's official Nobel biography, it is here:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2000/gao-bio.html
On the right side of that page are links to Gao's Nobel-related speeches and interviews.
You can buy Soul Mountain 灵山 and other works at Amazon and other retailers. The Amazon site includes an online sample.
http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Mountain-Gao-Xingjian/dp/0060936231
When Gao received the award in 2000, he had been living in France for years. Within China, his award was not celebrated. Here's a NY Times article about a visit he made to Hong Kong in 2001.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/31/world/exiled-writer-finds-politics-hard-to-avoid-in-china-visit.html
Here is a selection from a 2/11/2001 Associated Press article about how Gao's work was depicted in China.
****
Breaking with the official silence in Chinese media over Nobel prize winning author Gao Xingjian, a state newspaper Sunday called him an ''awful writer'' whose honoring with the prize was ''ludicrous.''
The Yangcheng Evening News' attack marked a rare discussion of Gao in the Chinese press. China's communist government, which considers Gao an exiled dissident and bans his works, all but ignored his winning of the prize last October and no mention appeared in the entirely state controlled media.
In a lengthy criticism of the novel ''Soul Mountain,'' considered one of Gao's signature works, the Yangcheng assailed Gao's writing as simplistic and disappointing.
But the paper urged readers to buy the book so that they might know ''what kind of a joke the Swedish literature academy is playing on the Chinese people.'' The Swedish Academy is responsible for awarding the prize.
....
The article did not explain how to purchase the outlawed book, which is unavailable at bookstores.
Stunned by the Nobel committee's conferring of the prize on Gao, China's Foreign Ministry scorned it as a political maneuver by foreign enemies of China.
********
The award-winning film "Wings of Defeat" will make its U.S. broadcast premiere on May 5, 2009 on the PBS program "Independent Lens." Please check your local PBS station's listings for more information.
From the "Wings of Defeat" website:
"'Wings of Defeat' brings viewers behind the scenes of World War II’s Pacific theater to reveal the truth about the Kamikaze—the “suicide bombers” of their day. Interviews with surviving kamikaze, rare battle footage and Japanese propaganda reveal a side of WWII never before shown on film. American vets from the greatest generation tell harrowing tales of how they survived attacks. Wings of Defeat shatters the myth of the fanatical kamikaze to reveal a generation of men forced to pay for an empire’s pride with their lives."
I don't know if anyone is interested in Japanese animation, but I recall a cartoon series
from the early 90's entitled, "Akira."
The animation at that time was more sophisticated than what Americans usually
watch. In addition, the story lines were of a mature nature.
I found it interesting that evil characters were portrayed as those
who had blond hair and blue eyes, while the good characters wore black
clothing and had black hair and dark eyes.
This was a major shift in how good and evil characters are portrayed.
Good characters usually wear white (until Chuck Norris made it "cool" to wear black)
while the villians always wore black.
Nora Lam is a Chinese American who spent most of her life in China.
As a Christian missionary, the Chinese government questioned and threatened to kill her.
She was separated from her family and her husband was abusive.
Eventually, she escaped The People's Republic of China into Hong Kong (while it was under
British control). From Hong Kong, she moved to California where she speaks
frequently about human rights abuses against Christians in China.
Her film, "China Cry" depicts the hardships that she endured during her younger years
at the hands of the Chinese government.
The viewer will understand how the Chinese government treats
those who follow Christianity.
It is on DVD and VHS.
I met a Chinese American film maker who complied approximately
200 to 350 film clips about Asian characters in American films.
His documentary profiles popular Asian characters such as the Asian characters in the
"Susie Wong" series. In it he interviews Asian actors and actresses
about the stereotypical roles that they played in these Hollywood films.
The film debued in the spring of 2008 for a limited release.
Fortunately, the buzz for the movie was good.
I saw a preview of it at a mini film festival in LA.
I am almost done with Soul Mountain and I wouldn't say I understand it very well on this first reading. I am intrigued by the "wild man" motif that keeps recurring. I don't know if he means anything like the Robert Bly "wild man" mythpoetic tradition but in any case there is much that is mysterious in the book. The narrator often switches from male to female pov or focus and the inclusion of "you" seems powerful as if Whitman inspired.
I think I see the fingerprints of Samuel Beckett, the despair, the mundane, the silence...not sure the the writer does live in France now. [Edit by="kspachuk on Jun 17, 10:10:59 PM"][/Edit]
A picture book called Wabi SabiI would recommend for any grade. I teach high school and I often teach Haiku and Japanese culture. I found this book at my local library by chance, I got it for my daughter.
This is a great book for teaching the concepts of wabi and sabi through a cat named Wabisabi. Every page has a famous haiku from Basho and Shiki that is used in the narration of the story. The cat is trying to learn what her name means and takes a journey to find out.
I have tried to teach the idea of wabi and sabi but have not succeeded in the past. Hopefully this book will help some. I think it is appropriate in the secondary and primary classroom. The book uses the both pages laid out vertically for illustration, good for a big class. There is lots of additional information about Haiku and Haibun etc... in the back.
Zhang Yimou's Hero turned out to be a very interesting film. After seeing the clips from Prof. Ye's lecture, I had no idea what a tangled web this movie would turn out being. It had so many different paths...that at times I found myself wondering what the real story was. As an art teacher, I could really use this movie to talk about Calligraphy, especially with the relationship between calligraphy and swordmanship (that would really appeal to middle school students). The different shots were like paintings themselves, incredible harmony, and wonderful composition. I liked the movie quite a bit.
The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej
ISBN-10: 0300106823
I finished this book not too long ago. It was very in-depth and while difficult to follow because of the long surnames and lack of pictures / photographs, it does provide a look into the revered king Rama IX of Thailand. It goes through the 9 reigns rather quickly, and delves into the mystery of Rama VIII's death. The book continues with the accomplishments, pitfalls, and challenges this "world's longest reigning monarch has gone through these past 60 years in power.
For those who have traveled to Thailand and has a passing interest in royalty, and / or Thai culture, this is a good book.[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:08:00 PM"][/Edit]
I Don't Want to Go to Thailand
ISBN-10: 0816750246
This is a fun "diary" of a kid who reluctantly has to go to northern Thailand with his archeologist father. Made for elementary level students, it begins with his disinterest in going there and meeting people, to his acceptance and enjoyment of the culture. I got it from Amazon.com - real cheap![Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:07:40 PM"][/Edit]
Taste of Thailand
ISBN-13: 978-1404816770
This elementary / middle school level book tells the adventure of these "children secret agents" that get transported to Thailand to help the royal cook prepare a meal for the queen before a deadline. Hilarity ensues as the kids are thrown out of there element into temples, open-air markets, speed boats, and fried spicy insects! A fun book. I got it at Amazon. [Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:07:23 PM"][/Edit]
How to Draw Thailand's Sights and Symbols
ISBN-10: 1404227415
This is a cool book to include in the Heritage unit of 5th grade's Open Court. It talks about symbols of Thailand and shows students / teachers how to draw them. Such as: orchids, spirit houses, elephants, temples, etc.[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:07:04 PM"][/Edit]
Thailand Life
ISBN: 978-974-7310-09-2
This is an high school and up book written as a diary about a kid's life. Panrit "Gor" Daoruang had a blog about his life as a teenager, his trials and tribulations, and it's been published as a book. Interesting as it is told from the viewpoint of the teen. [Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:06:48 PM"][/Edit]
Traveler's Tales: Thailand
ISBN: 1-885211-75-9
I enjoyed this book because it's a collection of other traveler's talking about their adventures in Thailand. There's a lot of things I could relate to: from being the only foreigner in a village, to adventures that sprout out of nowhere, to shopping and language fiascos. Fun to think and reflect about AFTER you're home safe and sound...[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:06:33 PM"][/Edit]
Thai Girl
ISBN: 981-05-3918-5
I got another book about Thailand. This one might be a bit too spicy for students, but for those who have traveled to Thailand, and perhaps in Asia in general can find things to relate to.[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:06:15 PM"][/Edit]
Mark Haskell Smith's "Salty"
ISBN 0-8021-7034-x
Is another adventure tale in the setting of Thailand. Personally, I can't get enough of Thai-themed books while I'm away from Thailand. It rekindles my desire to travel there as soon as possible.[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:06:01 PM"][/Edit]
DuangKaew
ISBN: 141205657-8
A good story about the life of a village girl in Thailand. An easy read for upper middle school students, and possibly as a read aloud for upper elementary school students. This book as a phrasebook section, maps, and photographs.[Edit by="dcolato on May 6, 6:05:42 PM"][/Edit]
This novel depicts samurai life in the mid-1500s as seen through the eyes of a young boy. The plot is centered around the boy's ascension into samurai life and his participation in the struggles of real-life Japanese figures, like Oda Nobunaga and Takeda Shingen.
It is a great choice for middle school (or high school I suppose) because of the young age of the protagonist and the fast-paced story-line. Not only does it reinforce the history standards, but it gives the students a genuine feel for the time period. I have a class set and have used it in World History class and my homeroom, where students read the whole thing over the course of about six weeks (c. 230 pages).
Title: The Samurai's Tale
Author: Erik Christian Haugaard
1984
Title: The Man With Three Faces
Author: Hans-Otto Meissner
1957
This is a biography of Richard Sorge, centering on his time spent in Japan before and during World War Two. There are other (and longer) books out there, but this is one of the earliest attempts to capture the inner-workings of his mind and the reasons for his success. Richard Sorge was a Soviet spy who worked in Japan under the cover of a German journalist. As such, he was able to gain the trust of both German and Japanese officials and pass along critical information to the Soviet Union. He is widely considered one of the great spies of all-time.
Beyond the fun of reading this book (it reads like a spy thriller because it is a real spy thriller), it also casts a light on Japanese society of the 1930s and 1940s. War mobilization and political censorship and the role of the Japanese secret police are highlighted.
There is an other excellent book about the Sorge spy ring by Chalmers Johnson titled "An Instance of Treason: Ozaki Hotsumi and the Sorge Spy Ring". It has many photos and is very well written by an authority on Japanese history and culture. I know you will enjoy it. I too have found that bit of history very interesting. There are some other books about the Sorge spy ring but their titles escape me at the moment.[Edit by="mwhittemore on May 14, 12:04:25 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="mwhittemore on May 14, 12:05:29 PM"][/Edit]
One of the best books I have seen on Haiku and on teaching Haiku is called Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku by William Higgins and Penny Harter. One of the most important insights I got from this book is that Haiku is essentially about brevity--so in English to say that it has to be 5-7-5 is inaccurate. In fact, to approximate short syllables of Japanese (one or two letters often in length) it might be more like 3-5-3 syllable count.
I have used this book for teaching Haiku concepts such as the use a cutting word or some use of juxtaposition of images for effect. Book provides a glossy of literary terms, I found the discussion of Wabi, Sabi, and Yugen interesting but not complete (check out my recommendation of the children's book Wabi Sabi). The book has plenty of non-Japanese haiku examples, many are by Spanish or English writers. There is a discussion of Haibun, a travel prose style of Haiku writing. Finally, there are lesson plans to use in the classroom. I recommend this book along with Joseph Tsujimoto's Teaching Poetry to Adolescent Writers. Tsujimoto teaches many Hawaiian Japanese and other Asian middle school kids. He believe in starting a literary tradition in the classroom through various poetic forms.
A short documentary that I saw on Frontline World is narrated and written by Douglas Rushkoff is worth getting a hold of. It is possible 30 minutes or less in length and is about the problem with video game addiction.
Douglas Rushkoff if you don't know is a media critic, he has done two documentary for Frontline: The Persuaders and Merchants of Cool, both of which are about advertising and pop media. His books Cohersion and Media Viruses are intriguing reading. He has even written a graphic novel and a sci fi book.
Anyway the Frontline (my favorite tv show) is about how in Korea (and Seoul, possibly the most wired city in the world, even Professor Jung-Kim noted this) video game addiction can and does kill. Kids will play for 24-72 hours straight in computer game centers. As you may know, the video games now are more networked and usually involve interaction online with other players. Since Korea has extremely high speed internet connections, games are even more compelling. Education in Korea is threatened and traditional roles. You probably can watch the episode online.
One book that I have just started reading, my summer reading, The Pearl Jacket edited by Shouhua Qi (Stone Bridge Press an interesting East Asia publisher) is an anthology of very short stories or what is also called flash fiction or microfiction of contemporary China. It is my hope that next year I will try to use more of this type of fiction in the classroom, to lace in more narrative in during persuasive and expository units and to enrich the curriculum. I see myself teaching minimalism i.e. Raymond Carver, Ann Beattie, May Robinson, Grace Paley and sudden fiction at the beginning of the year before moving onto longer pieces.
Flash fiction in China is called wei xing xiao shuo or goes by the name Minute Story yi fen zhong xiao shuo which indicates the amount of time needed to read it. There are other names for this genre of fiction, another interesting one is Smoke-Long Story quite appropriate for China and Asia. The editor believes that flash fiction began with the creation myths of Nuwa (ca. 350 BC), Fuxi, and Pangu. In the volume you will find "masters of modern fiction": Lu Xun, Lao She, Guo Morou, and Yu Dafu. The selections are arranged in thematic units. All that's missing is good highly interpretative discussion questions for a Shared Inquiry/Socratic Seminar.
I recommend the documentary The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara as a good supplemental video on the Firebombing of Japan, the bombing of Hiroshima, and of course for material on the Vietnam War.
I usually teach the book Hiroshima by John Hersey and use this video to show the extensive firebombing campaign of Japan. The segment that I show has images of each of the 70 cities that were firebombed during WWII. For each image there a comparison with an American city of equivalent size--it s a powerful segment and is short.
A good pairing with Siddharta by Herman Hesse is Buddha by Osamu Tezuka. I think several sections could be used to parallel a reading of Siddharta. Also, I have used Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics for examining the genre type and format. Check out Scott McCloud's online comics for a digital take on comics.
In watching the History Channel International I came across an interesting, and very useful, one hour show called "China - The Dragon's Ascent - Two Way Traffic" that explored the topic of the opening and closing of China to trade and outside influence. It began with the archaeological dig of a Silk Trade Route city, continued with the exploration of the maritime port of Guangzhou, showed how Buddhism was spread throughout China, and ended with showing how influences from the west have permeated China's culture today.
This was an easy to understand and visually stimulating show for students to watch. It is well organized, and would be simple to formulate an accompanying cloze summary for. It is an excellent source of new information on how the archaeologists analyze what the trade between the Middle East and China was. I discovered several new pieces of information with which to pepper my teaching. A very valuable hour spent.
These two books, one Chinese (Waiting, 1999) and one Japanese (Snow Country, 1956) deal with the same theme in two entirely different ways. Both books are about married men caught up in extramarital affairs and the women they are involved with.
Waiting by Ha Jin: I've had this book in my personal library for several years now and never got around to reading it. After attending the 2009 Summer Seminar, I gave it a read and really enjoyed it. The book takes place during China's Cultural Revolution and is the story of a man, his wife, and his mistress. Lin Kong works in Muji City as a doctor and only returns home to "Goose Village" once a year to see his wife, Shuyu. Shuyu represents the traditional Chinese wife; she has bound feet which mark her as backward, and a loveless, arranged marriage.
Every year Lin Kong goes to the courthouse to try and unsuccessfully petition for divorce. His mistriss, Manna, also works in Muji City. The couple must hide their affair (unconsumated) from the authorities and others in the city. According to state law, after 18 years a divorce can be granted even if one party refuses. The book's narrative follows Lin's life from the time of his marriage to Shuyu, until the main characters are in their late middle ages.
The book does a great job of illustrating some of the more human problems of the Cultural Revolution, while allowing the reader to experience both the rural and urban, traditional and modern China. I was totally captivated by the story and will be recommending it to some of my more mature high school students. I think girls especially would find the story touching as it deals with unrequited love and unfufilled desires. The text is very accessible to grade-level readers. The narrative is straight-forward and easy to follow. There is some semi-graphic sexual content and a touch of foul language. The book has many episodes which reinforce classroom study of China's Cultural Revolution.
The author, Ha Jin, was born in China and served for a time in the People's Liberation Army. He came to the U.S. in 1985, earned a Ph.D. at Brandeis University, and now teaches at Emory. I will definitely be reading some of Jin's other novels and short story collections.
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata: Like Waiting, Snow Country is also about forbidden love, this time between a city gentleman and a geisha. The book is beautifully written, like Haiku in book form. Unfortunately, I think that this would be difficult reading for my high school students unless they were in honors. The book does offer glimpses into Japanese traditions but in a more abstract, surreal form. I enjoyed the book immensely, and I even enjoyed the emptiness I felt at the books end.
The author, Yasunari Kawabata, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. He committed suicide in 1972.
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When I saw the title, Chinese Cinderella, I thought it was a fairytale version of the story of Cinderella. After reading the post, I've become intrigued and would like to read it sometime in the future. On another note, I have used the various forms of Cinderella to expose students to how different cultures can still manage to say a similar message and yet be so different. A lot of my students prefer the story of the Korean and Japanese Cinderella -- what they thought was fascinating was the different time periods as well as the attire.
Ma and Lue are two young intellectual men
Under Mao’s decree, intellectuals from the city are sent to the farms to work along peasants in a program called “reeducation”
Ma and Lue have to adapt to the peasant life for a certain amount of time, working the fields, carrying heavy loads, walking long distances, and working with humus fertilizer
Both meet The Little Seamstress, the granddaughter of one very loved old man in their village and the one that taught her to sew.
She cannot read
The 2 young men decide to take her out of her ignorance
They learned that in the village there is another young man that is hiding books that otherwise could have been burned by the government
They decide to steel the books and read them to The Little Seamstress
Throughout the movie they show scenes of mountains, the river, the lake, the homes.
The movie shows people using folk medicine, using unorthodox forms of healing, there is one scene in which they need to help a general with a tooth or they could face a big problem because he heard them telling revolutionary stories
At the end both are in love with her, and she had been changing a lot
Her major changes:
- got sexually involved with one of the young men, against tradition
- got a clandestine abortion to save his life and her honor
- started voicing her opinions, specially about the books that were being read to her, she claimed that Balzac changed her
- got a hair cut
- decided to leave the village
- decided to leave the grandfather
- did not expect the boy to marry her
I think I will show this film to my Chinese Culture Club. We can talk about tradition, obedience, the power of knowledge, female liberation, and the difficulty to adapt to a life in a different social status, etc. I would just have to fast-forward away the scenes at the lake, although there is not nudity, the sexual act is implied and is easier if we skip, even if I have parent signatures allowing us to see the film.
One of my favorite stories of classical Chinese literature is: Journey to the West , the story of Sun Wukong or the Monkey King, The novel is a fictionalized account of the myths and legends concerning the Buddhist monk Xuánzàng's pilgrimage to India during the Táng dynasty in order to obtain sūtras: Buddhist religious texts. On another note, I was extremely disappointed with Jet Li’s film representation of the story. The story could be as epic on film as “The Lord of the Rings”.
This looks like an interesting Book that could incorporate Asian studies in a Spanish class: Our History Is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution, published by Pathfinder Press. It could help led a discussion concerning the Chinese contributions to Latin America and build cross cultural bridges.
Books that I have read about China include Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian, who is the first Chinese recipient of the Nobel prize for literature and whose book describes a physical and a spiritual journey.
In the pages of the above book, I have an article about another book, which I haven't read but sounds incredible. It's titled Sky Burial and it's about a Chinese writer's journey in Tibet, offering a unique perspective to Americans.
On a more whimsical note, but still with a slice of history, is Balzac and the Chinese seamstress, about two cities boys who are sent into the country to be "re-educated" during the Cutural Revolution and who read European classics secretly to a seamstress (it's not Asia, but kind of reminds me of reading Lolita in Tehran, another great book).
I've also read The Good Earth, which was a really beautiful book, almost Tolstoyan in its scope of a man's life. I don't know enough about Chinese history to say how accurate or authentic a representation this is from this missionary daughter. I would be curious to know what Chinese people think about this book. From my perspective it was very impressive for the knowledge and love the author seems to have for the country.[Edit by="zskalkottas on Jan 31, 6:34:28 PM"][/Edit]
The Joy Luck Club is another great book, both the book and the movie are so moving, especially for mothers and daughters.
The beginning part where the mother shows the daughter the feather and says something to the effect of that it might not look like much, but it represents all her good intentions toward her daughter, is a tear-jerker! [Edit by="zskalkottas on Jan 31, 6:32:30 PM"][/Edit]
Isn't it Raise the Red Lantern? It was good but awful at the same time.[Edit by="zskalkottas on Jan 31, 6:31:42 PM"][/Edit]
As for movies, I love Eat, Drink, Man, Woman and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, both directed by Ang Lee. What an incredible director! Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen are all amazing in CTHD. I also liked the later film, similar in style, though not quite as good--House of Flying Daggers.
[Edit by="zskalkottas on Jan 31, 6:38:59 PM"][/Edit]
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