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United Nations Cyberschoolbus
http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/

World Bank (many different collections, human development indicators quite useful)
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,menuPK:232599~pagePK:64133170~piPK:64133498~theSitePK:239419,00.html

International Monetary Fund statistics
http://www.imfstatistics.org/imf/

World Health Organization statistics
http://www.who.int/whosis/en/

Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development statistics portal
http://www.oecd.org/statsportal/0,3352,en_2825_293564_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

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Perry-Castaneda Map Library
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/korea.html

South Korean Government Statistics Office
http://www.nso.go.kr/eng2006/emain/index.html

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Columbia University Asia For Educators
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/eacp/japanworks/japan/japanworkbook/geography/japgeo.html

Kids Web Japan -- geography
http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/map/index.html

Perry-Castenada Map Collection
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/japan.html

Japanese Government Statistics
http://www.stat.go.jp/english/

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Here are the map resource links shown in today's China demography/geography presentation:

US-China Today interactive map of China
http://uschina.usc.edu/ShowFeature.aspx?articleID=3136

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/china.html

Can China Feed Itself?
http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/ChinaFood/index_m.htm

NASA -- China search results
http://search.nasa.gov/search/search.jsp?nasaInclude=china

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The reader includes the Ebrey selections. It does not include the teaching guide.

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Hi Folks,
The Legalists win -- so these readings are required. We'll provide print versions in your seminar reader.

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Hi Folks,
You may be more familiar with the name Taoism. Daoism is the pinyin romanization more commonly used today. These readings are required. We'll give you a print copy in your seminar reader.

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Hi Folks,

These readings are required. We'll give you a print version in the seminar reader, but some might like to get started now.

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Minh's right and I'll be showing that image again next week. Who can track down some comparative stats on NK, SK, and US energy usage?

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Hi Folks,

Chinese firms are acquiring foreign assets. This acquisition, though, occurred only in the minds of those twisted talented people at The Onion. (My favorite article is about the young lad who has memorized the 26-character alphabet, what's yours?

http://www.theonion.com/content/index

(Presumably there's a permanent link to the 7/20/2009 frontpage somewhere.)

Some articles:

Andy Rooney (or maybe not): http://www.theonion.com/content/video/china_s_andy_rooney_has_some?utm_source=a-section
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/potato_faced_youngster_lauded_for

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/american_consumer_masses_agree_it?utm_source=a-section

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/china_strong?utm_source=a-section

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A face matters. Though Americans do worry about the potential of nuclear catastrophe and are concerned that adding North Korea to the nuclear club increases the potential of nuclear conflict, even more Americans pay attention when they hear about Americans being held for trying to shine light on conditions in North Korea. That's the fate of two American journalists who may have violated North Korean territory before they were captured by border guards. They were recently sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp.

One of many articles on the subject:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6453550.ece

Because they are American women, there's more attention to the brutal conditions that are standard in these camps. The Washington Post has put together an excellent set of interactive maps on camps in North Korea, with a detailed map of one particular camp. You can see them at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/19/AR2009071902178.html?wpisrc=newsletter

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I'm certainly up for a reunion.

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Louisa Greve of the National Endowment for Democracy wrote this short review for her colleagues. She's permitted me to post it to the forum.

"On a Tightrope:" Uyghur orphans in a dust-blown city of 200,000. Kids learning the Uyghur tradition of tightrope-walking performances, kids playing schoolyard games, kids singing songs about safeguarding the unity of the motherland and loving the Party as one's mother and father (all this in 2006 or so). Religion is central: multiple scenes of kids shouting in unison their school pledge with the central theme, "we will not practice religion," in accordance with legislation that outlaws anyone under the age of 18 being exposed to religion or religious practice, including by their own parents. Yet in casual conversations on camera, Allah came up more than once. All the classes filmed were taught in Uyghur, which means the film may already be a relic of bygone days, since current gov't policy is pushing to make Chinese the medium of instruction in every elementary school classroom. (Uyghur was already banned several years ago in universities, complete with book-burning to clear out unneeded Uyghur-language textbooks). Depressing, no question, with brief relief in a few touching moments and some sunny individual personalities.

The Endowment hosted an event in May on "East Turkestan: 60 Years Under the People's Republic."
_______________________________
Louisa Greve
Director for East Asia
National Endowment for Democracy
1025 F Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20004-1409 USA
+1 202 378-9700 (phone)
+1 202 378-9573 (direct line)
+1 202 378-9403 (fax)

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Kristina,

Thanks for this wonderful feedback on not just your efforts but also Betse's!

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The stories from Xinjiang this week are grim. Ethnic divisions born of repression and inequality set the stage for the violence that has erupted this week. A protest demanding police attention into the deaths of two Uighurs in Guangdong province turned bloody on Sunday. There have subsequently been assaults by both Uighurs and Han. The government has tried to manage news coverage in the region. Net connections were cut and journalists were herded into convoys for "field trips" to see burned out buses, etc. Unlike Tibet, no special permission is required to travel to Xinjiang, so more foreign journalists were able to reach the region.

Here are a few teaching resources:
SPICE - Ethnic Minorities in China
http://spice.stanford.edu/catalog/ethnic_minority_groups_in_china/

From Silk to Oil (free download)
http://www.chinainstitute.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=577

Interesting video: On a Tightrope
http://www.onatightrope.org/

Please suggest useful resources and please discuss how you teach about crucial subjects such as ethnic social divisions, nation-making, and human rights.

*******
*******
While the details of the current unrest and efforts to calm it are necessarily incomplete, much is known about region's history and composition. We've had several workshops for teachers on Islam in China. Our next is Sept. 12, 2009. Contact Miranda Ko at [email protected] to sign up.

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