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Hi Folks,
We put up a slide show at: http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=1532. Click on the thumbnails to see the photo and caption. Most of the photos, you won't be surprised to learn, are Richard's.

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Zhoukoudian is the place outside Beijing where "Peking Man" was discovered 80 years ago. Recently additional excavations were undertaken. The cave, however, is now in danger of collapse:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/25/content_8321603.htm

Do your students find discussion of how such discoveries are made interesting? Does it help breath life into the subject to say something about how we know whatever it is that we know?

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Hi Folks,
As some of you know, I can and sometimes do talk endlessly about what happened in Beijing and elsewhere 20 years ago. I'll refrain from picking it all up again here, but I think that it is important to note that 20 years ago, email was relatively new and Chinese students studying in the US and Europe latched on to it to share news and mobilize. China News Digest (now a website) is the descendant of that effort. Viewing that site (http://cnd.org/, there's an English link at the left) and one sees how ideas have changed since 1989.

Today I attended a talk by Wang Yunnan. She's the daughter of Zhao Ziyang, the Communist Party general secretary who opposed using force against the students and was removed from office and put under house arrest. I knew that she'd stick to the script, she heads one of China's largest art auction firms, but wanted to tell her privately how I respected her father. She's an impressive woman -- focused on building the firm. Like most people, she's moved on and focused on making money. It would be wonderful to hear her speak candidly about what happened back then, but it wasn't going to happen. We'll all need to be content (for the time being at least) with The Tiananmen Papers and Prisoner of the State, both amazing resources revealing much about how business is done at the top of the Chinese political pyramid.

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It's great to hear more about the garden in Balboa Park. I think such gardens are fascinating to visit and learning about their histories can help us understand changing American perspectives toward Asia. For example, what happened during World War II? I know something of the story at the Huntington (where the Japanese garden was originally more of an "oriental mish-mash" design). The garden was closed to the public during World War II. Can anyone share more of the story of other Japanese gardens? When were they established, etc.? And what of the Korean Friendship Bell? Let's see if we can compile a list of such public gardens.

For example, UCLA has one, I think there's one in the South Bay or Long Beach.... Please include addresses or websites.

Here's the website for the San Diego Balboa Park garden:
http://www.niwa.org/display/home.asp (by the way, click on the link symbol -- a chainlink -- in the editing window to make your inserted link "hot," that is, to make it clickable)

A more comprehensive history is available here:
http://www.balboapark.org/info/history.phphttp://www.balboaparkhistory.net/chapter8.pdf

Reading through this, one learns about how the garden was part of a mini-world's fair, the Pan Pacific Exposition. You read about the design, presentations, and so forth. You'll learn of complaints regarding a Buddha statue. Then you'll follow the development up to the 1930s when a Japanese couple took over the concession. They were interned during World War II. It seems the garden's tea house was used as lounge for recovering Naval Hospital patients. The whole operation subsequently fell into disrepair and the grounds taken over by the city's famous zoo. The garden was reborn in its present location in 1990.

Folks -- I'm fascinated by public gardens and exhibitions and how organizers try to shape impressions and attitudes and the perceptions others come away with. Please do share what you think of these places. Visit and comment, please tell us what other adults think and how kids respond.

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I'm glad to hear about Manga for Kids. It will be great to read what you think of the books available. As LA Times readers, at least those who begin Sunday with the comics (yes, that includes me), know, they've carried a manga series for a couple years now. I never read it, but I'm wondering if any of you do or if anyone has students who follow it. It is produced by Tokyo Pop, an LA company which produces English language works that can be found in many bookstores.

For those teachers outside the LA Times area, do you know of any mainstream papers which also carry manga?

Here's an article which includes mention of Stuart Levy's success bringing manga to the masses:
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/17/entertainment/gd-cover17

Here's the Tokyo Pop website, look for Peach Fuzz, the LAT story....
http://www.tokyopop.com/

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Many teachers who have completed seminars with us at UCLA and USC have had the privilege of learning from Fred Notehelfer. (Here's his page on our k-12 curriculum site:
http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=194)

Prof. Notehelfer was recently honored with one of the Japanese government's top awards, "The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon," for his service promoting greater understanding of Japanese history and culture. Here is the Japanese consulate's webpage detailing the award and why it has been presented to Prof. Notehelfer:
http://www.la.us.emb-japan.go.jp/e_web/e_news_24.htm

In accepting the award, Prof. Notehelfer emphasized how important it has been for him to work with teachers in recent years. He greatly values the contributions teachers make to expanding students' knowledge and their horizons.

I should note that Prof. Notehelfer could have elected to receive his award from the Japanese Emperor at the Imperial Palace. Instead, he chose to accept it at the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles so that many of his friends and colleagues throughout the region could attend. It was a memorable event. Here's a Daily Bruin article about it: http://dailybruin.ucla.edu/stories/2009/may/12/japaneseprofessors/[Edit by="Clay Dube on Jun 11, 1:45:48 PM"][/Edit]

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Berkshire Publishing has come out with an Encyclopedia of China that some schools might want for their reference collection. The attached pdf is a free coloring map of China. Here's their description:
"What better way to spend an end of the year class period than learning China's geography, in color? The physical process of filling in spaces with color is not only fun. It also increasing mental retention of information. Knowing that teachers are looking for new ideas and enjoyable activities that will be educationally meaningful, especially at the end of the school year, Berkshire's talented young designer Anna Myers, herself half Chinese-American, came up with a beautiful map and key with traditional ink drawings and Chinese cut-paper designs."

The Encyclopedia has some free articles, so it's worth a visit.

http://www.berkshirepublishing.com/brw/product.asp?projID=65

[clay dube]

Hi Folks --
In April 2006, it was a great privilege to travel with a group of Palos Verdes Peninsula teachers to China. We staggered into Shanghai and on our final note, guess who else showed up? The Rolling Stones played in the sports arena just across from the Huating Hotel where we were staying. None of us got to attend the show, but a couple of us made our way to the backstage area (stunningly little security) and Becky managed to get a poster. Back at the hotel, a number of attendees were talking about the show. It seems that mostly it was an ex-pat audience.

Here's a photo that Augapfel took at the concert. He posted it on Flickr with the "creative commons" option permitting it to be used for noncommercial purposes.

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The most comprehensive documentary on the movement is Carma Hinton's The Gate of Heavenly Peace. Hinton and her partners are known for their documentaries on Long Bow, a Northern China village and for Morning Sun, a film about the Cultural Revolution. Unfortunately the film is long, expensive, and not yet on dvd. And it's enmeshed in a lawsuit by a student activist unhappy with her portrayal.

Here's the film's outstanding website (documents, bios, many resources):
http://www.tsquare.tv/

Other films that are cheaper or more readily accessible include:
Sue Williams, "Born Under the Red Flag" (part of her Century of Revolution series):
http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=chinaacenturyofrevolution&mode=synopsis

Michael Apted, "Moving the Mountain" (details after the demonstrations)
http://www.amazon.com/Moving-Mountain-Jin-Ming-Zhang/dp/B000051XK4

Li Lu -- featured in this film is now a venture capitalist and helped put Warren Buffet in touch with BYD, a Chinese automaker. Wang Chaohua - also featured in the film, lives in Los Angeles and just earned her PhD at UCLA.

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Hi Mimi,
Thanks for the review -- please also be sure to endorse the documentary in the main Asia in My Classroom forum (middle school ideas, Japan, film festival -- you can decide where it best fits). I quite agree that the symbol and artistry of the sword remains important in Japan.

Were students able to identify other crafts or items which are produced in Japan or elsewhere with such attention to detail? Are there practices they engage in that connect them to their ancestors in the way that many swords or ceramics craftspeople do? Perhaps something as mundane as using an ancestor's (secret!) recipe?

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The Pacific Asia Museum has a monthly family-oriented festival. This month, the focus is on puppets from across Asia. Here's the announcement:

Explore Asian cultures through hands-on crafts, exhibits, and dance! Enjoy free admission to the galleries plus crafts and performances from China, Pakistan, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Japan, and the Himalayas.

Admission is free. It's Saturday, June 6, 2009 from noon to 4 pm.

Pacific Asia Museum
(亞太博物館)
46 N. Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena 91101
Just take the Gold Line to Memorial Park!
大眾可搭乘Gold Line(捷運金綫)到Memorial Park（紀念公園）!

If you go, please take a photo or two and share them and your comments here in the forum.

http://www.pacificasiamuseum.org

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I'm impressed by the "How Stuff Works" website. I followed the books and newspaper column for a long time, but I didn't realize the empire now includes videos and podcasts on historical topics. You need to endure an ad, but the quality seems pretty high. Check out this one on the Great Wall:

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/12179-prehistory-chinas-great-wall-video.htm

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Becca - This is a great document and set of questions. How did your students respond? Were they surprised to see discussions of trade policies and tactics from hundreds of years ago?

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Hi Folks,
Please help readers as they scan the forums by putting the title or topic of the web resource you're discussing in the subject line of your post. For example: Online Chinese Tools or Korean Academy for Educators....

When you hit reply, you can leave the subject line alone if you're commenting on the resource, but if you want to introduce a different resource, please do type it in.

THANKS!

[clay dube]

Hi Folks,
We've had the honor of working with the Palos Verdes Peninsula USD for several years. On three occasions, the district's managed to raise funds to send groups of teachers to China. The most recent trip was over spring break 2009.

You can read about their adventures and see photos at:
http://pvchinajourney.blogspot.com/

Congratulations to Rosemary Claire and Barbara Hardesty, the intrepid leaders of the district's efforts to build Chinese language instruction and China studies programs, and to all the teachers who have devoted themselves to incorporating more about China into their courses.

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