China Digital Times Photos

Slide show of photos from China today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/chinadigitaltimes/interesting/show/

CW Hayford, "Don't Toy With China"

I wrote an op-ed piece on the recent flap over Chinese toys which is posted at AsiaMedia :: Don't toy with China (click for the article).

Samurai Baseball?

Is baseball in Japan just "baseball" or is it a unique insight into national character, "samurai baseball"? There is an important debate over this issue between Robert Whiting, a long time student of Japanese baseball and, among others, William Kelly, an anthropologist who studies baseball in Japan. My piece on Frog in a Well goes into these issues: "Samurai Baseball: Off Base or Safe at Home?"

It is also posted, with several nice graphics, at Japan Focus

Hoover Institution - Policy Review - China's Stubborn Anti-Democracy

Hoover Institution - Policy Review - China's Stubborn Anti-Democracy

Korea: Resources for Teaching

There is a new page on our group site with a draft list of resources for teaching on Korea: History and Society; Novels; Poetry. There are also pages on Richard Kim' Lost Name and Korean films.

Click on the "visit this group" link in the upper left hand corner of this blog under "Google Groups."

Cashing In on Communism: China's New Rich

Maureen Fan's article in the Washington Post (February 18) is a good rundown on the new rich in China. Fan explains the background from the 1950's to the present, especially Deng Xioaping's encouragement of the policy "let some people get rich first."

One interesting twist is the anxiety many of the new rich feel. They feel guilty over their "original sin," that is, the dodges they used to make their fortunes -- bribing bank officials to get loans, forcing the poor out of their houses to build luxury developments. They revel in their privileges (private jets, exemption from the one-child policy) but fear that this exposes them to predatory local officials.

Spring Festival on The River (Qingming Shanghe Tu)

Based on a presumed Song Dynasty original by Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145), this scroll painting depicts life in the Song dynasty capital, near present day Kaifeng. The scroll is roughly a foot high. The scroll has become a popular symbol of the sophistication of urban life in traditional China, demonstrating China's high level of development, attested to by Marco Polo slightly later. We see in exquisite detail -- depending on the version -- the sweep from the quiet, prosperous countryside, through the outskirts of the city (including an open air opera), bustling city life, and finally a glimpse of the imperial palace.

Although the original is now lost, we have a number of later copies, or perhaps "repaintings." The Manchu Qianlong Emperor (ruled 1736-1796) had his court painters make authoritative copies, apparently to demonstrate his benevolence, culture, and the prosperity of his realm.

Images from various versions of the scroll have been issued on postage stamps, calendars, and souvenier ash trays.

There are at least three scrollable versions available on the net:

1) A colorful, almost garish version: http://www.ibiblio.org/ulysses/gec/painting/qingming/full.htm\

2) An older copy, which has useful subsections on various topics such as transportation, shops and commerce, individuals and groups, etc.:
http://www.huangshantour.com/english/river.htm

3) One of seven versions held at the Palace Museum in Taibei, which has excellent detail but is slightly awkward to scroll. Click on the picture to enlarge, then move through using the hand tool:
http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/collection/selections_02.htm?docno=90&catno=15&pageno=5

Pigs, Shit, and Chinese History, Or Happy Year of the Pig!

I have a piece on pigs in Chinese history on the blog "Frog in a Well." It also has a few words on the Year of the pig.

Frog in a Well - The China History Group Blog

Some sites on Chinese Language, Schools, and Sources

Hi All!

This looks like it will be a very useful blog! I will try to post interesting links and such as I encounter them. For now, here are some that I compiled for the CPS Chinese teachers this year:

Chicago Public Schools:
www.cps.k12.il.us

CPS Office of Language and Cultural Education:
www.olce.org

CPS Chinese Cultural Heritage Guide Download (multiple pdf files):
http://www.olce.org/pages/home/multicultural_education/teacher_resources/chinese

The Confucius Institute in Chicago:
www.confuciusinstitutechicago.org

Media about the CPS Chinese World Language Program:
http://www.confuciusinstitutechicago.org/media.html

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages:
www.actfl.org

Center for Applied Linguistics:
http://www.cal.org/

ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning Summary (pdf file):
http://actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3324

AP Chinese:
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/article/0,3045,184-0-0-37221,00.html

Guojia Hanban:
http://english.hanban.edu.cn/

Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago:
http://www.tecochicago.org/eng/

Chinese Language Teachers Association:
http://clta.osu.edu/

Chinese Language Association of Secondary and Elementary Schools:
http://www.classk12.org/index.htm

Ask Asia:
http://askasia.org/


Asia for Kids (vendor):
www.asiaforkids.com

China Sprout (vendor):
www.chinasprout.com

Cheng & Tsui (vendor):
www.chengandtsui.com

China Books:
http://www.chinabooks.com

Chengo Chinese:
http://www.elanguage.cn/

Integrated Chinese:
http://eastasia.hawaii.edu/yao/icusers/

Zhongwen.com:
www.zhongwen.com

Great Wall Chinese:
http://www.chinagreatwall.org/?ID=20704011600000000

Chinese Name Generator (to give your students Chinese names):
http://www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html

Linese Chinese Idioms: http://linese.com/model/english/studying_chinese/studaying_chinese_idiom_list.jsp?ID=20223000000000000

Chinese Culture.net:
http://www.chiculture.net/?ID=20704011500000000

Chinese Geography:
http://www.cng.com.cn/?ID=20704011700000000

Guo Xue:
http://www.guoxue.com/?ID=20704011300000000

The Palace Museum:
http://www.dpm.org.cn/?ID=20704012000000000

Chinese Classics:
http://www.cnd.org/Classics/index.html

Chinese Learners Alternative:
http://www.sinologic.com/clas/index.html

Foreign Language Program Models:
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/oela/OELAprograms/ForeignLanguageProgramModels.pdf

E.L. Easton Chinese Resources:
http://eleaston.com/chinese.html

Chinese American Service League:
http://www.caslservice.org/

Chinese Music Society of North America:
http://www.chinesemusic.net/

University of Chicago:
http://ceas.uchicago.edu/center.html

Xilin Schools:
http://www.xilin.org/acadimy.htm

Chicago Chinese American Museum:
http://www.ccamuseum.org/

Chicago Chinese Cultural Institute:
http://www.chicagocci.com/index.aspx

Dartmouth College Resources:
http://schiller.dartmouth.edu/chinese/

Online Chinese Tools:
http://www.mandarintools.com/

Yellow Bridge Chinese Language Center:
http://www.yellowbridge.com/

China the Beautiful:
http://www.chinapage.com/china.html

Chinasite:
http://www.chinasite.com/

Friends and Partners:
http://www.friends-partners.org/fpchina/welcome/index.html


Internet Guide for Chinese Studies:
http://sun.sino.uni-heidelberg.de/igcs/

Lingnet:
http://www.lingnet.org/

Chinese Linguistic Page: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~whu/China/linguist.html

Chinese New Year Coloring Pages:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/world/china/color/

Teaching Printouts:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html

Activity Village:
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese_new_year.htm

Chinese Television and Radio Programs:
http://www.wcetv.com/v5/default_v55ex.asp

Coloring Pages Printouts:
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/coloring-pages/chinese-new-year/

Coloring Pages China:
http://www.edupics.com/coloring-pages-pictures-book-china-191.htm

Dragons!:
http://webtech.kennesaw.edu/jcheek3/dragons.htm

Chinesepod:
http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/online.htm

Sagwa the Cat (PBS):
http://pbskids.org/sagwa/

Nixon’s China Game:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/china/

Precious Children: Education in China:
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/preciouschildren/

Teacher Planet:
http://www.teacherplanet.com/resource/chinesenewyear.php

Chinese Clipart: http://www.sites4teachers.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://chineseculture.about.com/library/clipart/blscliparts.htm

Chinese Holidays:
http://www.index-china.com/index-english/chinese_holidays.htm

Traditional Chinese Medicine:
http://www.mic.ki.se/China.html

Chinese Movie Database:
http://www.dianying.com/en/

Chinese History Timeline:
http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html

Detailed History Timeline:
http://www.chinavoc.com/history/index.asp

10 Most Widely Spoken Languages: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0775272.html

I Love Languages:
http://www.ilovelanguages.com/

Language Box:
http://www.languagebox.com/

Pinyin Lesson Plan:
http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Foreign_Language/Chinese/CHN0001.html

Activities for Foreign Language Classrooms:
http://www.clta.net/lessons/

World Language Lesson Plans:
http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/languages/

World Language Lesson Plans and Resources:
http://www.csun.edu/%7Ehcedu013/eslsp.html#Lesson%20Plans

Learn Chinese Audio:
http://www.wku.edu/%7Eyuanh/AudioChinese/

Basic Chinese Grammar:
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/%7Ersimmon/chingram/

Chinese-English Dictionary:
http://www.mandarintools.com/worddict.html

Moran’s Chinese Teaching Materials: http://www.wfu.edu/%7Emoran/my_materials.html

On-line Lessons: http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/chou/bp/chinesenet/lessons/default.html

Chinese Cultural Studies: http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/%7Ephalsall/texts/chinlng2.html

China Related Resources:
http://info.wlu.ca/%7Ewwwsbe/faculty/yyan/chinese.htm

Asian Geography Resources:
http://www.cloudnet.com/%7Eedrbsass/edgeography.htm#asia

Chinese Lessons and Grammar:
http://www.uni.edu/becker/chinese2.html#grammar

Most Commonly Used Chinese Characters:
http://www.zein.se/patrick/3000char.html

Sinoling.com:
http://sinoling.com/

About Chinese Dialects: http://chineseculture.about.com/cs/language/a/dialects.htm

China Data Center:
http://chinadatacenter.org/newcdc/

Chinese Teach Source:
http://chinese.primarysource.org/

Foreign Language Teacher Resources: http://www.tesd.k12.pa.us/fles/teacher_resources.html

Chinese for Kids at Gigglepotz.com:
http://www.gigglepotz.com/chinese.htm


Ease Chinese:
http://www.easechinese.com/

China Corner:
http://www.china-corner.com/

Pinyin Tone Tool:
http://toshuo.com/pinyin-tone-tool#

Chinese Picture Dictionary:
http://classes.yale.edu/chns130/Dictionary/

Chinese Tools:
http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools

China TEFL Network:
http://www.chinatefl.com/

Primary Resources:
http://www.primaryschool.com.au/languages.php

Buy Chinese Clothing:
http://www.eaststore.com/

How to Make a Chinese New Year Dragon:
http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/dragon.html

How to Make a Chinese Dragon Puppet:
http://www.show.me.uk/site/news/STO971.html

Chinese New Year Lesson Plans:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/Jan05_china.htm

Chinese Games:
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/chinese-new-year/kids-games/index.html

Chinese Lantern Activity:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/chinesenewyear/lantern/

Chinese Fireworks Activity:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/fireworks/

Chinese Dragon Activity:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/chinesenewyear/lion/

Chinese Printable Books for Young Readers:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/books/holiday/chinesenewyear/

Midwest US-China Association
http://www.midwestuschina.org/events.php

US-China People’s Friendship Association:
http://www.uscpfa.org/

Chinese Mutual Aid Association:
http://www.chinesemutualaid.org/

Chinese Popular Culture:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Harbor/6080/

Annotated Resource for Chinese Popular Culture:
http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/china-pop.html

Chinese Cinema: Annotated Resource Page:
http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/china-film.html

Chinese Children’s Songs Mp3’s:
http://www.ibiblio.org/chinese-music/html/children.html

Chinese Children’s Songs Lyrics/Pinyin:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~har/songs.html

Chinese Children’s Songs:
http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/perry/chinesesongs/children/home.htm

Mama Lisa’s Chinese Children’s Songs:
http://www.mamalisa.com/world/taiwan.html

Chinese Culture Online:
http://www.chinesecultureonline.com/en/music.jsp

Chinese Hip Hop Culture (for High School):
http://www.chinastreets.net/

Shanghai Rap:
http://www.shanghaining.com/features/SHrap/

Chinese Hip Hop:
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/1857/2004-12-13/81@178610.htm

All Look Same

http://www.alllooksame.com
A fun look at Korean, Japanese and Chinese culture.
Click on ENTER and take tests in these categories:
--The people, architecture, landmarks, decorations, food....

They seem to all look the same, but look a bit deeper -- in fact, they're not.

A bit stereotyped, but take it loosely, it's quite fun.

Explore a Chinese House

This is a great site about how we make architecture, and it makes us.
The anatomy of a chinese house, all forms explained through function. My young children loved it. Great for k-12.

http://www.pem.org/yinyutang/index.html