Wikipedia for Teachers and Students?

I've posted pieces on China Beat, Living with Wikipedia: It's Here to Stay, with Pt II, How to Improve Wikipedia, supplemented by Living with Wikipedia (China Beat) on Frog in a Well, which has further links and thoughts.

If you have ideas on the (ab)use of Wikipedia in the classroom, please add your comments at Frog or China Beat.

News Articles

In the right hand column of this page is "News Stories," which links to stories I have chosen for current interest.

Below that is a link to my Del.icio.us site, which has many more items -- but you have to work a bit to locate them. Look for the "tags," click the one you want, then you will get a list of the items I have marked.

China Beat: Five Sites for Lesson Plans and Teaching Materials

The new blog "China Beat" offers a range of opinion pieces on news, history, culture, and anything else that comes to their minds. The contributors are Los Angeles area scholars and graduate students.

The April 25 post is very useful "Five Sites for Lesson Plans and Teaching Materials" It lists and briefly describes the major national sites.

National Geographic China Issue

The June issue of National Geographic is a rich presentation of China -- pictures, feature stories... the whole nine yards.

National Geographic website has these features, plus a bunch of links to earlier articles, maps, puzzles, the whole ninety yards.

China and Tibet

The hot item in the headlines these days is the debate over Tibet, with demonstrations in Lhasa, Nepal, and Congress. The box to the right of this posting, "News Articles," has links to recent articles.

The box below has links and tags to the Del.icio.us social sharing website. You can 1) click the links in the box to go to an article or 2) go to the Del.icio.us site by clicking "My Del.icio.us." There you will have access to the several thousand websites and articles linked there; they are tagged by subject. In this case, try "Tibet."

Chinese Propaganda Posters

Stephan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Posters page is a major resource for any topic in post 1949 history of the People's Republic. Landsberger has arranged the posters by topic and supplied extensive explanations of the people, policies, and places involved.

For instance, "Population Policy" has colorful posters promoting sexual awareness (one of the few sources of knowledge on this topic for young Chinese!) and a quick explication of the development of the One Child Policy. "Zhou Enlai" has a brief but useful summary of Zhou's life. "Iron Women and Foxy Ladies" offers an incisive essay and insightful posters.

For most topics there are suggested readings and links for websites.

East vs. West: A Chinese Student in Germany

Yang Liu , a Beijing artist trained in Germany, comments on the differences between Chinese and German culture. The German characteristic is in blue, on the left, the Chinese in red, on the right.

To view the show slide by slide, click the icon between the left and right arrows.

Ms. Yang's Website is here: http://www.yangliudesign.com/

You can also go to the album to see or download individual slides by double clicking the image.

Going Up the River in the Song Dynasty

The scroll painting known as Qingming Shanghe tu is a vividly detailed record of life in a Song Dynasty city and suburbs. Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145) gets credit for the original, but the Qing emperors in the 18th century commissioned teams of painters who reflected in their versions the Manchu peaceable kingdom.

The title is problematic and has been translated as "City of Cathay," but Wikipedia in its wisdom lists it as "Along the River During the Qing Ming Festival." The article gives a confused account but has links to several versions available online.

The first image here is from the earliest version, now in Beijing. You will see that in addition to being old and faded, is was more austere than the almost posterish colors of the Qing dynasty versions. The "rainbow bridge" is probably legendary, not actual, but it displays the advanced bridge technology of the time.

The second image shows an outdoor theater, probably playing a Chinese opera.

The third image shows the lively commerce going into the city, reminding us that the Song had a national currency and international trade not only in luxuries but rice and industrial products.

Other parts of the scroll, available through the links in the Wikipedia article, show the shops, restaurants, wine shops (complete with a customer puking over the railing).

A theater

The city gate

A Manga Life of Buddha

This is a page from Vol 2 of Osamu Tezuka's Buddha (New York: Vertical, 2003) a six volume graphic life of Gautama Buddha. They are available in paperback for less than $10 apiece.

East Asian History Web and Printed Resources

East Asian History is a well selected group of links to major internet resources on China, Japan, and Korea put up by the Program in Social Studies and Global Education, The Ohio State University in 2003.

Although it does not seem to have been modified since then, the site is useful because there are not too many sources, not too few -- just right. The most useful sites are marked with "Favorite.

China Digital Times

China Digital Times Describes itself as "collaborative news website covering China’s social and political transition and its emerging role in the world. We aim to aggregate the most up-to-the-minute news and analysis about China from around the Web, while providing independent reporting, translations from Chinese cyberspace, and perspectives from across the geographical, political and social spectrum."

In plain language: "a great way to keep track of what's up in China."

Reports are tagged, so that you can easily search and find articles on practically any subject you want, including political reform, environmental crisis, the Olympics (major coverage), Christianity, one child policy... well, you name it.

There is a CDT Slideshows, Photos (both downloadable), Cartoons, Satire, and reviews in the CDT Bookshelf,

Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Minneapolis Institute of Arts website Arts of Asia is extensive but not overwhelming in presenting Chinese history with an emphasis on art and culture. The art works are explained and background given, though there is probably more pottery than most students would want.

There are excellent sections of History and Maps for China, Japan, and Korea showing historical development.

The section on Buddhism is especially well done.

Additional Resources includes Teaching the Arts, Further Reading, and Glossary.

Highly recommended to those with an interest in art.

http://www.artsmia.org/art-of-asia/introduction/

Chinese Fable Stories in English

Although intended for beginning English readers (pre-school), this series of online reader uses flash technology to incorporate basic animation with story telling. It's a great beginning to learning about Chinese stories and fables.

http://www.starfall.com/n/level-c/chinese-fables/load.htm?f

The China Beat

A brave new blog: The China Beat, which in its own words "examines media coverage of China, providing context and criticism from China scholars and writers." The first couple of posts show what they're up to: "Five Good Short Books on China," "After the Avalanche," (on the Taiwan elections), and "Anniversaries: The Rise and Fall of Wang Mang" (a controversial figure who usurped the throne 2,000 years ago.)

There you have it: history, items snatched from the headlines, and advice on what to read. What's not to like?

Anniversary of Zhou Enlai's Death

Several bloggers wrote about Zhou on January 8. Jottings from the Granite Studio has a superb piece, This Date in History with excellent illustrations. My own piece, Zhou Enlai and the Chinese Omelette (posted on Frog in a Well) adds some more stories and observations.