Education About Asia: Online Archives

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Book Review, Resources

The Vietnam War: A History in Documents

by Scott Laderman

EDITED BY MARILYN B. YOUNG. JOHN J. FITZGERALD, AND A. TOM GRUNFELD OXFORD, UK: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2002 PAPERBACK: 176 PAGES. ISBN: 0-195-16635-3 We owe a great debt to Marilyn Young. John Fitzgerald, and Tom Grunfeld, who, in The Vietnam War: A History in Documents, have intelligently compiled and introduced a comprehensive collection of primary sources on one of the most contentious events in twentieth-century international history. Covering the period from the First Indochina War to...

Feature Article

Reasonably Informative, but Downplaying the Ravages of Dictatorship: Recent Pre-Collegiate US Textbook Treatments of Mao Zedong’s Rule

by Philip F. Williams

By Philip F. Williams Although the 1960s have often enjoyed a reputation for youthful ferment, that decade's US published pre-collegiate history textbook still focused mostly on Western civilization and American history in particular. Asia east of the Levant seldom entered the picture, except occasionally through a current-events context in social studies courses. While some contemporary back-to-the-basics intellectuals express nostalgia for a simpler era when Euro-American civilization was s...

Book Review, Resources

Modern Japan: A History in Documents

by William M. Tsutsui

BY JAMES L. HUFFMAN OXFORD, UK: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2004. 155 PAGES, PAPERBACK, ISBN: 0-765613-36-0 Reviewed by William M. Tsutsui There is no shortage of fine textbooks on the history of modern Japan. But all- from the old standards authored by Peter Duus, Mikiso Hane and Kenneth Pyle, to more recent volumes from Andrew Gordon, James McClain, and Conrad Totman- follow the same familiar formula. All are long, content-rich, chronological narratives written in the dispassionate, authorita...

Feature Article

Asia’s Environment, 1900-2000

by Conrad Totman

By Conrad Totman What does the above title mean? Anything? Despite its admirable conciseness, it is in fact laced with semantic problems. Perhaps if we rephrase it, "On Thinking About Asia's Environment, 1900- 2000," we'd give ourselves occasion to explore those problems briefly. And if we do so, we may find a silk purse lurking in this sow's ear of a title....

Online Supplement, Resources

Arundhati Roy’s The Greater Common Good: Dams, Development, and Democracy in India

by Paige Tan

By Paige Johnson Tan Arundhati Roy, a contemporary writer from India, is best known globally for her Booker Prize- winning novel The God of Small Things (1997). In addition to being a celebrated novelist, Roy is also a passionate activist who rails against globalization, multinational corporations, alleged US global hegemony, Hindu-Muslim violence. nuclear weapons, and of course, big dams. The following essay is an account of how I use one of Roy"s works in conjunction with a variety of' othe...

Feature Article

Teaching Twentieth-Century Chinese History

by Lesley Solomon

In an ideal world of American education, both high school students and college undergraduates would begin the study of twentieth-century China with a deep understanding of the development of Chinese civilization and its place in world history. Certainly, the much-publicized economic challenge posed by contemporary China,  as well as its expanding leadership role in East Asia and beyond, would make such an in-depth study crucial for all American students. Unfortunately, state and local history r...

Book Review Essay, Resources

Teaching About “The Forgotten War”

by Michael J. Seth

By Michael Seth VOICES OF THE KOREAN WAR Personal Stories of American, Korean, and Chinese Soldiers BY RICHARD A. PETERS AND XIAOBING LI LEXINGTON: UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY, 2004 HARDCOVER: 288 PAGES ISBN: 0-813-12293-7 Although often labeled the "forgotten war," there is a large and growing literature on the Korean War. The two very different books reviewed here present additions to this body of work that are useful for teachers and students....

EAA Interview

EAA Interview with Marcus Noland: Asia’s Post-War Economic Growth

by Lucien Ellington

Lucien: Marc, thanks for doing this interview. Could you inform your readers a bit about yourself and how you became interested in East Asia? Marcus Noland: I am a PhD economist. My primary professional affiliation is with the Institute for  International Economics, a private, not-for-profit, non-partisan public policy think tank in Washington, DC....

Feature Article

Asia in the Twentieth Century

by William H. McNeill

By William H. McNeill Recent events offer an apt metaphor for Asia's twentieth century. Between 1900 and 2000, a North Atlantic human tsunami crested and then withdrew, leaving behind radically changed social landscapes after ten decades of widespread disruption. Asia was not alone. The whole world went through the same experience- not least Europe and America, located at the epicenter of the entire upheaval. After-effects still persist, and intensified communication means that rapid readjust...

Essay, Resources

It’s Not Hard … Anyone Can Learn Japanese

by Ann McCarthy

By Ann McCarthy Co-Recipient of the 2004 United Stated-Japan Foundation Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher Award Language Category My Japanese 4-5 class. which is combined into one class, was getting ready to leave for a day-trip, to a local Japanese garden and restaurant. A student rushed in just as the final bell was ringing, greeting everyone with. "Ohayo gozaimasu (good morning). Hello family." With that greeting he conveyed what happens in the class. We're a family, we're together, you...

Book Review, Resources

Chinese Aesthetics and Literature: A Reader

by Robert André LaFleur

EDITED BY CORINNE H. DALE ALBANY: SUNY PRESS, 2004 HARDCOVER: XXii, 247 PAGES, ISBN: 0-791-46022-3 The past few decades have seen a growing demand among teachers and scholars of Western literature for clear analyses of Chinese aesthetics. While there are many fine introductory materials, there remains a need for what might be called "intermediate" materials that prepare the serious reader for specialized works. Chinese Aesthetics and Literature: A Reader admirably fills part of that gap...

Resources, Web Gleanings

Web Gleanings: Asia in the Twentieth Century

by Judith S. Ames

ASIA Title: Internet Modem History Sourcebook: Asia Since 1900 URL: http://www. fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook52.html This is part of a valuable series of original source documents. In particular, this sit has documents pertaining to Asia in the twentieth century. Also accessible through this page are links to the lnternet East Asian History Sourcebo0k, which has many pre-twentieth century items. There are also a large number of documents from the twentieth century. such as those about East...

Book Review, Resources

Broadening the Horizons of Chinese History: Discourses, Syntheses, and Comparisons

by David L. Kenley

By Ray Huang NEW YORK: M. E. SHARPE, 1999 PAPERBACK: 274 PAGES. ISBN: 0-7656-0348-9 Reviewed by David L. Kenley In Broadening the Horizons of Chinese History, Ray Huang investigates events in China from a long-term perspective. The work is actually a compilation of several previously-presented essays. In many ways, the text reads more like an intimate lecture than a jargon-filled monograph. Inserting several interesting details about his own life, Huang writes as if he is seeking to persuade...

Essay, Resources

Asian Fiction of the Twentieth Century: A Novel Approach to History

by Andrea Caron Kempf

By Andrea Caron Kempf History viewed through the lens or fiction can enhance a standard textbook, making the subject more immediate and compelling to students. Anecdotal evidence suggests that students who read a novel in conjunction with a history class become more engaged with the subject. Both the grand themes of a work of fiction and its quotidian details inform and educate, remai1ning with a reader long after the novel or the course in which it was assigned is completed. The cataclysmic ...

Feature Article

Japanese Society in the Twentieth Century

by James L. Huffman

By James L. Huffman Most American textbooks do a capable job of summarizing the political and economic facts of Japan's modern history. The country, in their telling, modernized quickly in the late 1800s, turned militant in the 1930s, went to war in the 1940s, reemerged under American guidance in the 1950s, and became an ''economic animal" in the 1960s. In the 1990s, the bubble burst. Unfortunately, most of these textbooks ignore the rich and varied lives of the Japanese people themselves: th...

Resources, Teaching Resources Essay

A Visit to the DMZ: A Virtual Tour of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea

by John Frank

LESSON CONSTRUCTED BY JOHN FRANK, HISTORY TEACHER CENTER GROVE HIGH SCHOOL, GREENWOOD, INDIANA TARGET AUDIENCE: GRADES SEVEN TO TWELVE, SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENTS Contents: • Lesson Outline for the Teacher • Questions to be Answered Before we Visit the DMZ • Answer Key for Questions to be Answered Before we Visit the DMZ • A Virtual Visit to the DMZ Map Worksheet • United Nations VISITOR'S DECLARATION • Script for A Virtual Visit to the DMZ • Questions from Our Tour Guid...

Resources

Facts About Asia: Fall 2005

by

MISCELLANEOUS FACTS ABOUT THE CHINESE ECONOMY SIZE China's gross domestic product (GDP), the value of all good and services produced in one year, has quadrupled since economic reform began in 1978 under former leader Deng Xiaoping. China's economy is now the world's sixth largest with a GDP of approximately $1.4 trillion. The US ranks first, with a GDP of $ 10.9 trillion....

Teaching Resources Essay

Mao and China in World History High School Textbooks

by Timothy Cheek

A picture is worth a thousand words, as the old saying goes. In two recent high school world history textbooks, Mao's picture appears in tellingly different ways. In World History: Connections to Today (Prentice Hall, 2003), Mao appears well into the section on China in "Nationalism and Revolution Around the World ( 1910- 1939).'' It is a photo of a distinctly older Mao from the 1970s (I suspect from the time of Nixon's visit in 1972). It appears in a box on page 863 that reviews Mao's call to "...

Book Review, Resources

Mao Zedong and China’s Revolutions: A Brief History with Documents

by Adam Cathcart

BY TIMOTHY CHEEK NEW YORK: PALGRAVE, 2002 HARDCOVER: 259 PAGES, ISBN: 0-312-29429-8 Reviewed by Adam Cathcart Mao Zedong retains significant symbolic potency in the People's Republic of China. Whether as an intransigent youth, voluble guerrilla leader, or fulminating toward the Cultural Revolution, Mao's figure shows no sign of receding from the stage of history. Today, the "fourth generation" of Chinese Communist leaders brandish Mao as a talisman against instability and a patron saint for ...

Feature Article

Using “Monkey” to Teach Religions of China

by Jean Elliott Johnson, Ryan Bradeen

Like most classics of literature, Journey to the West (also known as Monkey, after its main character, the wondrous Monkey King) can be read on many levels. Besides being a tale of epic adventure on the scale of Star Wars or the Lord of the Rings, Monkey has been read as political and religious satire, as allegory, and as fantastical historical fiction. In this essay we will undertake a journey to discover what Monkey can reveal about Chinese religion. First, we will show bow, in the early chapt...

New to EAA?

Before viewing the full archives, view Editor’s Choice Articles, handpicked by EAA Editor, Lucien Ellington, which provide a good overview of EAA and introduction for new readers.