Week 12: Ming dynasty

Nov. 14 – Nov. 20

Unless otherwise noted, all assignments and tasks are due by 11:59PM. I strongly suggest you keep a healthy life-work balance and make sure to get enough sleep. Check the “best-before dates” policy in the syllabus.

Monday
  • □ Look ahead at the readings and tasks for this week, and plan in when you will do them.
  • – This prevents last minute panic, and means you can make the most of our time together in class
Tuesday
  • □ Feedback on your fellow students’ posts:
  • – Read through and use Hypothes.is (Group HST269)  to comment on your fellow students’ posts: everybody likes some encouragement! Here is a random selection of three posts. If two or more posts are the same, or one is your own, just refresh the page for a different set. It’s all random, it’s all good! 
  • * Post 1:
  • * Post 2:
  • * Post 3:
Wednesday
  • □ Prepare before class: Readings
  • – Background: Textbook: To help you understand how we got away from the Mongols and into one of the most flourishing periods of Chinese history:
    • – Option 1: Rossabi, Morris. A History of China. Newark: John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
      • Chapter “8. Ming: Isolationism and Involvement in the World, 1368-1644″ (ebook)
    • – Option 2: Hansen, Valerie. The Open Empire, second ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015. (Course Reserve library)
      • Chapter “Continuing the war against the Mongols: The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)”
  • – Primary Source: Fei Xin. Hsing-Chʻa-Sheng-Lan: The Overall Survey of the Star Raft. Translated and edited by J. V. G Mills, and Roderich Ptak. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996.
    • PDF
    • Read the opening section (marked in red brackets, pp. 8-13 of the PDF). This account by Fei Xin contains details of the various countries in the Indian ocean where the “Star Raft” of Zheng He (Cheng Ho) went.
    • Questions to focus on: What do you learn about the Chinese worldview from this section? How does the author position himself and his knowledge about foreign lands, and why would he do that? Do you see connections with other things we’ve learned so far?
  • – Primary Source: A Complete Map of the Ten Thousand Countries of the World, 1602 CE, woodblock print, 1602, 2 feet by 5.75 feet, James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota, https://education.asianart.org/resources/the-ricci-map-1602-interactive/.
    • Click on the link to learn more about the map, and then “Explore the Map”
    • In the map, click on the pink areas: those sections are translated. Some of them we now know are fantasy, others are fact, but the map is an accurate display of Western knowledge of the world at the time. What are your favorite cartouches (“captions”) or illustrations? 
  •  
  • – Optional extras: may be useful for Show and Tell?
  • Fei Xin. Hsing-chʻa-sheng-lan: The Overall Survey of the Star Raft. Translated and edited by J. V. G Mills, and Roderich Ptak. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996.
    • PDF
    • What to do: You already read the opening section, now look through the Table of Contents (p. 4-5 of the PDF) and pick one or two additional countries or regions. Take notes to share with your classmates who did not read this text: what amazes you about Fei Xin’s description? Can you find out where the location is? Does any of the content match up to reality? (And how did you go about fact-checking?)
    • TIP: you can find some of the locations back on this google map
  •  
  • □ Meeting in Ettinger 213, 9.30AM
  • Slides (Gdrive link)
Thursday
  • □ Time to start dreaming about your Final Show and Tell project! Check out the course offerings for weeks 14 and 15!
Friday
  • □ Debriefing on Show and Tell 3 + planning Show and Tell 4!
  • □ Meeting in Trexler B01, 9.30AM
  • Close to the books, the Hive, a snack vending machine and there’s coffee upstairs + more space at the tables (incl. high tables!)
Saturday
  • □ Rest day
Sunday

Where to get help:

  • Tea Room on Discord:
    • open anytime for you
    • I will be hosting Tue 2PM-3PM; Wed. 11AM-12PM, or at other times by appointment via Google Calendar. You can also find me in my office during Tea Room times.
    • Private room for confidential chat available on request.
  • Discord Channel #hst269 and the (anonymous) Padlet (both also useful for chatting, sharing fun stuff)
  • DLAs: Digital Learning Assistants: schedule coming soon!
  • Writing Center: Sunday-Wednesday: 3:30 – 5:30 pm and 7-11 pm; Thursday: 3:30 – 5:30 pm and 7-9 pm; drop in or make an appointment
  • Trexler Library Course Subject Guide: our own dedicated subject guide for the course 
  • Safety on/around campus: report an incident