Week 14 (Nov. 29 – Dec. 5)

Table of contents

To do and Schedule of the Week

Reminder

  • The 5-15 report is due on Sunday every week; did you remember to send it in? Just a Google Doc shared with me will do!
  • Find all the Project and Time management info in the tab “Course Resources“.

Good to know

Tuesday we have “class”, so come to Zoom and we’ll have fun in small breakout rooms – just like in class! Thursday is a great time to dedicated specific time to your project with quiet working time over Zoom.

By Tuesday, 3.30PM

Seating plan: somewhere comfortable and quiet, join using the Zoom link in my email signature or via the Canvas page.

After the Mongols, the Chinese world did not retreat or become isolated. The huaxia people were a bit cautious about some foreigners, but trade and exchange with many group flourished like never before. The Yongle Emperor, the third emperor of the Ming, ordered the creation of several ambitious projects to legitimize his rule, and one of those was a series of voyages in the Indian Ocean. A few decades later, Europeans first made their way into that same area and came into direct contact with the Ming. We’ll have a look at sources that talk about both of these.

Prepare for class/read

Everybody reads/looks at:

  • Slides: preview –> check out the Speaker Notes too.
    • This means I don’t have to lecture over Zoom (booooohring!) and you can go at your own pace!
    • Add comments if you have questions/reactions
  • 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. (Pick Option A if you want to read more.)
    • 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?
  • 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? Add them to the jamboard!

OPTION A: Ming ocean voyages:

  • 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

OPTION B: Ming and Europeans in each others’ eyes:

  • “7. Letter to a friend”. In Li, Zhi. A Book to Burn and a Book to Keep (Hidden). Translated by Rebecca Handler-Spitz, Pauline C. Lee and Haun Saussy. Translations from the Asian Classics. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.
    • PDF
    • This is a letter from Li Zhi to a friend, about the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (given the Chinese surname Li):
  • Matteo Ricci: Five Letters from China. Edited and translated by Gianni Criveller, Beijing: Beijing Center for Chinese Studies, 2011.
    • PDF
    • Two letters from Matteo Ricci to friends and associates in Europe. The first is from shortly after his arrival in Ming China, the second after a few years.

Questions to focus on: How does each see the other? Is cross-cultural/inter-cultural dialogue possible? Why (not)? What in the text makes you think Ricci and Li Zhi have understood something about each other’s culture and motivation? Where do you feel they mis-interpreted things?

Thursday, 3.30PM

Same Zoom link as always: my email signature or via the Canvas page

In-class project time and space! Make an appointment with your project and share a productive hour and a bit with your classmates – I’m around for answering all your questions and you get to work in peace and quiet in the main room (with quiet side chat). I’ll open breakout rooms for the chatty people who want to consult about their projects. Do not under-estimate the power of being in the same virtual space together: I always am inspired to work with more focus when I see others working too!

By Sunday, 11:59PM

Fill out and send in/share your “5-15 progress report“

All the details are in the form.

Slides

Tuesday: A whole lot (but not all) of Ming

Where to get help