Week 5: Tang and the outside world

Feb. 14 and 16

We jump forward in time to the seventh century and beyond, and move further west than we have done so far in the course, to look at objects and texts that were buried in what are now the deserts of modern Xinjiang autonomous region in northwestern China. Our focus is on the presence of foreign people and the exotic goods they brought to medieval China, and their influence on material culture.

The Tang period (618-907) is often portrayed as a highlight of Chinese history, literature, and art. But what does “Chinese” mean, when the imperial family has Central Asian and ethnic Han blood running through its veins, and much of the urban population of the capitals Chang’an and Luoyang is enthralled by Hu (Central Asian) culture, from food, to music and fashion, and when much of what we know about Tang’s daily life comes from a frontier area like the Western Regions?

Table of Contents

Slides

Readings and class details

Tuesday

Meeting in Ettinger 212, 3.30PM

Basic set: everybody reads/views this

  • Slide deck (Gdrive link)
  • D’Haeseleer, Tineke. “Tang China (618-907).” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of the Global Middle Ages, edited by Erik Hermans, 161-188. Arc Humanities Press, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019. (PDF)
    • NOTE: Read 161-171, then section “Western Regions” (176-180). (save time and don’t read the entire chapter)
    • This will help you find your way after we make a big transition and skip quite a few centuries. We can’t cover everything in the course.
  • Hansen, Valerie. The Open Empire: A History of China to 1800. Second ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.(PDF)
    • Shortly after the year 1000, a niche on the side of a man-made cave in Mogao, near Dunhuang, was sealed off. Its contents was not revealed until the early years of the twentieth century. This brief excerpt gives you a mini-introduction to the Library cave of Dunhuang.
  • Justin Jacobs, Indiana Jones in History: From Pompeii to the Moon. “Episode XV: The Guardians of Dunhuang” (Youtube)
    • More on the “discovery” of the Library cave, and how its treasures ended up spread out across the globe.
    • Video: (13min)
  • OPTIONAL EXTRAS: Dunhuang Foundation lectures:
    • Feng, Anne. “Buddhist Art at Dunhuang” (Youtube)
    • Nugent, Christopher. “China’s Golden Age: Imperial Chang’an.” (Youtube)

Thursday

Meeting in Ettinger 212, 3.30PM

Pick Option A or B

Option A: Exploring the Library Cave

  • Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History with Documents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.(PDF)
    • “Chapter 3: Midway between China and Iran”
      • Note: Aurel Stein was a Hungarian born British civil servant who collected many documents from the Western Regions, which are now in the British Library.
      • Question: How do the material remains of this area help us understand the complex culture of Western Region? And the culture of Tang China?
  • Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road: A New History with Documents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
    • “Women’s Lives at Dunhuang in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries” (PDF)
    • “The Real World Legal System in the Turfan Documents” (PDF)
    • Questions: How do these documents connect to the previous big themes we covered (state, values, religious ideas,…)? How can we use physical objects to understand more about the world in which they were produced? What differences do you see between “theory” and “practice”?

 

Option B: Foreigners and their culture in Tang China

One book, two tasks:

  • Schafer, Edward H. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T’ang Exotics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963. (ebook Trexler library)
  • Task 1: Read Chapter 1 (“Glory of T’ang”); Question: What is the image of Tang China, and in particular Chang’an you get from this chapter?
  • Task 2: Look through the Table of Contents, select one chapter based on the title, and read through it. Pick one item (object, creature, person) that intrigues you most within that chapter, and introduce it to your colleagues.

Assignments

1. Reminder Blog post (content week 4)

5 points, due Sun. Feb. 13, 11:59PM

Write a blog post exploring themes or ideas based on your reading. You do not need to have all the answers. In fact, learning to ask good analytical or research questions is a skill you can develop during the semester. Remember the description of the assignment from the syllabus.

  • Length: approx. 400 words. excl. list of materials consulted.
  • Add the list of materials consulted at the end of the post, in Chicago notes and bibliography style.
    • TOP TIP: Just copy the bibliography information from the Reading list on last week’s webpage, do not add the descriptive notes I provide for your information.
  • Add the words “Week 4” in the title.
    • Please use this exact phrase, so your post will show up in the blog stream.
  • Indicate which Exploration Pack you chose.
  • Include a relevant image, and add a caption with the source/credit, and an Alt text description
  • Post on your website, and add to the category hst137.

When you’re done, read this declaration carefully and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I wrote a post of approximately 400 words in response to the readings.
– I included the bibliographic references for the materials I used for my post.
– I indicated which Exploration Pack I chose.
– I included an image, and I provided a caption and credit (source), and an Alt text description for the image.
– I use the words Week 4 in the title, and added the post to category hst137

2. Pitch a topic

10 points, due Feb. 13.

You can find more information about the Final Project on the dedicated webpage. Due date for this first step is Feb. 13.

I collected all the info you need about Pitching a topic (including “help I have no clue what I’d like to do”) on a webpage.

Get your thinking caps on! Use last week’s library session to begin exploring if there are good quality sources available. We will also make some time in class to help you refine your rudimentary ideas.

3. Feedback with Hypothes.is

3 points, due Feb. 14

Below you find links to three blog posts from your fellow students. If one of the websites is your own, or it is twice the same person’s, refresh the page, and you should get new sites. [posts coming on Monday]

  • Post 1:
  • Post 2:
  • Post 3:

Leave feedback, questions, thoughts, insights about the contents of the posts of your fellow students using Hypothes.is group HST137. You can ask for clarifications, point out similarities and differences with the material you covered, or with your interpretation. This should encourage you to nose around in the other materials you did not read originally, too.

Use tags in Hypothes.is: question: If you have a question (obvious); answered: if you gave an answer to a question; info: if you provide more information, looking up additional facts, drawing on knowledge from other classes; and other tags you can think of. This will help us to navigate more quickly to the questions that still need answering.

Use the “Architect’s Model” of giving feedback, and engage with concrete issues. Go beyond “Yeah, I agree,” “I like” or “I think the same”, and instead explain why you have that reaction, or if you disagree, you can try to persuade the original poster of your idea or interpretation.

Remember that Hypothes.is allows for hyperlinks, e.g. to materials that support your argument, or you can include pictures (memes! [yes, there she is again]), videos etc. that help the original poster to learn more.

When you’re done, read this declaration carefully, and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I commented on three fellow students’ weekly blog post on Week 4 materials, using the Hypothes.is group HST137.
– I made sure to leave substantial comments that help the writer to improve the post, or to identify their strengths.
– I left comments that I would like to receive myself: thoughtful, helpful, kind, but also pointing out errors so they can be fixed.

4. Blog post (content week 5)

5 points, due Sun. Feb. 19, 11:59PM

Write a blog post exploring themes or ideas based on your reading. You do not need to have all the answers. In fact, learning to ask good analytical or research questions is a skill you can develop during the semester. Remember the description of the assignment from the syllabus.

  • Length: approx. 400 words. excl. list of materials consulted.
  • Add the list of materials consulted at the end of the post, in Chicago notes and bibliography style.
    • TOP TIP: Just copy the bibliography information from the Reading list on this webpage, do not add the descriptive notes I provide for your information.
  • Add the words “Week 5” in the title.
    • Please use this exact phrase, so your post will show up in the blog stream.
  • Indicate which Exploration Pack you chose.
  • Include a relevant image, and add a caption with the source/credit, and an Alt text description
  • Post on your website, and add to the category hst137.

When you’re done, read this declaration carefully and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I wrote a post of approximately 400 words in response to the readings.
– I included the bibliographic references for the materials I used for my post.
– I indicated which Exploration Pack I chose.
– I included an image, and I provided a caption and credit (source), and an Alt text description for the image.
– I use the words Week 5 in the title, and added the post to category hst137

5. Heads-up! First Reflection

8 points, due Tue Feb. 21, 11:59pm

Find all the details on the dedicated webpage (this helps me to keep the weekly schedule a bit more clutter-free).

Extra Credit exercise

EC5-1: Follow that Footnote!

3 points, due by Sunday, Feb. 19, 11.59pm.

Read the instructions on this separate webpage (that’s to keep the weekly schedule manageable). You’ll also find the link there to the declaration quiz. It’s not difficult, but it was complex to explain if you’ve never really thought about footnotes.

Where to get assistance?

  • Tea Room on Discord:
    • open anytime for you
    • I will be hosting Tue 2PM-3PM; Wed. 1-2PM, or at other times by appointment via Google Calendar (usually a 15-20min appointment is enough). You can also find me in my office during Tea Room times.
    • Private room for confidential chat available on request.
  • Discord Text Channel #hst137
  • DLAs: Digital Learning Assistants: check the schedule!
  • Writing Center: Sunday – Wednesday 3:30 – 5:30 & 7 – 11 PM; Thursday 3:30 – 5:30 PM &  7 – 9 PM
  • Trexler Library Course Subject Guide: our own dedicated subject guide for the course 
  • Safety on/around campus: report an incident