Week 7: Money – People and their stuff in Chinese history

Feb. 28 and March 2

This week, we’re looking at something you’re all familiar with: money! But you may not be familiar with the many different forms it has taken over the years in China.

We also make some time for you to work on your Annotated Bibliography, so you know what to, and how to do it.

Slides
Readings and class details
Assignments
Extra Credit Tasks
Where to Get Assistance?

Slides

Readings and class details

Tuesday

Meeting in Ettinger 212, 3.30PM

Basic set

Horesh, Niv. Chinese Money in Global Context: Historic Junctures between 600 BCE and 2012. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2014. (Ebook Trexler Library)
- Only read Chapter 2 “From Coinage to Paper Money” until p. 56 (stop at “The Mongol Legacy”). You may read on, but there is more reading to do below in the Exploration Packs.
- This chapter of this book provides an overview of the main types of currency/money used in premodern China until the Song dynasty.
- Guiding questions: What different kinds of money were in use? How was value of money determined? What were the problems each type of money faced?

Exploration Pack 1: Money on the Eurasian trade routes (or “Silk Roads”)

Wang, Helen. Money on the Silk Road: The Evidence from Eastern Central Asia to c. AD 800. London: British Museum Press, 2004.(PDF)
- Questions: What connections do you see with what you learned about the Eurasian trade networks in week 5, and textiles in week 6?

Exploration Pack 2: Money, and the gods of wealth

Von Glahn, Richard. The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. (ebook Trexler)
- Read Chapter 7: “The Enchantment of Wealth” (pp. 222-256)
- Additional background: In the Ming period (1368-1644), a long period of domestic stability led to increased wealth and the development of a money economy, but also social worries surrounding money. One of the ways people tried to make sense of all of this was by worshiping gods of wealth.
- Questions: Who or what were the entities that became responsible for wealth, in popular religion? What seems strange, interesting or remarkable about this phenomenon? What popular beliefs or superstitions are you aware about from your own culture about money and wealth? How do they compare to the Chinese popular views of wealth?
- Tip: the number 5 is imbued with great significance in Chinese tradition: it contains the four cardinal directions and the center, and a lot of things are associated with them (colors, seasons, tastes, animals,…). You can learn a bit more about it in this post from Kaitlyn in the Modern China course, on the pulse method for diagnosing illness in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Thursday: In the library!

Trexler Library B01 , 3.30PM

Any potential carry-over from Tuesday’s session (hopefully none!)
Review how to use Zotero
Check your Final Project pitch: any comments from your classmates? Bring questions, comments, and ideas to class, especially if it is about sources.
Time for hands-on work on your Annotated Bibliography

Assignments

1. Reminder Blog post (content week 6)

5 points, due Sun. Feb. 24, 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 6” in the title.
- Please use this exact phrase, so your post will show up in the blog stream.
Indicate which Exploration Pack you chose, if applicable.
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 6 in the title, and added the post to category hst137

2. Feedback with Hypothes.is

3 points, due Feb. 28, 11:59PM

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. There may be a post from an earlier week: that means it came in after I created last week’s randomizer, but still before the built-in extension of the blog post assignment.

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 6 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.

3. Blog post (content week 7)

5 points, due Sun. March 5. 11:59PM

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 7” 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 7 in the title, and added the post to category hst137

4. Final Project step 2: Annotated Bibliography

Due Mon. March 6, 11:59PM, 20 points.

Find all the details on the dedicated webpage

Extra Credit assignments

EC7-1. Rewrite a blog post

2 points, due by Sunday, March. 5, 11.59pm

Unhappy about a post you wrote? Feeling you can do better now than a few weeks ago? Had a bad week and rushed to get it in but now you’re ready to do something you can be proud of? Now you can rewrite that post and get some extra credit for it!

Pick one post from a previous weeks (not the Cat post) and use the comments you received, and your new insights, to rewrite it.
Add a brief paragraph at the end explaining how you rewrote the post: which comments did you address, how did you go about the process (e.g. starting from new blank page vs. tinkering; focusing on structure or word choice or adding/correcting facts,…), and what you learned through the process of rewriting.
tag the post with extra, and add “rewrite” to the title
- (Note: it should already be in the category hst137)

Read the following Declaration carefully, and then head on over to Canvas to collect your points in the Declaration Quiz:

Declaration
I selected a post from a previous week and rewrote it, using feedback and insights I gained since writing it.
I added a brief paragraph at the end explaining what I did to rewrite the post, and what I learned about rewriting
I added the tag extra to the post, and added the word rewrite to the title.
I made sure the post is still in the category hst137.

EC7-2: Down the Rabbit Hole

3 points, due by Sunday March. 5., 11.59pm

Are you curious? Can you spend hours on internet following one link after another trying to get to the bottom of something? Did you know you can now also get some extra credit for this?

Pick a topic, placename, object, book or person connected to our readings from this week, and follow your curiosity “down the rabbit hole”, like Alice in Wonderland. Then share in a blog post with us where you went, and what you found. Your post does not have to be very long: 250 words should work; more is fine if you went on a deep dive, of course. Here’s what to include:

What in the course materials this week got you inspired to go down the rabbit hole?
Include as hyperlinked text the websites you visited, and what you learned there.
Include an image, with caption giving credit for the image.
You may also critique the sources you find, in particular if you have your doubts about their reliability, or you come across conflicting interpretations. Which one did you side with, and why?
Add the post to category hst137, use the title template “Down the rabbit hole: [insert subject]”, and add the tag extra.