Show and Tell 2

Important: If you did not submit a Show and Tell project for the First module, you’ll need to do the remaining four (including this one) to meet the requirements of the course!

Table of Contents

Details: what, when, where, how

WHEN: due by Tue, Feb. 28, 11.59pm

WHAT: showcase something you learned / researched about Chinese history for the time period ±1800-1911, i.e. course content for weeks 4, 5 and 6.

WHY: This gives you a chance to look back and consolidate what you learned so far. Perhaps you now see connections you did not spot initially (maybe as the result of browsing through your classmates’ posts?), or you have changed your opinions, or discovered a new source, or followed up on a question and want to share?

HOW:

  • Create a blog post, and share a link to the project. (If it’s a text-based Show and Tell, you can of course submit it as the blog post.)
  • Use the words “Show and Tell 2:” in the title of the post; you can further customize the title by adding a title that will draw the reader in.
  • Add the post to the category hst271.
  • Submit your link in the Canvas assignment
  • Most importantly: add a brief self-assessment in the submission comments:
    • What did you do well? What do you want to improve on in a rewrite, or in the next assignment?
      • The Rubric (found below) is a soulless check list, so in the submission comments you get a chance to wax lyrical about what you put into the project, and what you hope the reader gets out of it. If need be, I can help you get that out even more in a “rewrite & resubmit” (–> that is a real thing professional academics do, join the club!)
    • Suggest a grade out of 20 points.

Topics

Here’s a suggested list of topics, but please ping me a message on Discord or talk with me if you have a cool idea and are not sure if it will fit. I’ll do my best to help you make it work!

  • Opium Wars (first or second), including closer focus on a particular aspect (social, impact on international relations, military, …)
  • Various domestic rebellions: Taiping, White Lotus, Nian and Muslim, and Boxer rebellion rebellions, …
  • Self-strengthening movement and other reform attempts, incl. the 100-day reform
  • Anti-Manchu nationalism
  • End of the empire
  • Educational reform
  • Missionaries in China
  • …

Suggestions for formats

  • An analytical blog post: you analyze a set of materials drawn from the course materials, looking for connections, changes, continuities within the section covered and (once we are beyond the first Show and Tell) across more than one section.
    • 800 words (±10%, excl. notes and bibliography)
    • It’s not a summary.
    • I encourage you to bring in additional scholarly materials. Otherwise you have to do a very deep analysis of what we covered in class/readings.
    • You bring a new insight through a focused look at a particular aspect of the course materials covered so far: this post is more than the sum of its parts.
    • OPTION: You can also do this as a voiced-over power point slide deck, voice-thread, or other video/spoken assignment.
  • An encyclopedia entry (as blog post): you explain in detail an aspect of this part of Chinese history that you found fascinating, but we did not explore in great detail in class.
    • You add at least two sources that were not in the class readings yet. (Note: you can use the Optional Extras/background)
    • You introduce new information and new details on something connected to the history of China (1600-1800).
  • A small digital humanities project, for instance:
    • A detailed timeline (TimelineJS) [e.g. a specific event instead of covering the years 1600-1800]
    • A Storymap
    • A Twine-story
    • A Twitter-thread (series of tweets on a single topic)
    • An short audio podcast episode (± 5min, scripted)
    • A brief video documentary (± 2-3 min)
  • Current event in historical context: China is in the news all the time, and many of the topics have a much longer and complex historical background than journalists explain in their pieces. Use a current news topic as a jumping off point, and dive deeper into the historical connection.
    • 800 words (±10%, excl. notes and bibliography)
  • Primary source analysis
    • Do a deeper dive into a longer source and explore it as a historian would: how does the document/cultural artifact help you understand the history? OR
    • Use two or more primary sources and put them in dialogue, and show how a historian can use these to deepen our understanding of Chinese history. You can trace a genre or topic in time, or you can put two sources from the same time period in dialogue.
    • 800 words (± 10%;  excl. footnotes and bibliography)
    • You can find a list below
  • Examples of creative projects from previous editions of the course:
    • informative click bait, review of a scholarly article, a twitter thread,…
    • a talkshow with impersonations of historical figures
    • Google slide presentations with voice over or presenter notes
    • Prezi presentation
    • script for a play
    • art work, with guided notes explaining the connection to history.
  • Other ideas? Let me know! We can discuss what would work.

Rubric and self-assessment

How to assess your own work? Let’s agree on the following basics. Your work scores high when it displays characteristics that are the result of a resounding yes to the following statements:

  • I leaned into my curiosity to get to the bottom of a question I had, or a topic I wanted to learn more about – within the timeframe specified for this particular Show and Tell.
  • I made sure my contribution helps my fellow students understand a particular aspect of Chinese history better, and is more than a summary of content we covered in class.
  • I hit the word count (±10%, excl. notes and bibliography) if I follow a model suggested by Dr. D
    • OR
  • I consulted with Dr. D on the suitability and feasibility of a creative or digital project as an equivalent amount of work
  • I added footnotes in Chicago Notes and Bibliography style for all information I used, not only for paraphrases and quotations. [See the FAQ on this webpage, scroll down a bit]
  • I added a list of works consulted (aka a “bibliography) in Chicago Notes and Bibliography style
  • I checked the public-facing presentation of my work (blog post or other) looks professional, and is to the best of my ability free from factual errors, grammar and spelling mistakes.
  • I made sure to add hyperlinks and Alt Text where applicable.

Primary source suggestions

1. Transcription and comment

For this Module, I would also welcome anybody who wants to transcribe a new section of the Almack journal, and provide comments. Please get in touch with me if you’d like to practice your skills in reading nineteenth-century handwriting!

2. Primary source suggestions

  • Yung, Wing. My Life in China and America. Cer Classics. Hong Kong: Reprinted by China Economic Review Pub, 2007.
    • Read pp. 40-101 (you can, of course, read more if you’re interested!)
    • What is it? Yung Wing was educated by missionaries in China, and the first (known) Chinese student to graduate from a US college. (He also visited the Taiping, see week 4.) He married an American woman, and as a man who lived in and understood both American and Chinese culture, his memoirs make it a bit easier for us to try and understand how both cultures saw each other.
  • Price, Eva Jane. China Journal 1889-1900: An American Missionary Family during the Boxer Rebellion: With the Letters and Diaries of Eva Jane Price and Her Family. New York: Scribner, 1989.
    • Available in Trexler Library (not on reserve); start on pp. 213ff (when the Boxer Rebellion slowly reaches their missionary post)
    • letters from Eva Jane Price, wife of the missionary Charles Price, about her family during the Boxer rebellion. They were located in rural China, and unfortunately were killed by Boxers. At the point the rebellion breaks out, they have lived in China for 10-11 years.
    • Sections in italic are comments from the editors.

3. Graphic novel

  • Yang, Gene Luen, and Lark Pien. Boxers & Saints, 2 vols. New York: First Second Books, 2013.
    • On reserve in Trexler, at the front desk (4hrs for each volume)
    • Alternatively: Online, scroll down and click on one of the two books under “issue name” (Tip from one of last semester’s students). In the past there were terrible adverts on this site, and if they pop up for you, I DO apologize for the terrible adverts on the site, I hope you have some eyebleach ready 🤮
    • What is it? A graphic novel in two volumes. To get the full story, you need to read both. The first book follows the story of a boy who becomes a “boxer”, he joins the rebel forces who try to rid the country of the Westerners; the second volume follows the journey of an orphan who is taken in by missionaries and becomes a Christian. Their paths cross.

4. Use an Adam Matthew collection

The Adam Matthew Collection is a useful resource from the library, including for Chinese history. Focus your attention on materials in the collections that cover 1800-1911.

There are three collections that are of interest to our course:

You can get started with this guide from Kelly Canon, but each of the collections has an Introduction (video or other visual walk-through) on how to use the collection, and where to find materials. Here are some options for what you can do with your Show and Tell project:

  • A “review” of the collection: how easy is it to use, what kind of materials are there, how useful is it for an undergraduate who’s taking a general survey course or do you think it’s more aimed at a specialist reader, e.g. a CUE student or a graduate student?
    • People write reviews of physical archives, so why not online ones? And why not customize them for our class?
    • Provide concrete examples of what worked, where you ran into trouble, what you thought was useful. Include URLs and titles etc.
  • Pick a topic and a few resources, and do a mini research project: in short, you can do a “down the rabbit hole” type exercise but on a larger scale and with a more scholarly approach, using one of these collections as your starting point.
  • Collate a small selection of visual materials, and create an “online exhibition”
    • You can create a Google Slide Show and embed that in a blog post, then add in your blog post commentary. Don’t forget to credit the images correctly.
    • Alternatively, create an image gallery on your blog post, again including guiding commentary and credits for the images.
  • I am sure there are other ways to use this wealth of resources, pitch your idea!