J. Extra Credit Assignments

East Asia Under Challenge Sarcastic

Travel Advertisement

Normally, travel advertisements are designed to convince audiences to visit a specific location. This usually means colorful images, relaxing vacation retreats, great shopping, and various other luxuries.

In this mini-project, you will entice your audience to visit China, by making one negative occurrence in the 19th century sound appealing. You will invite the audience to visit the location, sarcastically making something like a rebellion, uprising, or war sound appealing.

This is an independent mini-project that will be completed using Google Docs.

Due ___

Geography ( ___ / 10 points)

· Map of China

· Details of 1 Specific City in China (Example: Nanjing)

o What is the environment like in the city (urban? rural? suburban?) weather?

· Methods of Travel to get there (Remember, planes don’t exist yet! Be creative)

Recreational Activities ( ___ / 15 points)

· Think if 3 possible things that visitors may do for leisure. Briefly explain activity. Remember, this is a sarcastic travel magazine, examples may include:

o Learning how to fight, foot binding, going for a boat ride, shopping in the marketplace, or anything else that pertains to China in this time period.

**Activities must be relevant to the time period and must include a small paragraph explaining what the activity is.

Visitor Highlights ( ___ / 20 points)

· Choose ONE of the following options and convince someone that it would be fun to participate/or visit one of the following:

o The Opium War

o The Tai Ping Rebellion

o Looting of the Summer Palace

o Meeting Empress Dowager CI Xi

o The Boxer Rebellion

o The Revolution of 1911

o Collapse of the Qing Dynasty

Extra Credit Cinema!

Movies can be a powerful representation of history as well as a great teaching tool. However, viewers should be aware of the ‘shortcuts’ that movies may take with historical details, creating fiction out of fact or leaving out major pieces of information that are ‘inconvenient’ to the story. Here is your opportunity to enjoy some great films that deal with events and issues we are studying in class and to receive extra credit for your efforts. However, nothing is free. Please read the following directions.

To receive credit for watching a film for Extra Credit Cinema you must hand in a minimum TWO PAGE HAND WRITTEN or the equivalent typed paper that contains the following:

1) Your name, the names of any classmates who watched the film with you (you must each hand in your own paper), the date, and the name of the movie.

2) A brief (1-2 paragraph) synopsis of the plot of the movie (what happened, who was involved, etc.)

3) Answers to the following questions:

a. How does this movie relate to what we have studied in class?

b. What historical events, issues, or controversies is this film trying to address? Be specific and cite events, dates, and documents that are relevant to the plot of this movie.

c. Is this movie a good representation of history? Did it treat the issues accurately (to the best of your knowledge)?

d. Was it balanced or did it have a point of view? If so, what was it?

e. Critique the film as specifically as you can by comparing it to what you have studied and read.

f. What is your opinion of the film? Would you recommend it to other history students? To the public in general? Explain. Comment at length about the quality of the film as both entertainment and historical representation.

g. If you were in charge of re-making this film, what would you do differently to increase the historical accuracy of the film? What would you include and what you leave on the cutting room floor?

4. Any additional comments or questions you had about the film.

Movies can deal with one of these topics:

Table of Contents

I. ANCIENT MAN (hominids and man some 4 million years old; dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago).

II. EARLY CIVILIZATIONS.

II.1 Egypt (Nile River Valley)

II.2. China (Yellow River Valley)

II.3. India (Indus River Valley)

II.4. Iraq (Tigris-Euphrates River Valley)

III. LATER CIVILIZATIONS.

III.1. Greek Civilization.

III.2. Roman Civilization.