Unit 2: East Asia

We recommend that teachers new to Investigating History review the Curriculum Guidebook before preparing to teach their first unit.

Cluster 1: Geography and Environment in East Asia (Lessons 1-4)
How do maps and images reveal information about human geography and development? What are some possible limits of these sources?

Lesson 1: What Is East Asia? Defining a Region

Lesson 2: China’s Human Geography: Learning from Sources

Lesson 3: Analyzing Maps: Physical Features and Human Development 

Lesson 4: Human-Environment Interactions in East Asia  

Cluster 2: Early China from the Shang through Tang Dynasties (Lessons 5-21)
What do artifacts and texts tell us about people’s lives in early China?
What kind of governments did the ancient Chinese feel would best keep order and harmony?
What were the foundational belief systems and innovations of China, and why did they spread across the region?

The Concerns & Contributions of Bronze Age China

Lesson 5: Life in the Shang, Revealed through Bones and Shells

Lessons 6 & 7: Learning from Early Tombs: You Can Take It With You

Lesson 8: The Lives of Common People, Recorded in The Book of Songs

Lesson 9: The Centrality of Writing to Chinese Civilization

Ideas About Governing

Lesson 10: Early Chinese Governing Philosophies

Lessons 11 & 12: Inquiry Cycle: Were Qin Shi Huangdi’s Projects Worth the Cost?

Lessons 13 & 14: Petitioning the Qin Emperor

Foundational Belief Systems and Innovations

Lesson 15: Confucianism: Foundation of Han Social and Ethical Beliefs

Lesson 16: Confucianism and Women

Lesson 17: The Han Social Order: Religious Syncretism

Lesson 18: Nature and the Cosmos: Indigenous Religious Beliefs and Daoism

Lesson 19: Why Did Buddhism Spread across East Asia?

Lessons 20 & 21: The Tang Model: Innovations That Spread

Cluster 3: Early Korea (Three Kingdoms to Koryo) (Lessons 22-27)
How was Korean identity shaped by developments within Korea and encounters with neighbors?

Lesson 22: Historical Influences on Korean Identity 

Lesson 23: The Three Kingdoms: Constructing History through Images

Lesson 24: Presentations on the Three Kingdoms 

Supplemental Lessons (Recommended)

Lessons 25-27: Learning through Narrative: A Single Shard and Twelfth-Century Korea 

Cluster 4: Classical and Early Medieval Japan (Lessons 28-33)
How did different groups compete for power in early Japan?
How did Japanese art reflect Japanese values?

Lesson 28: Classical Japan: Setting, Sequence and Shinto 

Lesson 29: State Formation and Centralization

Lesson 30: Imperial Power and the Threats to It, Near and Far

Lesson 31: Decentralization and the Rise of the Samurai

Lesson 32: Japanese Aesthetic Principles and Garden Design

Lesson 33: A Reflection Over Tea and Poetry: Answering Essential Questions

Teacher Guidance: Part I, Part II

Student Handout: Part I, Part II

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