Tokugawa Japan

For Monday's class, please read Murphey, chapter 12, on Tokugawa Japan (14 pages), and for Wednesday's class read Murphey, chapter 13, on the increasing contact between Asia and the West (20 pages). Be prepared to answer the chapter review questions.

M is for Midterm Exam

For Monday, please finish reading Murphey, chapter 11, and be prepared to answer all the review questions at the end of the chapter.

In addition, in preparation for the midterm exam, please make a suggestion for an essay question in the comments below. The question should be broad and thematic. The answer to the question should be found in the textbook, and preferably drawn from more than one chapter.

M is for Mongol, Mughal, Ming, and Manchu

Have a great long weekend!

For Wednesday's class, please read Murphey, chapter 10, on Mughal India and Central Asia (20 pages), and for Friday's class read Murphey, chapter 11, just to p. 216 (15 pages) on the last dynasties of China. Be prepared to answer the chapter review questions.


Heads up! Next week we will finish chapter 11 and have the midterm exam on chapters 1-11.

Japan and Korea

We will continue discussion of China on Monday. Please read Murphey, chapter 9 (22 pages), for Wednesday and be prepared to answer the review questions on page 176f.

Extra Credit Opportunities:

• VietNam Tet Festival (San Jose), Saturday and Sunday, February 11th and 12th.
• Asian Art Museum (San Francisco) has several excellent exhibits (some ending soon).
• Canter Arts Center (Stanford) special exhibit: "A Mushroom Perspective on Sacred Geography," February 8–May 15, 2017

And check out this amazing site from the Asian Art Museum--you'll be glad you did.

Southeast Asian Civilization

For this coming week, please read Murphey, chapter 7, on Southeast Asian civilization (15 pages) by Monday and Murphey, chapter 8, for more on Chinese civilization (20 pages) by Friday. Blog posts are due by midnight on Wednesday.

If you didn't get to see the video on the engineering history of the Chinese empire, or didn't get enough of it, you can find it here on YouTube.

Happy Lunar New Year!

For this coming week, please read Murphey, chapter 5, on Chinese civilization (22 pages) by Monday and Murphey, chapter 6, for more on Indian civilization (14 pages) by Wednesday. Blog posts are due by midnight on Wednesday.

Lunar New Year falls on Saturday (1/28). It is the year of the rooster. How are you going to celebrate? (check out funcheapsf).

Traditional Societies (pre-1900)

The readings for this coming week are Murphey, Chapter 3 (20 pages), due on Monday before class, and Murphey, Chapter 4 (15 pages), due before class on Wednesday. Blog posts are due by midnight on Wednesday.

“The Living Chinese”
Exhibited under the auspices of P.T. Barnum, proprietor of American and Chinese museums New York and Barnum’s Museum Philadelphia.
From L to R: Miss Pwam-Ye-Koo, aged 17 years a young lady with feet 2-1/2 inches long.  Miss Lum-Akum, aged 23 years her maid servant. Miss Amoon, aged 7 years, Master Mun-Chung, aged 5 years, son and daughter of the professor. Mr. Aleet-Mong, aged 18 years an interpreter.  Mr. Soo-Chune, aged 32 years, professor of Music. 
Library of Congress, control number 2002708598