Finished Chinese Political History Webpages!

Below, you’ll find the links to your colleagues’ work on five distinct periods of Chinese history.  Remember, you are responsible for all assigned reading material, including the portion of your text detailing these periods of Chinese history.  If you would like additional assistance in reviewing these time periods, please consider using your colleagues’ work as a point of reference:

1A	Centralization and Dynastic Rule
	Affluence without Industrialism
	Erosion of Central Political Authority
	Consolidation of Communism
	Reform and Opening
2A	Centralization and Dynastic Rule
	Affluence without Industrialization
	Erosion of Central Political Authority
	Consolidation of Communism
	Reform and Opening
1B	Centralization and Dynastic Rule
	Affluence without Industrialism
	Erosion of Central Political Authority
	Consolidation of Communism
	Reform and Opening
2B	Centralization and Dynastic Rule
	Affluence without Industrialism
	Erosion of Central Political Authority
	Consolidation of Communism
	Reform and Opening

The Tank Man: Documentary Questions

Today, we’ll be watching the 2006 Frontline documentary, THE TANK MAN— a film on the 1989 pro-democracy protests in China and the consequences of both the protests and the violent state crackdown.  After watching the film, please answer ONE of the following discussion questions:

1. After describing the events of the night of June 3rd/4th and the following day, journalist Robin Munro states, “The tactics of overwhelming force that were used had a point. They were meant to shock, terrify and awe. And they did. Terror works.”  What do you think Munro meant by such a statement?  Do you think he is correct?  That is, based on what you observed in the documentary, do you feel that terror and state violence has worked in China?
2. Implicit in the aftermath of the violent crackdown in 1989 was a new social contract put forth by the Chinese Communist Power: unlimited economic growth in exchange for stagnation in political rights.  Do you think this trade-off has worked for China?  Consider that this documentary was made in 2006, and China’s economic growth has slowed significantly since that point– what might an economic slowdown do to the existing social contract?

Your response to the question you select should be thoughtful and detailed.  I’m looking for responses to be at least half a page in length.

Chinese Political History Website!

Today, you will be working in small groups to research and create a one-page scrolling website on a period of Chinese political history using Adobe Spark.  Each group will submit a link to their completed political history page using the submission form on the class blog.

Each group will be examining ONE of the following five historical periods of the Chinese state listed below.  To research your assigned historical period, please use your 4.2 reading packet as well as the World History textbook in the back of the room.  If you need additional resources, please use your laptops or phones to search for REPUTABLE, SCHOLARLY information.

Centralization and Dynastic Rule (2016 BCE to 1368 CE)

• 4 in the 4.2 reading packet; pgs. 70-78, 137-143, 256-265, 308-330 in the World History text

Affluence without Industrialization (1368 to 1842 CE)

• 4-5 in the 4.2 reading packet; pgs. 617-634 in the World History text

Erosion of Central Authority (1842 to 1945 CE)

• 5-6 in the 4.2 reading packet; pgs. 944-951, 1022-1028 in the World History text

Consolidation of Communist Regime / Mao (1945 to 1976 CE)

• 6-8 in the 4.2 reading packet; pgs. 1130-1135, 1253-1254 in the World History text

Reform and Opening (1976 to Present)

• 8-9 in the 4.2 reading packet; pgs. 1254-1259 in the World History text

REQUIREMENTS

Your group’s website must contain:

1. At least FIVE significant historical events or processes which characterize the period of history you have been assigned. You should present these events in chronological order, and include significant dates and a brief summary of the event or process.
2. Description(s) of at least ONE significant political figure from your period. Explain their relevance and importance to your assigned time period.
3. Include at least THREE relevant images in your finished website.
4. Include EITHER one video or one link to another relevant website in your finished product.

When your group is finished, submit the link here: Submit Your Finished Website Links Here!

Unit Four Harkness Discussion Questions!

Please make sure that you submit AT LEAST two good, thoughtful discussion questions for the Harkness readings you drew for at the beginning of this unit.  Submit your questions by the morning of your assigned date to the form below:

Unit Four Harkness Discussion Question Submission Form!

Protected: Unit Four Reading Packets and Multimedia Links!

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Online Study Session: Non-Democratic Regimes and the Russian Federation!

Hey guys!  You have your final unit test of Fall Semester on Thursday, December 19th, so we’ll be holding our usual online study session today (Monday, December 16th) from 5:15 to 7:15 PM.  As always, I’ll be livestreaming on YouTube, and if you’re watching live you can participate by asking me questions directly through the chat.  If you are NOT going to be able to watch live, you can send me questions through Remind, so make sure that you review your Unit Three Study Guide: Nondemocratic Regimes and the Russian Federation for terms that are confusing or that you don’t understand.  You’ll be able to watch the completed study session in the video embedded below:

Remember, this study session will only last as long as there are questions, so if I run out of questions in fifteen minutes, then the study session will only be fifteen minutes long.

 

Russian Political History Work: Stuff You’re Going to Do While I’m in DC*

*And stuff the kids in DC will need to do before they come back from the break.

Hey guys!

Today you should be combined with Dr. Roach’s classes in my classroom, and you’ll be working on material which addresses Russian political history.  This is critical information, and I expect you to work through it carefully, because I WILL NOT be reteaching this material after the break; we won’t have time.

Here’s the plan:

1. Some of you have already begun material on early Russian political history, and some of you haven’t.  Regardless of where you are in the material, none of you have FINISHED it, so I need you to DOWNLOAD THESE NOTES ON RUSSIAN POLITICAL HISTORY and review them thoroughly.  I have created several screencasts lectures which explain these notes, and I strongly recommend that you watch them at your leisure, either during this class period or at a later point:

   Additionally, if we didn’t watch them in your class, please watch the following TED Ed videos on Russian history:

     You should also thoroughly read through the relevant material in your 3.2 Reading Packet on pages 2 to 9.
2. After familiarizing yourself with the basics of Russian political history, please work to complete the Information Gathering_Russian Political History graphic organizer and associated discussion questions.
3. Once you have completed your Information Gathering sheet, please work to complete the Cross Matrix_Russian Political History and associated comparative Venn diagram.

All of these assignments will be due on the day we return from Thanksgiving break, so I STRONGLY recommend that you work hard to complete all of your work BEFORE we go on break so that you can enjoy yourself.

Current Event: Russian Federation!

Your current event for Unit Three will be due on either December 17th or 18th by the start of your class period. In order to do this, you will need to use one of the following publications:

• The Economist
• The Moscow Times
• Russia Times
• Sputnik International
• Interfax
• Pravda Report

BE AWARE THAT SEVERAL OF THOSE ARE RUSSIAN STATE-RUN MEDIA OUTLETS.  You can certainly use them– they provide an interesting opportunity to work on critical reading and analysis– but you should DEFINITELY do your research and keep your eyes open for propaganda and suppression of dissent, as that should be part of your analysis.

Find an article in one of those publications that is on a recent POLITICAL event or significant topic in the Russian Federation– preferably, one of interest to you. Read the article carefully (consider printing it out so that you can annotate it, perhaps), and the complete the form below. You will need to provide the URL to your article, so make sure you don’t lose it!

Current Event Form: Russian Federation!

Discussion Questions for Unit Three!

Please post your Harkness discussion questions in the form linked below. (Sorry for the late posting, guys!)

Unit Three Harkness Qustions!

Non-Democratic Models of Government!

Today, you’re going to do some background work on models of non-democratic government using data from the 2018 Freedom House report on global freedom.

First, make sure you have the analysis form from class: Models of Nondemocratic Rule.

Using the 2018 Freedom House report on global freedom and the explanation of the NGO’s methodology, answer the first three questions on the analysis form.  Then, use your 3.1 reading packet (pgs. 19-28) to research the listed models of non-democratic forms of government.  Once you have defined each model of non-democratic government and described how it functions, use the information from Freedom House to identify at LEAST one current country which fits the description of each type of non-democratic model