Developments in East Asia
Driving Question: How did political and cultural developments in East Asia shape societies from c. 1200 to 1450 CE?
China alternated between periods of unity and disunity as its population and economy grew. Vietnam, Korea, and Japan were all shaped by China, though they also developed their own traditions.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the systems of government employed by various Chinese dynasties and how they developed over time.
- Explain the effects of Chinese cultural traditions on East Asia over time.
- Explain the effects of innovation on the Chinese economy over time.
- Create and support arguments using historical evidence to communicate conclusions through individual or shared writing.
Vocab Terms:
It’s your opportunity to run a kingdom! How will you rule?
Students do a lot of reading in AP. The OER Project Three-Step Reading strategy helps them break down the content and improve their literacy skills. Students can also listen to the audio version of the article. We recommend that they follow along with the text as they listen to the audio, which can be found by clicking the speaker icon in the upper-right corner of each article.
We all know that cultures change over time—but what are the driving forces of those changes? How can change in one aspect of culture spill over into other aspects? For East Asia during the Song Dynasty, Confucius certainly played a role.
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Guiding Questions
Give students all the video guiding questions in advance or highlight anything you want them to focus on in advance to help orient their attention. (Note that students will be prompted to preview the questions and transcript for all videos on the OER Project site.) Looking for closed captioning or subtitles in other languages? You can access them by watching our videos on the OER Project YouTube channel also.
From dresses to furnishings, and much in between, silk has proven to be a popular and sought-after material for centuries. During the Song Dynasty, it drove economic trade throughout Afro-Eurasia.
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Guiding Questions
Our closers often prompt students to engage in informal writing and can be used to preview content for upcoming lessons, but most important, these activities provide you with excellent opportunities to quickly check for understanding.
Did you make the right choice? Revisit your hypothetical kingdom from earlier in the lesson and consider the changes you’d make now that you’ve learned more.
Confucian teaching had a massive effect on China c. the sixth century BCE. His message of self-improvement and his belief that people were fundamentally good resonated throughout East Asia.
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Guiding Questions
The belief systems covered in this lesson might have emerged in the ancient world, but they are all still practiced today. Discussing belief systems can sometimes be tricky. One tip: Establish classroom discussion norms ahead of time. It’s also helpful to remind students that they can’t use today’s standards to assess thinking and practices from the past. Take a look at our Teaching Sensitive Topics in Social Studies Guide for more tips.
You have read about Confucian teachings, but his ideas were soon followed by another set of teachings you may have heard of—Buddhism. Although the two influenced one another, in many ways they were quite different.
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Guiding Questions
Have you ever thought about how many of the things you enjoy came from somewhere far away? How does culture spread? And how does it change once it has spread?
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Guiding Questions
