Curator of Museum. China

Imagine that you are the curator of a museum dedicated to the Song dynasty and must prepare an exhibition elucidating the key political, social, economic, and cultural facets of Song life. You only have the budget to display four items. Choose one primary source prose passages, one poem, one image (a painting from the era or a map, either from the historical time or more contemporary), and one material object exemplifying the signature characteristics or social dynamics of China, ca. 1000-1279 CE. Write a coherent essay that analyzes each of these four items in its historical context and justifies your choices. 

Possible questions you might consider in approaching this assignment:

• What is the relationship between elites and the state? Any how does that change over time?
• How are family and gender relations organized? Any changes over time?
• What is the role of education in this society? Are there contested understandings of what education is for? How are these understandings articulated?
• How do economic and technological developments impact upon other spheres of social and political life?

The paper should have a clear thesis. You must draw upon the primary and secondary sources read for this course to complete this assignment (readings for weeks 1-3); if you quote or paraphrase from a book or source, you must give proper attribution. Failure to provide proper attribution for sources constitutes plagiarism. You may quote a primary passage from a secondary source but be sure to distinguish what is a primary source and what is secondary. You are strongly discouraged from turning to outside readings for the prose passage, poem, or object, although you may search for images and/or maps in books and online. If you locate an image online, be sure to provide the full URL citation. Do not rely on Wikipedia for any part of the essay!! 

Here is another short reading from class: 

http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/songdynasty-module/intro-two-versions.html