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Museum Hours
Thu: 1 PM–8 PM
Fri–Mon: 10 AM–5 PM
Tue–Wed: Closed
Location
200 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415.581.3500
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Activity

Unit: Life in China: Tang and Song Dynasties

Objective: Students will be able to: 1.) Identify key terms, people, places, dates and events from the Tang and Song Dynasties; 2.) Understand what life was like in the Tang and Song dynasties and compare with student life today in the United States; 3.) Identify and analyze key events and decisions of the Tang and Song Dynasties; 4.) Analyze how the Tang and Song civilizations influenced the modern world.

Standard (California Department of Education)

History/Social Science: 7.3 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of China in the Middle Ages

Materials

Worksheets (see Downloads above): Handout A1; Handout A3; Handout A3; Handout B1; Handout C1; Handout D; Background Information (see Related Resources below) 

Unit Overview

Tang and Song China are taught in 7th grade World History. Included in this unit are interdisciplinary suggested activities and downloadable handouts for approaching this subject through skill sets applied across world history studies. 

  1. Historical Literacy: What key terms, people, places, dates, and events do students need to know?
    • Handout A1: Tang and Song dynasties overview with study questions prompts.
    • Handout A2: Discussion points for some Tang and Song emperors.
    • Handout A3: Discussion points for comparing the Tang and Song dynasties. This may be formatted as an overhead for class discussion.
  2. Social Science: What was life like? How did daily life in the Tang and Song dynasties compare with student life today in the United States?
    • Handout B1: Poetry activity
  3. Historical Evaluation: What were some key events and decisions? How could the outcomes have been different? On what criteria did people base their decisions?
    • Handout C1: Science and technology connections
  4. Historical Significance: How did the Tang and Song civilizations influence the modern world?
    • Handout D: Final writing assignments

 Developed by middle school history teacher Carolyn Rinetti.