Resources

Just east of the modern city of Xi’an, you can see an army of soldiers unearthed. Discovered first in 1974, the work continues on three pits containing over 7,000 model soldiers. The army was buried within a framework of wooden pillars just east of the large tumulus containing the tomb of the First Emperor. It was a massive undertaking, certainly the largest ceramic project ever undertaken anywhere.

Design a calligraphic plate using Arabic script and images inspired by a meaningful word.

Fold your own origami teapot.

Students will summarize and illustrate the main events of a folktale from Japan in the format of kamishibai slides and retell their stories using their kamishibai slides.

The Chinese Zodiac is based on a twelve-year cycle and each year is linked to an animal. Find your birth year and color in your zodiac animal.

The most famous region for the manufacture and trade of golden jewelry lay in Sumatra’s northernmost province of Aceh, where these finely worked bracelets were produced. Make your own bracelets inspired by Indonesian jewelry.

Students will become members of the “literati/scholar” class by demonstrating their understanding of Chinese history, philosophy, and poetry. They will also display high achievement in the “Three Perfections”: calligraphy, painting, and poetry. This project is designed to be a creative alternative to daily or weekly assignments which might otherwise be assembled in a notebook or binder at the end of the 7th-grade Medieval China unit.

Asian Art Museum Storyteller, Miriam Mills, tells the story of Rangda, the Balinese witch.

Students brainstorm the qualities of good and evil and draw conclusions about the Balinese concept of “dynamic” or balanced opposites. Then, students will relate the idea of “dynamic opposites” in the Ramayana (Story of Rama) to present-day situations by identifying a current problem, creating a visual identify for their own pair of opposing characters, and scripting a dialogue.