This assignment allows you a choice of two options, so do either item Choice A or Choice B below:
Choice A:Carefully read and examine the Sacred Edicts by the Kangxi-Emperor and the two texts related to the Taiping Rebellion, one recording Hong Xiuquan’s vision of his “Visit to Heaven”, the other an offical Taiping document detailing basic expectations for land distribution and appropriate behavior within the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. For a variety of reasons, the rules laid out in this document never fully materialized. So this vision is still, to this day, utopian. I would like you to imagine you were a contemporary Chinese (give yourself a specific gender, age, level of knowledge, family position, ethnicity, and regional identity) and argue, based on that identity, whether you would prefer living in a society based on the Kangxi-Edicts, or in one based on Taiping rules (both Qing China and the Taiping-controlled areas were probably far removed from the goals stated in these documents.) Give your reasons why you would rather join one over the other. What benefits do you see for yourself, your family, and the potential success of the entire society in the system you would choose? And no, there are no better alternatives in this assignment! (Length: ca. 2 pages).
Choice B: Having read Zheng Wang’s article “National Humiliation,” read Lin Zexu’s letter to Queen Victoria and consider Ebrey’s account of the interaction between China and the West from the Opium War onwards. Next watch the short Discovery Channel clip (6 minutes long) and discuss what you think about it as a tool to help American viewers study China’s history with the West at that particular time. How are Western and Chinese motives portrayed in this clip? What do you think students who have been learning about Chinese history in the paradigm of “national humiliation” described by Zheng Wang might notice about this clip? Looking at it from both a Chinese and a Western perspective, what, if anything, would you change, or add, to make it into an appropriate account for a worldwide viewership? (Length: ca. 2 pages).
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