Carmen has requested reading questions for the first few readings that aren't already on the blog. Here they are:
Reading 1 (Murphey, pp. 1-16):
- --------------- intro
- What are the modern countries of monsoon Asia (include name changes).
- What are monsoons and how do they impact Asian society and culture?
- How do south Indian and especially Southeast Asian civilizations differ from the rest of monsoon Asia?
- What do monsoon Asian civilizations have in common?
- --------------- ch. 1
- What were the effects of the agricultural revolution?
- Where did the Malay people come from and where did they settle?
- What possible migrations of people were there between Southeast Asia and China?
Reading 2 (Murphey, pp. 17-31):
- --------------- ch. 1
- What is the significance of pottery in prehistoric China?
- What plants and animals were important in China, and where did they come from?
- What are oracle bones?
- Where did the ancestors of the Korean people come from? What's the evidence?
- Who were the Jomon people and how do they relate to the ancestors of the Japanese?
- --------------- ch. 2
- What are the world's oldest texts still used in worship and what, chronologically, is the last of them?
- Define dharma, karma, samsara, and moksha.
- Why do most devout Hindus consider themselves monotheists?
- What are the fundamental differences between Hinduism and Buddhism? Between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism?
Reading 3 (Murphey, pp. 31-49):
- --------------- ch. 2
- Who was Confucius and when did he live?
- What are the basic tenets of Confucianism?
- What is Daoism, and how does it relate to Confucianism?
- What is the demographic importance of Islam in Asia? (i.e. what is the largest Muslim country in the world?)
- How did Islam spread though Asia?
- Why was Sufism so popular in India?
- What is the nature of Shinto and where is it practiced?
- --------------- ch. 3
- What region of Asia stressed equality rather than hierarchy?
- What benefits did the caste system provide for Indians?
- Define jatis, varnas, and dalits.
- What was the social structure of Chinese empires?
- What roles did women play in Southeast Asia?
Reading 4 (Murphey, pp. 49-65):
- Why are sons so important in India, China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan?
- What is credited for limiting crime in much of Asia?
- What's the downside of the family hierarchy?
- How does footbinding relate to Confucian ideals?
- How did Asians compare to Europeans life expectancy and material well-being until the mid-nineteenth century?
Reading 5 (Murphey, ch. 4):
- What was the relationship between the Indus Valley civilization and Mesopotamian civilization?
- What is surprising and impressive about the cities of the Indus Valley civilization?
- Who were the Aryans and how do we know that they were not the cause of the collapse of the Indus Valley civilization?
- What was the secret of Ashoka's success? How did he influence cultures beyond India?
- Why is the Gupta era considered a "golden/classical age"?
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