China Mirror Curricular Initiative

What is the China Mirror?

The China Mirror Curricular Units Website

The China Mirror Project was launched by the Center for Chinese Studies in 2002 to meet the widespread need for authoritative, balanced, and up-to-date resources on China, its history, culture, people and institutions.

For more on the critical need for resources on China and other Asian nations see the Asia Society's "Asia in the Schools: Preparing Young Americans for Today's Interconnected World":

http://www.asiasociety.org/publications/education.html

What's Special about China Mirror?

• You can trust China Mirror units because they're written by internationally-recognized experts and backed by the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan.
• China Mirror visitors get more than raw information. Each unit focuses on a real object such as a treaty, population archives, an official examination text, or a painting—so that visitors learn how to read primary documents at the same time they learn important lessons about China's government, history and culture.
• China Mirror units are self-contained: they have everything you need to know initially about a historically interesting object, including lesson plans for high school teachers.
• China Mirror units are modular: they can be combined, or used alone, even by persons with little background in Chinese Studies.
• Every China Mirror unit provides global context so that visitors can understand an object in its proper global and historical perspective.

Each China Mirror unit focuses on a particular object of special interest, such as a business documentary, a medical manual, a mirror, whatever. Readers learn how the object was made, how to read it, how it was used, how it evolved, and how it was situated in the global context of its period. In addition, each unit provides advice on how to view the object critically, as well as bibliographies, lesson plans, and other helpful tools. Because the units begin with specific objects and work outward toward a deeper understanding of a particular moment, China Mirror units avoid vague generalizations or stereotypes about "the Chinese."

How do I Know the Units are Up-to-Date?

China Mirror works directly with authors of international reputation and provides them the technical means to update their units at any time. In this way visitors to China Mirror know that the resources provided will be both authoritative and timely.

Who Can Use China Mirror Resources?

Anyone, but the resources are designed mainly for advanced high school and college level students and teachers, and for the general public.

The Authors

The initial round of units for China Mirror are being written and designed by the following authors:

1. John Chaffee, History, SUNY Binghamton
2. Bradley Farnsworth, Center for International Business Education, University of Michigan
3. James Lee, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan
4. Lydia Liu, Comparative Literature, University of Michigan
5. Hsiung Ping-chen, History, Academia Sinica
6. Mu-chou Poo, History, Academia Sinica
7. Martin Powers, History of Art, University of Michigan
8. Richard Strassberg, Chinese Literature, UCLA
9. Yi-Li Wu, History, Albion College