Teaching Asia, Fall 2014
Wow, I forgot to write a syllabus post! There is something of a tradition here at the Frog of posting our syllabai and asking for advice about how to teach a pa...
Author: Alan Baumler
Teaching in Japan
So, we are getting into the late middle of the Fall semester here in North America. If you are finding the whole teaching thing is getting you down, here is som...
Its hard out there for a party historian
Xie Chuntao, the chief historian at the Central Party School has recently expressed an opinion that some parts of China’s history are closed, and likely t...
Frog in a Well enters the Five Dynasties phase
This blog is currently going through a Tang-Song transition sort of thing: a somewhat confusing period of change from which it emerges better than ever…ma...
Pictures of Japan
Do you teach about Japan? If so you might want to check out the Toshidma Gallery. Teaching is always better with pictures, and if you do Japan you are probably ...
Chinese Canon wars
From Xiaoqun Xu1 we get a wonderful description of a battle over the Chinese canon between Liang Qichao and Hu Shi. This took place in the pages of page...
Early Medieval China
Just for fun I have been reading Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook.1 It is a very good book, written by a collection of the superheros of the field. The advert...
Understanding China Through Comics
The third volume of Understanding China Through Comics is out, and it is good. In my previous reviews I talked about how well the books explained Chinese histor...
So that's why..
I’ve been reading Peter Harmsen’s Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze. I like it a lot. Part of the reason I like it is that he is a journalist...
Something new at the Old Summer Palace?
I was at the Old Summer Palace in Beijing (Yuanmingyuan) There was something there I did not remember seeing before.1 They have replicas of the zodiac heads out...
Orwell and China
I have been meaning to blog about Ibisbill’s post on George Orwell and China, but as I have not come up with anything to say, I suppose I should just toss...
I would totally buy this, and so would you.
Chinese Posters sells copies of some of its stuff, but not of this. “To love the country one must first know its history”1 This would look perfect i...
China's first statue?
I found this in 圖書日報, I think from 1910. It is a statue of Lin Zexu that may be China’s first public statue. It is of course not the first statue to exist...
Confucius say….
For many years I have wanted to find a fortune cookie that actually had a piece of paper with “Confucius Say:…” followed by an actual quote fr...
The internet is awesome-Chinese history in film version
British Pathé has put some 80,000 of their old newsreels on YouTube. This is a massive treasure trove of cool stuff, and the many hours I will spend looking at...