Week 6: Assignments

Please complete by the start of class on Tuesday, Feb. 25:

1. Here are two websites, randomly selected from the students in this course. Go to the website and give feedback on the post with the biography of one of the “Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians”  (week 5).
   • • • • • If one of the website shown below is your own, or it is twice the same site, refresh the page, and you should get new sites; if there is no post for week 5, come back here and refresh to get a new site.
           • Use the hypothes.is add-on in your browser to give feedback to the post in the group HST107. Remember the Architect’s model of giving feedback! Be kind, be specific, and provide concrete suggestions for improvement.
           • Website 1:
           • Website 2:
           • You can provide feedback to as many websites/blogs as you like, of course!
           • Don’t forget to check on your own posts what the comments are from the group HST107; you can rewrite your posts and improve them (incl. adding links or pictures) anytime through the semester.
2. Writing exercise:
   • The tomb complex of the First Emperor (including the outer areas with the terra-cotta warriors, the “slumber palace” and the “park”) informs us about the status of the man buried there, and the view of the afterlife at the time.
   • Write a post with a design for a tomb complex for a present-day high profile person (political leader, cultural icon, celebrity,…) using the same ideas about the afterlife as the people of Ancient China, but brought up to date for 2020 (objects, layout of buildings, types of buildings).
     • • • • • Questions to ponder:
               • Who is buried in your tomb complex? Explain why they deserve such a lavish burial, which requires massive amounts of resources, potentially coming  from the state and requiring extra taxes from the population. (The First Emperor unified China, is your tomb occupant equally worthy?)
               • What should the tomb complex look like? What sort of buildings above or underground should be included? How should the tomb be marked above ground with the actual coffin hidden underground?
               • Which real-life objects should be buried with the deceased; which funerary goods (made specifically for burial) should be included? Replicas or the real thing?
     • Be creative, but in all cases indicate the parallel in the First Emperor’s tomb complex or grave goods that inspired you, with a brief explanation of the function in the ancient Chinese view of the afterlife. You can make a drawing/image/schematic and upload a scan in addition to the description.
     • Add your post to the category HST107 on your blog, and include references to materials that inspired you, at the bottom of your post, in in Chicago Notes+Bibliography style.
     • Include the word Tomb in the title of your post.
3. Check the course schedule for week 7 so you know what to prepare for each session.
4. Check in on the Pad to see if there are questions you can answer, or want to add.

When you’re ready, head on over to Canvas and fill out the Declaration Quiz.