The Chinese Family in the Twentieth Century


Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Unit Bibliography		Unit Table of Contents

Lesson #1 Traditional Chinese Family Values

Estimated Teaching Time = Seven 45 minute periods

Objectives

§ Students will identify and describe Confucius' Five Relationships, filial piety, and patrilineal descent by reading selections from Confucius' Analects.

§ Students will describe ancestor portraits and interpret funeral practices through the descriptions of Chinese American teens.

§ Students will determine the relative worth assigned to sons and daughters in a traditional Chinese family by reading selections from Pearl Buck's The Good Earth** and viewing Small Happiness**.

§ Students will define and find evidence within the construction of a traditional Chinese house of familial hierarchy, patrilocal settlement, and the ideal of five generations under one roof.

§ Students will investigate a traditional Chinese house via a field trip or a virtual tour.

§ Students will begin a written reflection journal, taking particular note of ritual behaviors at marriages, births, and deaths within Chinese families.

**Available in Primary Source library.

Activities

1. INTRAPERSONAL/INTERPERSONAL

Ask students to identify their role within their families. Encourage them to name as many roles as they can. i.e. son/daughter, brother/sister, nephew/niece, grandchild, cousin. Ask them to write one activity they must do for a member of their family to keep harmony. Ask them to write one activity they ask a family member to do that makes them happy. A quick whip around the room will pull out various answers.

2. LINGUISTIC

Introduce students to Confucius' Five Relationships through lecture.

3. INTRAPERSONAL/LINGUISTIC

Distribute Reflection Journal & Illustrated Timeline Directions (see below) and explain the directions for the reflection journal.

4. KINESTHETIC/SPATIAL

Take students on a field trip to Worshipping the Ancestors Exhibit at the Sackler-Freer Galleries in Washington D.C., or complete a virtual field trip via the Sackler-Freer Museum's interactive website. http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/teen/default.htm Also visit the link to Chinese American Teens on Ancestor Worship Today. Distribute the Worshipping the Ancestors & Ancestor Worship Today Worksheet (see below) for students to complete. Students should answer the reflection questions in their journals.

5. LINGUISTIC

Assign"Confucius and the Chinese Family" for homework reading. (Chapter One of Sizer, Nancy F. China: Tradition and Change. NY: Longman, 1991.) Students should keep notes as directed in the reflection journal. Quiz or discuss the reading to assure student comprehension.

6. SPATIAL/LOGICAL

View Small Happiness**. (Produced and directed by Carma Hinton and Richard Gordon in association with Longbow Group, 1984.). Students should add to their journals, looking in particular for comparisons between sons and daughters in traditional China.

7. LOGICAL/SPATIAL /INTERPERSONAL

Conduct a class discussion to construct a T chart or Venn diagram or other graphic organizer in which to illustrate the relative worth assigned to sons and daughters in a traditional Chinese family. Have students speculate on practices that may arise as a result of the lower status of females. Discussion should include some problems inherent in the hierarchal system, such as arranged marriages, concubinage, bride prices, foot binding, and female infanticide.

8. SPATIAL

Ask students to sketch a floor plan of their house. Clearly mark public versus private spaces, spaces for adults versus those for children, and desirable versus uncomfortable spaces. A quick whip around the room will pull out various answers.

9. KINESTHETIC/SPATIAL

Take students on field trip to Peabody Essex Museum in Salem MA to walk through Yin Yu Tang, A Chinese House or complete a virtual field trip via PEM's interactive website. http://www.pem.org/yinyutang/index.html Distribute the Yin Yu Tang, A Chinese House Worksheet (see below) for students to complete. Students should answer the reflection questions in their journals.

10. LINGUISTIC/SPATIAL

Before moving on to the next lesson, check for student understanding of the core values of Chinese families. This can be done orally or in writing or by asking students to draw a representation of each aspect and displaying these on a bulletin board under a banner heading,"Traditional Chinese Family Values."

Estimated Teaching Time = Seven 45 minute periods

Lesson One Assignments and Worksheets