Wednesday 7 December 2011

From one golden age to another

After studying about the Golden Age of India, we moved further east to look at the Golden Age of China - the Tang dynasty.

Instead of starting from STOW2, we watched a documentary produced in China about this period in history, covering how the Tang dynasty came about from its predecessor, the Sui dynasty:


The documentary gave us a very good foundational understanding of the topic, which helped Tiger with his narration of the relevant chapter in SOTW2.  We had to refer to the internet again to have a better understanding of what a lacquer bowl looked like:


Our hands-on project this time was to make our own version of the lacquer bowl with air-drying clay.  Working with clay was really messy but Tiger loved the tactile experience of manipulating it.  He decided that he wanted his bowl to have a spout.

 
It took several days for the clay to be completely dry.


We also had Szechuan lamb stir-fry:


Our supplementary books for this period in China were:

 

As an extra treat, Tiger watched the following animation that was based on the Chinese classic, Journey to the West.  This classic story was set in the Tang dynasty, based on the actual journey of a real monk, Xuanzang.




This post is linked up to several blog hops, where you can visit to see what other homeschoolers have been busy with.  It is also linked to the Carnival of Homeschooling.

13 comments:

  1. What a pretty bowl! We really enjoyed a Monkey King series many years ago. It was hilarious! The name escapes me but if I remember it I'll let you know.

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  2. The bowl is so beautiful! Great job! Thanks for sharing your post.

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  3. WOW What great links and activities!!! I look forward to reading about more. Have a great week.

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  4. Excellent job on the bowl! That took some patience.

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  5. I love that bowl, especially with the spout =)

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  6. Stopping in and following - I thought I had already done that? LOL - from Brag Time Thursday Blog Hop! (I'm a little late linking up this week.)

    LOVE the clay bowl! They did a GREAT job! Nice study!

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  7. I LOVE your clay bowl! I've always wanted to make one! Did you get the clay in a kit? Super cool - THanks for linking up to TGIF! Looking forward to seeing you next week
    Beth =-)

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  8. I love the bowl. What a wonderful way to learn. Good Job.
    Blessings,
    Dawn

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  9. Thank you to everyone for your encouraging comments.

    Beth - the clay was just a big tub of air-drying clay that I bought from a art and craft shop.

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  10. Your bowl looks amazing! I love all the work they put into it.

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  11. I agree with everyone else...the bowl turned out very nicely! Thanks for linking to Favorite Resources with all of these great suggestions of resources for studying the Golden Age of China.

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  12. You always go into so much detail bringing your lessons to life. Thanks for linking up again.

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  13. your posts are really going to come in handy for me next year :D Thanks for linking up with BTT (sorry I'm so late posting a comment!) Merry Christmas!!

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