Registration Reminder:
Bullets and Opium, Part 2 Reflections on China 30 Years After Tiananmen
January 16-February 26, 2020
Image by Luo Shaoyang
The National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) at the Program for Teaching East Asia, University of Colorado Boulder, invites applications for this winter 2020 online book group.
Overview: Read award-winning author Liao Yiwu as he reflects on China through his interviews with survivors of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, a self-interview, and his letters in defense of dissident writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. This book group will do close readings of specific chapters of the 2019 book Bullets and Opium to offer participants a deeper understanding of the events surrounding the Tiananmen protests, their repercussions, and their place in Chinese history. This semester’s book group will focus on Part II of the book and the Afterword on Liu Xiaobo. Chinese literature specialist Lynn Kalinauskas will moderate this course.
Online Format: The five-week book group will be conducted through an Intro Period module featuring background readings, followed by four modules on the book content. All modules are conducted in an online, asynchronous format. Participants are responsible for buying Bullets and Opium: Real-Life Stories of China After the Tiananmen Square Massacre (available in hardback, Kindle, and audiobook editions on Amazon) in advance of the book group start date. Any additional readings will be provided on the course site. Participants may take part in discussion only or choose to complete the book group with full participation for full benefits, as outlined below. Teachers who wish to receive full benefits must participate substantively throughout the course and submit an evaluation and a four-page Classroom Implementation Plan (CIP) describing ways to use the book in their teaching.
Eligibility and Selection: Open to high school literature, social studies, and Chinese language teachers. Admission is selective, with priority given to grade 9-12 contract teachers whose required curriculum in one of the above subject areas includes contemporary China and who are not enrolling in another winter NCTA course through TEA.
Book Group Dates: Intro Week, January 16-24; Module 1: January 25-31; Module 2: February 1-7; Module 3: February 8-15. Module 4: February 15-26, extended for Presidents Week. Curriculum Implementation Plans due March 20, for participants wishing to receive a certificate of contact hours and a completion award.
Participation is free, with the following benefits for full participation, as outlined above:
• Certificate of completion for 16 contact hours;
• $50 Amazon gift card as completion stipend.
Apply at https://www.colorado.edu/ptea/content/bulletsopium. Application open from November 22, 2019- January 10, 2020 or when the course is full. For more information, e-mail lynn.parisi@colorado.edu or lynn.kalinauskas@nctasia.org.