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The
Frontiers
As we approach China on our caravan, we see the Great
Wall in the distance. Many soldiers wrote poetry about being stationed
along the borders of China.
In the poem
Mending Wall, Robert Frost, a famous American poet wrote:
"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall."
 If
you were a Chinese wheat farmer (like the one on the right
side of the painting), how do you think would feel about the
Great Wall? Why?
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If you were
a nomadic trader (like the ones on the left side of the painting
and whose bones are in front of you), how do you think you would
feel about the Great Wall? Why?
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What items might
people on each side of the wall trade? Who would be better soldiers?
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Back in your
classroom you and your classmates could create a wall of your own
poems.
Sketch
a painted face:
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Theater
In Chinese villages, festivals include theater performances, foods,
and objects to buy. Look at the painting at the top of the case
showing a Chinese New Year Festival. Select a puppet, painted face
design, or opera figure from the case. One of the most famous tales
in China is about a naughty monkey with fabulous powers. Pick one
of the faces that looks like a monkey, or a face you like, and sketch
it.
The
Wedding
As you move down the road in China, a wedding chair passes your
caravan. In a traditional Chinese wedding the bride would be transported
to her new home (probably with her in-laws) in a special red or
decorated sedan chair. Families rented these wedding chairs and
one wedding chair would be used in hundreds of different weddings.
This chair might have carried happy brides and sad brides. If this
chair could tell you a story, what do you think it might say?
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 City
Street Scene Mural
The mural above you is a street in China at the time of Marco Polo.
Can you find any of the events or objects you have seen today? Select
a section of the mural and draw what you see.
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