Topic: History 11A

Order Description History 11A Fall 2015 Second Paper Topics Choose one of the following topics: 1. Compare the conceptions of the ancestors and the afterlife portrayed in (1) the Book of Odes; (2) Han tombs and tomb art; and (3) Buddhist art of the Tang period. How did the purpose of ancestor worship and the relationship between the living descendants and their deceased ancestors change from the early Zhou to the Tang dynasty? 2. In his “Biographies of the Moneymakers,” the Han historian Sima Qian portrays merchants in a positive light. Does Sima esteem merchants more because of their personal wealth and achievements or because of their contributions to public welfare? Would either of the protagonists in the Debates on Salt and Iron, the Minister or the Learned Men, agree with Sima Qian’s approval of merchant entrepreneurs? Why or why not? 3. Compare the prescriptions for religious discipline and practice outlined in The Scripture in Forty-Two Sections with those found in the Lotus Sutra. In what ways are they similar? How do they differ, and why? In what ways do these two texts express different conceptions of the ultimate goals of Buddhism? Five-to-seven page essay (typed, double-spaced), due Monday, November 30th