Dr. Crawford and his wife Sophie spent five weeks in Chengdu China this summer. Crawford applied for a summer teaching position with the United Studies Abroad Consortium and taught a course titled The Great Divergence: Asia and the West to students from various American universities. His presence behind the Great Firewall of China, which blocks blog sites is the primary reason why this blog has been so silent during the summer.
Chengdu, as indicated by the photo at left, is the center of Giant Panda breeding in the People's Republic of China. During their downtime from class, they also visited Xian, an ancient capitol of China, and the location of the world famous Terracotta Warriors, that the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi had casted to accompany him into the afterlife. They also saw the panda preserve and visited nearby Buddhist monasteries. The food in Sichuan Province, where Chengdu is located, was very spicy, and the weather was hot and humid. While Crawford enjoyed the former, and endured the latter, the experience will bring a great deal of practical experience to his East Asian history classes. He will be offering East Asia to 1800 during the Winter Quarter.
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