Ancient Eastern Literature

The common theme that is emphasized in this selection of readings is change and growth. Change and growth were exhibited in the “Classics of Poetry” in each poem as they changed from the first stanza to the last in an almost anecdotal manner.  Zhang showed growth in Yuan Zhen’s “Story of Yingying” when he chose to move on from Yingying and her manipulative and childish ways. In Confucius’ Book One from his “Analects” the Master said, “Not to be upset when one’s merits are ignored: is this not the mark of gentleman?” Zhang chose to be a gentleman as described in Confucius’ “Analects” when he responded to Yingying’s poem at the end of the story by saying that the past cannot be fixed and that Yingying should focus on being happy with her husband.

Teaching the topic of growth to high school students may be difficult because of how abstract the concept is. That being said, teachers could ask students to write down everything about themselves when they were thirteen (or any other age). Have students write down what their interests were, what they wore, how they acted, etc. After this, have them reflect on their own personal growth and how far they have come since that age.

Elements of popular culture that teachers can use to teach students about growth could be videos or photos of how life for teenagers has changed from how it used to be in different eras such as 20s, 50s, 80s, etc.  Students can compare and contrast their descriptions of themselves and their lives to those of the teenagers in the videos and photos that their teachers show them.