ASIA 090-11 Globalization in Asia through Time & Space (Fall 2021)
4th Experiential Day Report
(DUE anytime between November 23 Tuesday ~ November 26 Friday via
“Turn It In” on Course Site)
Your experiential day report draws on the experiential learning session, readings, class lectures and
discussions so far during the semester. Answer the assigned question and support your answer with a
clear argument. Your answer must include your reflections on the experiential session, and you must cite
the assigned readings on the topic. You must cite properly and include a bibliography. This is NOT a
research paper. Think of it more like a take-home essay exam or a lab report.
These reports should be three to four pages, with the page numbers, double-spaced, with no lines before
or after each paragraph, in Times New Roman font, font size 12, with one-inch margins on all sides.
Feel free to seek help from The Writing Center (110 Drown Hall):
https://studentaffairs.lehigh.edu/content/writing-center-guidelines-and-procedures
Guiding Question on
“Divination with the Yijing: Making Choices, Finding Meanings”:
Please see p. 3.
Please complete your self-assessment (see the next page) and submit with your report on Couse Site as a
separate file.
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Self-Assessment
Please submit this Self-Assessment Sheet along with your report as a separate file.
Name:
Total Self-Assessment Score:
/10
TOPIC: Divination with the Yijing: Making Choices, Finding Meanings
Circle your own assessment of your 4th Experiential Day Report.
1. Assignment Completion: Did you follow all the directions?
Yes
2 points
Mostly
1 point
No
0 point
Yes but
insufficient/incorrect
1 point
No
2. Did you use the assigned readings?
Yes, used effectively
2 points
0 point
3. Did you use class lectures/discussions/teaching?
Yes, used effectively
2 points
Yes but
insufficient/incorrect
1 point
No
0 point
4. How well did you reflect on the experiential learning session?
With lively details
2 points
Not enough specifics
1 point
Incomplete
0 point
5. Did you cite properly? Did you include a bibliography? Is the format correct and consistent?
No errors in spelling and punctuation?
Yes (no errors)
2 points
Maybe (minor errors)
1 point
2
No (major errors)
0 point
Divination with the Yijing (Iching): Making Choices, Finding Meanings
The Yijing or Iching is a key text in classical Chinese religious, philosophical, artistic
and intellectual traditions. The Yijing is traditionally considered one of the Confucian
“Five Classics,” though parts of the book are even older than the Confucian period.
Poets, philosophers, politicians and businesspeople in China and around the world
continue to use it today, to guide decisions and as a source of wisdom and inspiration.
Today, new tools like smart-phone apps complement traditional divination methods.
In class, we explore portions of this classic text and several different divination
methods, while asking ourselves, what does it mean to interpret our present in light of
our past and future?
For your essay assignment, please respond to the following prompt:
Knowing that this text is and was used by Confucians, Buddhists and Daoists, as well as by
people who would describe themselves as not-religious, please reflect on the question: In what
way is the Yijing a religious text?
In framing your answer, please browse the readings assigned on Course Site and choose 1-2
verses of the Yijing, plus 1-2 sections of commentary on those sections. You should use a close
reading of those verses and commentary as your primary source material. As you analyze your
chosen sections, please consider the following: What kind of information—either about the
future, or about present circumstances, or about the world—does the Yijing offer the reader/user?
What kinds of language does it use? What images and metaphors appear in the sections you
picked? What ideas about transformation, relationship, change, and power seem to be involved
in the sections you chose? What kind of information—either about the future, or about present
circumstances, or about the world—does the Yijing offer the reader/user? What ideas about what
“religion” is inform your approach and answer? And what do you think about the new
development of Yijing computer programs and divination apps for smartphones?
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