Morning Sun is a companion website for a documentary film of the same name about the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" in China (1964-1976). The film is only available through the Center for Asian American Media, either to rent or for purchase (it is cost prohibitive for individuals). The documentary film was created by the Long Bow Group, who also created "The Gate of Heavenly Peace," a film and website about the 1989 events in Tiananmen Square.

Unlike the companion site for "The Gate of Heavenly Peace," Morning Sun does not contain any segments from the film, which is a major drawback of this site. If the documentary film is unavailable (as it is to this reviewer), then the site should be able to stand alone, however this is not entirely the case. The site has a wealth of primary and secondary sources, as well as video and audio clips created by the Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution. The site does not express a narrative of the Cultural Revolution; rather it presents the resources created, and leaves analysis and interpretation up to the viewer.

The site, which relies heavily on the use of Java, Shockwave Flash, and Quicktime, is divided into five major sections, each with its own topic. Living Revolution includes very brief clips from radio and television shows, readings, and even lessons taught to school children. The English Lesson is particularly interesting, giving the students an opportunity to study English and learn about racial inequality in the United States at the same time. Direct translations of what is said in the clips is available, but there is no context to help viewers understand the placement of the scene within the larger film, or its overall plot or purpose.

Smash the Old World contains writings about the Red Guard and the destruction of the "Four Olds" ("Old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits"), including "reviews" of older revolutionary films written by Jiang Qing (Mao's wife). These reviews condemn the revolutionary attitudes and attempt to steer the reader toward a more acceptable form of behavior and attitude.

Reddest Red Sun and Stages of History are dedicated to the architects of the Cultural Revolution: Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Jiang Qing, and Lin Biao. Reddest Red Sun tackles the cult of Mao, although again, with little in the way of explanation or analysis. There is a video showing how Mao was able to "cure" deaf-mute children (those who had been abandoned by the Nationalist Party as incurable), using ordinary People's Liberation Army soldiers, Chairman Mao's words, and acupuncture. A note at the bottom of the page of this section indicates that the section is incomplete (there are no discernable dates on the site; however the documentary itself was made in 2003).

Stages of History shows how the Communist Party used place, drama and other media to create official histories of the new, revolutionary China. There is a virtual tour of Tiananmen Square as well as photographic essays on Liu Shaoqi, Jiang Qing, and Lin Biao. Of great interest is the section on Mao's Little Red Book. This includes a pamphlet published by the Communist Party with questions such as "What to do when you hear reactionary statements" and "What to do when you encounter arduous and hard work," all of which can be answered by quotations from Chairman Mao.

The site would be of greatest use to teachers as a supplement to a unit on the Cultural Revolution. The site gives the teacher access to amazing video, audio, and readings showing the lengths to which the Communist Party went in order to keep up revolutionary fervor during this time period. However, students will find the content of the site bewildering if they are not given either a narrative or an analytical guide.

The Gate of Heavenly Peace centers on a documentary about the events of Tiananmen Square in the spring of 1989. There are links to selections from the documentary, as well as a huge archive of primary and secondary source readings about the events. A chronology of major events in 20th century China has its own page, broken into two sections: events prior to 1989, and then a more detailed listing of the events in the spring of 1989, beginning with the death of Former Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang. The site is easy to navigate, with links at the top and bottom of most pages.

The clips from the documentary include some background on Tiananmen Square itself, the Cultural Revolution, and some basic history of the People's Republic of China. The majority of the clips are about the events of June 1989, including the dramatic footage of "The Man Against the Tanks," showing both the official Chinese government's version of the events as well as the version of events as seen by the rest of the world. Most of the documentary is original footage interspersed with interviews of participants at the demonstrations. Parents of deceased demonstrators are also interviewed. Unfortunately, the clips display on a relatively small portion of the screen and cannot be expanded. A word of caution for teachers planning on using the site in their classrooms: some students may find the images of violence and of wounded teenagers disturbing. The final excerpt includes, "Aftermath of June 4th" a Chinese rock video with English subtitles (including some inappropriate language).

In addition to the clips from the documentary, there is a gallery of images in the Media Library, but as with the video, many of the images are very small and difficult to see, and cannot be enlarged. In the gallery there is a selection of images on Chinese Youth. While some of the images have captions, several do not, which would make teaching with them somewhat problematic. Some images have captions that are in Chinese, and no translation is provided. However, these images are bigger and much easier to view than others. The images are mostly propaganda, which could be used for an excellent lesson on how Mao cultivated his relationship with the youth in China.

The remainder of the site is very text-heavy. There is a section on additional sources, some primary and others secondary. Perhaps the best source is "The Truth About the Beijing Turmoil," which is the official government account of the events, published in 1990. Teachers and students could use this source in a variety of ways: they could compare this version with what is portrayed in the video excerpts or discuss it as a piece of propaganda. The reading could also be used in conjunction with the official presentation of the "Man Against Tank," as mentioned above.

With older, more advanced learners, teachers may wish to use the site to teach about bias. For the most part, the site does not editorialize; however, the selection of governmental sources indicates a strong opinion about the events in Tiananmen. A discussion about the point of view of the creators of the site and the documentary would be a valuable one.

Search terms such as "boys" bring the viewer to a section on Chinese rock music. The article in this section is written by a scholar at the Australian National University in Canberra. The article discusses the role of pop and rock in Tiananmen. There are some lyrics posted, but the great weakness of this site is that there are no audio files of the songs discussed in the article. The search term "girls" is not useful, as it only leads to two results, both of which are parts of descriptions of the events at Tiananmen. Searching for "children" results in many pages filled with background information that could be useful for teachers.

Founded in 1897, the Kyoto National Museum holds a rich collection of pre-modern art and artifacts from Japan and East Asia. Offering an English-language website (also available in Chinese, Korean, French, and Spanish), the museum is accessible and user-friendly.

One can access images of the museum's holdings online through two databases. First, its "Online Database" offers a means to search and view over five thousand objects and sets within its holdings. The second means of searching is via the "KNM Gallery." This search engine allows online visitors to peruse selections from specific categories of the collection. One may, for example, browse chosen images from collections of textiles, ceramics, or ink paintings, amongst a total of 14 categories.

While students may enjoy browsing the "KNM Gallery" collections as open exploration, searches at the "Online Database" are more immediately productive for those interested in exploring objects or images related to childhood and family. The search engine can be utilized to search for keywords within a title as well as by a designated category (e.g. painting, calligraphy, sculpture, etc.) While title searches related to "child" or "children" produce relatively narrow results, broader searches and browsing can offer useful assemblies of images and objects.

A search for "child" in the title search category, for example, produces five objects while a search for "children" reveals 15. While these searches do produce interesting samples in porcelain and textiles, broader browsing strategies are more productive. For example, a path through the collection useful for information on children is "Textiles: Dolls," available as a drop-down "category" line in the search engine for the "Online Database." This search strategy offers 113 results that students could productively survey, study, and choose samples to comment upon. A teacher might find it productive to brainstorm along themes of the representation of children and family, the material composition of the dolls and imagined means of manufacture, as well as their potential uses within Japanese families and society for the historical periods represented here.

Image presentation is user-friendly and agile, including magnification that provides a closer look at detail of the objects, images, and figures. See, for example, the 19th century "Child with Fox Mask; Gosho Doll" from Japan's Edo Period that is housed under the category of textiles. The site provides basic details (country, time period, dimensions and more) and enlarging the image enables users to examine the doll's form, materials, and the particularly nice detail of its embroidered garb and puckered grin.

Image quality does vary, however, both in resolution and in the frequency of black-and-white photographs rather than color, yet with strategic use, this site offers valuable materials for classroom utilization.

Viewing the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum site takes time, as it is very dense in content and full of narratives, documents and images. The site's organization leads from an intense and unblinking description of the horror of the atomic bomb blast through the suffering and destruction of its aftermath, survivors' (hibakusha) stories, reconstruction of the city, and the determination to make of the memorial an enduring message of peacemaking. The historical material that is presented from multiple angles carefully allows the material to speak for the catastrophe and reconstruction.

The site's home page is laid out vertically into five main areas: the Virtual Museum, Kid's Peace Station, Steps Toward Peace, the Peace Declaration, and Links. A virtual museum visit provides a tour of Peace Park, a memorial at the center of reconstructed Hiroshima, which also houses the museum. The website includes a virtual tour, floor plans of the exhibits and a recommended sequence for visiting, and links to online highlights from the exhibits. Special exhibitions include photographs of the damage, artifacts, film footage, artwork from survivors that describes the effects of the blast, and an array of scientific information on the effects. A considerable part of the site is devoted to the campaign for disarmament and elimination of nuclear testing and ultimately, weapons. It includes maps of current nuclear powers, protests against testing, and the Peace Declaration, a speech delivered by the mayor of Hiroshima every year since 1947 on the occasion of the anniversary of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, which annually reiterates the plea for the world to eliminate nuclear weapons. A video features the most recent Peace Declaration. There are also links to peace study courses at universities from MIT to community colleges and high schools, as well as online courses. The "search" feature is organized by topic in addition to allowing keyword searches.

The site's special area for children's viewing and responses via e-mail is called the "Kids' Peace Station and Peace Plaza." There is a lot of content on children, many of whom had been mobilized as school-based crews in the city before the blast to dismantle buildings and create firebreaks in anticipation of "conventional" bombing. In addition, those who are still living were mostly children at the time. Finally, a large portion of the content is aimed at children, from the symbolic origami-folded cranes made by children in memory of the girl Sadako, to the hopes of the next generation for peace, and active education to achieve it. An interesting part of the site is the area for children's input from around the world. A main feature includes presentations on peace activities in various lands by school classes, such as, charity projects, letter-writing campaigns, and symbolic activities surrounding the paper cranes.

One, childhood is the function of personhood; the role of komori is important.
Two, play carefully; don’t choose dangerous play.
Three, you can play, but don’t forget your charge on your back.
Four, copy the good deeds; use the polite language.
Five, always be cheerful; if you smile, your charge will smile.
Six, don’t force your charge to wake up or to sleep.
Seven, whatever you do, do for your charge; don’t do anything your charge may not like.
Eight, a child will soon grow into an adult; treat your charge as if it were an adult.
Nine, the role of komori is important; komori replaces the mother to protect the child.
Ten, don’t give any poisonous food or a dangerous toy to your charge.

(Kozo 1985)

One, we are all bullied.
Two, we are all hated.
Three, we are all forced to talk.
Four, we are all scolded.
Five, we are all forced to carry babies who cry a lot.
Six, we are all fed with terrible food.
Seven, we are all forced to wash diapers in the cold water of the river.
Eight, we are all impregnated and shed our tears.
Nine, we are all persuaded to leave, and finally,
Ten, we all must leave.

I want to go home
I want to see my house.
I want to see my mother’s face.
Even if I cannot see her, I want to talk to somebody about my wretched life.