General topic of the paper: Xuan Zang in the West.

Tentative title: The experience of Xuan Zang

Tentative thesis: The reason, importance and influence of Xuan Zang’s journey to the West.

Summary of the proposed paper: He initiated China’s Buddhist diplomacy. On his way to the west, some countries in India have started friendly exchanges with the Tang Dynasty with Buddhist Scriptures as the link. After he returned home, Japanese and Korean Buddhists came to the Tang Dynasty to seek Dharma, find the source of Buddhism from him, and form friendly exchanges between China, Japan and other countries. Until today, there are countless ties between Chinese Buddhists and Japanese and Korean Buddhists. It should be said that it is a Buddhist country that has greatly expanded the diplomatic field of the Tang Dynasty.

In fact, Xuanzang also provided a kind of paradigm, an open way of thinking, miscellaneous learning and erudition for Chinese people’s western studies. All of them are for our use, but they do not lose their principled position and are used in the country, that is to say, total westernization is not the way out, and there is only a dead end to seclusion.

In terms of cultural exchanges between China and India, Xuanzang introduced the study of Mahayana and Mahayana to China and enriched Chinese Buddhism. Later, Indian calendar, medicine, astronomy, art and so on were introduced into China, influencing and enriching Chinese culture. Xuanzang also introduced India’s logic – Yinming theory into China, which inspired the decline of Mohist and famous scholars in the pre-Qin period. Xuanzang once explained the Chinese culture to the king of abstaining from Japan, and introduced the popular “music of breaking the battle of the Qin king”. After returning home, he translated Laozi’s “Tao Te Jing” into Sanskrit and sent it back to the western regions and India under the order of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, which shows that he also contributed to the cultural exchange between China and India.
Xuanzang was the first one who had traveled to the South and north of the western regions, traveled to many countries in India and recorded in detail. The records of the western regions record the local customs and culture of the western regions, which are not found in many official histories. It is very important for later generations to study the silk road.

Each student will submit the research paper on the topic that deals world history to 1500, approved by the instructor earlier in the course. The paper is between five and seven pages in length, utilizing the research paper guidelines found in the “Start Here” folder. Upon completion, the student will post the paper as an MS Word document ONLY–no other formats (MAC, PDF, WordPerfect, etc.)–to the “research paper” assignment in Canvas by attaching the completed paper to the assignment and submit it for my review and evaluation. I will download the completed paper, annotate the actual paper, using the “review” function in MS Word to provide specific comments on the paper which I will attach to the assignment and return to you with general feedback comments. If you submit the paper in a format other than an MS Word document or copy the paper into the assignment textbox only, I will delete the assignment and ask you to submit the paper as requested in the submission directions. The grade for the research paper will based on your adherence to the following rubric categories, drawn from the Writing Guide:

Rubric Categories: Topic approved by instructor 5 points

(Submission of research paper proposal and receipt of instructor approval, indicated by a 100 for this assignment)

Length (more than 5, no more than 7, pages) 5 points

(Does not include any preliminary pages, such as title page; pages after end of narrative for tables, appendices, and/or bibliography; and space for maps, tables, charts, diagrams, photos, etc., in the body of the paper

Introductory Paragraph/Thesis 5 points

Narrative (logical, accurate) 45 points

Summary/Closing Paragraph 5 points

Free of errors 5 points

(no grammatical or punctuation errors, no misspellings)

Adequate/Correct Documentation 10 points

(Footnotes or endnotes ONLY)

Minimum number/quality of sources used 5 points

(More than 5, mixture of printed and internet sources—you do not have access to printed sources, such as military in Middle East [need to send me e-mail to let me know]; NOTE: You cannot use the textbook or any encyclopedias [software like Encarta; on-line such as Wikipedia, or printed such as World Book] of any kind as a source)

Bibliography/List of Works Cited 5 points