Preface

This volume is a revised version of an innovative online textbook that was created under the funding of a Carl M. Freeman Foundation grant between 2003 and 2006 and included trips to China, Korea, and Japan to gather information, photographic images, and video footage. Dr. Mark Bender of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (DEALL) at The Ohio State University wrote the original text. The artistic design and technical dimension were handled by Dr. Abhijit Varde, a systems developer/engineer in the ASC Technology Services at Ohio State. Shan Wu, a graduate work study student in architecture aided in the building of the site. Over the years a number of teaching assistants contributed to the content.

In Spring 2021, Bender received an Affordable Learning Grant from the OSU Affordable Learning Exchange to upgrade the original online book into its current Pressbooks format. The project was also supported by a Racial Justice Grant from the Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning at Ohio State. In the Summer of 2021, revisions and updates of all aspects of the text were conducted by Bender with the aid of Associate Editor Dr. Nancy Tewksbury, a lecturer of Chinese literature and culture in DEALL, and undergraduate Chinese and International Studies major Emmy Pascual. Teaching assistants Wei Liu and Jonathan O’Dell aided in vetting the project in Autumn 2021. Michael Shiflet of ALX designed the cover. Amanda Postle and Ashley Miller of ALX provided guidance during the revision process. During the summers of 2023 and 2024 Nick Allaman was instrumental in updating and revising many sections of the material, including incorporating images from Dr. Bender’s travels in South Korea and Japan during those years.

New developments in technology and new sources of image and video materials have allowed for a more effective format and better delivery of information. The phenomenal growth of YouTube, and availability of open access images in the ever-richer resources of Wikipedia and WikiCommons, as well as access to images in East Asian Collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, British Museum, Metropolitan Museum, New York, National Folk Museum of Korea, Shanghai Art Museum, UNESCO, and other sources both public and private has improved the content of this book. The editors are grateful to these and other sources of information for supporting open and fair use of knowledge.

Mark Bender

(8/6/2021)