Red Cliff 

Red Cliff
Instructions for the paper
In your paper please address the following questions:
1)How do the characters make reference to Confucianism and personify its
values?
2)How does the characterization echo Confucianism?
3)What does the film/original story say about how to be a good king/leader and
how to be a righteous person?

Terms and Concepts
For Confucianism, please pay close attention to the following concepts:
Ren, Li, learning, Junzi and Xiaoren, heaven, the inborn virtues

Length: 500 words(double space)

Characters
The Kingdom of Wei: Cao Cao
The Kingdom of Wu: Sun Quan, Zhou Yu (his wife Xiaoqiao), Sun Shangxiang
(eventually married Liu Bei)
The Kingdom of Shu: Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang(Liu’s chief advisor), Zhang Fei,
Guan Yu, ZhaoZilong

OriginThe film was adapted from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Plot Summary
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425637/synopsis?ref_=ttpl_pl_syn

Note
The entire movie runs 288 minutes.

Name: __________________________

Paper Evaluative Criteria

Criteria Excellent Good Minimally

Satisfactory
Unacceptable

BASIC
Mechanics
(grammar, spelling,
punctuation, etc.)

Error-free Very few errors Significant number
of mostly minor
errors

So many errors that
the paper is difficult
to follow

General
organization of
paper

Ideas systematically
presented and
developed in a clear,
easy-to-follow
progression

Clear introduction,
body, and
conclusion; logical
progression of ideas

Generally organized
in a logical
progression

Little overall
organization

Clarity and focus of
topic

Entire paper
developed around
clear focus

Topic generally
clear throughout
paper

Topic stated but not
always central to
paper

Topic unclear or
fails to address topic
in relevant way

MID-LEVEL
Research and
sources, including
both primary and
secondary works ♯

Strong research with
accurate sources
carefully cited and
consistently
formatted; includes
primary sources

Relatively strong
with accurate
sources carefully
cited; minor
inconsistencies in
formatting

Relatively weak
with unreliable
sources or sources
cited haphazardly;
formatting may be
inconsistent

Weak research with
unacceptable sources
or sources not cited,
whether ideas or
direct quotations

Analysis and
interpretation

Accurate and
convincing;
expresses clear and
deep understanding

Accurate and
convincing

Some inaccuracies
and deficiencies

Frequent, perhaps
systemic
inaccuracies and
misinterpretations

Evidence and
opinions

Consistent and
strategic evidence in
support of views

Generally consistent
and strategic
evidence in support
of views

Some evidence and
support for views

Little evidence and
support; may include
unquestioned
assumptions or
unsupported
opinions

ADVANCED
Reflection and
unexpected insights

Strong philosophical
reflection and
insights

Some reflection and
insights

Little philosophical
reflection and
insight

Nearly completely
absent

Success relative to
other papers

Outstanding and
model paper

Successful paper;
beyond class norm

Typical and average
paper

Least successful;
most deficient and/or
problematic

Legend to Symbols and Abbreviations: √=interesting/relevant; X=inaccurate/problematic; ¶=new
paragraph; ?=meaning unclear/questionable claim; awk=awkward; case=upper/lower case (capitalization);
frag=sentence fragment; itals=italics; p#s=page numbers; ref=reference; sp=spelling; wc=word choice.

♯Note: For Research and sources (see above), you could simply refer to the assigned readings.
You are not required to cite from other resources. For citation style, both Chicago and MLA are
fine. If you are not sure about the format, please see here:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/