In response to the controversy over the title of the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, I looked for a map of East Asia in my textbook, Ways of the World by Robert Strayer. While the textbook is full of maps, most of them did not label this sea. I’ve attached one map I was able to found. As you can see, the textbook includes both labels: Sea of Japan/East Sea. Knowing this, I am going to ask students to study this map, and see if they notice anything interesting. From here, we can have a discussion about sourcing (Point of View and Purpose of documents) which is an important aspect of AP World History curriculum. I also plan to find a few articles about the Virginia textbook debate.

At the start of session one, we were asked to write the name of an East Asian country and a corresponding adjective. The country that I wrote was China and the adjective I chose was populous.  In his demography and geography presention of East Asia, Professor Dube introduced a map of a globe with lights.  As I viewed this map of the world, I thought about what a great visual this would be to teach students about East Asian economic and technological development and populations and its relation to the rest of the world and within the distinct East Asian countries. Instead of reading about this from a textbook, students can be exposed to this visual and be asked to draw conclusions, write questions and think critically about the kind of information a visual such as this suggests.  By doing so, students can be guided to think and construct their own knowledge rather than simply reading this from a textbook.  This is a great example of how visuals can enhance any lesson and get students to think about larger questions related to content and as an introduction to key ideas about East Asia.  I appreciated how Professor Dube made strategic use of visuals and maps in this session and was inspired to use more such tools in my lesson plans.  As the course develops, I hope to explore and think about how I can integrate these and how the use of these tools can reshape my lessons.

I, too, found Banyan's article to be very illuminating for me.  Before reading the article, I understood some of the reasons contributing to the decreasing birth rate in East Asian countries and in Europe: women marrying later in life or refusing to marry altogether, women choosing to work rather than stay at home to raise a family, and so on. Upon reading this article, I learned that one of the most prevailing reasons why there is a decreasing birth rate in East Asian countries is the deeply held beliefs people have about women, their role in the family and how women are generally viewed. Although women in countries such as Japan, South Korea and China are educated and contributing to the economy by joining the work force, they are still viewed within the lense of tradition and so not enough social changes are taking place that support women who both want to work and raise a family.  According to this article, the greatest barrier to increasing the birth rate of these countries is the resistance to shifts in attitudes about women.  Since Asian countries are more traditional than for example, Germany, it is uncertain if these much needed shifts in perspective and attitudes will take place in time.  I did not make this crucial connection before reading this article.

I found this article quite interesting both as a European and as someone who is curious about how modern Asian and European societies will deal with their low fertility rates. The article places the fertility rate that countries need to have in order to stabilize their society and culture at 2.1%. That means, that for the culture, traditions, customs, etc of a socieity to perpetuate or remain somewhat similar, each woman should have two children. Any fertitility rate lower than that means the culture and customs of the country are more likely to  change or be replaced by those of the new immigrants. I also found quite interesting how the article mentions how the European countries saw an increase in fertility rates after World War 2, which led to the big baby boom of the 1950's and 1960's to exemplify how this could be the case in Asia and how countries such as Japan, South Korea or China can see this problem resolved the same way it was resolved in Europe back in the day. However, it does not mention that the economic boom and industrialization that Europe saw during those decades after the war, due in its most part to the need of reconstructing those countries, doesn't compare to today's Asian socieities. European economies were not as global as Asian economies are these days. Those European countries created many jobs that were needed to rebuild the infrastructure and societies of those destroyed countries. In other words, most of the jobs created during the 1950's or 1960's were due to the increasing domestic consumption and deman. That's why I don't find this parallel to be completely comparable to modern Asian societies simply because a big amount of the jobs and products these countries generate depend on foreign consumption and demand. 

After reading the article on China’s environmental tipping point, I was pleased, intrigued, yet still worried about China’s environmental future.

I applaud Ma Jun and other environmentalists for bringing awareness to China's environmental crisis through new laws, documentaries and apps. However, as China has grown economically, more people in China see the immediate benefits of becoming financially stable/prosperous and turn a blind eye to the side effect of China’s economic growth—environmental depletion. And, as the article states, “When you have a situation where the laws are there but the enforcement is not quite there, then you’re basically rewarding those who cut corners and hurting those who try to be responsible.”

So, it’s great that people are starting to notice and fight on behalf of the environment but, I’m curious to see if and how people will give up their greed towards money to help save the environment. After all, what is the point in being wealthy if there is no safe place to live?

[Clearly this isn’t a China only issue, but I’m curious to see how this movement and the Blue Map app will impact China and its citizens.]

I am so sad when I think and talk about this topic nowadays- “ China’s environmental problems”. 

It is true. According to the article “China has reached its environmental tipping point” in China one-fifth of farmland is too polluted to grow crops, nearly 60% of ground water is unfit for human use, and air pollutions is 20 times the recommended safe levels. 

The human cost of this damage had been devastating: rice contaminated with heavy metals , more than 450 so-called “cancer villages”, choking levels of air pollution causing underweight babies, rising level of lung cancer and a decline in male fertility. Air pollutions causes 4,400 deaths in China every single day. 

Although China’s leadership has promised a “war on pollution” to regain public trust, it is the decisions of local government officials. According to Ma that it’s the local environmental officials that are in charge of enforcement, but they are subordinate to local government. Their heads are appointed by local government. Those who want to stick to the laws could be replaced. This is the very harsh reality. It won’t be easy to change it Ma said.

In a rare display of danger, China’s rising middle class took to the Chinese social media website “Wechat”, demanding the Government take action and protect the children of China. They said the Government’s “War on pollution”, now it is the third year, has not delivered results. A petition asking the government to install air filtration systems in schools gathered nearly half a million views and more than 2.700 comments before it was shut down. Many of my friends and relatives still live in China. I pray and hope that they could have clean air to breath and clean water to drink again in the near future. 

Sources: The world post/ Ma Jun: China has reached its environmental tipping point/ ABC news.

What professor Dube brought up was a good point on the power of labels and how we label things. As a history teacher working in a public school it is easy to forget the power of labels, especially when trying to build the skills that students need to take various state assessments that check for understanding of writing, listening, reading and speaking level. However, when I returned to the classroom, I took this idea and let my students think about the types of images we get when we think of different music genres and the people we associate with them. In this case building on Black History month I let my students watch a short documentary on the history of rock music and the associations we make when we think of rock. During the video the same topic of labeling is brought up and how much power that evokes. Needless to say the students learned a little bit more on the history of rock and its pioneers.

Now, bringing it back to what was discussed in the seminar. I can recall how labels have power, and how history and what is written about regions also has a form of power. Hence when China decided to have its forum on Goguryeo and applied for some sites within its borders to become a UNESCO World Heritage it created some outrage and controversy. So, we are left with some loose ideas of what happened in these regions and we can gather some understanding of their past, but when it comes to writing history and whose history it encompasses then there is reason for alarm. This shows not only the divergent views that countries in East Asia have of their respective histories, but also how with enough money and power countries can counter how history is written, hence the incidents happening in the US. Here the politics of how we name parts of East Asia are also coming up, and in a fascinating manner, from a plaque that was put up in Culver City a few decades ago to the innocent but controversial labeling of a time line in a museum, which led to simply removing the sign. I definitively want my students to carry with them a sense that everything that they read must be judged with a grain of salt, but at the same time they too must be willing to express their critical thoughts through writing, but ultimately they understand as well as I that history is fluid and can be changed by the whims of those in power or those beginning to have access to power.