In Professor Berry's lecture this afternoon, he showed a English textbook which include the translated Chinese political songs and slogans in English. Such as " Long Live Chariman Mao" " Redlight in the East" .

This recalled the first English sentence I learned in China: " Long live the Marxinism, Leninism, and Mao Ze-Dong Thoughts!", I also remembered that back then in China, every adults were calling each other " Comrade" , the waitress in a restaurant were called " comrade", the sales person in a store were called "comrade", even between husband and wife.

So throughout the English textbook, we can see the calling for each other was " comrade Li, comrade Wang....." I don't remember when did these textbooks were replaced with more culture appropriated ones ,but it was most likely accompanied with the openning of the Chinese borders for the foreign investors.

Hello

I'm not sure what subject area you teach, but do you speak to your students about your experiences living in China? 

Ancient China is an important unit in sixth grade social studies. In the textbook, there are a number of primary source pictures (from paintings, pictures, etc.) that depict what life was life in such dynasties as the Shang and Zhou. In the past, I've had the students analyze these depictions closely and then write (or dialogue) about what they observe, namely what kind of information these depictions give us in 2018 about these ancient civilizations. Naturally, this requires close, careful observation of the primary sources. Incorporating Zhang Leping's San Mao cartoon panels would be a good extension of this "observe and analyze" activity, and the students will undoubtedly have high engagement with the cartoon and the knowledge that San Mao is essentially the Mickey Mouse of China. A final extension of this activity could be to have the students attempt to draw a political cartoon themselves lampooning something they don't like in our school, town, or society. 

The different styles of performance art that was shown today will be a great discussion piece with my Visual Arts students in deciding 'What is Art?' which is a question I pose to my older students at the beginning of each year to get them thinking outside of the box. I would like to show them some of the works of Hsieh Teh-Ching and talk to them about his ideas of doing something for a year like locking himself in a cage or tying himself to someone else. That would be a great conversation starter to argue "Is this Art?" as Professor Berry mentioned in his lecture as Hsieh's style of art goes beyond the traditional sense. 

Professor Berry presented many thought provoking ideas in his presentation of Chinese cinema.  One of the ideas he made mention of was the idea that we have this cultural imbalance in our culture, that while we know much about Western history, literature and perspectives, we do not generally work hard to know other perspectives, particularly those from East Asia, which is curious given that China, for instance is the second largest economy in the world and as such, has become more relevant.   I know this is true in my experience and certainly is true for my students.  This is one of the reasons why participation in this seminar is important to me as I have the ability to level the knowledge field with my students and to expose them to and to cultivate in them a global perspective.  I look forward to learning more about East Asian cinema and other visual arts as the week progresses so that I can expose my students to this history, culture and perspectives.  One way of achieving this is to incorporate foreign films and through the use of this medium, expose preconceived ideas and in doing so enhance students' global understanding. 

     Professor Berry's exposition provided a plethora of information about Mao. If I correctly remember, Mao seems to be more of a title than just one person. These teachings and practices led to the unifying and organization of millions of people in China (but unpopular by values.) Mao's influence on art/contemporary art (whether intended or not), has blossomed into a mulitmillion dollar industry, to include the visual value and morality shaping of an entire country. 

     Professor Berry exposed a part of early mainland Chinese cinema as an emulation of cinema  that is successful around the world (more particularly western cinema.) China has made a great deal of evolution as it pertains to modernization through cinematic exposure, while still attempting to maintain the integrity that "glues" mainland Chinese culture into lawfulness and government. So, for China to partake in acceptable forms of cinematic expression, emulation was reasonable for politics and economic expansion. 

     We have been able to learn, 21st century cinematic expression evolved into a production and distribution of highly successful cinematic products. In addition, more Chinese actors and actresses have been able to share Chinese culture with westerners, and still maintain Chinese identity. 

     It seems the care and devotion to "the motherland" is realized through cinematic performances, and then shared worldwide. Professor Berry suggests we expose our students to various productions, after we inspect the credits. We will recognize these 21st century productions were actually produced by Chinese production companies and exhibit values acceptable for mass media in China.