Schumpeter is alive and well in China. Modernization – read westernization – is by its very nature is akin to the World Engine in the blockbuster film Man of Steele. It will remake anything it touches into a perfect commodified unit of desire. This also puts me in mind of Russia's cultural renaissance with the Eastern Orthodox Church over the past decade. Once the cultural Marxism had rotted on the vine and revealed itself for what it was (authoritarianism), one began to see the religious revival of Russia's heritage once again begin to flourish. Unfortunately, as I write, I must admit that both China and Russia still have quite the love affair with authoritarianism, but there seems to be an effort made to preserve their respective cultural artifacts. Curiously, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) survived all of the cultural revolutions within China. Food for thought.

Great week for many ideas on how to connect U.S. High School students to trends and movements in China!  It is really something how modern China has mixed the internet, commerce, communication and capitalism in the biggest communist country in the world.  Definitely breaks some stereotypes.  But that is good for getting students interested and hooked into a lesson.  Obviously I am simplifying a lot of material here from this week, but there are literally hundreds of attention grabbers here.  In AP World, the course often highlights syncretism in culture, music, religion, technology or whatever else.  Old to new or horizontal ideas that seemingly are popping up all over China.  

The Falun Gong movement was really the most fascinating in that it is a relgious movemtn combining much of Chinese past belief systems as well as using some new ways of communications to shock and scare the authorities into suppressing it, even though it appears to be just a peaceful movement... now conveniently labled a cult.  How often is this in history, a group that challenges the system by peacful means and becomes labeled as subversive and dangerous.  

That probably could be argued about the Wham concerts and passing around of cassette tapes in the 80s, but now there is the internet with full surveillance, and yet people are communicating, organizing and creating, all in under a pretty repressive regime.  I'm sure the camps that Falun Gong members were sent to were horrific.  It is crazy that the communist party with is some 90 million strong can have that much influence and control with so many groups that outnumber them all over the country.  I guess we shall see how many Tiananmen like demonstrations China will have, or if the future will involve technology in a way that even Falun Gong movement will seem simplistic.

Brett makes some good points and great ideas for using these articles and topics in the class.  I agree the the Tiananmen Square protests do get a lot of coverage in 10th grade world history class.  There is much out there on these events, for good reason. 

With our material this week it has caused me to think about where else I can bring in material to other topics related.  Music for certain and how that has been an uncontrolable force in China, or say the internet, or those VHS movie houses.  This is directly tied to pop culture movements, but what about the vehicle in these to carry ideas of intellect, politics and/or religion.  It seems that ideas are coming at China, like all parts of the world, at lightning speeds and that when you embrace economic reforms all the rest will eventually come with it.  Even Chinese workers simply learning English to read an instruction manual or pamphelet to a "western" product and learning something new.  This of course is not even touching the video game issues and the psychological affects or messages contained in those.  Warcraft?  That has some metaphors.

I find it interesting that while China attempts to keep foreign influence out, (to greater or lesser degree by way of censorship and restrictions) that same foreign influnce (via orgs like the Ford Foundation) place a value on Chinese culture and attempts to support and preserve it. Is this a concious strategy on the part of the Chinese governement, or simply accidental irony?

This week’s articles about wang bas (net bars) and the phenomenon of “left behind” children were of most interest to me.

I was struck by the Xinhua news agency’s comment that internet bars are “‘tumors’’ that must be removed from society.”  I found myself thinking about Tipper Gore’s lauded and lambasted efforts to call out violent video game and music content in an effort to protect American children from sex, drugs, and violence.  It’s interesting to me that contemporary China appears to have similar concerns and preoccupations.

At the risk of opening a can of worms, what is considered “pornographic” in China?  Is it a case of Party members “knowing it when they see it”? Or is there something inherent in sexually explicit materials that somehow challenges the authority of the Chinese government?  I traveled to Vietnam in the summer of 1998 and was taken aback by a customs form that asked me if I was bringing any pornograpy into the country (just so you know, I wasn’t 🙂 ). Border guards literally emptied my luggage and went through all of my books.  It was all done in a very showy manner. What was the message here? Have these cultures always been prudish, or is this a recent happenstance? Is pornography seen as a foreign and evil influence? But as Trekkie Monster sings in “Avenue Q,” the internet is for porn, and this is hardly a Chinese phenomenon.  Digital citizenship curriculum, anyone?

Continuing with the theme of harm to children, I came away from the Pan and Ye article a little disappointed.  The authors went on--and on--about the ill effects visited on “left behind” children, but added little meat to the bones of their arguments.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. I was particularly interested in learning more about the different gender-tied effects of being left behind.  I wasn’t at all surprised to see that women and girls are more burdened by these effects than their male peers. I would be curious to know if Chinese schools have adapted any special education curriculum or strategies to help these children.  It sure sounds like they haven’t.

Reflecting on both of the videos it was very interesting to see how a gradual cultural change took place instead of a racial switch towards western culture. I really enjoyed looking at some of the fashion treads that were taking place (sunglasses in the club) to the opening of arcades that weren’t all that glorious. With this post one of the things I wanted to talk about was the movie industry and how the movies that are made in other countries are impacted by the Chinese markets. In a podcast from the Daily, titled “What the west got wrong about China,” the narrator pushes the question, “What was the last film that you saw where China was the villain or the bad guy?” There aren’t that many that come to mind right away and the reason for this is because of the influence China has on the entertainment world. China makes sure to not have itself portrayed negatively by not allowing movies that depict China badly into its country. This concept of why the movie industries want to not upset China is talked about with the release of the movie, World of War Craft and how it made almost four times the amount of money in China than it did in the United States.

There is so much to comment on the matierial and topic of the article "Children of Great Development."  What industrialization and commercialization is doing to the children throughout the rural regions and then to those who make it to the cities and urban centers and still are left to fend for themselves.  It harkens back to the industrialization of the United States, places like the Tennessee River Valley or in England in places like Manchester or London and not just with child labor but the abandonement, lack of education and the continual cycles of systemic poverty.

Thereare so many areas to connect this article into World History lessons.  Also, there is a good connection to the world wide reaction to the children migrants in the Syrian War crisis, but little to no reaction to this situation in China.  The numbers are staggering.  It raises questions of how China will be able to keep up with this issue and why there is such an income gap, which seems to be continuing to grow.