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Let's use this section of the forum to discuss how Asia has been and is linked to the larger world. Please share resources (e.g., recommended primary and secondary sources, documentaries, and so on) that we might use with students and for our own preparation. Also, please suggest discussion openers and places where this topic might be inserted into the curriculum.
Warren Cohen is a scholar whose interests range wide. He's best known for his work on China's international relations, but he's also written on art history and other topics. His East Asia at the Center is an amazing work that many teachers will find useful. Here's the complete citation:
Cohen, Warren I. East Asia At The Center: Four Thousand Years of Engagement with the World. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. Paperback, 2001. The paperback retails for $25, but it can be found for less.
Amazon features a selection from the opening chapter:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0231101090/ref=sib_fs_top/103-5714689-0631010?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S00M&checkSum=qhaV5C6IzLSwSh0B2cPLK2rSFcq697aW2tuhFb3nzgM%3D#reader-link
Virtually all world history textbooks note and some devote considerable space to the Chinese expeditions led by Zheng He in the first decades of the 15th century. The Chinese are officially marking these with "600th Anniversary" events. These include an 8 month sailboat journey from a Jiangsu port to Kenya.
You can read about the journey in a 3/19/2005 Xinhua (the official Chinese news agency) dispatch.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/20/content_2719002.htm
Picking up on the anniversary of China-African contact, another Xinhua story tells of a Kenyan girl helped by a Chinese man living there to continue her education. The Chinese Ministry of Education has now offered the girl a college scholarship to study in China.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/20/content_2719001.htm
I specifically cover China up through the Mongols after I have covered Europe up to about the end of the Crusades. In this way I can use the expansion of the Mongol empire to Eastern Europe to discuss how ideas and other influences from Asia affected the development of Europe at that time. Among the ideas that came into Europe from Asia at this time were the compass, gunpowder, improved shipbuilding methods, and possibly printing. Each one of these would have profound effects on the feudal system, and the expansion of trade in Europe.
Also, though often criticized for their brutal methods, it was the Mongols who created safety and order for the first time in lands that connected the East and the West. I like to show the video about the Mongols in the "Timeline" series that makes uses of "in-the field" reporters who show how the Mongols created their empire and brought order to the lands they conquered. Its an effective visual tool that shows some positive aspects of the Mongols rule. And, after all, it was primarily their rule that allowed not only these ideas and inventions to come to Europe, increased trade, but also would have the unforseen, and disastrous effect of spreading the Black Plaque to Europe. While the latter is hardly a positive influence (though this also would help kill the feudal system and spur the demand for individual rights), this, along with the other influences shows the major influence that Asia has had on the rest of the world. You might say that the Mongols empire was one of the earliest instances of globalization, with both positive and negative effects that would alter civilizations.
Perhaps this doesn't fit into the world category, but the conflict between these two "lands" continues to surprise me. I was reading in the UCLA Asia Institute article on "Taiwan and China Cross-Strait Debate Comes to UCLA" about how the National People's Congress (NPC) in China unanimously ratified a law that would make Taiwan's secession from China illegal. China gave itself approval to use non-peaceful means to uphold this law.
Countries have been breaking off from other countries for hundreds of years; people form smaller units that somehow seem beneficial to their populace. Fifty-five years ago Taiwan separated from China, but China has refused to recognize this separation ever since. Now, they are establishing their own "law" so they will have the "right" to attack Taiwan should the people do anything to make the separation more permanent. I know there is a complex story behind this situation, but -- as an outsider -- I have difficulty understanding China's obstinancy. It seems like the Chinese government is autocratic with it's population, and it doesn't see any reason not to extend their dominance over Taiwan.
Can this situation be compared to the sovereignity Great Britain holds over Ireland? I don't believe the Irish are trying to secede from Great Britain, and I believe the desire to fight against the English government is manifest in only a small percentage of the population.
One final thought. Ms. Liu, who debated on behalf of the Taiwanese, said, "Only the 23 million Taiwanese people have the right to decide on their own sovereignty." First, in the timeline of the world, that is a relatively new idea. It has usually been that the ruler with the greatest strength/army controls the land. Taiwan -- a tiny country -- is bucking that historical precedent and going against the will of it's massive "sister" country.
Secondly, it ocurred to me that Taiwan -- which is a major player in the world -- has only 23 million citizens, about the population of two Cities of Los Angeles. And their island is puny. It is amazing how much of a role it has played in the world, even though it is miniscule compared to China.
Courtney
The comments made about China and Taiwan are interesting. Just remember that in the last decade Quebec was undergoing elections to secede from Cananda. In an election that was tight as can be, Quebec stayed apart of Canada. I just thought to show this example as well.
I found an article by UCLA's Tom Plate in an on-line publication called the Japan Times.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?eo20050509tp.htm
in this article Plate explains why in his opinion any war in Asia (err.. really any war regarding China) will not happen until after 2008. He explains this because of the Olympics coming to China. China will want to wear its best face and a struggle with Taiwan will not look favorable.
He also explains that in 2008 there will be a ncew presidential electin in Taiwan. President Shen (Taiwan's current president) can only serve 2 terms. Thus there will be a change. Shen is not favored in China.
I believe there is another aspect to the PRC's attitude toward Taiwan. This is ultimately to make an example of Taiwan. China has several other portions of the country which are made up of mostly ethnic minorities (that is until enough Han have been introduced to alter this) that have indepence issues, including Xin Jiang (North West China) and Tibet which China absorbed through invasion 50 years ago (after Taiwan "seperated").
I would argue, China can not let Taiwan go, because if they did they might suddenly experience a rash of resistance form other protions of the nation.
Any one else have thoughts?
David
Interested in Tom Plate's musings on Asia and the world? His twice a week column is published in AsiaMedia, which also features a comprehensive Plate archive. You can see the column Kari mentioned at:
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=24029
The Plate archive is at:
I just want to comment on Time magazine's special report on China's New Revolution. The article by Michael Elliott suggests that "China is engaged in a crash program of modernization of its armed forces," and that Rumsfeld believes that China spends more on defense than they publish. This is a concern because no nations threaten China. Evidently, the U.S. and China are enjoying the best relations ever, but the U.S. is concerned about their major military build up. It sounds a little scary to me. What do you think?
Frank[Edit by="fwiley on Jun 27, 9:21:33 PM"][/Edit]
Referring to the June 27th edition of Times magazine, Wal-Mart is claiming that its "American-style standards and ethics of manufacturing...provide decent accommodations for workers." Wal-Mart claims to enforce the standards that reduce man hours in the work week and days that allow for overtime. They also claim that Chinese employees find the changes liberating. And lastly, Li, a high school graduates from a peaseant family states: "All that matters is your work.' In a country of 1.3 billion people, the Wal-Mart way may not yet amount to a great leap forward. But it is progress." My how communism has changed.
Frank
The article appearing in Newsweek, titled “ No Policy is Not Good Policy,” discusses the opposing policy goals of the United States toward North Korea. U.S. policy seems to be at odds, thus creating basically “no policy” in wanting both North Korea to renounce its nuclear weapons as well as rid North Korea of its current dictator. Interestingly, it appears that China also doesn’t want a nuclear North Korea. The author believes this would be a good time to “forge a common Sino-U.S. position,” especially since he credits the U.S. with assisting them with Taiwan. I hadn’t realized that President Bush had done something productive.
He also refers to the stalemate in Washington that is causing the “no policy” problem. I thought that was insightful as the whole Korean conflict in the 1950s is referred to as a stalemate.
UCLA student Nick Steele wrote a piece discussing his internship experience in China during the summer of 2004. This was particularly interesting because it was discussion from the point of view of an American trying to figure out Chinese business. My favorite part “WWMT” what would Mao think was brilliant and I liked his analysis. Would he be happy with the new form of economic expansion, leaving behind strict communism to the ills or perhaps the excesses of capitalism and the inevitable gaps it is creating in the class structure?
I’m thinking that I might use this piece for my economics classes as it is not only a fantastic commentary on what is going on in China, it also references things that my students can relate too and has many key vocabulary words in it. One could definitely use some sort of problem solving scenario exercise with it. Additionally it’s a first hand account of something cool you can do in college, awareness of the possibilities.
Regarding this article, I think that the relationship between China and Taiwan can be compared to The sovereignity that Great Britain holds over Ireland, except I think that Taiwan is a stronger and perhaps more powerful nation than Ireland, as Courtney pointed out. Taiwan is trying to make its presence felt more and more, and as the article states as long as there is no war things get better and better for this tiny nation.
This weeks Time is an anniversary issue of Hiroshima (August 6. 1945). I purchased it in order to scan some of the pictures for later use in a PowerPoint for class presentation. On page 4 there are 2 panoramic pictures “then” and “now” that make a nice contrast effect, especially since students may be somewhat familiar with the older picture, having seen it in film footage.
The article was tastefully done showing pictures of survivors, their age, the different disfiguring or chronic health problems they have experienced. Additionally, there is a write up about the crew of the Enola Gay and more of their perspective and words about the experience. There are four surviving crewmembers.
I plan to use the “Crossing the Moral Threshold” article on Monday with my summer school class. This will reinforce the reasons we dropped the bomb and prepare them for the exam essay question. I like this question, as there is no right or wrong answer in the opinion response; “Why did Truman decide to use the atomic bomb against Japan? Do you think that he did the right thing?”
If you don’t want to buy it, go to Time.com!
This week’s Newsweek, August 1, 2005 lists under deals, “Don’t Count ‘Baby CNOOC’ Out,” advising about the current plan of China to buy Unocal. China recently raised the value of the yuan by 2% (which is not significant), but what is significant is that the yuan is no longer pegged to the dollar, but to a basket of currencies although there are no details to what’s in the basket. This is scary because China could conceivably value the yuan at what it pleases, saying it’s “market based.”
The Chinese government is also aiding the Chinese bidder for Unocal Corp. The government subsidy pushes CNOOC way above the Chevron Unocal offer. This is an example of China playing by its own rules, not Western rules, but nothing in it is illegal. Additionally if the value of the yuan increases it would make products made in China more expensive for the United States to buy. This could have interesting consequences for both countries.