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Anonymousagain, if you are interested in the crazy development of china, particularly the new glass palace of Guangzhou, you have to read this book. Did I mention that you have to read this book? here is a link that has a lot of the content in this book...
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050301/china.html
architecture, arts, food, prostitution, body organ trafficking...
welcome to the new world
AnonymousAn interesting article found online on chinadaily.com on November 20th discussed Internet use among the youth of China. The article cites a recent survey, conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily, that the Internet has become indispensible in the daily lives of Chinese urban youth.
Some 19% of the over 4,000 surveyed said that the Internet "can take the place of everything". The first Internet cafe appeared in Beijing in 1995 and today, according to the article, China has the second largest number of Internet users in the world. Of course there is a great distinction between urban and rural youth in China, yet I still found it surprising and therefore enlightening to learn of the high rate of daily Internet users in China. The article also stipulated a difference in the type of Internet use between westerners and the Chinese. They [the Chinese youth] use it less of a communication and search tool and more of a source of entertainment. It is important that we realize just how advanced and "wired" the country is in order to best communicate and understand China's youth today.[Edit by="rterry on Nov 25, 1:39:25 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousTo put the construction wages into perspective (referring to the PBS series, "China Rising") an article from today's paper from the Desert Valley Times ... visiting friends in Mesquite, Nevada ... which revealed that carpenters earn $41.18/hour, a flagman earns $34.39/hour for public works projects! A definite far cry from the $0.80/hour fueling the modern building projects in Shanghai. Hey, even from our teacher hourly rate!
AnonymousGovernor Schwarzenegger's trip to China provides for a good conection to discussing current events and the economy, more specifically California's stake in China whose economic power continues to grow at an incredibly rapid pace. The LA Times article "Governor's Mission: Prove China Needs California" from November 14th, written by Don Lee, provides for a great link to any economics class or current event discussion in virtually any math, English or social studies class at all middle and high school levels.
The Governor's first stop was at a steel plant in Shanghai where a Californian company installed a new environmentally sound wastewater treatment system. This was seen as a perfect first stop for Schwarzenegger's trip to emphasize that California has a lot to offer China, and what China means for the Golden State. Perhaps it is not surprising that California based Yahoo Inc., Walt Disney Co., and Qualcomm have invested heavily in Chinese ventures but the dollar amount, into the billions, proves where these business giants think future profits are.
It would be a great assignment for students to draw comparisons between the two economies (China ranked 7th and California 8th in the world by economic output). Many of our students' parents are doing business in Asia, so to focus a social studies unit on this would tap into many of our students' real world. California exports almost $7 billion (China ranks no. 4) which is a 25% surge in the last year. This is an indicator of the rapidly changing rise in China's wealth and involvement in industries such as software development. Additionally, expertise such as transportation management, pollution control and water conversation are areas of speciality sought in China and aptly provided for by California's firms. The Pacific Rim location is the obvious advantage but it is also due to the immigrant link which dating back 150 years, laborers were recruited to build America's railroads.
Today most of the labor takes place in China. The most recent changes were in the sorting and distribution of goods manufactured in China, which used to take place in American storage centers, is now bypassed and goods are shipped directly to stores form China. The article did mention that although manufactures have been investing and producing in China for years while software and service companies are still wary about exposing copyrighted content to priacy.
Chinese e-commerce is about to take off ... or so one can assume by Yahoo's $1 billion cash deal for a 40% stake in a Chinese online auction firm. One last article highlight -- the stereotype that most people think of China as a sweatshop (and judging from the wages, it is hard not to) but as always there are exceptions to the lables we tend to give. Global companies are saying that they cannot ignore the rise in engineering and techinical talent in China. "They'll set up an R&D in Shanghai, where they can hire 100 engineers for the price of 15 in San Jose". It is hard to argue with such a statement.
With our students growing up in California, it is important that these current events be discussed and even at their young ages, critical thinking should be developed to better understand how global markets affect our everyday lives today and in the future.
clay dubeHi Everyone,
I'm delighted that Michael and others are bringing articles into the discussion. Please continue to do so, but please note the following:
1. To keep us legal, please only share these in the Torrance forum, NOT the Asia in My Classroom forum.
2. To make forum scanning simple, please save the articles as text files (via Notepad or via saving them as text -txt- files in your browser: file | save as | choose txt) and then attach them to your post. In the message area of your post, summarize the article or explain why we should read it. This will make it easier to scroll through the forum and will still facilitate the reading of the files. Simply clicking on the attachment will open the file.
Thanks.
clay dubeRochelle's post raises several interesting questions. A later article in China Daily (Nov. 23, 2005) reports that another survey finds that 1 in 8 Chinese young people are "net addicts."
Altogether, 103 million Chinese are using the web, about 16% of whom are under 18.
This report would be more compelling if it included a definition of "net addict." The example provided was a high school student who cut classes so he could spend up to 10 hours a day playing internet games.
AnonymousAnother interesting article in the News-Press:China's leaders sent a team last Friday to investigate a chemical plant accident that poisoned a major river, the Songhua, near Harbin. There is a Russian city downstream and they are also braced for the poisons arrival. 3.8 million residents in the northeastern city went at least 3 days without water. The Chinese have sent a disciplinary team to investigate because they do not trust the locals officials.
AnonymousAnother disaster, courtesy of the News-Press: Nov. 13 there was an explosion in a chemical plant in Jilin, about 120 miles southeast of Harbin. This seems to be a reoccuring theme, that the government is failing to protect the public from environmental damage caused by China's roaring economic growth. Even docile government newspapers criticized the handling of the Harbin poisoning disaster.
AnonymousScary. Something I remember vividly from my first visit to Korea were the children in P.E. classes drilling every day with guns to prepare for the North Korean attack. It wasn't IF they attack, it was WHEN the attack comes. Everything was set for this eventuality. All of the overpasses on the roads to Seoul were wired to be blown up to and slow the advance of the enemy on the capital. High rise apts were strategically placed to the same ends. Picture-taking from high vantage points was prohibited. Our soldiers still face off daily on the DMZ w/ North Korean soldiers.
South Korea already gives $$ to the North (not to mention the "blackmail" money we pay them not to produce more nuclear weapons...). From everything I've heard on the N. Korean leader--He's one scary/unstable/unpredictable "dude" (unless this "front" is just put out there to keep the $$ pouring in...).
AnonymousDo check page one of the LA Times today (column one) for a lengthy and interesting article on gemstone factories in China. One brave plaintiff is fighting "dust lung" and faces an uphill battle. Well worth the read.
Sounds like they could benefit from a union!
clay dubeDarlene is right about workplace safety and other horrors. In the Asia in My Classroom forum, many are talking about the recent shooting of villagers by policemen in SE China and about other human rights issues.
Those interested in the challenges of forming unions and advocating for labor rights may find the following links useful:
Han Dongfang, well-known labor activist giving a Regents Lecture at UCLA
http://www.uctv.tv/library-test.asp?showID=11006
Solidarity Center, an effort sponsored by AFL-CIO, has several reports on China
http://www.solidaritycenter.org/content.asp?contentid=450
Amnesty International
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/china/index.do
AnonymousOkay this is not China --- but it is Asia in the media (we need more threads!!)
North Korean birthday gifts -- 219, 370 of them!! An article in the LA Times (11/25/05) exlained the surprising amount of gifts for Kim Jong Il and his father, Kim Il Sung, from around the world. I found it curious that each gift is stored -- nothing too large or too small. There is an International Friendship Museum north of Pyongyang (the capital) where in the mountains is built a 200 room museum that houses every gift sent from abroad. The museum is actually like a fortress and maze that is so guarded that it seems as if more than gifts are housed there. One can speculate as to the purpose for the western world to see.
In another article dated 11/29/05 from the LA Times, North Korean succession is discussed. Kim Jong Il is thinking about his heir but he himself, according to the article, knows that "the people" wouldn't like a "third-generation dynasty". Also, Kim Jong Il admits that "he spoiled all his sons .. They are too Westernized to be dictators". The leader is 64, two years older than his father when he was designated to to lead the communist nation. The 60th anniversary last month of the Workers' Party brought about speculation of Kim Jong Il naming or at least hinting at a successor. The fact that this did not happen meant to many Western diplomats and journalists that perhaps he "wasn't sufficiently confident of his grip on power to pass on his legacy". His array of childern from three different women doesn't seem to pose a difficulty as it is reported that "portraits of the father and [eldest] son must hang in every home".
Yet, at the end of the article, an unnamed North-Korean defector is quoted as saying "it [the communist regime] will collapse after Kim Jong Il dies" and implies that he, Kim Jong knows it. It is indeed an interesting time in history!
clay dubeI love this discussion, but think we should probably discuss this sort of general topic in the Asia in My Classroom forum rather than in the seminar forum. I think a lot of teachers would be interested in the points Rochelle has brought up.
This storehouse of goodies from abroad is a long-standing tradition and not unique to East Asia, though perhaps most pronounced there. In the US, gifts to the Pres. worth more than $285 wind up in the National Archives (see attached story about gifts to Bush and Clinton).
In EA, the gifts to Japanese and Chinese rulers, as well as to the Kims are taken to symbolize the important place the empires/nations hold in the world. In Beijing one sees some of these gifts on display at the Palace Museum.
AnonymousThis is a very interesting subject to explore. I remember giving a survey last spring asking students about their interest in Asian langauges. Perhaps this is one of the first steps in incorporating this type of program in our district. It is very true that it seems like there is just not enough time in the day, and/or money to incorporate these kind of programs in our district. Being a middle school teacher, I also am seeing the negative effects of pulling students out of physical eduacation classes. There must be a way to keep our students healthy and broaden their horizons of learning at the same time. Perhaps it is just a part of our fast growing, culturally diverse country. The world's economy is growing so fast, and is connected in so many ways, that it seems like learning foreign languages will be key to continuing to grow as a global economy as well as a culturally diverse society. I hope that our district will negotiate it's resources so that Asian foreign language programs will be as common and popular as Spanish and French classes.
AnonymousGreat news from my Alma Mater, Valparaiso University, in Valparaiso, Indiana (the Law School is considered the "poor man's Harvard" according to Newsweek Magazine). Valparasio University leaders are exploring increased opportunities for mutually beneficial partnerships, as China continues to grow in economic power.
The Office of Graduate Studies just launched a new 37-credit Master of Arts in Chinese Studies Program, with the first class of students scheduled for fall, 2006. In the spring of 2006, a contingent of 30 M.B.A. students will travel to China.
The University received a four-year, $1.87 million grant, 3 years ago, from the Freeman Foundation. From that grant, V.U. created the China Center.
One of our faculty, an associate professor of music, traveled to China and conducted music clinics and lectures. Our V.U. College of Business Administration Dean and an associate professor of finance, visited Shanghai U. of Finance and Economics, and Zhejiang University of Finanace and Business.
There were other initiatives underwritten by the Freeman Foundation:
Annual Summer Courses in China Program
Continuation and expansion of the Hangzou Program
A research seminar on East Asia, with a field trip during spring break
Expansion of V.U.'s exchange relations with universities in China and
Numerous community outreach projects
These are pretty exciting times we live in, and I am thrilled that a small university like Valpo, is probably at the the forefront for small schools, in becoming actively involved in East Asian studies! Great news for us Alumn's.