Current Events

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

After hours (ok, several minutes) of helplessly searching for an appropriate place to put my posts I decided that it was time to presume to make my own thread.

I just read two articles, from separate sources, that document the huge controversy regarding Memoirs of a Geisha and the Chinese actors playing Japanese Geisha and of course an America director is another issue. Frankly, I was surprised just how angry and hostile so many Japanese people were over Chinese actors playing the revered role of Geishas. One of the Japanese sources spoke of how there is a special and unique way that geisha have of walking and even looking at people.

I read the book years ago but I don't remember much. I do recall hearing that Golding had not been historically accurate in his depiction.

I think that I will see the movie over break. I look forward to having an on-line discussion regarding the movie.

[Anonymous]

There is currently a photo exhibition entitled "Geishas" in LA which examines the world of the disappearing culture of these Japanese entertainers. As the new movie is bringing to light, the Geishas were trained in many areas; they were literally meant to be moving works of art. This exhibition includes vintage photographs that date back to the 1930s as well as more recent color images, including a National Geographic photographer. I plan to see it next week during the break and will post my reactions. However, in the meantime, it may be something you would like to consider making the time to do while on the break from work. It is at Apex Fine Art, 152 N La Brea Ave in LA. It is on now until January 6, Tuesdays through Saturdays 11am-5pm. Check out the website http://www.apexfineart.com/

[Anonymous]

Yea! I've been wanting a thread on current events I've seen a number of news stations the last couple of weeks cover this story. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie this week.
To skip to another type of theater...Kabuki...
I just finished reading an article from the Daily Yomiuri Online. UNESCO just made the decision to designate kabuki a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
The U.N. introduced this system to protect intangible cultural assets/performers. This was established to complement its World Heritage designation.
The article talked about not only preserving kabuki, but wanting to see it become a global art form. It's interesting that it mentioned the plays of Shakespeare being in the same era as kabuki's emergence. I will have to say the Shakespearean play that stands out the most in my mind is one I saw at U.C.L.A. years ago--MacBeth--In kabuki drama!

[Anonymous]

Just got ahold of an article from Time magazine that I had been looking for. A couple of weeks ago one of my students had done their Current Event for my World History and Cultures class on this article:Letter From Shanghai. It seems China is very concerned with it's peoples lack of manners, and wants to remedy the problem before they are exposed to the "World" during the upcoming Olympic Games. The most popular class at the Shanghai Institute of foreign Trade--Manners (101). They are taught how to eat w/ western silverware, are told not to order endangered species or internal organs when hosting Americans, not to spit on the street etc...
The article says the problem is that the "Chinese have gotten rich so fast, they haven't had time to learn the manners that usually go along with wealth." Local leaders have unveiled a new campaign instructing citizens not to urinate or deficate in elevators or on the street but directly into toilets, not to pick their noses in public, not to steal plants from parks.

[clay dube]

Hi Portia, Shari, and others,

These are terrific posts. In the Asia in My Curriculum forum, some of the possible places to talk about the Geisha film are: Movies and Books and Film Festival (I'd opt for film festival). There are also threads about contemporary issues. And we probably should have a new thread there about drama and dance! Feel free to start one to talk about kabuki.

By the way, please remember that to make the links you introduce "clickable", just click on the link icon and follow directions:

" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.international.ucla.edu/asia/forum/images/rte_Link.gif

Again -- these are terrific topics and I think a lot of teachers, including ones in our Torrance group, will enjoy talking about. Please note that in the Asia in My Curriculum forum there are three pages of different threads. Click on the page number at the bottom of the list to move to the next thread. Once a new post is added to a thread, it is automatically moved to the top of the first page list. [Edit by="Clay Dube on Dec 17, 7:43:21 AM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

What an interesting article topic. I had no idea that China was having this problem. I find it very interesting because I think that American manners and behavior has also taken a dip. I'm not sure if we could pinpoint an origin like the Chinese have, but America definitely shares the problem of a lower standard of manners. Some of the conversations and behavior that I have seen in my students is very disappointing. It would be interesting for someone to look into our culture in comparison to other countries to explore certain differences and similarities. It's funny because I always thought of Asian countries as extremely well mannered and organized. I guess the saying is true, "You learn something new everyday".

Nicole Ventura
Jefferson Middle School

[Anonymous]

The Samurai film, "Throne of Blood," is also "Macbeth" and it's a very unique interpretation. If people are interested, the Nuart on Santa Monica Blvd. is playing a Festival of Japanese Samurai Films. Included are:
"Samurai Rebellion" on Dec. 30 - 31,
"Karakiri" on Jan. 1 - 2,
"Sword of Doom" and "Kill" on Jan. 3 - 4,
"Samurai Saga" and "Throne of Blood" on Jan. 5

http://www.LandmarkTheatres.com

[Anonymous]

I teach a unit on Multicultural Drama and one of the plays is "Do Not Spit at Random" by Fang Tzu. It is a street play performed many times on the corners of Hangchow and Shanghai and was written by the Hangchow Stage Group in support of the patriotic health movement. It is typical of this type of play which strives to inform Communist China about the dangers typhoid, diptheria, and tuberculosis carried, in part, by spittle. It is also typical in stressing the vigilance of the Young Pioneers, children of nine to thirteen, who could criticize an adult if the need arose. I found it interesting that they're still trying to wipe out spitting on the street but this time from a manners rather than a health issue.

[Anonymous]

An interesting article about the bogus stem cell lines from a South Korean researcher Hwang Woo-suk appeared in The Idaho Statesman 12-29-05 (see even on a ski vacation, I am on the look out for relevant articles!).

The scientist claimed to have successfully match DNA/cloning etc. in what were considered ground breaking discoveries. In May 2005 a published scientific journal stated that Hwang Woo-suk had created "11 colonies of human embryonic stem cells genetically matched to specific patients". This week, all of his work has been found to be fraudulent (investigation is still ongoing).

Why I find this an interesting current event is because I (perhaps naively) have always thought that ethics and the possiblity of disgrace for oneself and their family were, especially for Asians, strong deterents to shady actions in all aspects of life. Hwang did resign last week from Seoul National University. The widely debated topic of stem cell research and the global quest to find viable solutions for spinal cord injury patients and other ailments such as Parkinson'd disease makes this an especially disappointing current event as his work and published "discoveries" gave false hope to many.

[Anonymous]

China's health insurance issues was front page news for the Wall Street Journal 12-30-05.

"More than two-thirds of China's 1.3 billion people have no health insurance at all ... Problems with insurance coverage have become a crisis for China's growing urban middle class, eating into support for the ruling Communist Party." This excerpt effectively summarizes the 2 page article analyzing the issues of not only a great number of uninsured residents, but also the overall lack of coverage for treatment of terminal diseases.

Several cases are highlighted in which cancer patients have had to deplete their entire net worth and even the retirement savings of their parents. An editor for the state owned Shanghai Financial News did even buy into a policy from New York based insurer American International Group Inc. to supplement the limited government mandated coverage. But the high costs of China's hospital system has led AIG to not cover such medical calamities. "We used to be white collar workers ... Now we're in poverty" says Hu Cunxi.

A decade ago, a new health insurance model was introduced which mandated that all employers had to provide basic medical coverage. Surprisingly, family members are not covered. Additionally, the article claims that authorities enforce the requirement for state companies but large parts of the private sector ignore it.

"The basic medical insurance itself is limited. Typically, it covers 70% to 80% of hospital charges. Patients must pay the rest, in cash. Seriously ill patients who cannot raise sufficient money are forced to check out of hospitals ... today, hospital emergency rooms demand cash up front, whether or not the patient has insurance".

The cost of health care is rising so quickly in the past decade since the state imposed a cap on basic drugs and procedures at below market rates. The result has been that hospitals use other services such as sophisticated diagnostic tests and advanced drugs to make their money. It was also shocking to read that doctors make about $400/month which is about what a taxi driver who works some overtime makes. Therefore, it is great incentive for doctors to focus on giving the above basic treatment so they can supplement their income from the profit sharing. Health care economists say that few medical systems in the world link doctor's pay to the revenue from patients. Unlike the US, where a "utilization review" investigates whether or not the treatments were medically necessary and does not cover what they deem is not. In China, there is no such review process and essentially gives hospitals a blank check that whatever the limited insurance policies do not cover, the patients must with cash.

Although the health sysem in the US isn't great (especially for me, a former Canadian), we can be very thankful. And for those going on the trip this summer ... access to cash appears to be a necessity.

[Anonymous]

Speaking of Health Care issues--did anyone else see Clinton in China on 60 Minutes the other night? He's working w/ a foundation to try to stem the Aids epidemic, training workers, using the media(he hugged an aids patient on T.V.), and getting Indian companies to sell aids meds @ a cheap $280pp per year.
In the area of The Golden Triangle alone (a poor remote agricultural area), there are over a million people w/ aids (could raise to 10 mill. w/in 5yrs.). This area has long been a "drug pipeline", as well as having many prostitutes and migrant workers. It's been a long haul getting the Chinese to admit there is a problem. Many are in denial--they say: "we're not like that, we're different from the Africans, Americans, Europeans..." there have even been cover-ups. Many poor farmers who donated blood to make some extra money, were infected by needles used (the govt. knew)--now their children have aids as well.
These small foundations seem to be more effective than govt. organizations--Bill Gates has one as well. They are needed--over 8000 people a DAY die of Aids.

[Anonymous]

I was on Web Japan the other night, under Trends in Japan--arts and entertainment. I saw a heading that gave me a bit of a chill: Germany in Japan. It turned out to be a Year long festival--Deutschland in Japan '05-'06. It is made up of over 1000 events--a prelude to the World Cup in Germany. The aim is to highlight contemporary German Culture, Arts,Economy,
Science and Academics. Germany wants to give the Japanese a glimpse of Germany today.
Since the Meiji period Japan has drawn on German arts and education. Many still see Germans as stiff and formal--they want to change this image, and strengthen relations between the two countries. A favorite seems to be the German Lounge w/ Beer Sausage and Bavarian music.

[Anonymous]

Just heard something on the news this morning about China unveiling a new car-- the"Gili"? They will be small and cheap. They are able to keep the price low because the workers are paid $3.00 an hour, insted of the $29.00 an hour paid in Detroit.

[Anonymous]

Oops! just saw another news spot on that new car--it's spelled Geely. The name means "luck". It was shown outside of the car show. It hasn't passed its saftey tests yet, but they want it to be ready for sale in 18months. An american lawyer is the Rep. It will sale for under $10,000.

[Anonymous]

I was just doing my CNN check before I start my day and I can across this article http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/01/16/china.us.zheng.reut/index.html
It is an article about a map from the 18th century that is supposed to be a copy of a map dated 1418centurty map that The map, which is said to be an 18th-century copy of the 1418 original suggests that a Chinese fleet sailed to America decades before Christopher Columbus. This map was displayed in Beijing on Monday, and of course, the Chinese government would love this theory to gain acceptance. However, some scholars are questioning the authenticity of the map. One of the key criticism is that the map shows North and South America with more detail than could be expected at the time.

I thought that this would be a great discussion item for those that teach about Columbus.

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