Dube - East Asia and the West (Tuesday)

[Anonymous]

This article is an easy read and would be a great resource for students to analyze. I would introduce this article early in the semester when students are not so overwhelmed with historical information. The main purpose of the activity is to look through the eyes of a foreigner and see their perspective of American culture. Many of my ELD students would be interested in this story too since its very similar to their own experiences coming to America.

[Anonymous]

To add on to my previous comment, this article can also used in the classroom. It gives a difference perspective from the typical commentaries or stories in the school textbook. I would only select certain diary entry for my students since I want to to be engaged and to keep it simple. I really like the part where he meets the president and was shocked at the lack of ceremonial rituals in receiving an important document. This could be really interesting topic for a class discussion because many of my students experienced similar culture shock when they arrived in America.

[Anonymous]

I am perplexed that so many Chinese people are immigrating to the U.S. with enough money to make cash purchases of homes. How did so many people coming from a classless Marxists communist country acquire as so much money? Has all this money been recently acquired wealth resulting from China's embrace of capitalism or was there previously existing wealthy class of people within the Chinese communist society.

[Anonymous]

Although China has undergone an economic transformation in the post-Maoist era of the past 35 years, it remains a socialist country, and I would like to know something about the Chinese tax system and wealth distribution to provide safety nets for the poor.

[Anonymous]

If so many Chinese investors are coming into areas like Southern California and purchasing homes in cash, driving prices up, and creating issues for homebuyers here in California, is there anything that they state/city governments can do to curb this trend? I understand that "money talks" but it seems so unfair for homebuyers here. It feels as if areas like Arcadia, San Marino, and South Pasadena are being inundated by Chinese investors who are buying in bulk and driving first time homebuyers further out of the city and serving as an obstacle for growth.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/29/business/international/chinese-cash-floods-us-real-estate-market.html?_r=0
edited by mhagiwara on 7/26/2016

[Anonymous]

I think it is interesting that Clay stated that the United States and China are the 2 most economically divided countries in the world. While I was in China, I tried to understand and identify any remanence of communist ideologies but it was hard for me to see the differences from the U.S. I saw poverty as well as wealth there in all three of the cities I visited. One of the nights, I went to a street where the locals eat, and the image that comes to my mind when I think about this place is people begging on the street and a lady cleaning the restaurant dishes in buckets on the street, next to a BMW with flashy lights. I am wondering how what people and the government identify as noteworthy markers of communism in China, considering that these two nations with opposing economic ideologies have the same outcomes.

[Anonymous]

It sounds to me like a new wealthy class is emerging in China that is connected to the Chinese Communist Party which could emerge as the same sort of elitist that have inspired revolutions in the past if wealth distribution is not equitable enough to provide adequate safety nets for the larger population.

[Anonymous]

I really liked this article because it compares two distinctive cultures during the early 1900s. Norimasa was very descriptive in his observation of American customs and how it differs from his own. There's a part that Norimasa explained his incident with a cigarette and his sleeve. I was able to relate to this part because I myself am a smoker, who visited Japan and was at a lost of the smoker culture. It took me at least a few hours and a trip to Daiso, to assimilate into Japanese smoking community.

[Anonymous]

Chinese Investment in the US
In viewing the map showing investments of the Chinese worldwide I was surprised to see the lack of investment by China in the United States in comparison to Africa, the Middle East, and other parts of Asia.
Why is it that the US is behind in Chinese investment?
Why are the Chinese investing in US housing? Is the mortgage crisis to blame for the interest in housing?

In viewing the Charts uploaded for the World Trade Center, it is surprising to see that China is #13 for investments in California. China falls behind countries like Japan, Germany, France, and Britain.
Again, why is that?

Trade: Containers
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21432226
I was also interested in the talk about the limitations of the ship sizes coming through the Panama Canal. Apparently according the news article above from the BBC, it’s been 25 years since the Panama Canal became too small with ships carrying 4300 containers. The ships today, including the ones being constructed hold between 16,000 and upwards of 18,000 containers.

[Anonymous]

Throughout our studies we were taught that the American Civil War was fought between the north and south with white and black soldiers. It seemed hard enough to get people to understand that there were African Americans who fought in the war (e.g., 54th Mass.), now we must not forget the sacrifices made by the Chinese who also fought. If/when I teach about the Civil War I will no longer just talk about the Chinese community as being based on the West coast mining for gold and opening shops for the miners. I must also introduce to the students the fact that several Chinese fought in the war itself, giving their lives for a war that did not necessarily impact them.

[Anonymous]

Wood block prints influenced many great painters in the Western world like Monet and Van Gogh. It's interesting to see how the influence of Japanese culture around the started in the 1800's.

[Anonymous]

Clay mentioned that there were satellite towns outside of Shanghai that were themed according to Western cities. This is amazing to me! I think the interest in the West is a bit strange, but I guess this is the effects of imperialism. I wonder who can afford to live in these satellite cities and how they are advertised in China? Who is investing in the creation of these cities and what is their vision? I also wonder how many foreigners from the original cities visit these places and how they feel about these satellite cities? If you are interested in a visual tour, here’s a link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/14/fake-english-town-in-china_n_3907820.html

[Anonymous]

Tokyo Disneyland has been a great success. Shanghai Disneyland just opened for business a month ago. I haven't gotten a chance to visit it yet, but I heard people had complained on the long waiting lines for each game by internet and newspapers. Chinese are obsessed with American cultures too. In cities of China, you can see McDonalds, KFC, Papa John's, Starbucks , 7 eleven everywhere. Young generations like to watch American TV shows and buy American brands, such Nike, Adidas, Apple. I think American culture is still the dominant culture in the world. I believe it would be fun to ask students to find American brands in the photos shot in China and figure out the Chinese names of those brands by themselves.

[Anonymous]

These are some interesting articles in regard to the city:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-arcadia-immigration-architecture-20140511-story.html
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-05/welcome-arcadia-ca-chinese-billionaires-mistress-city

[Anonymous]

This was a fascinating read. I had no idea how the Chinese in America participated in the Civil War prior to reading this. Their treatment afterward was an unfortunate precursor to the way many Japanese Americans were treated during and after WWII, despite service. This article totally sparked my interest in learning more about ethnic Asian people's participation in historic events in the history of the U.S. I would challenge my students to take on mini-research projects about these sort of stories. Also, I wonder about whether there are stories of westerners who played roles in historic Asian events, but not necessarily as representatives of their native countries but rather participants on the same level as the locals (of a given Asian country).

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