Dube - East Asia and the West (Tuesday)

[Anonymous]

Salsa dancing is not one of the things you would expect to find when visiting the Great Wall of China. The fifth China Salsa Congress was held in Beijing during the Golden Week Holiday. The purpose of the congress as the founder, Albert Torres, stated is to promote salsa dancing and music across China. Albert along with a group of salsa dancers celebrated the last day of the congress dancing salsa at China's most popular landmark: The Great Wall.

[Anonymous]

I did not learn about this in school either. This is something that all teachers should make sure they inform their students.

[Anonymous]

I agree that companies that want to expand globally should learn to cater to their audience, but I did think the argument the article about recontextualization worked as well since Tokyo Disneyland is an example of it. Japanese people seem to see it as foreign because it’s American, but they have found similarities within the Disney culture to relate to.

One quote from the text I found interesting was that “…Yoshimoto argues that the meaning of cultural artifacts is context-dependent and therefore nonexportable.” While it is not meant to describe what is going on with Tokyo Disneyland, the sentiment resonated with me. This is the same way that Korean dramas and movies remade in the U.S. do not have the same impact. In my opinion, these works were done worse in the U.S. such as with My Sassy Girl and Old Boy. Remakes can’t capture the original intention.

[Anonymous]

The Power and Threat of America , by Liang Qichao, was particularly interesting, because it mentions the United States' government. This is something that I deal with a sine I teach 8th grade U.S. history. I was surprised, by his statement that, "I don't worry about anything for America except its immigrants." Liang is writing at the turn of the 20th century, and he already sees a problem that our country still dealing with to this day. Immigration is a current topic in today's political climate. Now more than ever his statement resonates with me. I have a great deal of family that are immigrants to this country, and I don't seee it as a problem , but some do.

[Anonymous]

The Chinese Soldiers who fought in the Civil War, by Stuart Heaver, is one of my favorite articles. I already created a lesson, that I will use when teaching the Civil War unit next semester. I still can't believe that I had never heard about this in college or any of my reading on the Civil War. As I was reading it a second time, I made a connection with another race that doesn't get much credit for their role in the Civil War, the African Americans, yes we talked about the 54th Massachusetts regiment and their sacrifice. yet, that's not enough. They fought as hard as any white soldier to preserve the Union, and end slavery in our country, and they just get a paragraph or two in the 8th grade U.S. history textbook.

[Anonymous]

I agree, but also I am not surprised. If we think about how early Americans justified what they did tot he Native Americans, taking their land, killing them, forcing them to move from the land of their ancestors, just because in their eyes they were not human enough or civilized. Therefore, I am not surprised that the Chinese soldiers were treated that way, and denied naturalization. Also, how the southerners, justified slavery by calling it the "peculiar institution" and based it on the color of their skin. It is sad and embarrassing to admit that our government has a history of discrimination towards other races who doesn't fir the mold.

[clay dube]

The documents here are primary source accounts and recent newspaper reports.

heaver -- about Chinese soldiers in the American civil war

I have attached my presentation. As before, I had to compress it and break it into smaller pieces. You may use it for your own reference and you are welcome to show it in your classroom. Do not otherwise share it or post it on the net. Thank you.

Please note that we did not see the full presentation. Some of the sections we didn't discuss include how Western countries forced China to open its doors, first through war and then through treaties. You'll see missionaries gain access to China, where they condemned foot-binding and expanded educational choices. Foreign governments compelled China to turn over its customs administration (import/export controls/taxation) to a foreigner. Foreigners enjoyed extraterritorial privileges, that is they were not subjected to Chinese law, even though they were in China. This process is referred to now in China as national humiliation and led to the description of 1839-1949 as a century of humiliation. This naturally generates resentment and is part of the context in which China and other countries interact. The official "national humiliation day" is September 18. In 2015, we took a group of teachers to the Never Forget National Humiliation Museum in Shenyang.
edited by Clay Dube on 7/27/2016
edited by Clay Dube on 7/27/2016

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