Final Essay

[cgao]

Please post your final reflection essay here, either as a post or as an attachment. 

[Scott Craig]

This past week has been very interesting and enlightening. I have truly learned a lot about Gender and Generation in East Asia which will help me teach my AP World History course. There were so many topics discussed that I want to incorporate into my class that my head is swirling with ideas.

One of the most fascinating topics was the ideal Confucian woman. I knew that women held a subservient role in Asian culture, as they have in almost all cultures throughout the world, but this week I learned how much of this came about through the teachings of Confucius. It was interesting to learn how the five relationships really led to women seeming to be less important than men. As I read the writings of Ban Zhao there were many times where I was in complete shock by the concepts being presented. What made it even more shocking was that it was a woman who was saying those things. The thought of beginning to train a baby girl at just three days old that she was lower than others is really beyond belief to me. While China has certainly made some amazing contributions to technology, science, medicine, and many other fields, I can’t help but wonder how much more they could have done had women been allowed to choose their own path and use their skills and talents to make even greater contributions.

One of the lectures that still has me really thinking though, was when the idea was proposed that even though I saw the treatment of women as oppressive and stifling, many Chinese women don’t see it that way and actually view it as a way to gain power. By teaching their children they influence future generations, as a wife they support and assist their husbands, and in those ways the make great contributions. Ama, in Crazy Rich Asians, was used as an example of how women can work their way up through being a daughter-in-law, to a mother-in-law, to finally the matriarch of the family, and as such wield great power. This reiterated the importance of perspective when analyzing history.

I actually really learned so much I can’t really write about all of it in a short essay, but over the next several weeks, months, and even years will continue to think about them, try to learn more, and incorporate them in my classes in order to help my students understand much more about East Asian culture.

 

[Joy Chao]

This past week really was a feast to me. Even though I grew up in an Asian-centered culture, there is still so much to know and to learn. I’ve been teaching Chinese for 10+ years and the topics related to Chinese culture has always been a big focus, especially for my upper levels.

One of the most interesting pieces I read this week was the piece by Ban Zhao. I thought it was very interesting to analyze the relationship between men and women and the certain lessons that women back then (and to a certain extent even today) must follow in order to be a “good wife.” These restrictive rules and regulations on women can also be seen in the other presentations that were given throughout the week as well. Foot binding not only physically restricted women but also emotionally relegated them as inferior and incapable. While this is no longer practiced today, foot binding is only a part of the long-lasting tradition of suppressing women. Cosmetic surgery, especially in South Korea, has now also shifted the ways in which women perform and embody social standing. These “normative beauty standards” are a double-edged sword: conforming to these norms can be seen as restrictive practices forced onto women, but on the other hand, the results of these surgeries can end up empowering women.

Regardless, we cannot discount the Western ideology that has also been imposed on all of us. When it comes to evaluating Asian culture and practices, we cannot relegate these cultures as and apply Western thought onto these evaluations, rather, we should view the many cultures and ideologies from an objective standpoint. This is not to discount the many rights that democracy provides us, but to show that these privileges and norms we deem as “inherent” were not even introduced back when foot binding or Ban Zhou’s piece were written.

In the end, I feel that I am armed with more knowledge and understanding about East Asian culture overall. I will definitely incorporate these lessons into my teachings and help my students learn more about the different cultures and standpoints that have been passed down from generation to generation. I find that many of these teachings are still prevalent today, even as the times have changed.

[Kimberly de Berzunza]

In my 7th grade World History class I teach about East Asia.  One unit is supposed to be: East Asia, 300–1300: China during Tang and Song, Spread of Buddhism, Korea and Japan, Quanzhou.  Much of the framework’s focus is on how Chinese imperial powers gained and maintained power over the people, and how Buddhism spread and changed across Asia.  I think the topic of Gender and Generation fits well here, as the hierarchical systems developed and spread from China to Korea and Japan in different ways.

 

We already study how the Tang dynasty returned to Confucianism and instituted a system of civil service examinations, so here I will introduce the five relationships in Confucianism and discuss how this hierarchy worked to control the people of China and to keep women in their place. At the same time, I would like to have students read (or watch video clips of) some of Confucius’ Analects and then the story of Mencius’ mother, and compare the gender and generational roles in each. I might introduce the writings of Ban Zhao, to show that not only men held these ideas. I will also be able to incorporate the ideas taught by Dr. Yan in Session 1, regarding the importance of human reproduction to the eternal nature of a family, to help students understand where these ideas come from and why they are important in Asia.  I’m sure a clip or two from the beginning of Mulan will help illustrate the importance of the ancestors and of marriage.

 

Professor Miyake’s discussion of Japan was one of the most useful for me, since it covers exactly the period of Japanese history that I teach. I am definitely going to look for some Manga or Animé versions of stories and more traditional woodblock versions of stories that will help students understand gender roles in feudal Japan. One thing I realized was that I have been wrong in my instruction on the Heian period, when some artistic forms I was teaching about, such as haiku or kabuki theatre, are actually from much later periods, so I also need to fix this. At the end of the unit I would like to bring some of these concepts and traditions into the present by looking at modern aesthetics of beauty (ie, androgyny) and some of the movie clips we saw from mid-century Japanese film, because I think they will help students understand how certain concepts have transcended time.

 

Finally, I was very interested in the early Korean history prior to Chinese influence, where Korean women had greater power.  It was only last year that I started teaching about Korea based on the updated History Framework, so the information about the three queens of the Silla reign was interesting to me and something I will need to work to incorporate.  I think it will be important for students to see how Korean women were more empowered than they might have thought, and I look forward to breaking down stereotypes.

[Jennifer Chang]

This week’s seminar on Gender and Generation in East Asia was very eye-opening for me. As a Taiwanese American growing up in a relatively conservative family, I found myself thinking about my own personal experiences while listening to the lectures on Confucianism and filial piety. What was most interesting to me was understanding how deep the roots of filial piety was, and the effect that it still has on everyday life and culture of Chinese people. 

 

We learned about Ban Zhao, who lived her life as an exemplary woman, and created the content for how to lead your life as an ideal women in Confucian society. In order to have discipline and order, there was a specific hierarchy that she and other people in her time strived to achieve. Professor Yan presented to us a picture of a family tree, which described who held which position in the family. He emphasized the fact that your existence was determined by your bloodline, and your afterlife depended on your ancestors worshipping you, which is why it is still important in Chinese tradition to pray to the ancestors and offer food and goods. In order to uphold the family bloodline, it was so important to have descendants. In order to have descendants, it was important for women to be married out and find a husband so that the bloodline (patriarchal) would be continued. Understanding this as a foundation gave me a deeper understanding of filial piety and the notion of selfless devotion between family members. 

 

Currently, in my sixth grade class, we go over Ancient China in our Social Studies curriculum. One of the topics that we go over is Confucianism and one of the vocabulary terms is filial piety. This term, given by the textbook, is simply defined as “respect for one’s elders”. In the past, I have usually brushed over this term, and moved onto the next topic. However, after listening to the lectures in this week’s seminars, I will definitely use the materials and resources provided by the instructors to delve more into this term. In addition to the image of the family tree from Professor Yan, I will also include the stories of Mencius provided by Professor Wang and the “24 Stories of Filial Piety” comics from Professor Dube to introduce filial piety to my students. It will also be interesting to hear my students’ thoughts on this term as we discuss the stories that were used to “teach” people how to be filial in Ancient China. 

[Amy Chen]

Gender and Generation was such a fascinating seiminar for me. I learned so many eye opening facts about the gender roles in China, Japan, and Korea. I especially enjoyed the field trip on the last day. I never been to the Korean Cultural Center before. I also learned so much from our docent at the Japanese National American Museum. The field trip lunch was a great opportunity to meet and interact with colleagues. Being a newer teacher, I gained insight and advice from the veteran teachers. 

All the guest speakers were wonderful. Professor Dube's presentation was engaging and informational. I added to my prior knowledge about the one child policy. The fact that Mao declared concubines illegal and allowed divorce was new to me. I know that he decided this for the greater good and to promote more workers for the government. However, the new laws made a significant change for Chinese women who had no rights in regards to marriage at all. 

Professor Bernard showed us many texts that can be used with students. I found the sci fi stories fascinating. The commentary on how we are destroying our environment is poignant. It relates to my magent's theme. I will definitely use excerpts from "Wandering Earth". The short stories written by a teacher are creative in dealing with difficult behaviors. 

Learning about how gender and generation has evolved throughout history in different cultures helps us see what progress has been made and still needs to occur. I was glad to hear from the Korean Cultural Center that there is more gender equality in South Korea now. From talking to my relatives in Taiwan, I know that gender roles have improved and become more modern. This seminar educated me on many topics and gave me ideas for lessons in my own classes.

[Midori Sanchez]

This is my second time I've had the pleasure of taking this seminar and learning more about China, Japan, and Korea. However, though I'm at the same site teaching the demographics and challenges of the students I will be mentoring are different; primarily my students are Latinx or African American. These East Asian countries may seem starkly different from those of my students, but I am hoping to take on the challenge of building more representation and empathy into my classroom. My students also do not have history their freshmen year, so I will not be able to be reliant on their history teacher to supplement about Confucius or China but only from middle school or my own supplemented background.

The first unit I teach is on What does it mean to be an American? through the My Perspectives consumable textbook. There is already a story by Amy Tan included called "Rules of the Game", but the one inch by one inch background on the author and several sentence "background" on the story itself is not sufficient to understanding the motives of the mother and daughter in the story without first understanding the rich culture of China and Confucian ideals/expectations brought over even to first generation Chinese Americans. Because of this, I have prepared a slide show that breaks down Chinese rules of conduct, Confucian ideals, and Chinese vs. Chinese American/American Expectations. I think it is important as a reader to empathize with the experience of being an immigrant, a mother who does not show love in a way that many may associate with, and a daughter who is having identity issues with being Chinese and American. The mother in the story is not "mean" as some of my students last year wanted to categorize her. 

I will also be includng this video to get the perspective of modern Asian Americans dealing with the same struggles their parents, grandparents, friends, etc. have gone through and will continue to go through. I liked that one of the people being interviewed had beautiful multi colored hair and that they shone a light on Bangladesh and how often they are not included or remembered as Asian Americans. I have downloaded the youtube video using this site (https://y2mate.com/) and made cuts for length, and deleted the short section on the fetishization/sexualization of Asians. 

https://youtu.be/9E0_8KPvOt0

Here are examples of questions I will be asking on my pre-reading powerpoint to help push their understanding after taking notes on the powerpoint:

On the bottom of your notes answer these questions and explain fully:

-According to Confucius ideals for Women on Slide 3, what do you think is the most important ideal to Americans, and why? Which is least important, and why?

-What do your parents and/or culture expect of you, and how do they teach you? Do you think those expectations are important? If so, why? If not, why? 

 

[Lin Kuang]

Summer seminar refelction. 

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Diana Corey]

I came to this seminar hoping to gain some insights to answer my students’ questions about gender and generation in East Asian culture in this age where gender roles and even gender as a concept are rapidly changing. As a teacher of Mandarin, and especially as a non-native speaker who did not grow up in China, it is crucial that I continue to learn about traditional and changing values and customs in China and other parts of East Asia. Because of the prominent LGBTQ population in my school, these questions have been at the front of their minds, and I have not been immersed in Chinese culture enough recently enough to feel up to date about my answers. While the seminar focused on gender and generation in East Asia as a whole and did not specifically aim to address my students’ pressing questions, I definitely gained some insights that have helped me think through issues that members of the LGBTQ community face and the traditional values and perspectives that impact them. I have come away with some better understanding of the traditional values that still prevent gay marriage from being possible, for example. I have seen a difference between biological males presenting as feminine in US culture and soft masculinity in Asian culture. While I feel more equipped to help students think through these questions as a result of this seminar, I have also walked away with so much more than I sought upon registering. 

 

Incorporating information and literature about gender and generation in East Asia throughout history into my Chinese language lessons on family, home living, festivals, occupations, etc. will help students to build a foundation of exposure to centuries old perspectives that continue to impact values and actions in the present day. I plan to introduce stories of Mencius’s mother in my beginning classes when we learn about family members, and to reintroduce it in Chinese in a higher level when we learn about housing. I plan to introduce Ban Zhao’s lessons to women during a unit on marriage and children, and to weave instruction on China’s familism and neo-familism throughout all levels of Mandarin. I am still exploring all of the texts and resources presented at the Gender and Generation in East Asia seminar and hope to find ways to incorporate some of the modern pieces in the original Chinese into my upper level classes. This seminar has provided me with a wealth of materials and resources to help me enrich my teaching about China and East Asian culture. It is overwhelming to process how I can use it all, but I am excited to start weaving what I have gained into my lessons immediately!

 

[Xiaowei Hunt]

Before going to USC for seminar on Gender and Generation in East Asia, I learned that there would be new changes to AP Chinese Language and Culture exam starting fall 2019 with these six themes: 1) Families in Different Societies; 2) The Influences of Language and Culture on Identity; 3) Influence of Beauty and Arts; 4) How Science and Technology Affect Our Lives; 5) Factors that impact the Quality of Life; 6) Environmental, Political and Societal Challenges. I was thinking and even struggling with what to do in teaching my students the what, the why, and the how for the new themes in my AP Chinese classroom. It was to my relief  that the seminar at USC's China-U.S. Institute shed some light on my curriculum and lesson planning. 

I come up with some ideas I can use for my AP Chinese class:

For the theme of “Families in Different Societies” in my AP Chinese class, I could introduce Ban Zhao’s “old standards” for women in simple Chinese (my students may have difficulty reading Ban Zhao’s  original Chinese text) about good women being) as 1) 不自大derived from 卑弱; 2) 先人后己(putting others before oneself) as good women such as Ban Zhao herself never lived a life of her own(i.e., selfless devotion to her family and emperor). However, Ban Zhao’s traditional “old standards” have changed over dynasties to today’s “hot mom standards” being “Women holding half the sky” and they can “be graceful in the living room, be skillful in the kitchen, kill a Trojan virus in their computer, find ways to decode stuff, drive a car, buy a decent house, win in battle with husband’s mistress and beat off a rascal(上得了厅堂，下得了厨房，杀得了木马，翻得了围墙，开得起汽车，买得起洋房，斗得过小三，打得过流氓). 

 

For the theme of “Environmental, Political and Societal Challenges” in my AP Chinese, I could show the students “Wondering Earth 流浪地球 Liúlàng dìqiú” with subtitles in Chinese and Engish. I could design my lessons around this movie for global warming causing the people of Earth having to build giant thrusters to move the planet out of orbit and sail to a new star system. After 2,500 years, young people continue the fight for everyone's survival. I can also combine the recent Shanghai trash sorting to lead my students to reading, speaking and discussing what Chinese people are currently doing for environmental protection. 

For the theme of “Influence of Beauty and Art” in my AP Chinese class, I could design activities that allow comparison and contrast of what makes a Chinese woman and Korean woman beautiful from ancient times to modern times, such as from ancient foot binding to contemporary plastic surgery. 

 

[Nira Sun]

I’ve always enjoyed USC seminar due to its varieties of topics and rich information. I was very interested in gender and generation in general. This seminar provided an opportunity for me to learn gender and generation situation in East Asian countries that I’m able to bring back to my classroom.

Gender:

A lot of times, we focused too much on traditional values and perspectives when learning specific language or culture. We tend to overlook the change in perspective in contemporary society. I found it’s interesting to learn about Ban Zhao who concluded the “Instruction for Chinese women and girls”. All the virtues and skills introduced in this book set a certain expectation on women and girls’ behaviors that have been passed on to this day. Not only will it help students to gain understanding towards traditional values on women, it may also trigger students’ curiosity in regards to how the expectation looks like in modern society. Meanwhile, students can learn to compare these values to western perspectives to investigate the similarities as well as differences. For example, as students learn the societal reasonings behind foot binding, we may guide them to compare the reasonings behind cosmetic surgery. The fundamental motivation behind both behaviors was to “please the outside world by changing one’s certain physical features”. As opposed to foot binding being IMPOSED MANDATORILY on women only, cosmetic surgery is a VOLUNTARY decision that applied to both men and women nowadays. In addition to that, cosmetic surgery is becoming a trend in both eastern and western worlds. I can imagine this being an interesting topic to my students.

Generation:

From Ban Zhao’s standard of being an exemplary woman, we can ask students to consider what “being exemplary” means to them. There will definitely be differences from person to person and from girls to boys. I’m thinking about having students to select one character (ancient vs. modern, eastern vs. western) to represent the most important value(s) that fit their expectations. From all these characters they select, we will get to discuss how expected virtues have changed along with the progress of the society. For example, why are those Korean boy bands so popular even among students in America? I remember my students used to tell me that their songs are so catchy. There is a concept called “fast food culture” which describes a sudden but brief success of a thing or person. Such culture also leaves significant impacts in our perspectives towards relationship, family, and other aspects of life. This is something that’s definitely unique in our generation.

 

Overall, I definitely felt the need of being more knowledgeable as a teacher in order to guide students to successfully perceive different cultures. In addition to learning language only, such topics will intrigue their interests in understanding in how language is influenced by culture in general. This is one major benefit that I’m bringing back to my classes.

 

[Zoey McKinney]

            I learned so much from the institute this year, both from the expert lecturers and field trips. I thought the topic of gender and generation was particularly interesting and relevant to today’s society. Looking at the development of gender roles and generational relationships over time gave me a better understanding of those dynamics in East Asia today.

I particularly enjoyed Brian Bernards’ lecture “Worlds of Chinese Literature.” It opened my eyes to the possibilities of using foreign, specifically East Asian contemporary literature for children and young adults in school. I had never considered the possibility before, but I saw so many themes in his presentation that would connect with my students, and I believe the material would be inherently engaging.

My curriculum project was most influenced by Jennifer Jung-Kim’s lecture, “Evolving Conceptions of Gender in South Korea.” It was fascinating to learn about the very strict standards of beauty in that country, as well as the countermovement “Escape the Corset.” I discovered over the course of the week that my ideas of gender in East Asia were missing important pieces. Ideas such as neo-Familism, “Super Moms,” and those expressed by women like He Zhen were all new to me.

Gender specifically is a topic that is often raised by my fourth graders (now fifth graders). They are beginning to explore gender roles and beauty standards throughout history, and questioning the ones that exist today. They are becoming much more aware of themselves as male or female, and I think it is important for us to explore what that means to them and why. Though many of the readings presented in this institute were too complex for this age group, I want to bring in images and videos from East Asia to help them both become more globally aware and examine how societies position men and women in relation to each other.

I also want to share that, because of the institute, I am planning a trip to South Korea with my sister next summer and have also enrolled in Chinese lessons. Overall, I found this experience valuable both personally and as an educator.

 

[David Ojeda]

I teach sixth-grade English and Social Studies. I chose to take the Gender and Generation in East Asia seminar to explore ways to enhance my current English and History curriculum. Additionally, I wanted to gain more exposure to Asia’s culture. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in the seminar! Prior to the seminar, I had not thought about gender roles or expectations as they pertain to Asia and its culture. In the 2018-2019 academic year, the students and I briefly discussed Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. When talking about Confucius, I recall that the majority of the students agreed that his way of thinking and teaching was ideal. Last year’s textbook (History Alive! The Ancient World) barely touched upon Confucius and Confucianism (approximately two pages or so). The text stated that society works well when one respects all those above them within the five basic relationships (Ruler and subject; husband and wife; father and son; older sibling and younger sibling; friend and friend). The textbook does not reveal, though, how gender fits into these relationships. Within these five basic relationships, a female is mentioned once: husband and wife. The latter, to me, reveals that a female had one sole role: be a wife. A man, on the other hand, had the opportunity to have multiple roles and power. One leads (male) while one serves (female). The latter idea was perpetuated throughout generations.

The 24 Filial Exemplars were one way that gender roles and expectations were perpetuated. The tales focus on filial piety. However, there seems to be an undertone of gender roles and expectations. The protagonist tends to be a male; the females seem to have a docile, passive characterization that needs to be cared for. In #2 (“Her Son Tasted Soups & Medicine”), the mother is a queen who has been sick for three years. Though she has power due to the crown, her son is the one who shines because he looks after her. In #3 (“She Bit Her Finger & Pained His Heart”), the reader is introduced to Zeng Shen of the Zhou dynasty and his mother. The mother remains nameless, attaining identity via her son who has had verses written for him; he ached when she bit her finger. In this tale, the mother is at home while her son is out in the world. She receives a guest and has no ways to entertain him, which makes it seem like a woman’s role is tied to the home. The subtext might be that a woman is meant to entertain while a male is meant to go out and explore the world. The exemplars, though they promote filial piety, simultaneously continue teaching gender roles and expectations.

I envision using The 24 Filial Exemplars to enhance my unit on China. I think the tales are accessible for my sixth graders. I would like to take it a step further, though, and have the students create 24 tales of exemplar individuals to address the needs of our community, or perhaps address the needs of a specific group of people they connect with.

[Jonathan Tam]

Among the four programs that I have taken with the US-China Institute, I have found the most to bring into my classroom from this seminar on Gender and Generation. Nothing quite affects everyone universally as much as age and gender, and this seminar offered a very unique perspective from the lens of East Asian scholars that helped reveal the values behind each different culture.

 

In the course that I teach on Interethnic Relations, there is plenty that I hope to bring into the classroom - starting with my lesson on culture consumption in Kpop and Hip Hop. Just as how music in America sells certain ideals and values, music in Korea is no different - from the reverence of strict beauty standards to the heavy thematic focus of love and toxic idealization. An analysis of American hip hop followed by a psychoanalysis of Kpop will certainly be a great platform for discussing the double standards between genders, rape culture and even the aging and left behind elderly population. One thing that hip hop and kpop both have in common is the fact that many only resonate with younger populations - and in some cases, such as that of Korea, this represents the declining role of the elderly population in society. Supplemental resources such as the film, “The Bacchus Lady” (only the school appropriate parts) will create a holistic image of the issues that media can create in our society.

 

Beyond that, as a Science and Math teacher, the science fiction elements that were brought forth in Seminar 6 with Brian Bernards seem like resources that I hope will prompt conversation on climate change and our place in the universe. Other than being great stories for students to pick their brains at, they also offer insight into the issues that not only people in our country are thinking about - but also on a global scale. Folding Beijing and The Wandering Earth are the stories in particular that I think would be great technical breadths  for students to engage in speculation regarding whether these solutions seem possible (in the case of The Wandering Earth) and how they might disproportionately affect people (in the case of Folding Beijing).

 

Though I hoped to learn a lot, I was surprised at how much I learned from this seminar. I am incredibly thankful for all the lecturers as well as Clay and Catherine for putting together this program. Thank you!

[Nichole Morales]

The seminar helped me to learn about historical and modern Korean, Chinese, and Japanese gender and generation. While I was already familiar with many ideas about traditional gender and generational roles in China because I had lived there for some time, I wasn’t familiar with these elements in Korean and Japanese culture and history. It was a good opportunity for me to learn as a person and as a teacher.

The speakers brought in depth and specialized research on gender and generation in East Asia that helped me to push my understanding on the topics. Yan Yunxiang’s discussion on the development of individuals after the cultural revolution interested me. It puts words to what I witnessed when I lived in China. There were stark differences between generations and genders in terms of how individualism presented. I also liked how Professor Miyake displayed male and female writings alongside each other and had us look for clues about the gender of the author and discuss the implications. It’s an interesting way to learn about early writing in Heian and Kamajura periods and about the gendered roles of men and women. Films with enduring themes are a great way to bring historical information and concepts to students. In the clips from “Late Spring” that Kerim Yasar showed, we saw that family roles, gender roles, and change in Japan are ideas that students can relate to personally. Professor Wang argued that yinyang aren’t binary but each within the other, playfully developing and enhancing each other. That yinyang gender relationships are dynamic and fluid. Finally, since I personally love reading science fiction and dystopian literature like “Folding Beijing,” I found Brian Bernards’ lecture most interesting. Unlike most speakers, he identified text, which is important for me as a high school English teacher.

Learning about gender and generation in East Asia facilitates a greater appreciation of diverse histories and cultures. With this, I can include information about East Asia in instruction and also bring my students to a deeper respect for diversity.

 

[Author]

Posts