I didn't know ...

[Anonymous]

I guess it helps to make friends in class with someone who has more understanding of the topic. I really am interested but at times is feeling lost thank you for helping.

[Anonymous]

to be honest the four school of thoughts we have been discussing are new to me but after the debet I found myself agree with some parts of all the sides. I agree feel one for all and all for one, but I also agree with law and culture and arts. I enjoyed that session.

[Anonymous]

I did not know of Japanese women who often walked by knee when they moved inside of a room. I think our students will find this ancient custom fascinating. They could compare and contrast Heian dress to Elizabethan.
See Google search string: heian women walking on knees
Here's a partial list of results.

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/japan/heian/heian-p.htm
The peerage usually lived in houses which were the palace style of Fujiwara period. Twelve-layered ceremonial robe was worn by court lady and peeress. This ceremonial robe weigh about 44lbs or more; therefore, those women had a hard time to walk. They often walked by knee when they move inside of a room and sat down on the floor with drawing their either side of knee. The peerage did not always wear those clothes in their daily life. Aristocratic ladies and court ladies ordinary clothes were Uchiki, which dress was a few-layerd robe, and peers' usual clothes were Noshi or Kariginu. The color of those clothes were considered as important, so people select appropriate color for each occasion and in each season.
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http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/japanese/HeianDress.htm

Because the Heian court was so taken with sensitivity to art and love of subtle beauty, much detail is given to wardrobe: colours, combinations, and fabric textures. The other reason we know so much about Heian court dress is that it has been lovingly preserved by the imperial family.
Construction of the Heian Period court dress is also relatively easy. It may carry all the pomp and circumstance of High Elizabethan, but its lines are a lot simpler.
When Japan severed formal relations with China, they created a need to manufacture goods that they were heretofore importing. The return to the construction techniques of the ancients may have initially been an effort to conserve cloth. However, this argument can hardly be supported for more than the initial period after detachment in light of the numerous layer of silk that the Heian courtiers wore on a daily basis.
The costume of the female courtiers is commonly referred to as ju-ni hitoe. To begin, this is a misnomer. Literally “twelve layers,” this term derived from a story about a lady-in-waiting who drowned while trying to save the child Emperor. It was said that her “twelve unlined robes” weighed her down. It was obviously summer, for unlined robes were not usually worn except on the most humid days and twelve is an awfully minuscule number for a courtier who usually wore 20-40.
The correct term for the garment is karaginu mo, although this refers only to two components of the ensemble. Karaginu means “Chinese overcoat” and mo, “skirt.” Karaginu is the Japanese word for the Nara (late 6th - early 7th century) Period jacket, and mo is a vestigal remnant of the shang skirt worn in the 7th century. In Heian-jidai, it was more like an apron worn backwards. The fact that the impressive parts of this costume are the layers is not evinced in the name. The multiple layers are called uchiki (robes). Women still wore hakama (split skirts or trousers descended from the Tang ku pants) under all these layers. The reason the ladies of the court wore so many layers (often 15 to 40) may have begun as imitation, as so many Japanese things do, but ended up utilitarian. The Chinese wore multiple layers, but never more than nine. The Japanese being given to exaggeration added more.
But though the summers in Kyoto are very humid, the winters are cold and damp. Wool being unknown until the 18th century, wearing many layers was simply the best way to keep warm while admiring pine trees in the snow. In 1074, however, sumptuary laws lessened the number of robes to five.
Heian court men also wore extra layers, sometimes stiffened with vegetable starch or lacquer. Shoulder pads were common and extra cloth was folded inside the garments to give the wearer the appearance of being broad shouldered and broad chested, which they were not.
In the paintings of the Period, we see Heian court ladies seated exclusively on the floor. It has been assumed that this was due to the weight of their court dress. However, the author is willing to conjecture that the overwhelming weight of the robes was allowed by restriction to the floor, not causal of it. If the sheer weight of women’s wear kept them on their knees, men still would have moved around relatively normally. Yet both sexes drug themselves around on their knees when inside. The reason for this reversion to the floor is based upon a point of etiquette in many Eastern cultures. Monarchs are often seated on diases so that their subjects will not be taller than them. In the Heian Period, fully two-thirds of the Emperors were under the age of majority. Towards the end of the Period, many were not more than one or two years-old when they ascended. Over one-third of these child Emperors did not reach adulthood while on the throne. Therefore, Heian courtiers lived life at floor level so that they would not insult the child Emperors by towering over them. Of course, this situation would then allow garments to become increasingly cumbersome because freedom of movement had already been impaired by this restriction.
This habit grew so voluminous that it became a health hazard. Murderous fires were frequent in Kyoto. Despite the claims of Marco Polo, Kyoto was build mostly of wood, not gold. Fires were so abundant that the Emperor had a number of “detached palaces” designed specifically for his residence when the Imperial Palace was being rebuilt after a fire. The worst fire of the Heian Period occurred in 1177 and is referred to as “Big Brother” to distinguish it from the numerous smaller fires that proceeded and followed it. Many courtiers died in this fire because their restrictive nagabakama and the weight of their robes. This was part of the reason for the shift to simpler clothing in the following period. Of course the shear weight of the garment also shrunk one’s spine.

[Anonymous]

While in UCLA, I spent two semesters studying "pickpockets" but I certainly did not know about the long tradition of beggars in China.

Beggars get online in China

March 02, 2004 12:32 IST
Last Updated: March 02, 2004 14:14 IST

Beggars in southwest China's Sichuan province have found a novel way to solicit money -- by making their appeals on the Internet.
Known as 'web beggars', they stay off the streets, go online, concoct sob stories, then write emails asking for money, The Beijing News said on Tuesday.
Zhang, from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, recently received an email and forwarded it to the media.
It said: 'I am a Chengdu local. Dad died when I was a kid and mom is seriously ill. My girlfriend has just dumped me. I am so depressed that I cannot leave my home. Would you please help me with 10 yuan ($1.2) for a meal?"

[Anonymous]

As I've mentioned in class, my nephew is teaching ESL in Kiataura in Kyushu, Japan. It's such a small fishing village that my travel agent couldn't find it in her map of Japan. No one knew where it was! After being there for almost a year, he believes that the sensei are more interested in correcting his students Japanese grammar and pronounciation than they are in teaching English. This thought led to our discussion about Japanese nationalistic pride. I now have more of an understanding about the origins of this pride after reading about their history. I didn't know anything about Japanese history and certainly nothing about how they kept the Mongols from invading their country.

[Anonymous]

I didn't know that footbinding was so pervasive, and for such a duration. I'm wondering if any other cultures have had a custom of limiting movement in such a way. We've all seen the pictures of elongated necks, earlobes, lips, etc., but these seem to pale compared to something that hinders mobility. I still wonder if there are any films available showing women with their feet bound moving. I thought of this recalling my image of Siamese twins moving around in the Todd Browning 1932 film, Freaks.

[Anonymous]

I just learned recently that the high school (New York Military Academy)I graduated from went to China to visit the ancient city of Xian. It turns out that lthey have a sister school called Xian International School there. The band, some faculty, and a local councilman went there to meet for cultural exchange. They visited Fujian Economic School as well. I also learned students from both schools have attended my school as exchange students. My school band played at a ceremony of 300 people in full dress regalia as if they were performing an anccient drum ceremony over 1000 years ago. Over 3000 residents were there to greet the band and see the ceremony. The ceremony was an reactment of the welcoming ceremony extended to dignitaries during the Tang dynasty.
Xian City is the ancient seat of the earliest dynasty emperors, and situated at the beginning of the Silk Trail.
Unfortunately they did not have pictures of the ceremony in the alumni magazine.

Larry

[Anonymous]

Yesterday, I heard a very interesting segment on KCRW about China. It seems that cosmetic surgery has become very popular there. The most interesting part was about a 20 year old girl who had wanted to be a model since she was 14 years old because she was 6 feet tall. She came from a poor, rural family. Apparently, she entered a contest but wasn't chosen so she decided to have surgery. In order to pay for it she asked family and friends for a loan of $15,000. To her dismay she wasn't allowed to enter the beauty contest because she had had the surgery. Her response was that she was extremely disappointed because she thought she was being a productive, contributing member of society by sharing her beauty with society!
My first thought was: Where did these poor people get $15,000? When I was in China, we were told that the average worker makes $3-$4 a day! Clay, is that true?
Secondly, I thought her response was so Daoist!
Did anyone else hear this segment?

[Anonymous]

I read an article entitled "Deep pessimism infecting many aspects of Japanese society." It describes Kenji, a 34 year old man, who for five years seldom left his bedroom.
This is an excerpt from the article (three pages) which was posted in 2002: You can access the entire article at http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/4768129.htm?template+contentModules/prin....
"Kenji's self-imposed confinement is surprisingly common in Japan today, after a decade of economic decline that has produced many worrisome effects. At least 1 million young Japanese adults, the vast majority men, imprison themselves in their rooms for months or even years at a time, according to Tamaki Saito, the first therapist to write a book on the subject. They sleep during the daytime and pace their rooms at night, hardly leaving except for a quick run to the 7-Eleven, if they can manage that.
Counselors and psychiatrists say Kenji's reclusiveness, known as "hikikomori," is an illness that exists only in Japan and was unknown even there until a decade ago. Hikikomori sufferers shut themselves off from siblings and friends, even parents, whom they sometimes attack in violent outbursts.
Kenji's behavior is a symptom of Japan's decline. A growing number of professional counselors and other experts worry that the nation itself is becoming a lot like Kenji: isolated, apprehensive and unable to interact with the outside world. More than 10 years after the country's economic bubble burst, there is little prospect of a rebound.
"I feel that Japan, as a nation itself, is becoming hikikomori," said psychiatrist Satoru Saito, who treats shut-ins and counsels families in his Tokyo clinic. "It is a nation that does not like to communicate. It is a nation that does not like to take risks. So what these young adults are doing is a mirror of what they see around them in adult society."

Try to read the article because it is fascinating. I'd love to read you comments!

[Anonymous]

What a bizarre story! 'Progress' appears with many faces... I appreciated the woman professor from Riverside who reminded us to look at a copy of LA Weekly to see what modern
women were doing to their bodies while we contemplated the act of foot binding.

Yearly income in China...$3-$4 a day sounds right. Either Clay or one of our guest speakers mentioned that avg yearly income is now around $1000 as opposed to 10% of that 10 years ago.

[Anonymous]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3814397.stm
Yes, this is the news article you've been waiting for!!! Also, there are various links about the panda and support organizations.

[Anonymous]

I didn't know that the forum website, we log onto is no longer acceptable to LAUSD. Today, I tried to log onto this website and the LAUSD told me I could not. Apparently, the filter finds something objectionable about this website. Although my comments are certainly tongue and cheek, I now have experienced a form of censorship. similarly to what the Chinese may experience.
As a further update, whatever was blocking access to the website has since gone away, although the frustration was there to cry censorship.
Larry[Edit by="lkrant on Jul 2, 11:37:15 AM"][/Edit]

[clay dube]

Hi Everyone --

Glad to see Larry and others using the forum. Things are going well on our study trip to China, though some of you may remember that I had to make several last minute adjustments.

Our students are off and rolling in Shanghai and our group of teachers just had a dumpling feast following by a Tang dynasty music and dance performance. I hope to have images to post after I return.

Internet cafes (wang ba -- as in Internet Bar) are plentiful, huge, and fast.

While there may be censorship on the Chinese side -- things seem pretty open to the sites I've visited.

smiling,
clay

[Anonymous]

I didn't know about the existence of Turkic languages in China. "6 of the 10 muslim minorities (Uighur, Kazak, Kyrgyz, Salar, Uzbek, and Tatar) speak Turkic languages which are similar to that spoken in Turkey and to those used throughout much of the former Soviet Union. "

more on this and other minorities living in China found at:

http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Park/6443/China/Diversity/china5.html

[Anonymous]

I didn't know much about web page design, but now that I put one together, I can see the value this knowledge will have in bringing East Asia into the classroom. Students often complain about being bored, and I feel that lesson plans and information on the web will keep my students engaged. My next web page is going to be much better, with smaller photos, fantastic clip art, and animated graphics. My web page after that will have sound and movies (I think?). There were many frustrating moments, but learning how to construct a web page was a worthwhile endeavor.

[Author]

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