Perceptions

[Anonymous]

Being a music teacher, I am naturally interested in the arts coming out of Asia and Asians. When I read the article about Tran Trong Vu's art I was stricken by the similarities to my experiences as a musician. I am not alone in these experiences. Many artists and musicians go through their educations being told to apply formulas to their work and conform to the "proved practices."
I sympathized with Vu's crisis. When we find that we are freed from the restraints of theory and history, our art often becomes more honest and more a reflection of ourselves.
I appreciated the descriptions of Vu's lively and confrontive art. I also enjoyed looking at the painting that headlined the article. I would love to have the opportunity to see Vu's art in person.

[clay dube]

Kathleen is referring to "Vietnamese Artist Tran Trong Vu -- Torn Between Two Worlds." It is available at:
http://www.international.ucla.edu/asia/article.asp?parentid=8550

Another article that those interested in art in contemporary Vietnam is at: http://www.international.ucla.edu/asia/article.asp?parentid=7568 Pham Thi Hoài, an influential writer, discusses literature and writing in Vietnam.

[Anonymous]

As a first generation in America, the word "rice" seems a little if not a lot of embarrassment. For me, growing up in America was not too difficult, except i was a little ashame of eating rice all the time. It told a story of poverty and communist. I don't know why or how, but i don't seem to like rice anymore. I seriously think it's because it makes me feel full so soon during a meal :} Although I love noodles, which is made from rice, it's just in a different form. 😛 Anyway, nowday, there are lots of American born Asian children coming up with rice logos and pictures. I really enjoy the image of an Asian person with his cultural outfit, and holding a bowl of rice, looking cool 8) . I even saw phrases like, "fuel by rice", "running on rice," and "got rice?" on cars of Asian Ameican teenagers. These things really impress me!

[Anonymous]

After reading this article, it made me realized that Tran Trong Vu's artwork, although has its in-betweeness, and blue memories, actually initated lots of Vietnamese artist nowdays, especially in Orange County. Last year, as a small part of coordinating an art project in Orange County, where all artists came together and displayed their work in our showcase, i saw a part of Vu's work. A few of our young artists were and are doing what Vu's has done, but a major of course stayed within the traditional frame.

It does take a lot to be an individual in the Vietnamese community because part of us want to keep our culture and custom alive, especially those away from our homeland. Same with music; artists here in America are afraid to mix comtemporary music with the traditional music because the audience here do not respond to it and therefore could only afford to bring back the classics. . However, in Vietnam, most if not all of the artist are trying new types of music. I've even heard rap, and R&B mixed in. They are more confident to created new music becuase they have the their homeland and there's no need to be scared that they can't keep it alive. Whereas Vietnamese in America do not. [Edit by="tnguyen on Dec 6, 9:23:43 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

RE: What do Asians think?
Answering the question "Why are asians unhappy in thier family life?" A lot of it is becuase some of the customs, like living at home until we get married, staying over at boyfriend/girlfriend's house for the night, taking care of your old parents vs. taking care of your immediate family, following traditions, breaking barriers, and the in-betweeness of both cultures. Asian cultures although varies from Chinese, Vietnamese, Koren, Japanese, Cambodian, Laos, Taiwanese, and so on have the same family unit. It's family first, education highly valued, respect for the elder, and so on. My point is certain things that we choose to do today, may not fit those of our customs and thus translate into disrespect, and ungratefulness. Which one to choose? Like would you rather drink milk or would you like to drink tea? Differences in culture and custom creates stress. [Edit by="tnguyen on Nov 29, 6:47:26 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Re: What do Asians think?
Just to add on......

If you haven't got a chance to read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, then rent the movie. It's worth your time. This movie/book is an answer to what Asians think, especially why we are not happy with our family. Of course, it's not like that all the time, but most of the ideas are captured in this story. This story's focus is relationships between mother and daughter and much more. mothers try to tell daughters to live their lives without making hte same mistake they did, which puts pressure on the daughers; not giving them a chance to make their own mistakes because they don't want to put them through the same pain they went through. but they don't realized the generational differences, neither do they realized that they want their daughter to live thier life over again.

Living up to your parents' expectation, to live for the whole (family), to not embarrassed your parents, keep your family's reputation positive, etc. The common comments in asain families, "Why can't you be like so and so!" "Why don't you ever do things right!" unlike the American family's comment. "Wow, that's good honey!" or "That's okay, you could do better next time. Nice try!" Asian's comments tend to focus on the negative and not appraisal. It's hard to live up to your parents' expectations and live your own life at the same time. :~

[Anonymous]

I would think living one's life like this must be horrible. That is, living for someone else and not yourself. It takes a great deal of energy to live a lie, because one must always wear a mask. This must lead to built up bitterness and I guess the greater question is, how is it released? Maybe, the mothers never lived the life they wanted so they are living it or taking it out on their children. An endless cycle would soon develope going from one generation to the next. A couple of my friends have huge problems with their families. One, lives in her own apartment, but bascially lives her life for her parents. The amount of worry and stress in her life is tremendous. She never does anything she wants because she's afraid of what her mother might say about it. Another, parents refused to help or pay for college unless they became a doctor. In that case he finished med school and came to the conclusion he wasn't happy. He ended up starting his own buisness and his parents stop speaking to him. In any case I'll rent the Joy Luck Club to get a better understanding...

[clay dube]

Marketeers spend enormous energy (and get paid well) to come up with ads that will leave potential customers feeling good about their products. Nike is a marketing king, but seems to have stumbled badly with its latest ad aimed at the Chinese market. In it the young NBA youthful sensation LeBron James dominating an animated Chinese "martial arts" figure. Not long after the ad was first broadcast Chinese internet chatrooms were ablaze with criticism of the images displayed and the attitudes they were said to have conveyed.

The Guardian newspaper published an article about the ad and the response it generated. (Dec. 8, 2004)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1368732,00.html

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed reading about the artist Tran Trong Vu, because I felt that this idea about the collective artist who sticks with tradition is often juxtaposed against the individual who chooses to experiment.

I wonder as teachers if we sometimes rely on the collaborative grouping of students--the concept of working together in partners or small groups and how that effects the autonomy of the individual. In the United States, most students aren't living in a collective tri-generational living environment, but I do wonder in a way if one of the goals as an educator is to create that collective feeling in the classroom that hopefully tapers down into the society.

I think sometimes the concept of a collective environment works against that of an individual. I wonder how much not only do we conform as educators, but how much we expect our students to conform to ideas about the individual and working in a collobrative model.

It's a good thing to be a team player. Right???

[Anonymous]

If I understand this right the "Chamber of Fear" commercial from Nike was banned because it offended the concept of National Dignity.

The idea of Chinese Characters or images losing to an American Basketball player in a Nike Commercial.

It makes me wonder, what type of commercial would be banned in the United States? How would we define our National Dignity? Would the American Public react the same way?

[Anonymous]

I think these surveys would be of interest to students. Often, I find that the majority of my students think that most countries have a favorable view of the United States. They seem startled when they discover that other countries do not hold a favorable view of the United States--it leads to discussion as to U.S. involvement in foreign affairs and how this lends to various perceptions.

[Anonymous]

This is a great resource to use after teaching the Korean War. The document delves into Korean attitudes toward the United States/foreign policy. It also gives recommendations for United States policy to reverse the different strains of anti-Americanism, such as tracking the educational curriculum taught in Korean schools, and analyzing the role of the Korean media.

I teach very low level students, so I would not recommend giving them the entire document. Using short excerpts would be practical.

[Anonymous]

I think you brought up an interesting point regarding the success of immigrants in the United States influencing those who are still living in the homeland. I also thought the success of those living on the homeland affected how they viewed the United States. It seemed to me that the people living in countries where they viewed themselves to be successful, also had positive feelings toward the United States.

[Anonymous]

I would like to know what Asians think about Hispanics/Latinos. It seems that there is a rift between the Hispanic/Latino population and the Asian population in America, primarily in Southern California. One such example would be Koreatown. As some of you know, Koreatown is such a diverse area. Aside from Koreans, you have Salvadorans, Guatemalans and other Central American groups. I wonder if any Asian groups look down on Hispanics/Latinos.
I think this is important because I remember being treated differently by some Asians at Asian places of business throughout my childhood. I also remember Hispanics in my neighborhood and other neighborhoods not treating Asians well or talking bad about them. I still remember how the L.A. Riots inflamed the relationship between both groups.
I hesitated to post this, but I think it is important to start a dialogue in the seminar about this. The other day one of you mentioned that 75% of LAUSD is Hispanic. If we are to teach about East Asia, I think it would be good for us as teachers to know the sources of friction and possibly the sources of misunderstanding that lead to negative stereotypes and prejudice. Having a discussion can help us erase some of these negative ideas that plague the mind of our students. I don't think it is good enough to know everything about East Asian history, art, religion if we can't clear up some of the misconceptions that divide our cities.

[Anonymous]

http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=18899
She’s A Lady

Go to this site and check out the picture and article of Korean Harisu. She is BEAUTIFUL! Harisu sings, dances, acts and appears in movies and on TV. She is thought to be one of the most beautiful and most famous women in Korea. Believe it or not, Harisu began life as Lee Gyeong-yop. He was born in Songnam, near Seoul, in 1975. He went through sex reassignment surgery at the age of 23.

I was taken back by this article. I have always thought of Korea as being very conservative with strict gender roles. The article also mentions this. It points out that “unlike Japan and China, there was no tradition of cross-dressing theater performers or people who lived public lives of a gender they didn’t belong to – such as a Kabuki actor might. Until very recently, alternative lifestyles and sexuality were completely taboo.”

Harisu has found a place for herself in Korean pop culture.

I wonder how many other men and women have had this sex reassignment surgery and how many of them feel accepted.

[Author]

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