reading - in manchuria, ch. 16-19

[Anonymous]

I recently took a professional development course on the benefits of non English classes using more literature as learning tools. Their argument was that with common core, teachers should be more capable of adding this dimension without the confines of teaching all the material they normally would. As I've been reading this book, I've been looking for sections that can act as short works of literature that students could read and understand without the teacher having to explain the whole book. Chapter sixteen provides a few opportunities. On pages 240-243, Meyer describes the changing landscape in rural China. He mentions the move towards large companies leasing land and farmers moving into apartments and living off the rent of their fields. There is also a similar type reading on pages 246-248. This one includes modernization in terms of agriculture and the harvest of rice. Both of these could work as independent works of literature. A teacher could use them to explain how China is changing and how rural farmers are being affected. This could be of great use to History, English and Science classes.

[Anonymous]

Chapter 17 with his conversation to Boss Liu really left a lasting thought with me. It's interesting how the book mostly spent time talking about how bad the Cultural Revolution was yet juxtaposed with the evilness of the East Fortune Rice company and how soul-less they were towards the people of Wasteland. During Meyer's conversation with Boss Liu he was passive while listening to Liu's big dreams for the city, including a theme park, concerts, man-made lake, and hills. It was the epitome of an American dream and everything the cultural revolution/socialist China hates. Yet, the book also centered around big corporations taking jobs away from the little man- like with Mr. Guan- and how they couldn't fight back. You could relate that to the big box stores taking over the mom-and-pop stores here in the US.

But it was funny at the end, when Meyer said he and Frances were having a baby, that Auntie Yi went straight to the calendar provided by East Fortune Rice, the same calendar that earlier in the book she scorned, but now used as a deciding fortune teller that their baby will be blessed with good luck.

My lasting questions are- where did Meyer and his wife settle? Did they return to Wasteland like Auntie Yi wanted? What happened to San Jiu, is he okay? And finally, what does Meyer's want for his son? Will he spend time in Wasteland and become a big basketball fan, or will they move to areas that will provide more opportunities for Benjamin?

[Anonymous]

As autumn begins San Jiu is worried about his rice (crops) because the rice could get a deadly fungus. “Historically, [rice blast] was the grain’s deadliest pathogen, and one that could destroy and entire crop” (p238). As a precaution, San Jiu checked each plant and pulled weeds from the ditch. As he did that he told Meyer words that can transcend beyond rice cultivation. He stated, “Superstitions are useless…You have to do the work” (p.238). “You have to do the work” are powerful words. I’m making it into a poster. When a student with missing work asks, “how can I improve my grade?” , I will point to it. When that child’s parent ask, “how can my child improve his/her grade?”, I’m pointing to the poster. All kidding aside, “you have to do the work” are great words to live by. Simple, yet full of depth. We can’t expect things to happen by luck. As educators, we have to teach students to set goals and provide them with skills that will assist them as they work towards that goal. They have to do the work.

I enjoyed reading the book. I learned a significant about of information about parts of history that I was not familiar with. I appreciated the humor used in portions of the book. It kept the reading light. I also appreciated the fact that he had a hunger for discovery and learning about the community/people. Reading the book prior to our tour was useful because I do not feel completely lost.
edited by malvarenga on 6/14/2015

[Anonymous]

On the visit to the Lushun Museum, the book recounts Director Liu's mission to save Chinese artifacts and preserve the museum through the Cultural Revolution. "I am a historian. I love China's history, all of it, good and bad, glorious and low." (page 256). What he said really put my job into perspective. It reaffirmed the notion that history should not be taught with bias, but rather full disclosure. Further, the Director's efforts, like many others, have allowed history to be continuous rather than erased. In Manchuria, has provided me an American lens into life in rural China and its history.

[Anonymous]

The section on Dalian and Lushun was very interesting for what it says about the way that development understands culture. I knew a little about Mayor Bo from the news reports in the American press about his prosecution. Museums are at an interesting point in their evolution as social institutions right now, as all over the world history-based museums with extensive collections in storage are being crowded out or even replaced by Modern Museums of the Future that primarily offer multimedia presentations and immersive experiences. Some are great, others, like the one Bo was building before he lost his job, are glorified tourist attractions. Director Liu is another one of the book's big heros for me. I would love to see a movie about his hiding the art from the Red Guards. I like to think that there's an international community of like-minded people working in museums who would have done the same. It's an urgent issue again now with ISIS smashing ancient artefacts.
The final sections about life in Wasteland were also excellent. Meyer did a great job of letting Boss Liu describe himself--not completely evil, but cursed with more power than imagination. It will be interesting to see what's become of Wasteland since Meyer finished the book.

[Anonymous]

Two phrases stood out to me in Chapter 18. The first deals with EF’s goal to liberate the laborer (P.264). The phrase came from Meyer’s meeting with Boss Liu as he explained the need to mechanize farm production, which would reduce the number of agricultural jobs in Wasteland. Liu was a good PR person for EF because he responses sounded like the company is really trying to help farmers by taking away their livelihood. With EF’s plan, farmers would get a modern living space and have the opportunity to begin new jobs or careers and make two incomes. I cannot help but think of the root shock farmers will experience when you take their land and way of life away from them. I think this plan would be more effective if the government had different programs in place to assist people with this transition. Since communism was introduced in China, farmers have been forced to find ways to survive amongst the changing political and economic climate. China seems more intent on educating the next generation to increase its GDP instead of looking out for the welfare of all citizens.

Another notable phrase from this chapter again came from Boss Liu. He succinctly stated, “Don’t move to a city, build a city" (P.266). When I was reading EF’s vision for Wasteland, I thought there was a lot of promise in his proposals. Wasteland could be transformed into a resort city with great restaurants, an entertainment stadium, a lake and a rejuvenating hot springs (P.266-67). It sounds like a place tourists would want to visit and where locals would have access to more jobs, quality education and fresh produce. This reminds of farm towns near the city I grew up. I remember going out to the farms with my family to pick fresh cherries, peaches and apples. After I left for college, I came back to visit everyone so often and saw many changes. With each passing year, I heard stories of farmers and ranchers selling their land and saw developers build strip malls and homes. I found that many more towns and cities in California have a similar history to the area I grew up around. Oakland was named after having acres of oak trees and now I can’t find one in the city. San Leandro celebrates its history of growing cherries and to this day, I have only seen one cherry tree in the city.

How we develop our land is of the utmost importance when considering environmental factors, food production, living spaces, transportation and other important factors. While companies like EF see individual courtyard homes as a wasted space, people like Auntie Yi and San Jiu do not. This issue has a lot of academic potential if posed to students. Students can research different kinds of urban development and construct their own plans to develop farm communities like Wasteland or improve problems in major cities like Beijing. I would be interested to see the solutions students collaboratively come up with and the ways in which future generations should use the land.
edited by jalves on 6/25/2015

[Anonymous]

When Meyer tells us about visiting the police station I believe he wants to add a little suspense to his story. It made me feel very nervous for him - you don’t want to mess around with an expired visa in a foreign area. It shows that even when he was living in the country side, he had to follow rules & regulations. Meyer got so comfortable living in Wasteland- “free of surveillance cameras, checkpoints, security screening,” (pg 261) he neglected to pay attention to his expiring visa and the true bureaucracy of China.
The police seemed to also want some sort of scandal & excitement and they were pressing Meyer that he must be a missionary, because why would he be here when he has a wife? and why had he not had a child yet? But when the officer realized that he was just a “writer”, she was convinced that he was ok and not a missionary.

San Jiu said that “Eastern Fortune was good for the area. Merging farmland, improving food safety, and adding infrastructure” these were all positive changes. What he didn’t like was “Someone up here, is always telling us down here what to do. What if you wanted to continue working your land and keep living in your one-story home with a garden?” He was bothered because he thinks that every family should be able to choose how they make a living. He thought that Eastern Fortune would be a win-win for farm lands that were not doing well, but in Wasteland, they were doing well.

Meyer’s big news was that his wife & he were pregnant. And they chose the Chinese surname of Frances’s( or also know as Little extra) mother because she was the last surviving descendant on that branch of the family tree.

This book was very helpful in that I learned quite a bit, that I probably would not have really known about otherwise. I just loved the fortune cookie translation game!
“The course of life is unpredictable; no one can write his autobiography in advance.”
So true....I’ve never had such a profound fortune in any cookie that I’ve opened
I know that there is the ice festival in Harbin, that would have been really neat to see if we were going in the winter time.
Isn’t the white tigers also in Harbin? In the north bank of the Songhua River is the Siberian Tiger Park. Meyer never mentioned that there were white tigers, but I guess that park wasn’t established until 1996- Now that would be so very cool to see!

[Anonymous]

Chapter 17

Meyer journeys to Dalian Manchuria’s former port and current beach destination. He meets with the museum director formerly from Lushun. He had taken over the Museum of the Future created by Bo Xilai. The museum of the future displayed what was to come, now under the new director it was filled with treasures from the past.
The future is always shaped by the past, informed by the past, and measured against the past. In fact Pinero put it very well, “the present is but the past again entered through another gate.” When we look into a museum case we see our reflection for we are the result of all that has come before. We are a part of what history has created.

Chapter 18

Meyer is called to the police station possibly as a consequence for not renting from the village chief. The police were very concerned about his reason for being in Wasteland. Their main concern was that he might be a missionary. Proselytizing is not legal in China, and they are very relieved to find out he is just a writer.
Boss Liu has plenty of plans for Wasteland. He envisions a two tier system; one for former farmers and one for city folk. He plans to bring a modern school campus, merge the populations of all local villages, create investment opportunities, build a lake, build a mountain for skiing, and build an expressway linking Wasteland with Jilin City. Finally he wants to change the name of Wasteland to Eastern Fortune.

Chapter 19

San Jiu is fine with the changes happening in Wasteland, but one thing bothers him. He does not like the way farmers to be relegated to “underling or employee status.” It seems nothing really changes. First there were landlords then cadres, and now managers.
Meyer’s big news is that he and Frances are expecting a child. It is time for the family to be united and for Meyer to say farewell to Wasteland. The child will share the surname of Frances’s mother who is the last member of that branch of the family. The new child will remind everyone of the lucky fortune bestowed by the earthquake.

In Manchuria was a very engaging narrative. I enjoyed moving from the present to the past and back again. His experience in Manchuria is possible because of his family connections. This opens doors barred to the usual tourist. I just spent two weeks touring the western U.S. with my German relatives. I became aware of the limitations and misconceptions that non-native speakers encounter. This made me very aware that I was viewing Manchuria from the perspective of a well meaning foreigner. No matter how thorough the research, the story Meyer tells is still a westerners version of Manchuria.

[Anonymous]

What really interested me in this part of the book was Meyer's visits to the museum in Lushun. Meyer says, "Museums were advertisements of the Communist party" (p. 251). I did not really understand what Meyer meant until we visited several museums on the mainland, including the 9-18 museum in Shenyang. Wall after wall used highly emotive words and descriptions explaining how the Communist party helped the people of Manchuria. Full-circle, these displays displayed how the Communist party was the savior of the Chinese people.
In Ch. 18, Meyer described how former farmers live in apartment buildings (p. 265). All the cities we visited had an enormous amount of high-rise buildings. Being a California native, when I see a lot of high-rise buildings, I generally think the people building them are crazy, due to my fear of earthquakes and toppling buildings. The population of the cities we visited were also enormously high, in comparison with US cities, because so many people live in the cities and are literally living on top of one another in these high-rise buildings. In all, I feel that "In Manchuria" is an ode to a way of life that is rapidly changing. Wasteland residents are being encouraged to leave their farmland and move into apartment buildings. So many of the people in Meyer's book opening resisted this change, but in the end, succumbed to the pressures to move.
In the last chapter of the book, readers are told the Meyer and his wife have a baby boy. So much of the is book was about where people lived and what there lives were like in the last century or so. It is fitting, then, that Meyer drops the "bomb-shell" that he finally has a child, yet leaves the reader with no hint of where he are his family chooses to live.
edited by jilliansheehan on 7/22/2015

[Anonymous]

I think they way Wasteland resisted then relegated itself to the transition that Eastern Fortune Rice thrust their way is a familiar narrative in developing countries. While we were traveling through NE China, the amount of high rises and the similarity with which they all looked reminded me of what Meyers was describing for the future of Wasteland.

The book was a nice narrative about NE China, the part beyond the wall that never gets much attention. It was a great supplement to our visits on the trip.

[clay dube]

Ch. 16 Beginning of Autumn

What is San Jiu worried about as autumn begins? What precautions does he take?

Meyer visits the new Eastern Fortune apartments. What does he think? What do others say?

What does San Jiu's experience suggest about medical care?

What does the changing buzzwords for Wasteland/Eastern Fortune tell us about shifting political agendas and how others follow along?

Ch. 17 Dalian's Display Cases

Meyer ended ch. 16 by noting Wasteland got a new greeting stone, including more information about administrative shifts over the centuries and decades. That is his transition to how the history of Dalian is presented there and in the port of Lushun. What does the story of the two cities museums suggest about the perceived power of the past and of depictions of the future?

What does Meyer mean by ending the chapter about museum cabinets reflecting the image of the viewer? Could the same be true of a writer describing a place and a time?

Ch. 18 Frost's Descent

Why does Meyer tell us about visiting the police station? What do the police seem particularly concerned about? Why?

What plans does Boss Liu (Liu Yangeng) outline for Eastern Fortune and for the village? What does Meyer think about these plans? What do you think of them?
BTW - put 吉林省荒地村 into Google and hit images. You'll see plenty of pictures of various Eastern Fortune openings and so on.

Ch. 19 Major Snow

San Jiu seems okay with the coming changes, but is bothered by something. What?

What is Meyer's big news?

What is the significance of choosing Frances's mother's surname?

So -- what do you think of this book? What are its strengths and its shortcomings?

[Anonymous]

The yellow lesions fungus called rice blast would be a short research project for students as well as using the text to introduce sequencing for the rice harvesting. When Mr. Guan joined the Eastern Fortune company, I was disappointed. When I reread it, I was still disappointed. Yet, more disappointed that he had a need for a 2nd income and also that eventually people in the village seemed inclined to see the viewpoint that they should change the name to Eastern Fortune. For the students, this could be a discussion about motives and cause/effects. When San Jiu's medical situation occurred and the reaction to Michael attempting to help pay would be something to have students explore as a cultural study. Loved the discussion of the availability of produce and importing by China. While we were traveling, we saw more and more buildings of well known companies and then fewer mom & pop stores.

The book needed an Afterward to give the reader an update on Michael Meyer and his wife and several people write that they would've liked to have known more also.
edited by gcamacho on 8/3/2015

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