Session #1 - February 26

[clay dube]

Here's the 60 Minutes link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/electric-cars-chinas-drive-to-dominate-the-industry-60-minutes/

[Isabella Chen]

Hello all! A bit late to the discussion forum, but have been reading and thinking on our live discussion for the last few days.

 

First, a few news articles I read this week related to China:

• 2/23/2019 NY Times - China’s Entrepreneurs Are Wary of Its Future

• 2/27/2019 NY Times - China Shifts, Detroit’s Big Bet Goes Sour

  • Particularly relevant to our discussion this week on the auto industry in China.

• 2/28/2019 NY Times - Live From America’s Capital, a TV Station Run by China’s Communist Party

  • Many of the ideas discussed in “China’s New Revolution” reading we had are present in this article, especially in regards to CCP’s influence

• 2/24/2019 SCMP - China to 'optimise' spread of controversial Confucius Institute

  • The topic of Confucius Institutes is pretty interesting to me. While Confucius Institutes clearly serve as a form of soft power, I think that Confucius Institutes should be evaluated in the context of Chinese programs in the United States. With the China’s increasing influence as a global powerhouse, the United States needs to develop programs for Americans to learn Chinese and understand China. While scaling back Confucius Institute programs scales back its influence in the United States, it also scales back resources for American education on Chinese language and culture. Scaling back Confucius Institutes in the U.S. also means scaling back opportunities for U.S. students to study Chinese in China on Confucius Institute Scholarships (which require HSK scores; HSK tests are offered by Confucius Institutes but have been scaled back recently due to criticism of Confucius Institutes by politicians). There are few U.S. funded study in China programs for American students--those that exist are very competitive. I have a friend from Beijing who is a Chinese teacher to Chinese language learners in China.  A couple of years ago, she came to the U.S. to teach a two-year stint at a Confucius Institute. Because Confucius Institute teachers’ salaries are paid by the Chinese government (? or the Confucius Institute?), the existence of Confucius Institutes at universities seems to provide Chinese teachers to universities at little cost to universities. In addition to teaching at a university campus, she and her colleagues also partnered with local k-12 public school to host Chinese programming and assist Chinese teachers. Cultural exchange is also a two-way street. Living in the States helped break some of my friend’s preconceptions of Americans and Americans’ value systems. From my experience, Confucius Institutes offer opportunities for authentic cultural exchange.

 

“China’s New Revolution”

As Brett has mentioned, there is obvious bias in this article and its recommendations. After reading this article, I wondered how other economies and governments are responding to Xi Jinping’s vision for China and his political and economic maneuvers.

 

CCP

In the second video, Clay mentioned that every school, factory, and unit has a CCP committee. I personally did not realize how pervasive the CCP was in Chinese society. However, this information made me recall conversations I had with my Chinese teacher friend. Another one of our friends, also a Chinese teacher, is a CCP member, and they both mentioned that the CCP members at their school had to attend regular meetings. Also, my friend’s CCP member status seemed to be a factor in his leadership position at the school. However, in the same vein, it’s important to remember that Chinese people are not totally blind followers to the CCP agenda. When these friends visited me in Taiwan, both of them bought books about Chinese history that were censored in China. They were both aware of China’s censorship (as is everyone in China), and were curious to learn about other accounts other than the CCP’s.

 

Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption (and the public approval that came as a result of it) is also reflected in a recent Chinese television show called In the Name of the People 《人民的名义》 which was extremely popular in China.

 

In the vein of Junxun (军训), there is also reality television show that has celebrities undergo military boot camps (Takes a Real Man, 《真正男子汉》).

 

One of the phrases that I have come across when reading contemporary Chinese novels, is 有钱不如有权  (it’s better to have power/influence than to have money), especially in regards to urban settings capitals. This idea refers to the way the government and the CCP is structured, but also the prevalence of influences as a factor in everyday affairs.

 

When I taught George Orwell’s 1984 to my 11th grade IB class this year, I had shown them a video about China’s social credit system. When I reteach this next year, I’ll likely include more information about the CCP, such as its prevalence in society and its leadership structure. Having students compare and contrast the difference in the government systems and the ideologies are also possible assignment tasks. At the same time, I will also teach about other governments that are using mass surveillance to prevent students from the misconception that the Chinese government is the only organization in the world that uses mass surveillance .

 

[Margaret Siryj]

Chris, this is an interesting post.  Your point of decreasing population is prevalent in another Asian country, Japan.  Japan is in trouble because their population is aging very rapidly.  This is a big issue and becomes problematic because as the Chinese overall population is getting older, there are fewer younger, and more able to do the labor needed to take the country forward economically.  Another issue to discuss is the cost economically to nurse the elderly Chinese.  The problem you discussed can be two fold meaning aging citizens need more healthcare, and eventually will retire.  With the one child policy, China's focus was meant to decrease the overall need for food.  On the other hand, with only one child per family, the overall labor force is in trouble due to decreasing numbers of workers.

 

[Margaret Siryj]

The Reign of Xi Jinping had education as one of the ruler's famous foundational beliefs.  He wanted to bring Confuscian schools to the mass public.  When one thinks about the number of American schools being at 500, Xi Jinping did an outstanding job and accomplished his mission to educate the Chinese people, and reach worldwide in a long standing religion.   

You bring up an interesting point regarding Chinese pushback on such information being available to Chinese people.  The internet is highly monitored by the Communist party, and Chinese citizens need to be watchful on their websites and access in general.  Unlike the United States and other countries, China has strict guidelines to what can be published or viewed on the web.

[Margaret Siryj]

Judy, I appreciate your post, and totally share your concern for linguistic minorites.  i have a student who has a cochlear implant and lost his hearing at two years old.  He works trmendously hard and his parents are the best advocates for him and his needs.  That being said, what is done for Chinese children who may have the same or similar situation and don't have the ability to have someone speak or address their needs sufficiently.  When I first met this student, he would not participate in class, but knew that he was a lip reader.  After class the second day, I spoke with him, and he was concerned about the fellow classmates and how they would react to his voice.  My male 10th grader is one of the smartest students in his class.  I made it quite clear to him that our classroom community would be built on respect, and it was totally OK for him to verbally contibute to class discussions.

I am saddened to hear that your students are below grade level in reading, and they struggle with grade level content.  I am curious if New York offers additional services to the deaf and hard of hearing students.  For example, are CART services available to your students?  Yes, I agree, the one child policy can be problematic when your first born has major health issues or even worse, if your only son or daughter unfortunately pass from a rare and fatal disease.  What happens next?

This article could be an interesting one to bring up and discuss with students.  

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