Session 1 - March 7 morning (dube: orientation, geography)

[Alma Ochoa]

Mario, I think you bring up some good points to think about.  I  know I’m always guilty of hunting down the best bargain and I’m almost certain as you mentioned, “for us to get the lowest price, manufacturers and businesses can cut corners and ignore safety regulations to give us that characteristic in their product.”  I recently saw a couple of episodes of the Hulu show, ‘The Accident’ where there’s an accident at a construction site and teenagers die due to the collapse of the building.  People start questioning whether the building should have fell.  They start looking into the gauge of the steel rebar that was used in its construction.  The executive in charge says she used the required material when in reality that was not the case.  Safety protocols were lax to meet budget cuts and complete the project.  

Profit seems to always be the driving force which in a capitalistic society makes sense but when do we, can we or will we make people and humanity more important than money?  After all at the end of it all we don’t take anything to the grave with us.   

[Hilda Dixon]

LAUSD is facing beatification. Indeed, the city looked at lot nicer, but low-income people are forced to moved because they cannot afford to pay higher rents. In part, as a result, there is less student enrollment which force teachers to be displaced. Of course, the other reasons are the fact that charter schools are competing with LAUSD schools, and the fact that millenniums are having less kids. I think education has been rapidly evolving as never before.  Although as parents we want our kids to do better at school in order to have better chances in life, but I do not believe in emphasizing our dreams on them. All in all, I truly believe that at the end the ones who are going to be successful are not the smarter ones or the stronger ones, but the ones who see the changes and adapt accordingly.

[clay dube]

Hilda,
Thanks so much for raising this issue. Zhao has been chastised within China and indirectly by China's ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, for this attempt to change the story line. We've seen disinformation from China's government that wants the world (and its own people!) to forget it mismanaged the initial response and to remember that it then successfully (it seems, stay tuned on this) corralled the problem. But some in China have pushed back against this narrative. China's transparency failed, in part, in the early days. The party-state apparatus put politics (and functionaries put career and convenience) ahead of people. It got so bad that people literally died on the street and at home because no hospital could take them. Here, the US government was woefully slow to mobilize. Stopping the flow of people was a good first step, but without large scale testing you can't separate people to slow / stop the spread. You have to prepare medical facilities, supplies, and people. Our government failed at this. We can't really complain that China didn't share information. It did, but we didn't act. Public health systems, just like militaries, police forces and fire departments, are investments in safety, security and sustainability. Many people understand this now who didn't in the past. Let's hope that through education, we can learn from this experience. We seemed to have failed to grasp this in the past, in part because threats (earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, and disease outbreaks) may seem localized. Acting on science rather than political wishes is a good place to start. In China, the politicians didn't want the political calendar and the holiday disturbed. They ended up with a frozen economy and thousands dead. In the US, some didn't want the disruption, we already have 802 dead and an economic downturn. You have to prepare.

We have discussed some of this messaging on our Facebook page. Many of your are in our Facebook Teaching about Asia group. I hope you will also like/follow the main US-China Institute Facebook page as well. Look at some of the past posts. Hilda - thanks for raising this here. Please make institute resources available to friends and colleagues.

https://www.facebook.com/uschinainstitute/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/teachingaboutasia/

 

[clay dube]

Hi Esther and all -
AIG's founders and leaders have long contributed to US understanding of China. Mansfield Freeman did through the Freeman Foundation. The CV Starr Foundation has done this as well (funding libraries at Columbia and Berkeley among other projects). Former AIG boss Maurice (Hank) Greenberg has funded many projects as well. The Luce Foundation (built on the fortune of Henry Luce, one of the founders of the Time-Life empire) has also been important in this regard. But the need is great and the future depends on teachers. We're counting on all of you to inform and inspire young people to recognize the importance of Asia and the need to understand it better.

[clay dube]

We're delighted by the points you folks are making and the interaction you are having amongst yourselves. Let's keep this going. Now that we're mostly interacting with the world through phone and computer, let's keep the discussion alive. You can do so here and also in our social media / video / podcast pages:

Teaching about Asia: https://www.facebook.com/groups/teachingaboutasia/

USC US-China Institute: https://www.facebook.com/uschinainstitute/

Our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/USChinaInstitute

China Life podcast: https://china.usc.edu/section/china-life-podcast

[Cynthia Stults]

I came back to revisit the latest comments from earlier sessions, and I cannot help but wonder how COVID-19 is affecting China's current populaiton dilemma. While China is officially reporting that about 4,500 people died from the virus, other organizations suspect the numbers could be significantly higher. As we have observed, COVID-19 has a higher mortality rate in those with underlying health conditions, and older individuals (especially those who must be in skilled nursing facilities) typically do have more underlying health conditions. I am very curious to see an age breakdown of China's COVID-19 deaths, and if this will impact their populations age ratios in terms of young vs old.

[Alma Ochoa]

Hilda, I agree with your last statement, “All in all, I truly believe that at the end the ones who are going to be successful are not the smarter ones or the stronger ones, but the ones who see the changes and adapt accordingly.”  I do think education is important, I think it allows students the opportunity to see other possibilities besides the obvious of what they can see directly in front of them but I also think that drive, self-motivation and initiative to see changes and adapt is a huge factor in ones’ success. 

[Billie Johnson]

I remember our first meeting and a couple of conversations after discussing the coronavirus.  Initially I did not think it was going to be as big as it is today.  I wonder what will happen now with China.  Will the world rally to support China or will it turn away?  There still seems to be a cloud of uncertainty in so many ways.  Seeing the conflicts between many Africans who are stranded in China and the needling going on between the US and China is unnerving.  What will happen with the sister cities projects, tourism, and manufacturing. I think teachers need more tools and information to supplement or reteach what students hear on the news or from within their community.  What is going to happen to China's economy or other initiatives that were planned in Africa?  This virus has dealt a huge blow across the globe, but I don't think we are any closer to its full impact. 

[Billie Johnson]

Hi Alma,

I think my students are finding that they need to socialize in person.  This quarantine has my students incredibly bored with technology.  Many of my students are ready to return to school and I have no doubt want to feel the warmth of a hug from their friends or horseplaying throughout the day. I don't think socializing is changing and we are realizing that right now.  I am eager for the next school year to begin because I have a feeling that the no cellphone in the classroom rule will not be a problem.

[Billie Johnson]

Thank you for these resources.  I can say that having to teach and communicate with everyone virtually has started to become exhausting.  Looking forward to renewed energy and gaining the balance back between in-person discussions and online discussions.  How are you handling all of this social distancing and quarantine?  Are many people turning to you to get insight into how relations between the US and China will be affected by this virus?

[Billie Johnson]

Hi Cynthia,

I am also curious about the impacts of the virus on the aging population in China.  It has been reported that the 4,500 number is low and that we may never know the real number of those who lost their lives. With the gap between the older generation and younger generation I think of the impact this virus could have on history and those who might have been able to pass down traditions and stories that continue to be watered down with growth and progress. Anyhow, my curiosity is piqued.

[Billie Johnson]

Hi Cynthia,

I am also curious about the impacts of the virus on the aging population in China.  It has been reported that the 4,500 number is low and that we may never know the real number of those who lost their lives. With the gap between the older generation and younger generation I think of the impact this virus could have on history and those who might have been able to pass down traditions and stories that continue to be watered down with growth and progress. Anyhow, my curiosity is piqued.

[Chad Espinoza]

I remember talking to my coworkers about this. Low birthrates, on the surface, seem fairly innocuous. But when our society is built on the assumption of population growth, declining birthrates can become catastrophic. Teachers will definitely be hit hard as it will shrink our job market and greatly affect our pensions, since there are no new workers to pay into the system, the funds will run out before they can be replenished. If such a scenario were to come into fruition, the state will find it hard to attract college graduates to a profession that already struggles to attract applicants. My school is currently feeling the effects of a teacher shortage. Can you imagine if things got worse? This will have a demonstrably terrible effect on education which will in turn adversely affect the economy, and our countty's ability to stay competitve in a world economy. I don't really know the solution other than to encourage people to have kids, but I think this would make for a great classroom discussion. Have students speculate the effects of a such a trend and then have them brainstorm ways to address the issue in a mock PSA. 

[Chad Espinoza]

Population control seems to now be short sighted policy. I get why large populations pose a problem to our current systems. Large populations require large amount of resources to sustain them. Resources dry up, then wars begin. So the impulse to keep a population at bay is at least a rational one. By looking at the counterfactuals provided by China and Japan, we see that the dwindling of a population increases scarcity as well. A large older population is a great burden on a small younger generation. Having to put more resources into an aging population reduces the amount of resources available for developing the younger generation. In addition to the economic issues population control policies create, there are social consequences as well. Resentment of the aging population can arise, engendering a desire amoing the youth to turn their backs on the ways established by past generations. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it is an inefficient way of progressing a society, so such resentment could cause an entire generation to dismiss the good of past generations while dispelling the bad. 

[Betsy Ures]

As I am reflecting on the way the virus has affected China and now the United states, it seems appropriate to draw comparisions. China was able to support their residents to stay home using their governmental authority and deliver supplies to sick or quarantining residents. How have these actions been able to save their citizens? I think of this now as we are past 100,000 deaths in America and our governement is slowly reopening, while not providing medical support to its citizens.

I've seen and heard a lot of criticism of the Chinese government from American Media (and government) , but there are some key aspects to their eventual strategy for reducing the virus' impact. Our own American history is being erased with the deaths of 100,000 people. I'm grateful that I took this course during this moment. 

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