Session 1 readings, 9/9 morning

[Aja Koester]

 

During the second session of today's seminar (9/9), the visual of the 1930’s Korean women with cloche hats, bobs, finger waves, and big fur collars reminded me a lot of the 1920’s flappers in American culture. It looks like there were similarities in the women’s movements in Korea (i.e. clothing, literature, perspectives on marriage and gender norms). Last year I taught 11^th grade American Literature and this year I am teaching World Literature. I looped with my students, so many of them have looked at the flapper movement and literature from the American Modernist period with me last year. I would love to build on similar themes of women’s liberation and gender norm disruption through a world literature perspective this year. After this session, I realize I could do this through a Korean literature lens especially since Professor Jung-Kim mentioned how literature and writing became a means of expression and even rebellion at this time. Perhaps, I could show some pictures of American flappers alongside pictures of 1920’s Korean women and see what the students notice just through visuals before getting into comparing literature. If anyone has any suggestions of Korean female authors or literature from this movement, feel free to share.

 

 

[Chris Hertzog]

Totally agree, great picture and great talk on how Korean women were similar to those in the U.S. and elsewhere at the time.  This picture would be great to use in U.S. History classes to see how students reacted to it.  Would they think it was here in the U.S.?  Or could they recognize and differences and know that it was taken outside the U.S.?  Not only would this be a great tool to use for 11th American Lit, but also using it in 11th U.S. History and then branching off to research or investigate how these same women were treated in Korea or the U.S. during the same time period and how Korean-Americans were doing, say in the Los Angeles area at the time.

[Christine Xu]

In China, water pollution is a big concern of the government and the people for years. The water pollution caused lots of health problems according to the health agency. Because of this, the country's economic growth is at risk. The government begun to turn its attention to solve the country's water issues.

They examine three majors ways to solve its water crisis.

1. moving the rivers

It is an idea from Chairman Mao, the founder of the People’s Republic of China. He said that south has lots of water, and the north has less, so if it were possible, it could borrow a little. So since December 2014, enormous canals built from Danjiangkou Dam, in Hubei, and water from the south began to flow into Beijing. However, the project costed more than $80 billion, and according to the expert that the project had only given northern China a “lifeline” of water in the short term.

2. Changing the cities

China is experimenting with innovative urban design to solve flooding and water shortages . They are called “ sponge cities”. In 2015, Chinese government announced 16 cities and districts would test the “sponge city” program. Wetlands and green spaces capture and reuse water that previously would have vanished down the drain. However, no amount of drinking water will help china if it totally unusable due to pollution

 3. Cleaning the swamps

According to official statistics, more than half of northern chinas groundwater is currently undrinkable because of pollution. In 2015, the state council announced a major action plan that tackle water pollution. It was a plan focused on specific polluting industries and targets to be met by 2020 and 2030 for water quality across the country. Expert said that if the plan enforced properly, it cold help clean china’s water.

I visited china 2 years ago, and experienced that the whole community ( dozen apartment buildings) stoped pipe water supplies for 24 hours. So people had to lined up for water which the community office got from somewhere far away, and the water was smelly.

 

Note: For our 5th graders, we do ending year exhibition regarding environment every year. Water pollution ( also air pollution) in China is a good topic which we used to talk for the exhibition. 

 

 

[Michelle Levy]

I was a little worried that I would not be able to relate anything during this class to the primary grades that I teach. But, I am pleased that just looking at the maps and photos that Professor Dube presented, I know I will be able to find many things to integrate into my classroom. For example, I thought it was interesting that Prof. Dube superimposed images of China to other places in the world. I think my students will be able to understand that other countries that are roughly the same size, may have more or less people, which would affect many of our daily routines. There are definitely many geography lessons that would benefit my students about ownership of land and boundaries of countries.

I'm also fascinated that even today, this huge debate over the name of the East Asian Sea/ Sea of Japan is still talked about. I believe that when I was in 7th grade, we did a project on Japan and it was surely labeled "Sea of Japan" in our textbook. I could definitely come up with a lesson that dealt with dividing the students into two groups and expressing our opinions on naming something we had in common. In a way, it is like the third grade history standard regarding settlers coming to the new world and both sides arguing for ownership of the land. Obviously, the Native Americans lost that battle. So did Japan or Korea win the name of the Sea battle?

The only disappointment that I found with today's first session was that I was not more familiar with the places the Professor was talking about. Much of this class will be new information for me, and there are many names of people and places that I still need to learn. It is interesting that SouthEast Asia is not a part of what we will be discussing during this seminar.

[Alejandra Jimenez]

As a fourth grade teacher I am planning a unit about Global Warming. I started showing google earth images based on global population and the impact we have on global warming. I would like to find out more information about the Yellow River and the sediment pollution in the Atlantic Ocean. My unanswered question is is this problems a contributing to the Pacific Ocean Patch.

 

 

 

[Chris Hertzog]

I too have been thinking about the debate in naming seas and other land and water features and how in a sense who makes the maps get to decide what to call things or where to put them, say right in the midde... Prime Meridian?  Anyway, the example Clay used about the debate in the textbooks in VA rang home for me.

I was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in northern VA, Farifax County Schools.  The reason the debate was so big there was not so much based on the size of the district or number of students, but on who or whose kids went to those schools.  Congressmen, White House staff, CIA, Pentagon and all the rest live right there and almost all of them were from another part of the U.S. or another country.  I went to Langley High School, right next door to CIA headquarters.  When those folks showed up at board meetings or councils people payed attention.  So a small district could raise some big questions, concerns and start a debate on whose perspectives do we favor or ignore?

In a way this encourages me on all of this.  Even seeing the new California Social Sciences Standards, particularly in High School World History and U.S. History.  I can see a change in the curriculum that tells the story of more people not less and gives their perspective and voice.  No longer will students just learn that "the West" was born from Greece and Rome, but that there were actually other foundational cultures and civilizations that contributed to the world we have today and guess what?  They still are contributing and have a voice in the conversation now.  Asia, it turns out, is just one of those lands.

[Christine Xu]

The article about Japanese marriage is interesting, and it is happening in china as well. Nowadays, more and more young Chinese people are marrying at their later age, or sometime not at all. Also, they chose to have “0” kid or less kids after they get married. I think there are several reasons made this happen. 

Economic  reason: 

Women seek men with financial security. Men want to be able to provide it. This is not easy. For new couples usually they may want to have their own places as a home. However, in big cities (for example Beijing and Shanghai) and even in smaller cities, properties/ houses are very expensive. Most of the young people could not afford it at the age 20s or 30s, so they may have to wait and develop their career first, and keep saving money until they have enough money to buy a house to get married. This would delay their marriage. 

2. Personal reason:

More and more young people prefer to be free which they prefer dating than marrying. They may think marriage is just for a paper. The young people follow their own mind. While romance and coupledom are much endorsed by both men and women in their 20s and 30s, marriage as a legal institution is no longer a must. Also, for young, professional Chinese urbanites who have access to modern entertainment, a cool, and enriched life can well be spouse-free.

 

Additionally, many male and female young migrant workers, a third of whom are at marrying age, however, they work more than 44 hours a week, this leaves them little time and energy to build relationships.

 

[Carlos Oyarbide]

Admittedly, I have a very little knowledge about East Asia and I have a very general (and limited) sense of its history. One of the things that I was that I was familiar with was the animosity between Korea and Japan. Prior to the class, I assumed that the animosity was a result of the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War II. I had no idea how prolonged the occupation was or how impactful it would be on the cultural identity of Korea.

 

I am very interested in learning about how the history of Korea ultimately led to the modern cultural transformation of the country. Juxtaposing the cultural development of North and South Korea would be fascinating. I have seen snippets of K-dramas and now I know that in some of those dramas the characters are dressed as Yangbans. Before I could name the dress, I assumed that the costumes were a reference to Korea’s past but I always wondered why so many of them were set in that era. Of course, it is possible that they are not and I am basing this opinion on my very limited exposure.

 

Additionally, previous to the class I had did not understand why so many south Koreans were practicing Christians. I am excited to learn how the conflicting influences of the East and West shaped the modern cultural identity of South Korea in the coming weeks.

[Carlos Oyarbide]

I too was blown away by the aggressive cultural oppression forced upon Korea. I couldn't help but make a connection to the British occupation of Ireland and their efforts to eradicate Gaelic. I loved how the Korean press was able to exploit loopholes that the Japanese censors could not catch but how Japan also recognized the importance of cultural expression. As oppressive as the Japanese occupation was, the cultural outlet that was permitted seems strangely out of line with the excessive demands of the Japanese. It is particularly striking when one thinks about the mandatory bowing to the east. 

I think it would be very interesting for students to explore different occupations and resistance movements around the world. I think that this would lend itself particularly well to a compare and contrast essay for World History. The examination of military might versus the cultural will of an occupied people would provide students with a great opportunity to make universal connections to very different parts of the world that experienced very similar situations.

 

[Lin ZhaoDavison]

The major rivers in China - Songhua River, Yellow River, Yangzi River and Pearl River - are parts of the livelihood of Chinese people.  Not only they are sources of water and power supplies across China, but important tour sites.  One of the most beautfil tour sites in China is the section of Yangzi River called "Three Gorges". Unfortunately, the best scene on the river was blocked to build the "Three Gorges Dam" to supply powers for residents and industries along the river several years ago. I was so disappointed to hear the news when I visited China.  That was a highlight of China tours for tourists from around the world for generations.  Preserving nature and natural beauty should be a task force in China.  I wish more rules would be mandated in China on preserving nature like nationals parks, animals, rivers, etc.  Industrialization and commercialization can be realized without sacrificing nature. 

[Lesly Gonzalez]

Since session 1, I have been asking myself more questions about current developments with North Korea. For example, now that North Korea has launched another missile whose trajectory took it over Japan, I am wondering how much of the colonial history between these two nations plays a role in North Korea's planned trajectories, or are the missile trajectories simply logistical?

 

 

[Lesly Gonzalez]

I am also an 8th grade history teacher looking to bring in more primary sources to my classroom. I like this source but would like to learn more about:

• the Emperor's knowledge of the U.K. (esp. militarily) prior to issuing his response
• what counsel did he receive
• what maneuvers was the U.K. already preparing, even before the response was relayed
• what manufactured goods did he receive as gifts

[Chris Hertzog]

In the morning discussion last week we got to the issue of water and natural resource issues across China.  The readings and news articles highlighted the serious concern about water, disease and keeping access open to millions for water and sewage service.  It is crazy to look at this issue of water access compared to the access to trade and to business expansion.  This week I caught this program on BBC's "Our World" show on "The New Silk Road".  The railway being built across Asia to Europe to offer direct access to goods, foods and "clean" European products.  Absolutely amazing what they are doing.  The past becomes present.  Here is the link, they also get into some of the cultural issues in the central and western parts of China.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhb8tfu7m1c

 

[Evelyn Mendoza]

As a science teacher, I'm struggling to find specific ways to incorporate the things I've learned in this session. However as a Career Exploration teacher, I find it a necessity. During the first session we learned that the immigration rate to the United States is highest among Asian countries. This will directly impact my students and their hopes for future careers. I find it very valuable for students to understand their prospects for univeristy admission and then career options, especially as demographics change.

On a more personal note, I never understood just how much happenings in the East can impact us, in the West. In particular, I'm refering to the Treaty of Nanjing, 1842. During these first sessions its becoming clearer just how much this treaty has had reprocussions in other countries, even to this day. 

[Jonathan Tam]

I had an interesting thought a few days ago as I was riding the bus home and I  noticed how many advertisements there were for television shows involving families and family development. I saw advertisements for different ethnic families and families from different parts of the country, and I realized how successful our country's media has been in pushing that as a value among citizens in our country. I don’t think I’ve ever seen representatives of our country rally for more birthdays and extended work into retirement. It seems like a very well thought process based on our media and capitalistic values.

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