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AnonymousGreat quotes to reflect on, I enjoyed reading some of this inspirational thoughts. I love particularly the one by Liu Binyan the one that says that literature is a mirror. I agree with this idea, usually writers only communicate what is happening in their surroundings. Often things are not beautiful, but that doesn’t mean that isn’t happening. thanks for sharing this document.
AnonymousThank you for sharing “From Mao to Now”. The journalist were so brave to sacrifice their lives to report on the truth in China during the Mao period. They worked in such restrictive projects as if they were prisoners followed by dictators. However, the walls of China seem to crumble with the rise of the Internet. The people were silent no more. Online connections with Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Webo offered chatrooms for the people to express their frustrations and protest more freely. It is surprising to see how China has transformed from suffering and sacrifice to becoming a global leader.
AnonymousIndeed, more damage control is needed. China Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang firmly stated that the “government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing China.” Trump continues to threaten relations with China by suggesting that he will not commit to the "one-China" policy and that it is negotiable. He recently announced that Peter Navarro, writer of "Death By China", will lead the new White House trade council.
edited by Mayw on 1/15/2017
AnonymousIt’s great that Chinese environmentalist Ma Jun founded the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs to bring attention on the pollution from manufacturing plants in China, expose the health hazards and help bring change for a greener environment. Factories are now required to report admission levels in real time that is accessible to the public and are held accountable for their actions if they are out of compliance. Hopefully the commitment for sustainability will continue. This can be shared to students by having them explore further steps that can be taken for this environmental protection since it’s a world moral responsibility.
edited by Mayw on 1/15/2017
AnonymousLast semester of this class I had the pleasure of attending a Saturday that featured the events of 1989 in Tiananmen Square. Mike CHinoy came and spoke and shared his experience and time there. We also watched the documentary created by USC on the subject. I was so inspired by the talk and the documentary that I decided to create a unit for my Sophomore English class. I am going to teach it again this year. On this same Saturday I also heard the talk from Louisa Lim about her book The People’s Republic of Amnesia and the research she did when she went to China and asked about this event. Years later this event has been wiped from the history of China by the government that does not want it remembered. People in everyday society have no idea what happened on that day in 1989. In the tightly controlled media in China, if you try to look up information on Tiananmen Square you will only find information on the square itself. I highly recommend this topic to teach in your high school classes. I remember watching this play out on the television. I was a junior in college and it was devastating to watch the massacre of so many people.
AnonymousEveryone knows that China’s population is huge. I’ve learned in this class that this is creating major problems not only for the aging crisis, but also in providing enough food for the middle class populations. In the quick report called “Who will feed China” this problem is looked at closely. The government does not think it will ever reach a famine level like it has in the past, but is concerned that their middle class will not get enough of the food it loves to eat. The middle class is wanting to eat more like America. The food of choice is meat, or more specifically pork. The pork farmers in China still supply 70 % of the meat consumed there. Recently however because of food scares China has been importing more of the pork they need. This means American pork farmers are kept busy and in demand. Much of the pork raised here in the USA is sent to China. Since pigs need to eat ,now the grain imports have also increased to meet the supply of feeding the pigs in China. The exports from the USA to China have been definitely increasing in the food industry. China will never starve but they are having to be creative in supplying their citizens with desired food.
AnonymousThe Limits of Cultural Reform in Deng's China was a fascinating article that dealt with the difficulties in controlling cultural reform. Below is a list of ideas/theories that I found interesting:
The idea I want to talk about is actually the idea from Stalin--art as engineering. I think anyone who has studied history will see that art and literature do in fact engineer movements and shape popular beliefs, BUT, can the state really engineer how the individual receives a work of art? Can it engineer the artist's creations? Ultimately, t[font=AvenirLTStd55Roman, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]here is a gap between intention and result.[/font]
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To help shape my point, think of a parallel example--Hollywood. They create movies with the goal of pleasing an audience and making money. Yet movies fail all the time--both in pleasing the audience and in making money. Moreover, most Hollywood movies do not require action [font=AvenirLTStd55Roman, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]after viewing[/font] or the development of a moral life. The goal of cultural reform as cultural engineering seems much more complex--the artist must (naturally?) create "functioning" art for the "great enterprise; the audience must receive it as intended; and the result should be that human action and behavior change. What is the cost of failed Cultural reform? I would think a loss of populous political power and the build-up of cynicism or apathy.
AnonymousSession 10
Economic Reform in China
Reading through Christopher Johnson’s Economic Reform in China was a difficult read for me. I think economic information is important for people to understand, including my students with learning disabilities. I teach a Work Skills class that looks at the United States economy and how it affects us as individuals. I think it would be great if my students could compare it with another country’s economy, especially China’s, because their economy is so different from ours. This article had a lot of good information that outlines China’s plan, but I would have to try and bring it to a level that my students would be able to understand. Some points of interest for me are the annual income for a Chinese citizen and how it has increased from $250 a year to $800 in the year 2000. I know this will be shocking for my students and will pique their interest in wanting to find out how Chinese citizens are able to take care of themselves and their families. This article will also open the door to understand China’s agricultural and industrial markets in comparison to The United States and how they affect the economy.
AnonymousThe final words of "Who will Feed China" include, "...the middle class of China is larger than the entire population of the US." is a concept that would have been unthinkable decades ago. One of the most pressing problems is how to feed these people who are as one of the commentators explains, "moving up the food chain." Mechanization of farming is one of the answers that the Chinese government is pursuing. This was evident when we visited Manchuria on the study tour. There was very little land that was not cultivated. Miles and miles of oat and corn dominated the landscape and although there was evidence of simple rural dwellings most of the agriculture appeared to be already mechanized.
AnonymousWhen I was younger, I used to love the comics in the newspaper. I typically didn't read Doonesbury because I felt like it was over the head of an elementary and middle school student. However, reading them now, I get quite a kick out of them, and how much more will my well informed students? The one from Thursday, December 4, 1980 where there's a "little chat" about the Chairman and the Gang of Four is positively hilarious, knowing now what I do about the incident. How great would it be for my own students to create their own comics based on things that they have read and the connections that they have made between English and history. This is a great project in the making...
AnonymousThe prologue starts off, "For thousands of miles rivers and mountains sang bitter tears,/ For four thousand days the world was turned upside down./ The nightmare dragged on too long./ Deeds, good or bad, who's to say?"
My mind always goes to the Chairman...sorry. When calculating the days mentioned in the poem, 4,000 days is a little more than 10 years...right about the length of time of the Cultural Revolution. It doesn't sound like the author is willing to make judgement about the deeds done, that decision is left to a higher authority, but the hearts of the people have their own truth, as does Mount Tai and the Yellow River, great natural wonders revered in China.
I wish I had this poem last year when I taught about the Cultural Revolution to my 7th graders. I definitely would have used this! Perhaps we'll revisit it...especially the sections specifically on The Cultural Revolution and Mao Zedong. #LoveIt
AnonymousWhen I first learned that China had a state run propaganda machine and the publishing houses were also state run, I was turned off. Imagine my surprise, though, when I read this article and discovered that the state run newspaper, particularly the People's Daily, had their own way of showing resistance, even if it was subtle. The wording of titles and the selection and placement of articles can all be avenues for resistance. In other words, there's a lot that can be communicated without adding a single word. In addition, it seems that the chief editor position was turning over fairly regularly, which appears to me that maybe they were doing what they needed to do in order to get the job, but then went against the grain once they were in the position? Imagine being let go because you reported what you saw...you reported the facts. How crazy is that? It reminds me of what I saw on the news today and what I read in the news as well. Our new President is upset with the media for reporting and estimating about the attendance at the inauguration. As a result, one government agency had its Twitter account shut down indefinitely, and the press secretary said today that the media misrepresented the attendance...how about that's almost the exact wording in this document?! Shao Huaze condemned the journalists for undermining the party policy and "misleading" the public... Do people really think this Jedi mind trick sort of thing will really work? I'm amazed, and can't wait to see what will happen next...Call me crazy, but I'm seeing striking resemblances....
AnonymousFollowing the recent inauguration it will be interesting to see China's response to Trump's "America First" policy. This new doctrine will have notable effects on everything from trade to nuclear weapons. Outside of a possibility of a U.S. relationship with Taipei, it will be interesting to see if a warming of U.S.-Russian relations will affect the relationship with the US and China.
Anonymous"It's hard to detail the Cultural Revolution's Achievements." - Beijing Street Voices, Peng Zhen.
That phrase still rings true today, in 2016/2017. We watched China go through this in the news, and although it has seemed that it was all for naught, I can't help but feel that a time is coming when the offspring of this fight will be known. It was born, but I don't for a minute think it's dead. It was a mistake for the CCP to think that it was just Western ideals that people wanted. People around the globe want to be free. They only long to come to America because they believe it is a place where they can be free to be themselves. Imagine how much humankind could do together if it weren't for dictatorial governments and religions and ideologies keeping people in chains purely out of fear and a desire to control. Revolution and love will never cease to exist in the hearts of men, even if their religion or government tries to stamp it out forcefully or through idealogical manipulation. The people I met the year before Tiananmen are still alive, and still only in their mid-lives. They deserve to be free to be themselves, and write what they wish, talk about what they wish, paint what they wish, and learn about what they wish. Freedom doesn't make people dangerous or uncontrollable, it gives them license to serve out the purposes they've dreamed of for themselves in their hearts; which are often productive and innovative, and problem-solving.
I talk to my students frequently about how lucky we are to live where we live, and to go out and use their skills and talents to make the rest of the world a better place.
edited by elizabethr on 1/22/2017
AnonymousGreat story about the change from 1949, when journalists were barred from China, to Deng Xiaoping opening China up to President Nixon's visit in 1972. I loved Ted Koppel's depiction of going to China as going to the dark side of the moon. At the end of the video, it was stated that the dominant theme under Deng Xiaoping was 'hope.' He wanted to allay the animosity that had arisen with the west after 1949. He did that successfully, for the most part. Soviet-type communal farms were being broken up and smaller pieces of land were being farmed more successfully by families. There were many positive changes in the personal and economic lives of the Chinese citizens. However there were still Communist Party members keeping a close eye on the personal business of people, especially concerning the one-child policy. It was fascinating seeing actual video footage of a woman pointing out the menstrual cycle chart of all of the women in the area. I don't know why this struck me so much more vividly than seeing a photograph or reading about it. And....you've got to love snarky musicians