session #11 10/23 (dube) china after the cultural revolution

[Christine Xu]

Good leaders lead the team/country to rise, but bad leaders may lead the people/country to fall or even die. 

The Great Leap Forward was an economic and social campaign led by Chairman Mao, the leader of the communist party of China. This activity have caused the three years of Great Chinese widespread Famine from 1958 to 1961. Many people called it “Three Years of Natural disasters, “Three Years of Bitter”, or “Three years of Difficulty”. 

Drought, poor weather, and the policies of the ruler/Mao Zedong contributed to the dreadful famine. There were at least 20 to 43 million people dead because of the starvation according to the statistic. My grandma told me that there were no food during the years. people in the villages were starving day by day. They ate whatever they could eat, such as leaves or skin of trees, leathers. Her two sisters and many other people in the villages lost their lives during the tragic years. 

 

[Christine Xu]

Chinese Hukou system has origins in china dating back to ancient times. The current Hukou form is based on the 1958 People’s Republic of China Hukou Registration Regulation.  This Hukou system has its advantages and disadvantages. 

Advantages:

• In-migration has been controlled significantly. 
• Released pressure on resources in major cities in China, such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Disadvantages:

• Increased inequality between people in rural and urban area. 
• Discriminates against people who have agricultural Hukou. 

For example, students who are with agricultural Hukou have to have much higher score than the students who have urban Hukou.

• During the one-child policy time, the second child would be denied for granting a Hukou. As a result, he or she could not attend school and receive health care of government support. 
• During the Great Famine time, people with rural Hukou were collectivized into communal farm. Much of their agricultural output was taken in the form of a tax by the state and given to city dwellers. 

Sources: Wikipedia

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I am planning on incorporating different aspects I learned about East Asia throughout the school year in my first grade IB curriculum. I will teach a lesson in each of the following units:  Who We Are In Place and Time? (Beliefs and Values, Diverse Lifestyles), Where We Are in Place and Time? (Our changing world), and How We Express Ourselves?  In one lesson, I will read a portion of the Diary of an Evacuated Schoolgirl out loud and make it into a writing assignment asking students to pretend to be Nakane Mihoko writing about her day.  For another lesson, I will illustrate the friendship between Vera and Zhou from the movie Above the Drowning Sea, showing pictures when they were little girls and adults.  The third lesson would show students how to write some Chinese characters, making a pretend silkscreen, including painting it.  I will introduce this lesson by talking a little bit about the history of China.

I wanted to see a film about the Nanjing Massacre/Nanking Rapes.  I chose to watch the Flowers of War because it was recommended by Prof. Clay Dube.  This is not a movie that can be shown in any educational setting in elementary school.  It is very hard to watch.  It does portray Chinese people remaining strong during tragic times.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I was fascinated to learn that Chariman Mao was not a friend of the USSR, as a matter of fact, he did not like Joseph Stalin or Nikita Khrushchev.  China and the USSR did not talk to each other and had no relationship 1969-1989.  Growing up in communist Romania for the first 13 years of my life, this is a new perspective for me.  Romanians always thought that China was similar to the mighty USSR as the puppet governments of Eastern Europe during the Cold War. The whole Eastern Bloc followed orders from Moscow.  But, this was definitely not true for China.  As Prof. Dube mentioned, Mao thought the USSR was too bureaucratic. 

I appreciate Prof. Dube sharing the Chinese political joke (I may not remember it with 100% accuracy) that mentions that Khrushchev calls Bo Xilai a "traitor to your class" (because he considers Bo Xilai part of the bourgeoisie due to his wealthy and affluent upbringing), and Bo Xilai says to Khrushchev "So are you!" (because he considers Khrushchev a traitor to the workers class).

[Gerlinde Goschi]

It was sad to read about the Great Famine as reported by author Yang Jisheng in his book Tombstone.  It was shocking to read that the current government has yet to acknowledge it for what it was, but, it calls this tragedy a natural disaster. Many questions arise, especially, how was this possible for three long years without it causing a major upheaval?  Yang explains, "It's a very complicated historical process, why China believed in Maoism and took this path.It wasn't one person's mistake but many people's.  It was a process."  Eastern European communist countries suffered greatly for similar reasons. But, nothing comes close to the Great Famine.  A certain crop production output number had to be reached every year.  It wasn't reached for many reasons; the harvest was not there, corruption at all levels was widespread.   Many cadres and party chiefs took a big chunk of the production for themselves and their families because the food was scarce.  Many sold food on the black market.  Meat, coffee, milk, and butter were considered luxury grocery items and could be purchased from cadres for a hefty premium.  The general population was subject to food rations, very meager ones.  The communist headquarter leadership and the politburo ended up pocketing a lot of money and the top leaders had huge Swiss bank accounts. This was discovered in many former Eastern Bloc countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.   Stories like these are told throughout all of the former Iron Curtain countries. Anyone who complained or protested was thrown in jail and mysteriously died of a heart attack within a few days. Almost everyone who lived during those times had a neighbor, friend, relative, or teacher who dared speak the truth and ended up dying under mysterious circumstances while detained.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

zi4you2 freedom; liberty; free; unrestrained "Citizens of China enjoy the freedom of speech, correspondence, the press, assembly, association, procession, demonstration and the freedom to strike." (page 933)   The irony of the sentence used to demonstrate the usage of the Chinese word "zi you" struck me when reading it.  Citizens of any country under communist rule and regime do not have freedom of speech or the press.  The famous historian Wu Han and his play, Hai Rui Dismissed from Office comes to mind mentioned by Prof. Dube.  Wu's play on the life of Hai Ru, a Ming Dynasty official, became a great success in 1960.  In this play, a small minority tells the dynasty leader that what they are doing does not work.  Wu is accused by one of the leaders in the communist party of metaphorically equating the dynasty leader with Mao.  Mao wrote a review of the play (in reality, he did not write it) and stated that the play is about counter-revolutionism, revisionism.   Although Wu denied his motives to be counter-revolutionary, he was thrown in jail, tortured (by some accounts) and commits suicide in jail.  Consequently, as this example indicates, it is very questionable if  "zi4you" truly exists in a communist society.   (sources: Prof. Dube presentation on 10/30/17 & Wikipedia)

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I attended Lenora Chu's presentation at the beginning of October and found the perspectives she offered enlightening.  Her book gives us a glimpse into the Chinese educational system and its competitiveness. Jacqueline, you make a good point, by stating that children "are encouraged to develop grit as they are pushed to master more and more skills."  I work with students who just moved to the U.S. from China due to their parents' jobs.  These students are some of my academically most successful ones.  They learn the German language and English one simultaneously, effortlessly, it seems.  When I talked to Prof. Dube about it, he reminded me that in "failure is not an option."  I believe that this lies at the core of the educational system in China. Citizens are able to move into middle-class status, as in the case of Zhou Jiaying (Bella) because of educational background.  So the stakes are high.  Lenora Chu attempts to answer the following questions about a Chinese education in her book:

What does it mean to the student?

What does it mean for the Chinese society?

What can we learn?

She also mentioned that the Chinese Education System knows it needs reform and that it is looking to other countries including the U.S. to evaluate other teaching models.  I agree with you and Nira that "competitiveness and mastering of skills are still deeply rooted in its educational system," and I would like to add Prof. Dube's quote that "failure is not an option."

 

[Amir Osterweil]

I found this course useful in furthering my understanding of East Asian history. I especially enjoyed the level of detail given throughout the lectures. Many of the events we studied, I had known about but superficially. The course gave me more insight into events such as the Great Leap Forward. Prior to the course I had only read a simple summary of what had occurred in my textbook. However, I can now better explain how the famine occurred. I found the primary source readings very helpful in illustrating what transpired. For example, I would give my students the excerpt from the Peasants of Hunan to better illustrate Mao’s communist ideology. In addition analyzing readings such as the Ding Ling Land Reform can help students learn about the Chinese interpretation of Marxist values. I always emphasize to my students every year that Adam Smith and Marx are two of the most influential men in modern history. This reading helps me prove that point further. I would combine some of the readings from Korea and China in regards women with other Western Primary sources such as Wollstonecraft. I am planning on using these documents in a DBQ about the changing status of women in modern times.

I also came across films and media that I might have not known about through the course such as YMCA Baseball, a light-hearted look at the Japanese occupation of Korea. I would use clips form this movie to emphasize the Confucian family structure in Korea and how it began to be challenged by outside influence. While I am familiar with Chinese propaganda from the Cultural Revolution I was not aware of terms such as the “Holy Trinity” of worker, soldier, and peasants. The card activity was a great way to teach this to my students. In sum, I found the exposure to readings and primary sources most  helpful for my practice as a world history teacher. 

[Beverly Nettles]

As I listened to Lenora's story about schools in China, and some of her exerts from her book, I thought about how different schools are in the U.S. verses China.  Some things I agreed with, such as parental involvement in the school, but not necessarily to the extent requested by Chinense school (daily participation in "we chat").  I also liked that teachers are highly respected, almost revered as gods - a little much.  I guest what I really liked is that they are respected; whereas in the school I'm at there is very little teacher respect -  from either, students, parents, or adminstors.  What I disagreed with is how parents are choosen, and have to compete with others parents to by into the system; yet, I understand that with over 18 million babies born per year there is competeition.  Thus, the pool of intellent is high, and very few are choosen to continue their education.  I am not surprised that Chinese students have the highest piza (test-scores) Nationwide.  

[Beverly Nettles]

Yes, I agree with you that the Great Famine is a tragedy, that could have been avoided; death of 15+ millions persons is unpresendented, and should not have ever occurred.  However, as you stated it's a very complicated process, or as I would say, it was an organized system whereas many prospered at the expense of the innocence.  I don't think people idley stood by and said whoo is me, but rather were summisive to the rule, which unfortunately cuased them their life, when the land of plenty was literally across the road.   Yet, to oppose the system was a mystery in itself (how many acuately died by the sword is unknown).  

[Christine Xu]

“One country, two systems” is a constitutional principle formulated by Deng Xiaoping, the former leader of the Communist Party of PRC. That means that there would be only one china, but with two different systems. This principle means Hong Kong and Macau could retain their own governmental system, economic, financial affairs systems, while the rest of china uses its original system. 

This policy describes china’s relationship with Hong Kong. China is tightening controls on the mainland for human right advocates, educators and internet users while also denying the “high degree of autonomy” once promised to the citizens of Hong Kong as a special administration region according to Michael Davis, a professor of law at the university of Hong Kong. The proceeding on candidates for the 2017 election of Hong Kong’s chief executive also showed the controlling from the government.

 

[Christine Xu]

Deng Xiao-ping, was the leader of Modern China after the cultural revolution. He was influential and important in 20th century in china. Many people believe he is hero, and some people think he is tyrant. 

According to the history, Deng successfully solved the problem of hunger and poverty of china after the cultural revolution. And China was able to catch up with the world and became one of the world’s fastest developing countries with his guide and order. However, because of the industrialization process, million of people poured into cities from rural areas of china. And it caused overpopulation and problems. Also, the large boom of industry caused very much air and water pollution which it is important to population’s health. Additional, the rate of crime and corruption was grew, and it created a monumental difference between the rich and the poor. 

In my class, I will encourage my students to be open-minded. We are going to do research and talk about Deng’s advantages and disadvantages. And we are going to compare him to some of the American leaders.

[Christine Xu]

In 2008, the Olympic Games were held in China for the first time. The Beijing Olympics presented an opportunity for China to show the world how “ democratic, open, civilized, friendly, and harmonious” it is.   It has had a significant influence on Beijing’s economic development, the country’s advertising, television, Internet, mobile phone, and sports sectors. However, while the Olympics have been gone well, 2008 has been a difficult year for China. The environmental issue/pollution problems became more challenging, a devastating earthquake in Sichuan province happened,  and protests over china’s human rights record and Tibet became international focus. 

In my class, I am going go let my students to talk and discuss about pros and cons of the Beijing olympics. And after discussion I will bring a topic that how to have a “ green olympic in the future". I will encourage students to be open-minded, and we will well discuss how to have better games which benefit not only to the country but also the people. 

 

 

[Beverly Nettles]

It is amazing how growth create greed and poverty in developing cities: Jonathan expanded on China economics – China held 25 % of the world’s economy during industry revolution 1500’s -1938; urbanization changes productivity.  During the late 20th century 65% of the doubling effect occurred – population growth…  Several problems occur with growth, such as transportation, supply and demand for service – access, to sustainability.  With reform initially everything is better, however, things began to flatten by how city manage population, education, medical, urban density, and resources.  Mass transit, is the single biggest improvement on the life of people in China.  Beijing is currently building a high-speed rail way, which will change the lives of millions in China and surrounding cities. 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I enjoyed this piece as well.  I like your idea, Michelle. I also would love to integrate the descriptions and the proverb into a lesson in my first-grade class."  I would write it on the board and ask the students to brainstorm first about what they think it means.  After writing some of their ideas on the board, I would read some parts of Zhou Jiaying's day and finish with her quote: "A person who stands under someone else's rood must bow their head."  I predict this will generate a lively and very interesting discussion with my students.  I would also mention the comments on Zhou Jiaying's report card: "Your ability is strong, but, a person has to learn from the strength of others in order to improve."  This would be so appropriate as I teach first grade, and the quote is from the girl's first-grade report card.  I would also draw on other points made in this writing as my students would be engaged in finding out about Zhou Jiaying's school day and after-school activities.  It differs drastically from a typical first grader's school day in my class.

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