session 11 (4/27 afternoon) Clayton Dube Qing dynasty and course summary

[Marcos Rico]

We had a great afternoon lecture. I had a wonderful time learning more about East Asia, but the topic of growth vs. development made a great connection to my personal life. As every teacher knows, we do not make enough income as educators to have a comfortable life in beautiful California.

Over the past couple years I had been working hard on growth, to increase my income. I would work summer school, after school reading, 6 to 6 (now Prime Time), on top of that I would also teach Traffic School on Saturdays. During summer break I would work construction with my uncle. It produced the desired effect of increasing my income, but prevented me from enjoying more time with my family.

With age, comes experience and wisdom (usually). About 3 years ago, without understanding the concepts of growth nor development, I realized that I needed stop focusing on working a lot of hours, and instead start spending more time with my wife and twin sons. I started to focus on improving my skills and earning the needed CEU to move to the next column on my district’s salary schedule ( I am very close now, thanks to USC China-USA institute). I no longer work summer school,  or Prime Time and I stopped teaching Traffic School on Saturdays. In order to make up for the loss of income, I do work with a friend in his company training Security Officers to get them certified with California’s BSIS and helping my wife with her business teaching CPR/ First Aid (using old skills, and getting certified to teach them). 

I am now spending more time with my family, working less hours and earning a similar income. I am on a development mode. Soon I will be moving the next column in salary schedule.

[Linda Gonzales Diaz]

I found this article interesting because I connected to it in some level. The Manchu language is slowly fading due to the majority of the people being Han. Unfortunately, the ethnic minority is looked down on and people do not see the fading of the language as a loss. Yet there are still those few who want to save it and keep their roots alive to pass on to future generations. 

Although in no way is the language of Spanish in danger of fading anytime soon, I noticed a decline of bilingualism in many Latin American families, especially second generation familes. I am first generation Latina-American. My first language was Spanish and I didn't learn English until Kindergarten. I always spoke Spanish in my home and English at school, so I became fluent in both languages. However, I started noticing that other kids my age were not speaking Spanish even at home. I noticed that it became even more prevalent in the second generation. My husband for example, spoke Spanish to his grandmother, then stopped when he got to school. His parents never encouraged it. In fact, many parents of the previous generation who grew up here, taught their children not to speak Spanish because others would look down on them. That is generally no longer the case, but I think that helps explain why there are so many Latino families that have lost their Spanish. Nowadays, there are many movements to embrace bilingualism and encourage the development of a second language. According to Dr. Hector A. Limon of the University of Iowa, "In the United States, Spanish exists in a subordinate position to English. As a result, ethnic groups‘ relationship to their language has become paradoxical: Language remains a source of ethnic pride and solidarity, while also a source of stigma" (Garcia Bedolla, 2003; Milroy, 1982). 

 "Consequently, ―persons who speak the socially disfavored varieties [of language] frequently appear to become alienated from their own variety of language and to judge it as, for example, inferior, sloppy, ugly, illogical or incomprehensible‖ (Milroy, 1982, p. 209). Gonzales, (2000) provided an additional example of the social stigma that exists towards Spanish language in the United States, explaining that Latino/a communities have been forced to adopt English as quickly as possible through Americanization programs, such as English immersion programs, ensuring Latino/a youth are English dominant" (Limon, 2011). I have students who are new to the US and speak a Guatemalan dialect known as 'Ixil', as the population of this group slowly grows this year, the more accepted they have become by the other students who speak mainstream Spanish.

I suspect that something similar may have occured and may still be occuring to the Manchu people. The majority shames the minority for expressing their differences, their ethnicity. That is always a tricky subject when different cultures are merging, just my thoughts.

[Dennis O'Connell]

Session Eleven focused on China and considered the Manchus, the Qing Dynasty, and Global Trade.  The Manchus tried to integrate the Chinese into their rule.  They also implemented a way to show loyalty and submission by requiring the shaving of the forehead and the wearing of the rest of the hair in a braid.  The Qing were involved in expanding Chinese territory and influence.  They brought Taiwan under imperial control.  The pushed Russia north of the Amur River.  They consolidated power in Mongolia, Xinjing, and Tibet.  

The area of Global Trade is one that lends itself well to classroom discussion.  Looking at China during this time period, China imported Mexican silver and cotton.  China exported large amounts of tea.  As the British began planting their own tea plants, how would this affect trade?  As the British strated dealing in the trade of opium, how did this affect the economics of the situation?  Did opium begin a moral decay in society?  Did it initiate an economic decay?  How did the trading of opium become a matter of national security for China?  How did they react to this matter of national security?

[Ricardo Reyes]

Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799) responded to King George III of Great Britain (1738-1820) in 1793 in a letter which spells out a rejection of British entreaty to send a national to be accreditated to Qianlong's Celestial Court. As the Emperor surmises, he is opposed to the British control of their country's trade with China as this request is viewed as contrary to all usage of his dynasty and therefore can not be entertained. The detailed and lengthy responses cites the Emperor's reasoning and perspectives on how the British proposal includes "your own country's barbarian merchants" and how China has "no need to import the manufactures of outside barbarians in exchange for our own produce." He furthered that since the European nations and "yourselves" find that Celestial produce of tea, silk, and porcelain are of absolute necessity, provisions will be continued to provide these for foreign purchase out of Canton. Territorial bounds are reinforced as inviolate. Sufficient warning was issued to obey the Emperor's restrictions on foreign presence and visits, whether commercial or otherwise. It would be interesting to draw comparisons with Japan's Imperial actions and response to European and United States overtures to open markets in both instances. An essential question for macro economics students studying foreign trade and the rise of imperialism is to examine how Japan was able to stave off such interventions to maintain sovereignty while China was unsuccessful in fending off foreign dominance. 

[Ricardo Reyes]

The overlooked second case of Lan Dingyuan merits a reading for understanding. Dingyuan (1680-1733) made observations on the people of Chaoyang county (Guangdong) who were deceived and formed a depraved regious sect. Their great Buddhist master, Da Dian, deceived the gentry and their ladies who joined together to go to the temples to worship the Buddha. From this gathering the heretical and depraved teachings developed of the so-called Latter Heaven popular sect. Dingyan's observations of the "Miraculous Divine Lady" and her activities as leader of the sect and her paramour assistant included casting spells and using magic charms to cure illness and help widows visit their deceased  husbands at night. Hundreds of men and women worshipped them as their masters. Naturally, gifts of money, animals, wine and flowers wre offered in worship which helped construct a large building. Dingyan typecast them as charlatans who had no special powers whatsoever. He ascribed the people as being foolish who trembled on justs  hearing the names of gods and spirts and impressed that the Divine Lady had no fear of gods and goddesses. It was inevitable that their ruse ended and the sect's building was converted into a literary academy dedicated instead to the worship of the five greatneo-Confucian teachers. Thus, the filthy was swept away and the clean restored. In conclusion, as formal study developed, heretical beliefs ceased to exist. The morality and customs of the people also changed for the better. The sect's followers were forgiven otherwise they might have been put in jail or committed suicide by night. 

How might this historical accounting compare with religious sects in the modern era? There have been well known religious sects who ordained mass suicide. How do we distinguish a cult or sect? These would be interesting academic challenges for high school children who are studying the separation of church and state and how proofound religious freedom in the U.S. allows similar cult sects as that of the Latter Heaven sect. 

[Ricardo Reyes]

I have wondered whether a series has been considered or produced regarding China's Boxer Rebellion or Opium Wars. A search of Netflix and Amazon Prime yielded nothing. There are individual movies, mostly Chinese produced, over the years with a clear choice, The Opium War  (1997). My own recollection of a related movie is The Sand Pebbles. This 1966 release starred a stellar cast led by Steve McQueen, however it is dated in China in 1926 well after the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. Nonetheless, this superb movie conveys the strong and complex relationships between foreign powers (U.S.) and the Chinese nationalism. The subservient views of Chinese laborers and bar maids interacting with sailors is well laid out with McQueen a rebellious mechanic who defies his superiors once too often only to die trying to save his love interest, Candice Bergen portraying a Christian missionary's daughter. The Christians are targeted and yet they are reluctant to escape. An even more factual accounting is in the book published last year, Imperial Twilight, by Stephen R. Platt. His work was well received and covers the end of China's last golden age before the onset of the first Opium War 1839-1842. I was reminded that I purchased it and now it moves up my list of books to read this summer. 

[Dan Thalkar]

Ricardo,

I am fascinated by the methods you mentioned for preserving dying languages. There is something intriguing about the use of technologies to preserve culture and language. I'm not quite sure where to do with that yet, but I think there is potential to explore the relationship between and responsibility of modernity and history. 

 

[Dan Thalkar]

Linda,

Thank you for sharing your personal connections and additional research sources. You raise several interesting points. I am particularly interested in the survival & decline of indigenous languages, particularly amongst families living in English-dominant societies. When English and Spanish are the main forms of communication, how do indigenous languages survive? How are they changed? What systems and structures, consciously or otherwise, work towards their erasure? There's a lot to explore there, both within our current global context and throughout most of history. 

[Kim Leng]

Hi Marco,

This economy is a tough one.  Southern California has become an increasingly expensive place to live.  My friend once took an extra job to supplement his income and I had to do the tough math with him.  All the traveling, gas for traveling, and tax taken off equal to too much effort for too little financial reward. It was hardly economic growth and definitely not economic development. He was better off spending less money on certain items than going to this other job.  I recommended that he quit and just cut his Starbucks spending and such.

I’m so happy to read that you’re spending more time with your family.  Congrats on almost earing all the CEUs! As I’m getting older, I realized that time is very precious.  You can always make more money, but as far as I know…you cannot buy time. 

[Dennis O'Connell]

My students have looked at comparing and contrasting throughout the school year.  They know how to compare and contrast common things like frogs and toads.  They grew into comparing and contrasting different stories on similar topics.  Additionally, they compared and contrasted a book (after reading it together as a class) and a movie (after watching it together in class).  Now, with a resource provided by Clay Dube (https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d414f3241544e79457a6333566d54/index.html), I would like my students to see that the skill of comparing and contrasting is one used even by adults and can be used to look at different cultures even centuries ago.  The short news clip used in conjunction with the online article and photographs will lead to a nice discussion about how adults can use this same skill they have been learning this year!

 

 

[Dan Thalkar]

Ricardo,

You raise some extremely interesting questions, and I can see them coming to life in a high school classroom. Examing what makes a religion, cult, sect, by using case studies and student experiences would develop a treasury of context, which you could then use in questioning how these movements develop and interact with the government. This historical example is both foreign and relatable enough that it could provide a strong case study. 

 

[Dennis O'Connell]

I am currently a graduate student pursuing a Masters in Linguistics and Ancient Languages.  Being new to this field, I am learning new and facinating things all the time.  For one, it surprises me that there are thousands of oral languages in the world which have never been written down.  It is one of my dreams to go into one of these cultural areas, spend time listening to the language, record it using the International Phonetic Alphabet, and perhaps design a script for the language.  Getting a language into writing allows the transmission of so much cultural heritage which would otherwise be lost over time.  

With this background knowledge, I was intrigued to read the article "The Manchu Language is Nearly Extinct".  According to this article, the Manchus ruled China and utilized their own language for all official business during the Qing Dynasty.  This language has a phonetic script which is radically different from languages like Mandarin Chinese.  Yet, despite the heights of power to which this language ascended, it to is on the verge of extinction.  Currently, only about one hundred people can even read the classical Manchu language fluently.  Should this language be allowed to die out? Are there reasons to keep the language "alive"?  Unlike the oral languages to which I referred above, Manchu has lots of documents written in the language, but never translated into other languages.  What family histories could these documents contain?  What knowledge about traditional medicines could be lost if readers of Manchu are allowed to pass away before they have translated these documents?  What other cultural knowledge is lost when a language dies out?  

As a budding linguist, I do not have easy answers to these questions, but I do know that the answers to these questions as they relate to Manchu will have even greater implications for oral languages which exist today.  If a powerful language like Manchu, which already has a written script and rich documental archives in existence is allowed to fade away, what hope do people groups in other parts of the world with dwindling populations have that their languages will be allowed to survive?  

[Tiffany Chang]

I am now part of the population that has googled, "Yanxi Palace" to see the reviews by fans and critics. Any Cinderella type plot is always a fun watch, but I am intrigued by how they will portray women in the imperial court considering it is a female dominant cast. In our household growing up, my grandparents probably watched the entire archive of Chinese period dramas and that attributed to how I learned to understand Mandarin. Sounds like something I will watch as my summer vacation is about to begin! 

[Amy Chen]

I also found the lawyer's attitude toward the Machu language unsettling. MInority ethnic groups are so often disregarded when looking at history. Like you stated, language is such an integral part of culture. Some type of research paper to find how many dying languages and what is being done to preserve them would be a good assignment to give my students.

[Amy Chen]

Dennis, the questions you ask would make an interesting lesson for high school students or maybe even 8th graders. I know my 6th graders might not be able to understand the moral issues that rise when drug trade becomes extreme. I would, however, ask them about how tea trade affected the relationship between China and the UK.

[Author]

Posts