session 11/12 - 12/5 east asia at the center

[clay dube]

Hi Everyone,
This final discussion session at 5 pm on Monday, Dec. 5 is a chance for us to talk about East Asia today and to discuss how you plan to bring modern East Asian history and contemporary East Asia into one or more of the courses you teach. Please draw upon the news sources below to post a short (50-150 words) note discussing an issue you read about. Please include links to the news sources you consulted. You may discuss ANY East Asia-related topic of your choosing and are welcome to consult sources beyond those listed below.

The seminar requirements are here. Please take a moment to brainstorm on what you'd like to do for your curriculum project. Those projects need to be submitted by January 9, 2023 in order to be eligible for salary point or continuing education credit. You should post your projects to: https://china.usc.edu/k12/forums/forums/lesson-plans. Please title your post with the curriculum topic and grade level (e.g., Tensions in Qing China AP World History or Divided Korea World History or Change in Japan as Seen in Wood Block Prints World History or Japanese Society Elementary Social Studies and Art or ???).

Some English language news resources for East Asia (some completely open, some provide several articles free, some require free registration to access articles):

Associated Press
Reuters
BBC
Bloomberg

Asian News Organizations
Nikkei Asia
Xinhua (state media)
NHK (state media)
Focus Taiwan (state media)
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong Free Press
Korea Central News Agency (DPRK state media, but site maintained outside non-DPRK by non-DPRK organization)
Korean newspapers (links to English pages)

 

 

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[Denis Vovchenko]

Western Hypocrisy?

 It seems that there is a slant in the Western coverage of anti-lockdown protests we see in China now. When NPR or BBC commented on anti-lockdown protests in the EU in 2020-2021, they were either neutral or negative towards the demonstrators as selfish unreasonable social deviants. In contrast, the reactions to the anti-shutdown protests in China are shockingly biased in favor of the protesters. While the calls for resignation of various incumbent EU leaders were downplayed, there appears to be an exaggeration of the political nature of the demands put forward by Chinese demonstrators. Last week, from the height of his supreme authority, Clay explained that political demands were minimal and that the 1989 comparison was off target (if I remember correctly). What do you think?

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/21/979653125/protesters-across-europe-clash-with-police-over-covid-19-lockdowns

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56222942

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-63781250

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/04/1140641522/pooh-china-lockdown-protests

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/China-COVID-protests-mark-biggest-act-of-resistance-in-decades

 

[Molly Cowan Johnson]

I think it is interesting you are comparing the two protests, I don't really see them as the same. The cultural values both eastern and western play a huge role in both these protests, plus the anti-communist bias the west has when covering anything communist related. The western value of individualism bite us in the butt quick hard during the pandemic since many clearly don't care about public health until it is their health and they don't want a government mandating what they can and cannot do with their body *cough*. Plus of course anything western is going to be anti-communist! I usually use Ho Chi Minh as an example in my classes because when you really study Ho Chi Minh, he wanted independence for his country and he would do what was necessary to get it. The US had the chance to help but the US government chose imperialism instead. We got over our anti-communist sentiment a little bit when it comes to trade but politically? No. 

I know the catelyst for the protests in China are about the Zero Covid policy but I don't think the policies they are protesting are the same level as many lock downs in the west. I'm not sure what your life was like during Lock Down but I could still walk out my front door, and run errands I just had to wear a mask and couldn't eat in a resturant. 

[Molly Cowan Johnson]

I guess a lot of my questions here at the end focus on the future. I firmly believe that people will get to a point where enough is enough and they will rebel and create a 'better' government. Hello Iran. I'm not sure you, Professor, can answer some of these but I'd like to pick your brain. 

How much do we know for a fact goes on in North Korea? How much do the people know? Do Koreans really want a unified country? Does it matter at this point or in the next generation or after? My 16 year old Korean American student, it was her grandparents who immigrated here from Korea...what happens when all those people are gone?

Hong Kong....what is happening these days? We had this massive protests and then it like fell off the radar? 

Japan - population decline. What are they doing to try and remedy the fact they are basically going extinct? 

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