Session 3 (August 3) - Dru Gladney, Pomona College

[Jonathan Tam]

Much like the United States - when we think about China, there are certain images that come to mind from pandas to large pagodas. And then there’s the less known parts of China which this seminar touches on are perhaps less known for a reason. The pursuit of a united China has long existed for quite some time - from arguably the era of dynasties. And yet for as long as attempts have been made, a united China has never fully brought together all cultures and ethnicities. The history of the Uyghur people and their long fight to be recognized as a people of the region is a story that I think more folks need to hear. And especially as medai brings to light more of this issue - I really liked the implications that Dr. Gladney suggests as well as his perception of the issue from both the Chinese, Muslim and even Western World because what seems more different is that there are so many influences on the issue now from revolutions happening on other sides of the world to the stance of other nations that actively trade with China.

The tension seems to only be thickening with the Belt and Road Initiative, which will build through much of these territories for the first time from East China to West China and countries in Europe. Beyond the cultural controversy, there are a ton of other controversies like the environmental (which was the topic of a previous curriculum project of mine) and labor-related implications that the construction would bring. Dr. Gladney also brings to light that the project doesn’t necessarily support local needs and has severely lacked transparency (and perhaps seems pretty harmless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0lJc3PMNIg).

[Juana Evink]

I found the videos by Professor Gladney, interesting in regards to the many miniorities and Muslim population in China. I was aware that there was a small Muslim population as well as Christians in China, but never really thought about the social and cultural tensions between Chinese Muslims anf the government. He mentions that the Hui are Chinese speaking Muslims, and must learn Arabic or Perisan to learn the Quran. They have lived in China for centuries, dating back to the Silk road era. I founded it interested how the U.S. has being involved in the Uyghur human rights, and  the problems that Anti-Islam detention camps have caused. Also, how the Silk Road is considered the begining of civilization, and that a chinese explorer discover what is now Amerca in 1421. The Silk Road crossed many boundaries and the new version is set to do the same thing, by opening trade routes with many countries and China.

In the second part of the video, he discussed in more detail the Belt and Road Initiative, which involves milions of dollars in new projects in 100 countries. He aslo mentions how this initiative has cased number of problems like enviromental, economic, lack of transparencey, and potental for corruption. One idea that resonated wth me is that as teachers we should try to built bridges and not wall. I think it's important to help our students to develop critical thinking skills as well as open mind towards other cultures.

[Brigid Schmidt]

Hi Jessica, 

Thanks for sharing the article above. I didn’t know too much about Chinese Jews prior to Dr. Gladney’s lectures. However, I do touch on the Silk Road history with my students and we discuss the sharing of ideas, beliefs, and goods along the Silk Road. The article would be great to share with my students. I think it would be beneficial to hear from someone they can relate to rather than all their information being from the textbook. Thanks!

[Shane Markowitz]

This was a very stimulating set of resources. I incorporate both the BRI and the Uyghur plight in my classes and will definitely integrate some of the great maps shared in the lectures. The spread of Islam, like Buddhism, is yet another topic that can be examined as part of the Silk Road. This BBC documentary helps draw out some of the points made by Professor Gladney on the importance of this route for the BRI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhb8tfu7m1c

A few of the questions that I explore with my students on BRI include:

Why are countries turning to China for loans to support infrastructure and not to other options?

Why do some analysts call it a "win-win" situation for China? What are criticisms towards the projects?

Why haven't the US and the EU likely invested more into their own BRIs? Should the US and EU invest more in this game?

On Uighurs, this BBC video is helpful for students to understand how they work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmId2ZP3h0c

This Atlantic video also explores the situation of Uyghur refugees living in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtYyAP67k60

Uyghur poetry: https://supchina.com/2019/03/06/uyghur-poets-respond-to-the-disappearance-of-their-relatives/

A couple questions:

Is it ethical to purchase goods made in China in light of the plight of Uyghurs and other groups (e.g. Tibet, Hong Kong)? 

To what extent do we have a responsibility as a society to intervene to protect oppressed populations when governments like China commit grave abuses against particular minority groups?

I've prepared a couple lessons here:

Uighurs: https://speciety.wixsite.com/speciety/post/geography-lesson-plan-minorities-in-china-and-the-plight-of-the-uighurs

BRI: https://speciety.wixsite.com/speciety/post/geography-lesson-plan-examining-china-s-new-silk-road

[Maria Cardenas]

I remember hearing about re-education camps in China for minorities in the news a while back Reading about Uyghur and what they experience in China was very upsetting. The re-education camps from China reminded me about the diffferent prisons that North Korea has and North Koreans also get re-educated for some of the crimes. China is doing what has been done by other countries in the past to their own citizens. 

Like what others have been saying I found it intersting that China has so many ethnic groups. I don't know why I just assumed they were all the same. The article provides a brief description about the ethnic groups of China and it also provides a table with the different ethnic groups. https://guides.lib.unc.edu/china_ethnic/statistics

I believe this session's sources can be used with the teaching about the "Silk Road" and make a connection to the present with what China is doing with his Belt and Road Initiative. In a World History class students can present current events about what is happening in China today.   

[Alma Ochoa]

Cristina, I am with you; I really don’t understand why they are being separated into camps.  What exactly is it that they are being re-educated?  During today’s class I didn’t find the answers the discussion on this topic satisfying.  I also, find it horrible that women are being sterilized.  I will be doing more research on the topic but I don’t think I will ever fully understand or accept the forced segregation of groups of people as well as their forced labor. 

[Shane Markowitz]

An engaging discussion - a major question here is how do you build the type of trust and cooperation that Professor Gladney spoke of when there are outstanding issues like what's happening in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong? Notwithstanding the current US administration using China to scapegoat and distract and even promote xenophobic/racist attitudes, is closer cooperation, nonetheless, feasible at the government level even in a less politically motivated administration? We should definitely all hope for more cooperation over the long-term as it means shared rewards that come out of development and education. At the same time, is there a certain point where it morally becomes untenable to pursue economic cooperation over human rights promotion? Is it plausible to prioritize both simultaneously?

One more resource, a really great read on the Uyghur situation (particularly striking in elaborating on how Uyghurs have adopted an entire new vocabularly that involves using euphemisms and metaphors on the reeducation camps): https://livingotherwise.com/2018/07/31/happiest-muslims-world-coping-happiness/

[Rebecca Blankenship]

I spend alot of time with the BRI as well with my students.  One of the really fun things to unpack are these videos.  Belt and Road Bedtime Storieshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKhYFFLBaeQ&list=PL9L-IThOGSxTeILrN0FUbuq3Vdadsn1wN The Belt and Road Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KFBHBMatXk Everything You Need to Know about One Belt One Road which is my favorite - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLBoom8M8Vw  These spark really interesting conversation with students about who the intended audience is and what is the purpose of these English language kids clips.  It is actually how I introduce POV and Soapstone to my students.   I teach middle school and they often miss the fact that CGTN is State Run Media.  Which begs the question why is the Chinese government trying to get English speaking youth to feel postive about BRI?  Develop soft power?  Kids often feel they have so little agency. When they realize there is big power and money involved in swaying thier opinion, they start to pay more attention to the messages coming their way. 

[Juana Evink]

Professor Gladney goes in detail regarding China the Uyghur and the spread of radical Islam in the first reading and on the different Muslims minorities in living in China. I found it interesting and scary how China is sending its citizens to "re-eduation camps," due to fear of Chinese islamophobia and the rise of ISIS in the Middle East.I learned that the largest Muslim minority are the Hui and the Ugyhur are the ones who want a separate state and  are more prone to radical Islam  ideas. As minority they want more religious autonomy, and free practice of religion.

In the second reading he warns China of the dangers of failing to accomodate Muslim minorities can lead to national dismemberment and international intevention like it did in Africa. He states that Muslims oin China whether Ugyhur or Hui, are Muslims first and Chinese citizrns lasts. This could be part of the reason why the Chinese government is concerned abput the spread of radical Islam and sent poeple to "re-education" camps. Either way Chinese Muslims deserve to live in peace and practice their religion freely.

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

I really enjoyed watching the video lectures, gathering more details in the readings, and hearing Dr. Gladney speak in greater detail today on Zoom.  Aside from hearing about the autrocities happening to Uyghurs in China, I had not spent much time learning about the history and experiences of Muslims in China.  As Dr. Gladney mentioned in one of the videos, there is a very limited view of China that many people have unless they have studied China in depth--usually one that focuses on the experiences of the Han majority or major historical events or sites.  I appreciated the opportunity to expand my own understanding of the diversity of China and the parallels that it has with the experiences of the white majority in the USA vs. the minorities.  I was amazed to hear that there are 56 recognized minorities in China, along with the 400+ other groups that applied for government recognition.  As he mentioned, although China wants to be a unified nation state, it is more of an empire with diverse cultures, langauges, and religions that were acquired with the expansion of its borders.  When I went on a "China Highlights" tour in 2008, all the highlights that they showed us were the typical things that you think of when you think of China: Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, the Yellow River, Hangzhou, Suzhou, silk factories, cloissone factories, tea farms, pagodas, temples, etc.  But we were never brought to any mosques or other minority commununities.  

In thinking about how I could incorporate this into my ESOL curriculum, I think that my high school students may be interested in learning about the old Silk Rd vs. the "New Silk Road" to incorporate academic vocabulary about migration, commerce, and globalization.  Another connection I could have them make is to compare the demographics of ethnic groups in China vs. the USA.  I could also have them watch videos about the Uyghurs (with English subtitles) in order to have them practice listening and reading.  To follow up, they could do a speaking or writing activity to describe their reactions to the situations of Uyghurs and to form tand expresss their own opinion about the actions that the Chinese government is taking toward this minority group in China.  

[Cheryl Watson]

Thank you Professor Dru C. Gladney for your video presentations, as well as your presentation on Monday, August 3, 2020. China appears to be experiencing expansion pangs as it boldly implements its Belt and Road Initiative. In some ways, it appears to be a land grab for greater Asia as it makes incursions into regions that border India, Pakistan (?), Afghanistan, Nepal and possible Bhutan (?). COVID -19 all but put a stop to economic expansion as many countries retreat from their heavy dependence on China. India, for instance, has developed its own platform to replace China's "TIK TOK" app. Just as its ten year economic ascention, through its own Industrial Revolution, surpassed that of the United States (our Industrial Revolution took about twenty five years), it too, must reckon with unforseen circumstances such as a global pandemic. Even as China uses contact tracing and facial recognition as a means to "check" the spread of the virus, the CCP did not overlook this opportunity to "clamp down" on Hong Kong protestors and its pro-democracy organizers. Many of whom sought safety outside of Hong Kong and China. 

In this reading, Professor Gladney opines that China must take note that ignoring Chinese Muslims may lead to a Kosovo/Bosnian conflict which required "international intervention and national dismemberment". On this point, I opine that the Kosovo/Bosnian conflict was a result of decades long repressed nationalism which could not find and expression under Communist rule. Once the Iron Curtain lifted, cultural, religious and nationalistic pursuits took their form in protracted armed conflict, and later, nation states. 

There may be a way for China and its government, "to factor in ethnic expression, ...while accomodating Chinese culture and state authority." At the same time, Muslim minorities need to "reconcile dictates of Islam in the shifting contexts of sociohistorial  settings". 

As the USSR eventually divided along ethnic and national lines, which were created by the Soviet Union, so China must contend with its Muslim minorities while allowing for Muslim accomodation, since it is natural for  nation states to form based on ethnicity and religion. 

 

If China is to avoid a KOSOVO/BOSNIAN conflict, they must implement "new approaches to resolve ethnic -religious confllicts" ...from a heavy handed centralized Marxist approach to something more conciliatory. Perhaps a Chinese commonwealth for Muslim minorities

within China?  Persecution often leads to call for "...nationalism (as a)... unifying ideology" according to Professor Gladney.

Overall, China must reassess its approach through its Belt and Road Initiative as attempts to secure land or maritime ports along its' SILK ROAD may instigate conflicts and push anticipated allies towards the EU or the US. 

Of note are the defense or tightening of borders by countries who share land with China, namely: Bhutan (?), Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan (who does not want a repeat of a superpower invasion with China as they experienced with Russia). In addition, Africa has scaled back Chinese infrastructure projects as reprisal for China's discrimination against Africans who reside or work in China. India has begun to form new alliances with nations other than China, while some southeast Asian countries invite the US to exercise soft power through education and training programs.

[Cheryl Watson]

Natalie,

I find that many of my students would see similarities between how minorities in China are treated as compared to minority communities in the United States. It would lend itself as a great economic lesson and debate about how minorities fare economically as compared to the majority population in which they reside.

[Natalie Lau-Chien]

Becky, thanks so much for sharing these videos.  Just curious, how did you come across them?  They were very entertaining to watch and I can definitely use these with my highschool and middle school ESOL students.  I'm also curious why the Chinese government wants English speaking youth (or Chinese youth, if they read the subtitles) to buy into the BRI?  Do they think that they will talk about it with their parents?  Maybe they want to educate the youth now so that when they grow older they will already have knowledge about the value of these initiatives?  I'm also curious if all of the youth involved even understood what they were singing about and the BRI.  I think that the way that you're using it to show POV (and biases in media) is great!  I also just googled SOAPSTone and think the videos also align very well.  Thanks again for sharing! 

 

[Cheryl Watson]

Juana,

China has to be more conciliatory towards its Muslim population as continued oppression may lead to armed conflict and large scale rebellion. Now that China has had to pause its expansion of the BRI to focus on internal concerns and unrest, perhaps it will reconsider how China's Muslims factor in "...the shifting context of Islam..." in a Chinese setting.

[Cheryl Watson]

Shane,

 

Thank you for the plethora of resources! It is greatly appreciated.

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