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Home › Forums › Summer Institutes › Crossing Boundaries in East Asia, Summer 2020 › Session 3 (August 3) - Dru Gladney, Pomona College
Juana Evink.
Joseph Kenneythe 2 pdfs regarding bri will deepen my understanding as i incorporate the info into my crossingboundaries2020 unit.
Joseph Kenneyhi, i share your thoughts. this session was a definite eye opener
Mike HagiwaraIn the Tontev article about the BRI after Covid, he introduces and discusses the idea of an over-reliance on China in the world economy. He mentions that the Covid-19 outbreak has exposed the dangers of having too-close a relationship with China and that maybe it's time for countries to approach China with a degree of cynicism. My opinion is that this skeptcism will be short-lived; right now the world is looking for someone to blame for this virus and it's easy to just put China in the crosshairs. In the short-term there is no doubt that China will suffer financial drawbacks due to its unemployment and reduced exports, which may also temporarily halt certain BRI programs, but once the pandemic has drawn back to more controllable levels Chinese goods will once again make their way into the marketplace. The world's reliance on China is a double-edged sword; we want to support our countries own economies by buying local/regional products, but at the same time we don't want to pay twice the price for them, which is why we end up going to Daiso where essentially everything is less than $3.
Mike HagiwaraAgreed Cindy! I always thought of China as a very homogeneous country with little or no discrimination. Several years back we had a history teacher on our staff who was of Uyghur-descent and I didn't really think much of it because I didn't know the history of the Uyghur people; had I known a bit more back then, I would have definitely talked to her about it. In recent years I've also heard of Uyghur cuisine also making its way into the L.A. food scene. I've been interested in visiting one of these restaurants in the city of Alhambra. If anyone has been, or has other suggestions, let me know!
Maria CardenasI believe countries that rely on China won't be criticizing or going against China. Yes, at the moment countries and people may be upset with the Chinese because of the pandemic. But like you said once it gets better people will be going back to how things were. Some of the countries who benefit from China's BRI wont decline t the help provided. Since some of these countries do not recevie monetary help from other of the developed countries. Like in the discussion we had on Monday, countries like Israel and Italy are making deals with China regardless of what the United States wants.
Shane MarkowitzThese are great Rebecca! China has really expanded this entire propaganda vehicle in recent years and started to employ hip hop stars as a key pillar of these efforts. It seems that if popular music artists want to continue their careers, they need to occasionally produce these videos for the government and promote values that cohere with the visions of Xi Jinping. A central target of these English-language videos is, in fact, the domestic audience even if the lyrics cannot be understood. It is presumed that if material is being produced in English, then China is gaining global respect.
They had this one on the "Two Sessions" which was widely panned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OT1Re6GrSg
More on Two Sessions: https://qz.com/1564366/chinas-two-sessions-meeting-has-a-own-rap-theme-song/
More on how Chinese rap artists are modifying lyrics to appeal to Chinese government: https://qz.com/1183806/chinese-rappers-fearful-of-authorities-are-cleaning-up-their-lyrics/
Why hip hop scares the Chinese Communist Party: https://www.economist.com/china/2018/01/25/why-hip-hop-scares-the-chinese-communist-party
Shane MarkowitzHello Ray! I'm still in Bratislava (seventh year coming up). There's really not much diversity at my school at all, unfortunately, as it's not an international school. Been teaching about the Uyghurs for three years now. Another option I began incorporating last year is this article highlighting Uyghur poetry: https://supchina.com/2019/03/06/uyghur-poets-respond-to-the-disappearance-of-their-relatives/
Students can categorize some of the themes that come up in the poems, compare/contrast them, and discuss the poem they empathize most with.
Perhaps a way to bring it home for students is this recent news on the global fashion industry: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jul/23/virtually-entire-fashion-industry-complicit-in-uighur-forced-labour-say-rights-groups-china
What topics come up in your World History teaching?
Please do feel free to modify any lessons and make them your own!
Cheryl WatsonHere are some recent articles and video regarding conditions within the "re-education camps" in Xianjing, China.
https://news.yahoo.com/uighur-man-recorded-life-inside-094559396.html
Rebecca BlankenshipThe videos are from a NCTA class I took through University of Washington a few years ago. When I use them in class we talk about US cultural defintions of time and Chinese definitions of time. How perhaps China is play for the longer game in mind to use soft power to have English speaking children grow up feeling positively about China and the BRI.
Rebecca BlankenshipThese rap videos are great. I think I could create a whole unit on propagada music. I have some Russian favorite that I would use in addition to these Chinese ones such as A Man Like Putin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk_VszbZa_s and the Russian World Cup song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEkNFao5IdU from 2018. My student have a field day with these.
Brigid SchmidtI agree with you, Alma. I still have so many questions about these camps and I listened to a few lectures on them. In reading more about this, I saw that "Chinese authorities may have detained hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million, Uyghurs, Kazaks, Kyrgyz, and other ethnic Turkic Muslims, and Christians as well." I decided to watch the BBC video Catherine shared during class. I was surprised that journalists were even allowed in there with recording equipment and to interview people. They said that China wants the world to think they are not prisoners, but students being guided away from extremism. Even still, many people are being sent to these high security facilities that look like prisons. When a young man was asked if he was a prisoner, he said no and that he was there because he had "weak awareness of the law and was influenced by extremism and terrorism." However, a different woman interviewed said if you speak out, you will be sent to a worse place. She said when she was there, her legs were cuffed for a few days and a baton struck her. One of the "teachers" kept insisting that it was not a prison because you could paint there! He said they learn painting, Mandarin, singing, and skills. They study Chinese communism there and have no idea how long they will be there. I have a hard time understanding how this is happening in modern society. It is really heartbreaking. Where are their human rights?
Marina ForbesI noticed that Dr. Gladney used a variety of maps and other reference materials in different languages, and I was wondering how many languages he spoke. Wikipedia states that Dr. Gladney’s research languages include Mandarin Chinese, Turkish, Uyghur, Uzbek, Kazakh and Russian.
Marina ForbesI wanted to learn more about the Chinese Sinbad, Zheng He (1371-1433) and his Seven Voyages which were very well documented.
Dr. Gladney mentioned that the dramatization of these voyages, which signify very important time of the Chinese history, was part of the opening reception of the Olympic Games hosted by China in 2008 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bufV3EgyPGU). I somehow missed that episode when I was watching the Olympics back in 2008. I was glad that I had a chance to watch it again. This episode could be a great visual and very impressive conversation starter to introduce my students to Zhen He.
By 1405 CE Zheng He was an admiral in the imperial fleet, and he was selected by the Emperor to lead a fleet across the Indian Ocean to explore the possibilities of new tributary states and bring them into the sphere of Chinese influence. A massive fleet of 317 ships had been under construction since 1403 CE and included 62 baochuan, then the largest ships in the world. These Chinese junks, also known as ‘treasure ships’, were perhaps up to 55 meters in length and 8.5 meters in width (although the exact dimensions are disputed amongst historians).” The junks Zheng had in his fleet would not have been significantly different from those described as follows by the famed Muslim traveler from Tangier Ibn Battuta (1304 - c. 1368 CE):
The large ships have between 3 and 12 sails made of bamboo rods plaited like mats. A ship carries a complement of a thousand men…The vessel has four decks and contains rooms, cabins and salons for merchants. (quoted in Brinkley, 170)
Many of the vessels, built at the shipyards of Nanjing, were equipped with such innovations as water-tight compartments, sternpost rudders, magnetic compasses and paper charts and maps. The ships were packed with fresh water, food supplies, and Chinese luxury goods intended to woo foreign rulers into displaying their appreciation of the Ming dynasty’s obvious wealth and power by sending back to China their own riches in tribute. Goods shipped out included silk, tea, painted scrolls, gold and silver objects, textiles, carved and manufactured goods, and fine Ming porcelain. There was space, too, for a huge number of personnel: estimates range from 20,000 up to 32,000 expedition members on the first voyage. These included diplomats, medical officers, astrologers, ship’s crews, and military personnel which, along with canons, bombs, and rockets, ensured the expedition could ably defend itself wherever it ventured. “(https://www.ancient.eu/article/1334/the-seven-voyages-of-zheng-he/ ).
Marina ForbesI’ve never heard about the term East Turkestan before. But I am very familiar with the term Turkestan.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, a Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkestan ASSR) within the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic was created in Soviet Central Asia (excluding modern-day Kazakhstan). After the foundation of the Soviet Union it was split into the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmenistan) and Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbekistan) in 1924. The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajikistan) was formed out of part of the Uzbek SSR in 1929, and in 1936 the Kyrgyz SSR (Kyrgyzstan) was separated from Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, these republics gained their independence.
To look at one of the stories of Turkestan, I would recommend a great movie White Sun of the Desert made in 1970 in Soviet Union, which is considered one of the best Russian movies of the 20th century. It is still one of the most popular movies of all time in Russia, where it has attained the status of a classic. Many quotes from this movie became the popular sayings everybody knows by heart.
This film is watched by Russian cosmonauts before the space launches as a good luck ritual.
White Sun of the Desert is a 'Eastern' film of the Soviet Union. Its blend of action, comedy, music and drama, as well as memorable quotes, made it highly successful at the Russian box-office, and it retains high domestic approval. In 1998 was it awarded the state prize, being recognized for its cultural significance.
Its main theme song, "Your Noble Highness Lady Fortune" became a hit.
The movie setting is in Turkestan. There’s an on-going desert fight between a Red Army cavalry unit and Basmachi guerrillas. The Red Army soldier Fyodor Sukhov is walking through the Central Asian desert going home after being released from the hospital. He finds Sayid buried in the sand for slow dying. Sukhov frees Sayid (an austere Central Asian), and they strike a friendly but reticent relationship. Sayid will come to Sukhov's rescue in sticky situations throughout the movie. The cavalry unit commander leaves to Sukhov the harem, which was abandoned by the Basmachi leader, and Sukhov will provide a temporary protection to the "Liberated Women of the East".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqnqFhc9aho&list=PL5lgFcJGTA-3nbrQSqJvtBuibIavIiKp3
Brigid SchmidtTonchev's article points out that the pandemic has exposed weaknesses and risks of global interconnectedness which will obviously affect China's BRI. He states that "The outbreak has brought Chinese labor supplies and equipment imports along BRI routes down to a trickle." This is undoubedtly scary for the future of the BRI, but Tonchev thinks it will be short-term and that projects will pick up. While I agree with Mike and Maria when they say countries will probably you back to "normal" as some point, I do wonder if this is a larger push to buy local and products made closer to home. Will there be more skeptism from other countries as the pandemic lessens? I think this is a big possibility.