Session 6 (11/4) - Revolution and Nation Building in China

[clay dube]

Susie makes an important point that this is bureaucratic, with the potential advantages of standard and performance reviews. But it glosses over the importance of connections and opportunities. (Xi, for example, is a princeling. The premier Li Keqiang came from an official family, but not from exalted status. Li had the backing of the Communist Youth League network.) What is most important in this is that the decisions are all made by those above you, not below, so you know who you need to please and who you owe loyalty to.

[clay dube]

Jennifer makes a good point about seizing the space available to you. Mao, in stressing the countryside, played to a strength he had. All the other CCP leaders were urbanites. Mao was well-read, but had rural origins. He saw opportunities working in the countryside that others, wedded to Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy that revolution was to come from the urban proletariat, did not.

[clay dube]

I agree with Betsy that Thomas's idea of comparing the hukou system with tracking may work with students. It is about all the inequalities that exist -- resources, life chances, and so on.

[clay dube]

The cards are all from propaganda posters and would be good tools for slogans. Slogans are great tools to pound home ideas. Many in China utilize numbers (4 olds, 9 evils).

[Brigid Schmidt]

The card I chose to use is the 3 of Clubs. I love the water and boating, so that one stood out to me. This card reminded me on traveling on the river in Thailand to get from place to place rather than on foot or by vehicle. I am not certain they are using the boat for transportation, but it looks like they are. It seems like they have letters to deliver, so mabe this is a mail delivery boat. These letters could possibly be mail for soldiers. They appear to be happy to have the letters to deliver. These playing cards could be a fun activity to have my students write a story based on their chosen playing card. They could get creative and use descriptive detail to make their stories come alive from the card. 

[clay dube]

Hi Brigid, -- good work. They are militia members and are delivering warmth through the gifts they bring (with a spring breeze), perhaps delivering them to other defenders or to villagers or fishermen and women.

[Tara Corral]

The goal of the Nationalist and Communist parties was to unify China under Chinese rule. They wanted to make China a stronger and more powerful country without less foreign rule, specifically from the other growing power, Japan. Both parties were also influenced by the Soviets in Russia, and followed the same ideas as the Russians. In the end the Communists were backed by the Russians and were able to push out the Nationalist party who was backed by the Americans but did not receive the same support as the Communists.

I think after the Communists have gained power their shift in attention would be to creating a unified country. I think they would focus on attempting to create an equal opportunities country that is completely different from the time of war lords. I also think their goal is to motivate the rest of China to support communism and remove any remaining Nationalists

[Tara Corral]

In this playing card we can see a grandma/grandpa with his grandkids. The granddaughter stands to the side watching before she continues to do the chores with a pale in her hand. The Grandson stands in front of the grandparent proud with a hand on his hip as his grandparent fixes his communist attire.  The whole scene shows support for the communist with a calendar in the back, and a group of kids outside with a red scarf in the air. 

I think this card targets the family especially younger kids, explaining how they can make their family proud. You can see there is a strong support for duty whether thats in the army or doing your part for the family. The little girl is a perfect example as she looks like she is in the middle of helping with chores. I dont see any particular act condemned but I do notice as of right now the little outfit is only for the boy and the girls picutured in the background or his sister. 

[Tara Corral]

If we look at how the Chinese Communist Party is ran with a Top to Bottom rule of power and compare it to the US's three branches of government like Tom mentioned we can see that their is multiple opportunities to check the use of power. I think we can even compare what a President would like to do in the US  and what they can do in China. If we look at certain state rules that have been put in place in China we can see how they are able to get away with laws that would infringe on our Freedoms. Specifically wwe see how Hukou Cards restricted the movement of individuals. 

 

[Tara Corral]

I think a follow up to that and how to help students understand why Communism prevails is to look at the way these members are able to move up through the government. A lot of support comes from the Communists Party and many people may see the communist party as a means to success. I think a neat way to allow students to understand this and help them would be to have them role play being citizens in China. Separate the students into two groups and have one group make choices that favor communism and see how much of a better quality of life that groups has.  It would also be important to have two or three students acting as high up members in Communist party who support the group. It would be interesting to see how students react when one members react poorly and it affects how everyone else sees them.  

[Brigid Schmidt]

Using Red Scarf Girl is a great idea. I read the book in the spring when I was taking a class on Human Rights. I received the book (attached) Teaching Red Scarf Girl to go along with the memoir of Ji-li Jiang. I really like the resource because it gives examples for students to connect themes from the past to the present events and even to events they might have experienced. Memoirs provide a unique, personal window into the past through the eye's of someone else. Students learn that this is one person's perspective but view it more personally than just reading facts about the time period or the events. The book breaks down each chapter, discusses vocabulary, essential questions, important quotes, and extensions. It is a phenomenal tool if your class is reading this memoir or even just sections of it. 

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[Zoey McKinney]

This has me thinking again about comparing the US system of government with those from other countries. In another discussion I talked about the value of looking at other democratic systems, like Japan, so that students can see that there is more than one way to do things. China's system is very different than ours - Thomas pointed out the top down structure vs. our checks and balances. It is also a one-party system instead of our two-party system. It would be interesting to have students argue the pros and cons of different systems to figure out why each one exists. Who do they benefit? Which ones are more efficient? More equitable? Offer the most opportunity? It is very easy to point out the flaws in other countries' government systems, especially those that are extremely different from our own democracy, so I think looking for nuance and taking different perspectives to examine the reasons these systems came to be and have been perpetuated would be a valuable lesson.

[Maria Cardenas]

Yes, I believe they all feel pride in their country. They do seem to be targeting families and kind of representing we are all in this together. Like everybody has a job in the party, regardless of gender, age, wealth, etc. I was going to describe this image too, it caught my attention because they all look happy. Even the girl that is holding like a water bucket. 

This reminds me of the red scarves children wear in North Korea. I saw the image in one of Professor Jung's Korea presentation. 

Here is an article that shows images of North Korean children with the red scarves. The article goes on to state that young children are indoctine into the party.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2307937/North-Korea-Haunting-images-indoctrination-ceremony-communist-cult-leaders-threatening-nuclear-war-poisoning-generation.html

[Maria Cardenas]

I chose 5 of Clubs card on the second page. It shows a flower field with yellow flowers. You have a women(in pink) that I believe is the main focus and she is holding a communication device (maybe a hand speaker/loud speaker). I belive she is saying something to the rest of the people in the card. Another person in yellow, I believe may be trying to hear what other may be saying so maybe like a spy. A soldier is talking to a farmer. You have three people running and I think they may have been trying to camouflauge because they seem to have some leaves on their head. I don't think the runners have any weapons so maybe they are running away from danger.'

The image on this card is very interesting because you see women in a role of control because a women is the one that is making the comments or giving the messages. Then you have others that seem to be following what she said. It is not only men that the government wanted involve with the party/government but everybody. 

[Maria Cardenas]

Just like how others have said they could use the cards in their classess, I believe I can too. In my case the cards can be use in order for students to describe a scenario demonstrating one of the five themes of geography. We can begin with a warm up/Do Now, that asks students questions like: What do you notice? (were they are describing what they see in the picture). Then we can analyze a few cards together as a class and explain which theme we can use, location, movement, human-environment interaction, place, or region and describe the scenario to the theme. Next they can partner up and work together, describing what they see and wriign an explanation that includes one of the themes. Finally they can be assigned one card each were they can show their understanding of the themes. 

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