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AnonymousThe Chinese HuKou System
I got a chance to experience this mass migrational system first hand during Winter Break in China of '97. While my foreign friends and I thought we had purchased tickets on a train guaranteeing our seats, we discovered otherwise over the course of our long journey! While we travelled from KunMing to Guangzhou to Shanghai to Beijing, we were pushed from cabin to cabin as the train collected more and more local travellers. At one point, we were pushed out of a car, until the conductor told us to move back into a car, with our travelling backpacks, packing us in with the already congested cars. Sardines we were! We were forced to stand in the aisles, for there was no space in the seats. There were travellers in the free space UNDER seats. Travellers were on the floor in between the legs of those who were fortunate enough to get a sitting space. There was trash everywhere! Disposable styrofoam bowls from convenient noodles, broken chop sticks, plastic wrapping, dirt, peanut shells. Trash was everywhere, and rural folk were laying under the seats in all this mess! Most of these travellers were farmers, and I wonder if that was because we were not in the first class cabin.
When I inquired where all these people were coming from and going to, my local friend later told me that visitors were going back to the country side to see their families for the holidays. Most rural folk come to work in the city where there are jobs.
After that conversation, I began to notice that the myriads of construction going on in our town LiChiZhuang were done by rural people. They would come to the city with just about nothing in their hands, sleep on the construction site, and complete the construction job from start to finish, before moving onto another job.
I never thought of this kind of life as part of a larger social system, hukou, until reading the Chan article. It is interesting how China would classify these travellers, as foreigners, essentially, without the rights and privileges of the local permanent residents.
Another connection to the hukuo system I have is connected to my Chinese grandfather. He lived as a foreigner in Mexico for twenty years. And, this was all for the purpose of a job (or perhaps to be free from my grandmother's controlling nature!). I was told my grandfather would return to Hong Kong every five years. That explains the age gap between my mother and her two younger siblings. THey are five years apart.
As I ponder about Chinese history and survival, it was not uncommon for Chinese men to travel out of their area of residence to look for jobs. A good number of Chinese came to the US in the 1800s to build railroads or support the infrastructure that boosted the Gold Rush economy in northern California. My own grandfather moved to Mexico, and the mostly rural Chinese left their villages to find more stable jobs in the city. These events support the generalization that Chinese are hard-working people, serving their family or community first.
AnonymousThis is yet another somber tale about a bitter student's involvement with counterrevolutionary (or revolutionary) idealism. It seems to follow the repetitive themes of irony, bitterness, loyalty, obligation, patriotism (or anti-patriotism), and a "life goes on" attitude, so common in Chinese genres. This piece is more appropriate for high-school level students who have had significant background knowledge in Chinese Communist history, and the battles within the party; in particular, issues surrounding the Gang of Four. Yuejun "adopts" Xia, the bitter daughter of a man whom Yuejun had intended to marry. Xia's father had died during the revolution for reasons that are questionnable.
What I'm wondering is where the story was published. Was the story published outside of China? Even to this day, I wonder if certain books that don't depict a positive light of Chinese Communist history are still banned...
AnonymousI've heard of this movement too. That is really cool that you got to experience that phenomenon first hand. I think its so crazy how they can just move with nothing in their possession to another city and expect for someone to help them survive. They sleep in the construction sites? That definitely saves on rent.
AnonymousRed Guards seemed to be pons that promoted Mao's Communist/Socialist beliefs. These young people dedicated their lives to the party, often to the expense of their families. The Red Guards remind me of young extremists who are impressionable and vulnerable, searching for a place or organization where they feel safe and accepted. It was not uncommon for Red Guards to out family members, friends, and teachers, whom the Chinese have historically held high in high esteem. Many of these revolutionary movements originated in the countryside with proletariats, and I'm wondering what the make-up of the Red Guards were: peasants and/or city folk. How educated were these Red Guards and followers of Mao? I don't believe he received a formal education, and I'm wondering how many of his followers did.
AnonymousThe Great Leap Forward was in short, a disaster! With pressure from government authorities, local proletariat created a facade that Mao's collectivist movement was successful. I recall reading a book years ago entitled "The Private Life of Chairman Mao" by his personal physician Li Zhi Sui. Dr. Li wrote an account about Leap Forward. I vividly recall a scene where Mao Ze Dong and his entourage took a train through China to determine the success of this movement. Locals who were well aware that there simply was not enough harvest would "borrow" from nearby towns and put all their harvest out on display bountiful collections near train sites and intentionally select as many plump looking children, and apply make-up to giving children ruddy cheeks, and making them appear well-fed. Mao would wave to his people from the train, thinking that Leap Forward was successful, while in truth, the nation was starving, as supported by the Tombstone article. Everyone in Mao's circle knew the truth, but no one had the courage to voice it.
AnonymousIt is sad that historical discourse is still under governmental control and what seems to be a work of enormous research, Yang Jisheng’s book on the Great Famine is banned, and discussion of the subject is taboo. It seems that the powers in place that controlled any discussion that China was running out of food are still operative to some extent.
The details of cannibalism are upsetting enough to read, beyond censorship I can see why the subject would be hard to discuss in the places where it happened. Yang states that such discussion “…might influence the legitimacy of the Communist party”.
Sadly it seems that instead of pushing for true innovation in food production (this disaster happened simultaneous to the green revolution that modernized agriculture in many other parts of the world) the Chinese government focused its energies on suppression and silence.
AnonymousIt takes a lot of courage to stand up for what you believe in, especially when you are standing alone! China is historically a closed country, allowing very few visitors, and when visitors do come, you want them to have something positive to say about China and not negative. So when talk of Nixon visiting comes into conversation, government gets involved in proletariats' everyday lives to create a positive image of China. The narrator in the story refuses to remove her drying racks in front of her house, and receives a lot of pressure to do so, including a visit from a government official. She is then considered counterrevolutionary because she refuses to cooperate and her inaction to remove the racks is perceived as a political "attack" against the government!
AnonymousStudents will enjoy this story of bitterness and irony, which are usual themes in Chinese writing. Keeping up appearances and maintaining an image is so important to the Chinese government! The poor Shi Fu Kuai must give up his fish for the sake of making the market look well-stocked for American visitors! Party or community before self! This story reminded me of Nixon's Press Corps, which is a great companion piece to Mao's Great Leap Forward which was a huge publicity stunt at the mercy of a starving country.
AnonymousI readily enjoyed this reading because I felt that I can use excerpts of this reading when I teach the Chinese Cultural Revolution and Communism in American History as a source to show Chinese thoughts on the Cultural Revolution. I felt like the reading provided many good examples that students either understand or relate to help them understand this time period in Chinese history. For example, the story centers on a victim of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, in fact it describes her life as, "happiness dissipated with the start of the Cultural Revolution." Because half of the student population in my classes and at my school are predominantly of Chinese descent, some being recent immigrants, I think many can relate or have stories in their own lives similar to the protagonist in the story. I was especially struck and feel my students might relate to stories described in the reading like parents being dragged away in the middle of the night and arrested and the father dying five days later. Or, the aftermath of that event where she had to live with the sneers of people around her and no one willing to take her in fearing the social stigma associated with taking in someone whose parents had been labeled outcasts. Many stories like these abound about many social movements, but I feel that I can use this story with students in my United States history with the purpose of linking to their culture and history.
AnonymousI first learned about the Great Leap Forward when I was studying Chinese history in high school. As I read this selection, much of what I had learned began to come back to me. But as I re-learned this information from a teaching standpoint, I realized that there are a lot of applications for this material outside of teaching students about Chinese history. In their ELA class, my students are currently learning about dystopian societies and reading books such as The Hunger Games, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984. Reading about how the Great Leap Forward is not acknowledged by Chinese officials and that records of this event are becoming harder to access, I think it becomes evident that there are many connections that students would be able to make between the Chinese government and the governments in the books they are studying. Additionally, there are definitely applications for using this material in a history class. I thought that the lens of "manmade disaster" is an interesting one, and something that could definitely be used to form an essential question for a unit or plan a thematic history unit. I recently watched Grave of the Fireflies (and posted about it in the Film Festival section), which is about children suffering through World War II. As I read through this excerpt, I was reminded of some of the challenges that those characters faced during the War, which could also be argued to be a manmade disaster.
AnonymousIm a little confused from today's session. I dont think I understood some of the points Dr. Dube made. I did not undertand why the first two laws were so important to make this cultural revolution happen. Did marriage play a big role in this? Was it because the government had a say in who and how many kids each family conceived? I was also confused about the Korean war. The guy who Dr. [font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]Dube considered a hero ended up in house arrest for the rest of his life. Why was he important? [/font]
AnonymousAfter reading this article form The Guardian and hearing Dr. Dube all I can say is that this is one of the most horrible atrocities I've ever heard of. And the worst thing is that it has been covered up for so long. We know that history is written by those who triumphed and if the truth doesn't come to light this cycle of violence will repeat itself. Dr. Dube mentioned that people now recognize that Mao made mistakes, but then why not include the Great Famine in history books? Why change the name to Three Years of Natural Disasters? They don't want to acknowledged that their governmental system failed, and that it will fail once again because there is no such a thing as equality for all, our human nature does not allow it. I can just imagine what goes on now in places like North Korea and Cuba at this moment, it sickens me.
AnonymousThe two short stories were very interesting. They reminded me of a documentary I watched in Netflix: “Frontline: the Secret State of North Korea” about the current state of the economy and censorship among other atrocities in NK. It’s unbelievable how a government can oppress its people. In The Big Fish we can see how the poor man is humiliated after wanting to buy that fish for her sick wife who only desires to eat a comforting cup of soup; the cadreman takes the fish away alleging it wasn’t on sale, he states that it was only for the foreign visitors to see that city markets were stocked up with great goods for the citizenry. What a pathetic scene! In Pyongyang, capital of North Korea, there are huge shopping malls were you can find about everything, the only issue is that you cannot buy anything. It’s just for display and to keep that façade of being modern, rich, and powerful. Kids are dying of hunger and malnutrition as well as it happened in China during the so called Three Years of Natural Disasters.
I’m thinking of using this short story in my AP Spanish class and make my students compare it to the life of Cuban citizens in the island. I think it will be a great task for them, they can learn how all these communist countries operate.
AnonymousI felt the primary sources of the Red Guards were really interesting and insightful as to what was happening in Mao’s China during the Cultural Revolution. I think that the violence, the purge of the old or western ways, and the propaganda of the age is important to teach our students.
This is a reading that I could potentially use with my AP students. However, the readings as a whole may be a bit difficult to understand or too lengthy for a regular course. For my regular World History course I’ve attached 2 “Picture Essays,” one on the Cultural Revolution and the other on the Great Leap Forward. I use these 2 topics as a comparison in my class in terms of how society and the economy was impacted as a result of the 2 events.
AnonymousTeaching students lessons that tie reality with fantasy is more difficult when fantasy seems far fetched. Yet with Yang Jisheng’s book, Tombstone, elements of fiction and nonfiction have the opportunity to merge seamlessly together. After all, isn’t Yang’s story of a government imposed famine causing the deaths of its inhabitants, suppressing those who sweat and labor before rationing out meager morsels a plot familiar to many of our students? Perhaps known to much of our students under the moniker of The Hunger Games? A disclaimer must be added here: I have not read any from the series nor have I read Yang’s book. However, I do teach Ismael Beah’s A Long Way Home in a thematic unit that also includes Art Spieglman’s Maus I and Persepolis. These combined readings offer a glimpse into the lives of others in the world my students would otherwise have no knowledge of. Additionally, as popular culture continues to focus periodically on war torn lives – currently the Syrians – students are able to draw from their knowledge and apply to their readings. Similarly, Yang’s book could serve the same purpose: teach students to become global scholars and draw from a similar plot line to better understand the plight of the hungry and oppressed. Perhaps it’s the educator in me that finds every moment as a “teachable moment” or perhaps its my interest in reading Yang’s book; regardless, I appreciate that our readings include literature choices that makes this seminar all the more tangible to my own students. After all – granted I can get my hands on a copy -- students need “real history” and “real literature”.
edited by cgao on 2/2/2016