Session 8 - August 8, Lisa Tran, CSU Fullerton

[Scott Craig]

I love the points you make and the questions you pose...I think the comparison between what Zhen He is stating and then what happens in Animal Farm (or even what actually happened in China after the communist revolution) would be very enlightening. In "theory" all these ideas sound great, the problem is we don't live in a theoretical world. No matter what type of economic or political society we live in, human nature is human nature. There are always going to be those who are good and trying to make the world better, and there are always going to be those who are self-centered and looking out only for their own interests. This is a great activity to point that out.

[Eva Morales]

One of the things that I found fascinating is the concept that the family is the root of all evil. I found this fascinating, because all my life I’ve been taught that the opposite is true. As a latina from a family of Mexican descendent, I was taught to be respectful to my elders and that family is everything similar to the families in East Asia. Even though to be honest I found this problematic. I express myself in this way, because sometimes my relatives would be cruel to other members of the family, and still expect to be respected. I believe more in the concept of you get what you give, but I know this thought is also problematic, because I don’t have it in me to disrespect people who disrespect me. I just choose to walk away. I have found that sometimes you can’t reason with people who have been programmed to think a certain way for decades. Going back to the idea of family being the root of the problem, I don’t believe that’s the case. I think the problem is not the people, I believe the problem the ideology that people expect something from others. It’s like I helped you, therefore you owe me something. I gave birth to you, therefore you must do as I say. I find this problematic, because setting these expectations you are only setting yourself up for disappointment. I have found that people who don’t choose their path are unhappy. They worry about making sure other people's expectations of themselves are fulfilled, but they don’t focus on their individual needs. Many times, there are cycles of behavior that need to be broken to move forward in the healthy direction. Therefore, I find that people’s ideology/expectations of what a family should be are flawed.

[David Ojeda]

I loved that Dr. Tran's session to be very engaging, especially because she chose a text that stirred a lot of emotions in the reader/audience. The primary source begins by reaching out to a female audience, stating that all the mistreatment women endure is due to the importance of food. Women suffer because they are forced to depend on a master for food (the master hits the women); women work arduously in factories to acquire food; women sell their bodies due to poverty; there are also concubines, widows, female farmers, and married women must also suffer because they depend on males to move them ahead in life (390-91). In “Destroying the Family,” Han Yi says the following:

The family is the origin of all evil. Because of the family, people become selfish...women are increasingly controlled by men. Because of the family, everything useless and harmful occurs (people now often say they are embroiled in family responsibilities while in fact they are all just making trouble for themselves). Because of the family, children...are made the responsibility of a single woman. (395)

I do not completely agree with this perspective. Looking at our society, I think families do more good than harm. The quote’s context, though, is a time when women were shackled to the home, unable to survive unless a man in her life lead the way. I can somewhat see her perspective that, for a woman, a family and family obligations can hold her back. If the author of “Destroying the Family” was alive today, I wonder how this essay would change, and what new findings of progress or stagnation the author would find while reflecting on our society.

[David Ojeda]

Zoey,

I love the thought-provoking questions on gender (e.g. Why were men hunters and women gatherers?) you would ask your students! Throughout the seminar, I wondered how to properly incorporate the content we covered with my incoming 6th-graders who perhaps have not thought about or discussed gender. Some of the seminar’s content easily ties in with what we cover (Confucianism and Daoism in Social Studies; The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars in both Social Studies and English). It would be great if the class and I are able to maturely explore the gender roles that are found in these texts and discuss their connections to us in a serious manner.

In regards to your final question, I think it is best to normalize equality; however, voices have been marginalized for too long. I fear that by not addressing or acknowledging these voices, we continue to marginalize them, repeating the same mistakes from the past.

[Nichole Morales]

I also liked how she used primary source exerpts with driving questions. It's a great way to let students access ideas and be critical thinkers. 

[Nichole Morales]

I had never heard of He zhen and Liushi pei, but also found their revolutionary ideas thought-provoking. They're great examples to bring to the classroom regarding gender in China. My students mainly ask about footbinding and concubines. They aren't familiar with Chinese feminists or anarchists. I'd like to use this primary text in an activity in class, comparing women and thought in China.

[Nichole Morales]

The article “Chinese History: A Useful Category of Gender Analysis” discusses gender in China from the perspective of western thought, the diaspora, and Chinese scholars, and the problem of limited anglophile accounts. Anglophone scholars drew from western ideas of gender and feminism. Joan Scott’s essay became a guide for analyzing female gender and helped to move away from western binary ideas. “Scott's injunction to attend to expanded meanings of gender was important to this reconfiguration of the imperial period.” Women had changing roles and the ability to influence family and society throughout different times. I appreciated the author’s deep dive into the history of gender analysis and the influence of western thought on gender in China. During the workshop at USC and generally, I find that when people view Chinese culture through the lens of western experience and history, they often miss the multilayered complexity of Chinese ideas that have had far longer time to simmer throughout China’s long history. And so, I look forward to the continued study of gender in China by Chinese people. In the classroom, I would like to use this idea of comparing Chinese perspective and Euro-American perspective through primary and secondary text.

 

[Gerlinde Goschi]

In this session Prof. Tran enlightened me about the history of women and gender in China.  I learned a lot about the female heroes and the important difference they made. In “Sources of Chinese Tradition,” He Zhen’s advice to women is a universal one which extends past her period.  “As long as you depend on others, you cannot be free. …” He Zhen continues by asserting that this leads to the oppression of females and concludes that the dependence of one person on others is “not at all a good idea.”   This is true today as well. He Zhen that practicing communism will allow one to grow her own food naturally and hence allow a person to be independent. He Zhen was way ahead of her time. The article shows that she was the radical feminist as Prof. Tran said whose ideas and philosophies transcended time.

 

[Sophia Kang]

One thing that stood out to me from the lecture was the suggestion that men were using examples of women as metaphor for the weakness of China, as a result, bringing about a gendered interpretation.  However, I would've liked to hear more of the professor's argument that women were used to improve China's position against foreign powers. This idea raises awareness to what we do for Black History Month, or Asian American Month, or Women's Month. Schools often create corners to focus on these perspectives for only a month. As an English teacher, it's important to include as many perspectives as possible in the texts I choose not only during these specified months, but throughout the school year.

 

[Sophia Kang]

I might use the excerpt strategy as well to start a Tea Party, where students quote and play a character role from literature. Maybe have opposing sides argue against each other about these ideals?

[Nira Sun]

Hi Gerlinde,

I agree with you that He Zhen was way ahead of her time. Women were taught to be the dependents of men generation by generation. There is an old saying in Chinese which is husband is in charge of outside work and wife is in charge of housework. It portraits of how women cannot have a career like what men do. If a woman doesn't see marriage as the only path, she is not considered as normal. He Zhen promoted the real independance of women because she taught women to have independent perspectives. This was the only way to release women from the oppression of men. 

[Nira Sun]

I was very intrigued by the quotes presented by Prof. Tran. One of it said:

“the family is the origin of all evil. Because of the family, people become selfish. Because of the family, women are increasingly controlled by men… because of the family, children – who belong to the world as a whole – are made the responsibility of a single woman”

I didn't get the time to write down whose quote it was. It had quite an insight on how women have been tied up to family and all the responsibilities that came with it. We don't normally blame family for anything. Instead, we saw family as a place where cooperation existed. Is that the fact at all? Since when was the image of housewife imposed on women? How come there was never a saying of househusband"?

It is indeed true that a lot of women sacrificed their dreams and careers for children and family. After quitting the jobs, women inevitably became dependent on men who provided them food and money. What's around a woman's life is the house and children only. How was such situation justified throughout the history?

Meanwhile, I also wanted to point out that family is not really the fundamental issue here. The philosophy that molds the dynamics of a traditional family is the root of the entire issue. In my opinion, the belief of women being in the position of assistance to men is to be blamed. If it wasn't for that belief, women didn't have to take the sole responsibility of raising children. Nowadays, women are promoting the idea of being independent which comes from having one's own career and holding one's own thoughts. He Zhen was way ahead of her time to practice such idea. This is something that we are still fighting for today.

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

I was also glad to see the primary sources attached. I often struggle to create concrete lesson plans from lectures because I can't find sources to bring to the students. Much of what I learn becomes background information and helps me better understand history, but I need primary documents for high school students to analyze and use in class. The attached writings can be used in a number of lessons. I'm sure I can take small pieces from different documents to create a DBQ essay. This is a great resource. 

[Ann Huyhn]

The readings are primary sources about the chaos in China and the rising western powers.  This would be great to use in the class because these are sources that were written at the time and some of them were written by women.   An interesting quote is “As long as you depend on others, you cannot be free.” According to He Zhen, the author of this quote, communism is a way to solve the problem of depending on others because it will provide a way for people to get food since no one will privately own anything.  For my class, I will talk about the effects of communism and why the Chinese embraced this type of government over democracy.

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