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AnonymousI thought these articles on the demographics and immigration for Japan were interesting. Something that really stood out to me in the final article was the number of people born in Japan after 1945, which is 80%. That seems like a similar number in other nations and that number was not surprising to me. What was interesting though is the statement Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made about that group, and how they shouldn’t have to continue to apologize for the events prior to 1945. I would completely agree with that. I think people should answer for their own actions, but definitely not actions of a nation you were born into far after the event even occurred. It is interesting that the article stated that Japan has repeatedly apologized for the actions during war. Does that include the actions of 1937-1938, or does that just apply to what occurred from 1939-1945? I would imagine the “deep remorse and heartfelt apology” applies to all Japanese aggressions throughout the 1930’s? Right? What also surprises me is the last visit or speech I can remember Abe giving a few months ago, it was very clear that there was NO apology. (Pretty sure that was very close to and also in reference to the 70th anniversary). But, I guess he makes a point that this is their PAST--I mean how many times does Japan have to apologize. If we had to keep apologizing for our past every time there is a major summit or speech it would be difficult to move forward. Apologize, promise to learn from it, and move forward in my opinion.
edited by skroop on 12/7/2015
AnonymousHaven't gotten through all the readings yet, but came across this passage in the Talking Points: Remembering Tiananmen Square earlier today:
"American reaction to the crackdown on peaceful and unarmed demonstrators and their supporters was swift. On June 5, Pres. George H.W. Bush suspended government sales and weapons exports to China as well as military visits."
Wasn't aware that we had weapons exports to China. I graduated from USC the year earlier, with a certificate in Strategic Defense Policy (it was offered under Dr. Van Cleave, former Pres. Carter's chief negotiator with the Russians during the SALT II treaty), and no mention of such sales was ever made. Which there almost certainly would have been if it had occurred (why WOULD we be selling weapons to the Chinese, of all people, our economic competitor with a vibrant industrial weapons complex of their own?). I would like to research this a bit to check if it''s true, for I believe it to be in error.
(I realize I'm off on a tangent here... I do that from time to time.)
AnonymousNot going to lie, I am dying to read Mao's Doctor's tell-all. Here's an article, below, about the bio. It's pretty juicy. In addition to never brushing his teeth, Mao was also addicted to sleeping pills and cigarettes. He also thought bathing was a "waste of time."
Enjoy: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20104202,00.html
AnonymousThe Chinese economic revolution was based largely on industry. As China was coming of age, a lot of men and women left the agricultural life to work in the city. Women worked in textile factories. Men also left the farms to work on construction in big cities. They would return home perhaps once a year during Spring Season, during China's mass migrational period. Working in the city brought more financial stability; and many children were raised by single mothers or grandparents.
AnonymousI read this book by his personal physician almost twenty years ago. I was so invested in it that I finished this huge book in less than a week! It provides a lot of information about how neurotic Mao was! Of course this was written and published by his doctor when he left China! I recall reading about Mao not taking showers. He would have his nurse press hot towels on his body as he reclined in a chair! He had no use for showers for he was too busy! I also remember he would have his food tested before each meal because he didn't necessarily trust his staff. There were too many conspiracies within his cabinet and staff. What was striking was the chapter about the failed Great Leap Forward. Cabinet members pretty much dressed the set of all the places Mao would be stopping on his train as he rode through the country. The most plump kids were painted with make-up to look healthy and fat to create a facade that the Great Leap Forward was successful while in fact, the Leap Forward was a catastrophic failure. Produce was borrowed from villages miles away to dress up the set to appear that it was successful.
This is a must-read for curious lovers of Chinese history!
AnonymousThe Death and Legacy of Mao
The image of Mao and the ceremony of his memorial I felt was really interesting. Clearly his body was put on display in an open or clear coffin. His preservation was actually much like the preservation of Lenin, Stalin (until de-Stalinization), and Ho Chi Minh. I included this website that mentions the preservation of Mao in the Mausoleum in Beijing. The website also details the problems with preserving Mao’s body and also details some of the reactions of the Chinese people to the death of Mao.
http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat2/sub6/item1026.html
I also thought the images of the Communist Party Leadership and family at the memorial ceremony was interesting to see the people that were removed from the photo at the memorial, as those people were eventually placed on trial several years later. The story of the trials is also something I plan to use in my classes. I thought the comparison to the Nuremberg Trials and the claim that people were “just following orders” was an interesting comparison to the trials of Communist Leaders following the leadership of Mao Zedong.
AnonymousYesterday's lecture was very interesting, how Chinese's people choose to forget some inconvenient truths. After, Mao died, his actions were seem as bad, and his legacy within the Communist Party was tainted by the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Also, the photograph of his funeral services in which his widow and close supporters were cropped out of the picture.
AnonymousMary Kay Magistad's article about the millions of undocumented migrant workers enlightened me to this paradoxical situation. According to the article, people without a "hokou" which is a type of citizenship certificate are deprived of all the rights and benefits which come with citizenship. They must take the most dangerous and undesirable jobs to scrape a living, while suffering discrimination from their neighbors and fear of deportation back to their village. The wholesale, arbitrary disenfranchising of a large segment of the population reminds me of the "pass book" laws of Apartheid era South Africa. Under Apartheid residents of assorted made up homelands were restricted from traveling into other homelands. It created a large segment of illegal workers within the same nation. Unlike the situation in the U.S. or Europe, where workers migrate from other nations for employment, the hokou and Apartheid created the same conditions within the national boundaries.
AnonymousThe pattern of amnesia, which we studied on the Saturday session has a long precedent, it appears, from Monday's session. Most striking was the government "erasing" people from photographs, especially when there was a change of administration. The picture of Mao's wife, and the harsh way she was treated after being beloved by so many for so long fits neatly into the narrative which followed Tiananmen. If they can erase an entire era, erasing a couple of bloody days is easy. It seems the west has refused to forget what the Chinese already have, I wonder how they remember Mao's wife 40 years after the Cultural revolution.
clay dubeMore info on the memoir from Lin Zhisui, Mao's doctor:
Review by USC friend and colleague John Wills: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/review-essay/1994-11-01/emperor-has-no-clothes-maos-doctor-reveals-naked-truth
NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/02/world/the-tyrant-mao-as-told-by-his-doctor.html?pagewanted=all
His contribution to this book resulted in my colleague Andrew Nathan (Columbia) being banned from going to China. Anne Thurston was also banned.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VyU6fwmdjf8C&pg=PA672&lpg=PA672&dq=lin+zhisui+private+life&source=bl&ots=j3lGqCf-2e&sig=hI6M8wNCLxwE2rf-dhKLfG4CzPs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2i-ua8tnJAhVBSmMKHanXAfQQ6AEIQDAH#v=onepage&q=lin%20zhisui%20private%20life&f=false
NY Review of Books: https://www.chinafile.com/unmasking-monster (Mirsky, by the way, is also banned from China, but for his Tiananmen reporting)
clay dubeYang Ban Xi - film on the production of these, includes interviews and film clips: https://vimeo.com/114648184
Here's an article about the film and director: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/mar/04/classicalmusicandopera.musicals
And a fun NPR article about Jiang Qing and model operas: http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2013/04/24/178900162/explore-madame-maos-hollywood-fantasies
Our Assignment:China segment on the Nixon trip, includes his watching one of the operas with Jiang Qing. See it at: http://china.usc.edu/assignment-china-week-changed-world
Red Detachment of Women ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCxE5UirSRk
Chas Freeman was one of the key interpreters for Nixon on this trip, here is is remembrance of the opera/ballet: http://chasfreeman.net/the-red-detachment-of-women-revisited/
clay dubeI have long considered the hukou system the most important and least appreciated of China's control mechanisms. Who one's mother was really did determine your life chances. A couple days after our class on 12/7, China announced changes. Here are some articles. This could be much more important than the one child birth control policy.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35063788
China state radio: http://english.cri.cn/12394/2015/12/13/4203s908103.htm
AnonymousWhat I found really interesting from this lecture was when Dr. Clay Dube mention the logic behind land reform that was pushed by the US. If people have land then they can create their own wealth by working the land and they can become consumers of US goods. That blew my mind. However, now we see that the Chinese have become more like the US where they people are no longer working the land but rather making the goods that americans are consuming.
AnonymousAfter our lecture on 12/7, I was intrigued by the sweeping changes announced by the Chinese government. While the major news story seemed to be the end of the "One Child Policy", I gathered from a couple of sources that many people in China didn't see it as such a big deal. The fact being that many families had more than one child, especially it seemed in urban areas. From an outside perspective, it seemed like the "One-Child Policy" would be nearly impossible to implement. After reading up on the more recent shift in the Hoku policy, the population control in China made way more sense. This change, of legitimizing 13 million people and allowing them access to social services, could have a much larger impact both within China and without than simply changing the policy to two children. I'm intrigued to see how the shift in the Hoku system will play out and whether the type of documents issued (rural or urban) will create a major migration within China so that previously undocumented citizens can begin receiving services.
AnonymousThe Han-Deng Tiananmen statements were very powerful. The "posters" that the students wrote were mainly asking for reform on the government to stop corruption and to create more transparency in the government. There also was a poster asking for democracy and free speech. However, from what I wrote in my notes it seems like the Students only wanted a more just and fair government. The response by military commanders was an exaggerated one, which is to expect in order to validate their actions, saying that the students wanted to over throw the Chinese government. We can always ask our students about the validation of the government actions as rightious or not, even the students actions, was there a better way to go about doing the protest so they could have had a more powerful impact on their government.