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AnonymousI really enjoyed Yulin Wang's testimony on her experience during the Cultural Revolution in China. Her resilience to keep advocating for her husband in a span of 10 years is truly remarkable. I wish we had more time to converse with her and ask her if there were dim moments where she felt like giving up and giving in to the Cultural Revolution. I also wanted to ask how her children adapted to the new American culture once they left China.
AnonymousIt is interesting that in "The Troubleshooters" they chose to use American Disco Music to bring together everyone from the different Chinese cultures.
AnonymousThe clips of nine movies gave me vivid scenes of the Cultural Revolution. The sainted Mao who manipulated the teenagers to FIGHT!! We saw peoples are driven to the corner to accuse friends, spouses.
" Coming Home" touched me again that because of the daughter's report during the cultural revolution due to Mao's brainwash, husband was taken away from home, husband and wife was separated physically for several years and then emotionally forever. It's painful for that generation to witness all the consequences of the cultural revolution.
AnonymousThe readings this week inspired me to think about how film has been used to create awareness among the people or commentary about the political climate. This can be used to help show students that throughout history, film has represented the reflection of the world we live in. I specifically was interested in Film Making in China and how films opened the minds of the people to question their current government leaders. It is interested to look at film as a mirror of daily life but then also how film permeates daily life and affects the spread of culture through fashion, language, commerce and even the games children play.
AnonymousCultural Revolution
After listening to Mr. Rittenberg and his wife's accounts of their role in the Cultural Revolution it is interesting to note how far Mao Zedong's propaganda had spread throughout China. The red guards were given tremendous power and were swept up in the fervor of corruptions within China, but they did not have a solid plan of action once they denounced those who were considered "revisionists." It was a very insightful account into the ideology that they believed in. I believe that using parts of the film clips to talk about the Cultural Revolution would be the most beneficial to my students. In particular, the movie "Coming Home" contrasted with the clips of the Red Guards so students would have an understanding of the dramatic impact that it had on the the youths of China then and who are now adults, parents, and grandparents.
edited by ahuynh on 3/26/2017
AnonymousI am glad to be exposed to much content readily available to teach the Cultural Revolution in my classes. I am very excited to teach Ethnic Studies next year in which I plan to dedicate month long units of historical events such as this that are not able to be covered in traditional history classes guided by Eurocentric standards. I hope to build a unit around policies enacted in government in different parts of the world that have similar outcomes such as China's Cultural Revolution. Two events that I can build parallels on are Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile and the Guatemalan Genocide against indigenous Mayans. I think a common thread would be the concept of impunity and the international community's role in interfering with crimes against humanity.
The readings this week will be invaluable sources as well as the films that were shared with us during the seminar.
AnonymousDear JShen,
Thank you for sharing about your family's testimonies during the Cultural Revolution. Was it difficult for you to be at the session on Saturday? What is the perspectives of your relatives today?
AnonymousWhoa, I am glad to attend Saturday's session. I had no idea. Just like looking at an art piece for the first time, it is a phenomenon experience. As a result, I will further analyze how I can incorporate the information further.
Issues:
What would you do to face the unknown?
What would our speakers say to today's students about the Cultural Revolution? family structure relationships, class struggle...
Which issues might swept our youngsters today?
Can ideas be contained?
For 10th graders, there is a "Read Like a Historian" lesson about why did the young people get swept up during the Cultural Revolution, but I want to do a restorative circle questions above to get some perspectives from the students in the classroom. Also, I want to implement other types of media suggested by other teachers from the session like propaganda poster, film clips, music...
10.9.4. Analyze the Chinese Civil War, the rise of Mao Tse-tung, and the subsequent political and economic upheavals in China (e.g., the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the Tiananmen Square uprising).
For 11th graders, it is a good idea by "ehong" to compare the counterculture in the U.S. during the 1960s (civil rights, women rights, Stonewall...) with the Cultural Revolution via music, dance, primary/secondary sources.
the big idea is the evolution of democracy and how an individual become empowered and the consequences.
11.10 Students analyze the development of federal civil rights and voting rights developments.
AnonymousI absolutely enjoyed the sharing of Mr. Rittenberg's experiences of his life in China. However, I was saddened at the struggles and unjust treatment he described he faced. As an educator, I can appreciate this knowledge of knowing someone else did not always have the same freedoms I have here in America. It is very heartfelt as an adult to hear their story. However, I am not sure if my 5th and 6th grade students will value the knowledge of Yulin Yangs's and her husband's hardships, as they were very much resilient in their prior struggles to survive. Nevertheless, I would implement a writing assignment focusing on students placing themselves in the rulers position knowing the experiences of Sidney and Yulin, how would they change the rules explained by Yulin and Sidney. Students would have to explain their positions and use evidence from the first hand accounts given by the speakers. Overall, students in America, specifically in my community would benefit to learn that the entire world does not function like America.
AnonymousThe movie clips were very effective in getting me to better understand the pictorial art. At first, my interpretation of the art was limited and based on what I thought it meant from my limited knowledge of China's tyrant leaders. The video clip that impacted me that most was the Landlord selling the other tenants homes and treating them so rude. However, the people came together and stood up to him, which demonstrates the need for all people to work together when faced with challenges such as being dictated to by an oppressor. I would show this clip to my students and implement a lesson that requires them to examine the Cultural Revolution's causes and effects. Students would use the knowledge of having an open democracy versus a total dictatorship to propose their position of having one or the other governing policies. My hopes is that the film and art would encourage students to think outside of "their" world and place themselves as a Chinese citizen of that horrible time.
AnonymousI found Saturday's session very interesting. I would like to further analyze propaganda with my students; the use of certain symbols such as the sun, the censorship of certain types of arts as well as the only accepted forms of art during the Cultural Revolution. It would be interesting to draw connections to the use of propaganda by the Nazi's leading up to World War II as well as censorship enforced by dictators during different time period.
AnonymousMr. Rittenburg in his presentation of the Cultural Revolution remind me of some of my favorite texts that I teach to my English students. In particular, the word “rebellion” can be connected to many different texts such as Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” and Orwell’s Animal Farm. I teach both of these texts to show how society needs to rebel against oppressive authorities like how the people of China were inspired to rebel like a “volcanic eruption.” The animals in Animal Farm are a great example of that overnight eruption and I will make that connection the next time I teach it. It also relates to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness when Mr. Rittenburg talked about his experiences with the African leaders who were fighting against the colonists. In Heart of Darkness, this idea of the natives rebelling against the colonists is another example of how people fought for what they believed were injustices.
edited by hsidhu on 3/27/2017
AnonymousI really enjoyed the fact that there were multiple perspectives on the topic. It was nice to see both sides presented. In my class it is not always easy to get the students to see that there are two or more sides to any story, I think I would like to have my students do a reverse timeline. Starting with a current event from China, and seeing where they can make connections to the past. For example, air quality is a big problem right now - can they see why corporations and the government have been either slow to react or unwilling to make changes based on what policies, policies based political point of view, how has the political point of view changed, etc. I also like having them make connections. Maybe our own political atmosphere to that of the cultural revolution - Mao's removal of ideas and policies similar to the executive orders being given by current president - what was the outcome for China at "the end of the cultural revolution" and what could be the outcome for our current presidential orders.
I thought of all of the readings, Yulin Wang's was the most approachable. It wasn't until I read her story that I could make better sense of the other readings - Mr. Rittenburg's - even though it was a personal story - seemed more analytical, as did Professor Yang's. This is something I need to think about when I assign document based questions for different units.
AnonymousAs I read through this story, it occurred to me that the dazibaos discussed were not that far removed from the French Revolution and Jean Paul Marat's publication, Friend of the People. Both documents served a similar function. They were a tool for stirring up dissent and fear among those who read them. They both were products of extreme radical thinking, and they both were used to justify the launch of movements intended to root out those elements of the revolution that were "Anti-revolutionary." In a general class discussion of the revolutionary process, Yulin Rittenberg's insight and experiences can be useful in bridging the relationships between these two different revolutions. Additionally, it will be worthwhile to note that Marat's publication was a weekly paper, while the dazibaos were posters intended to fixate peoples attention on a single element, accusation or criticism.
AnonymousIt never ceases to amaze me how the faith one has in another person can become a sort of armor against the insults, condemnations and deprivations others can inflict on another human being. It is a quality that transcends the darkest of spiritual nights.