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clay dubeWhen and how things get into textbooks and into classrooms is a topic that has long fascinated me. Hong Kong residents have been dramatic in their observance of the sacrifices made by protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. And they've turned out to demand more voice in their own affairs as well.
The suppression of the 1989 demonstrations, though, is a sensitive political topic, especially since 1997 when China resumed control over Hong Kong. The events at Tiananmen only crept into textbooks there recently. And only now is it being included in the standard curriculum. Take a look at the attached article from the South China Morning Post (fair academic use, you may use with your students, but ought not otherwise circulate it).
AnonymousIs there a good way of tying this in to the study of ancient China? Sixth graders study ancient civilizations.
Anonymousre: 6th graders. students could examine writings like this in English class. (at the same time they were studying ancient China) Our district is advocating the analysis informational writing, and pushing the PH Lit book which has a paucity of good examples.
To remind students of freedom issues, we might review the injustices M.L.King tackled. Also, since my school is 98% Latino, I might also tie in the Zoot suit 'riots.' Below is an excerpt from http://www.suavecito.com/history.htm which quotes the LA County Sheriff Dept. equating Mexicans and Asians in a very negative light.
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"I found it interesting Around the same time, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department also decided to investigate and appointed E. Duran Ayres to head their Foreign Relations Bureau. And though Mr. Ayres accurately identified much of the active discrimination that was occurring against the "Mexican element", he drew some startling conclusions which were presented to the grand jury:
"He stated that Mexican Americans are essentially Indians and therefore Orientals or Asians. Throughout history, he declared, the Orientals have shown less regard for human life than have the Europeans. Further, Mexican Americans had inherited their 'naturally violent' tendencies from the 'bloodthirsty Aztecs' of Mexico who were said to have practiced human sacrifice centuries ago. At one point in his report Ayres even compared the Anglo to a domesticated house cat and the Mexican to a 'wild cat,' suggesting that the Mexican would forever retain his wild and violent tendencies no matter how much education or training he might receive. "
AnonymousWall Street Journal 6/9/04 article, front page---homeownership is breeding a new group of protestors apparently. People who have paid $60,000 for their apartments are demanding reforms and more openness in government decisions. I don't have the article, but if anyone still has this paper, it is a worthwhile read for the current state of politics inside the country.
(they charge for archived articles but not for what is on the present day news site)
AnonymousThe website http://www.awsj.com/home.html takes you to the Asian home page for that edition of the Wall Street Journal. Could be helpful at times.
AnonymousThe book,On Gold Mountain (Chinese name for the US) by Lisa See,reads like a Chinese Roots. She currently lives in Pacific Palisades and this is her family's story.
She begins with the story of her great-grandfather who came through CA to work on the transcontinental railroad as an herbalist to treat the workers with the traditional medicines. He returned to China years later but had been followed by his son, Fong See, who came to search for him. The family story revolves around this patriarch and his four marriages. His first was to a village girl in China when he was 14. She was left behind in his family home to be a servant to his mother and live her life completely without him. In America, he began a business in fancy underwear for the women in the brothels of Sacramento. There he met Ticie, an American who had left her farm family in Oregon, when she came into his shop asking for work. She became a vital business partner and a transition to other Chinese imports began. They ultimately had a contract marriage because marriage between Chinese and whites was prohibited. They moved their business to LA and changed to importing Chinese antiques.....
Throughout the story, the discriminatory laws and treatment tells the story of all the Chinese who came to our country during that time. It describes the very strong bonds of family and tradition as well as the connections with China. It walks you through the political landscape of both countries for the period of 1866 to the present day. This book is especially valuable for us in LA because of the history of our own Chinatown in which this family played a central role. The present day Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena was originally owned by one of the customers of Fong See's store.[Edit by="lsutton on Jun 13, 9:38:18 AM"][/Edit]
AnonymousOk- so here's one of those links you can get through by using the commondreams.org link for world dailies....I've found it most interesting to watch the international views and compare them to what we get in our US media sources. The cited Pentagon report on the Chinese military, to my knowledge, never surfaced in anything I've seen before. Anyone else see it????
Comments From PRAVDA.Ru
Front page / World / Continents / Asia
Chinese authorities cursed at the USA
06/16/2004 23:30
Chinese leaders just love criticizing the "American imperialists", despite the fact that the trade with the USA bring China billions of dollars every year.
Although, the "imperialists" are constantly giving Beijing the grounds for exercising their criticism.
In May Pentagon submitted to the US Congress its annual report on the state and perspectives of the Chinese military. Beijing probably would not pay much attention to the report, but the US military experts touched such painful issues for the Chinese as Taiwan and hydroelectric power station "Three Ravines" which is under construction.
The Chinese leaders were indignant with the advice Pentagon was giving to Taiwan in case of possible war with China: to blow up the constructed hydroelectric power station "Three Ravines" on the Yangtze River .
The Chinese leaders started cursing at the USA in anger. Lieutenant-General Lyu Yan called Washington the "whore posing itself like a gentleman" in his comment on the Pentagon"s report, Reuters wrote. According to the general, Americans are not better than Osam binLaden as they admit the possibility of such operations. In the end of his remarks, the Chinese general promised to produce devastating counter-strike and said that the power station dam would endure any strike of non-nuclear weapons (the dam"s walls are 100 meters thick).
This anger of the Chinese was caused by Pentagon"s touching their national pride. For China, completing the hydroelectric power station "Three Ravines" is the task of the same importance as independent space missions. Mao Zedong initiated the station construction several dozens of years ago. However, Mao quickly realized that, if completed, the station can hardly be protected. The construction was stopped, and then continued in 1993 when the Chinese government decided it would be able to protect the station.
The station is to be completed by 2009. It will become the biggest hydroelectric power station in the world. Its construction will cost $25 billion, and capacity will be 18,200 megawatt. China hopes that there will be no flood any more after the station completion, and the country"s growing need of power energy will be satisfied.
For this reason, Beijing gets furious when hearing the idea that the station could be destroyed. However, there will be many more reasons for China to curse Washington in future.
Chinese authorities cursed at the USA
Chinese leaders just love criticizing "American imperialists", despite the fact that the trade with the USA bring China billions of dollars every year.
Although, the "imperialists" are constantly giving Beijing the grounds for exercising their criticism.
In May Pentagon submitted to the US Congress its annual report on the state and perspectives of the Chinese military. Beijing probably would not pay much attention to the report, but the US military experts touched such painful issues for the Chinese as Taiwan and hydroelectric power station "Three Ravines" which is under construction.
The Chinese leaders were indignant with the advice Pentagon was giving to Taiwan in case of possible war with China: to blow up the constructed hydroelectric power station "Three Ravines" on the Yangtze River .
The Chinese leaders started cursing at the USA in anger. Lieutenant-General Lyu Yan called Washington the "whore posing itself like a gentleman" in his comment on the Pentagon"s report, Reuters wrote. According to the general, Americans are not better than Osam binLaden as they admit the possibility of such operations. In the end of his remarks, the Chinese general promised to produce devastating counter-strike and said that the power station dam would endure any strike of non-nuclear weapons (the dam"s walls are 100 meters thick).
This anger of the Chinese was caused by Pentagon"s touching their national pride. For China, completing the hydroelectric power station "Three Ravines" is the task of the same importance as independent space missions. Mao Zedong initiated the station construction several dozens of years ago. However, Mao quickly realized that, if completed, the station can hardly be protected. The construction was stopped, and then continued in 1993 when the Chinese government decided it would be able to protect the station.
The station is to be completed by 2009. It will become the biggest hydroelectric power station in the world. Its construction will cost $25 billion, and capacity will be 18,200 megawatt. China hopes that there will be no flood any more after the station completion, and the country"s growing need of power energy will be satisfied.
For this reason, Beijing gets furious when hearing the idea that the station could be destroyed. However, there will be many more reasons for China to curse Washington in future.
Vasily Bubnov
AnonymousThis is from the People's Daily, newspaper, through the world dailies link on commondreams.org.
They also had a large article on the 9/11 commission. Interesting to see how the Chinese viewed the outcome of the investigation.
First rail tracks laid in Tibet
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-23 00:07
Nearly two centuries after railways were invented, this symbol of modern civilization has finally made its way into Tibet, the "roof of the world."
At about 11:30 am Tuesday, two 25-metre-long rails were laid at the Amdo Station, some 440 kilometres from Lhasa, at the foot of the Tanggula mountain range in Amdo County of Tibet.
A 25-metre-long section of track is laid down yesterday at Andou Railway Station, which is 4,700 metres above sea level in the Tibet Autonomous Region. This marks the end of the high plateau autonomous region's history without railway lines. [xinhua]
Sprawling on the range known as "insurmountable even by eagles" by locals and regarded as the cradle of the Yangtze and Lancang rivers, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway will boast a maximum altitude of 5,070 metres. That will make it railway at the highest elevation in the world.
With an investment of 26.21 billion yuan (US$3.16 billion), China began the construction project in 2001 to connect Golmud City of Qinghai Province and Lhasa, capital of Tibet. It is hoped it can serve as a bridge for the autonomous region -- isolated by its high altitude and severe natural environment -- with the rest of the country.
The Chinese government also hopes the project will put Tibet's social and economic development on track and help spurt less-developed western regions of the nation.
The 1,142-kilometre link is scheduled to be completed in 2007.
Days before the track-laying ceremony, residents in Amdo County had hung national flags on their tents and houses, a practice for major festivals.
More than 200 Tibetan herds arrived from more than 100 kilometres away, some of them riding horses, to witness the ceremonial occasion.
When the first rails were laid, people let out hurrahs in Tibetan, Han and other ethnic languages.
Vice-Premier Huang Ju sent a congratulatory message on behalf of the Chinese central authorities, and encouraged construction workers to build a world-class railway on "the roof of the world."
"The railway will benefit the people in Tibet and Qinghai," said Dazhag Danzim Gele, the Fourth Living Buddha with Dazhag Temple in Tibet. "It will also make the pilgrimage to Lhasa more convenient."
Lhasa is a holy place for Tibetan Buddhists.
"This is the happiest event for me," said 63-year-old Surkang, a Tibetan herdsman who tied a hada to the first rail. The hada is a white silk scarf regarded as a symbol of respect and a blessing by Tibetans. He is expecting to travel by train instead of on horseback.
Tibet covers an area of more than 1.2 million square kilometres or about one eighth of Chinese territory. It is the only provincial area in the country without an inch of railway.
About 90 per cent of the 2.7 million Tibetan people live on farming or raising livestock. Poor traffic conditions have been one of the major obstacles for Tibet's modernization of Tibet.
People now travel to Tibet mainly by air or automobiles. Last year, more than 928,000 tourists visited Tibet.
It is believed both the number of visitors to Tibet and that of Tibetan people to the other parts of the country will increase after the Qingha
AnonymousThank you for the reference to Tienanmen Square. Chinese New Year generally falls during Black History Month and I am going to use that article as a part of that Unit in my literature classes.
What do you think?
AnonymousLast week as Japan won the Asian Cup, Chinese fans "burned Japanese flags, shouted obscenities and sang patriotic songs outside the stadium as more than 5,000police lined the streets."
Reminded me of the English and Irish or was it the Jews and Arabs or was it the Hutu and Tutsi and....
clay dubeIt's great to share useful clips from newspapers and magazines via the forum. As you all know, I've done it a lot. Sometimes, though, they can be a bit long and will stress out less interested browsers as they scroll down. It is often best to save the clip as a .txt file (word processors all do this via the "save as" button, choose "plain text" or "ascii text") and then attach it to your post. Include a summary in your message and an appropriate subject and post away. This way, interested readers can click on the download and it will open fast (.doc and other formats open more slowly).
Thanks, Linda, and others for these great clippings. Adding info about various news databases is quite helpful. I regularly use Google News for searches. You can guide your students by creating pre-defined searches and putting them into your webpages as links.
For example, if you want students to follow news and debates about how to represent the Chinese past, you could create a China + history search. Students clicking on the link would get the latest news on the subject.
Google News - latest on China and news
[Edit by="Clay Dube on Aug 18, 8:20:16 AM"][/Edit]
AnonymousI wanted to try out Clays suggestion for attaching text. Attached are 2 news stories from BBC.
One concerns the Chinese governments jump in investment spending, land use rules, & concerns
with inflation.
The other is a rather (intended?) comic piece on Hong Kong Police raiding "insect gamblers"
AnonymousHappy Birthday Deng Xianyan.
Seems likeI am always behind a few days. I just got around to reading Sunday's paper. In the A section of Sunday's Los Angeles Times. There is an article on Deng and his bold reforms following China's Cultural Revolution. Millions in China still cling to his economic and political reforms. It seems his only black mark was the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It was Deng's economic reform that took China away from a central economy to an economy based on private initiatve. However, not everyone is happy with Deng's reforms. Along with the opportunity to get rich comes increased crime, locks on the doors and metal gates. Welcome to capitalism![Edit by="bnakama on Aug 25, 10:19:58 AM"][/Edit]
AnonymousFIRST SECTION COMPLETE
The line links the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, with the province of Qinghai.
The Chinese have figured out how to deal with altitude sickness on the
first railway line to Tibet - cars that are sealed like aircraft to protect passengers from altitude sickness.
(Bottled oxygen was needed for workers on the project.)
What noone has been able to figure is how to include the effects of global warming...
"The National Climate Centre said in June that rising temperatures would affect operation of the railway by 2050."
The clout of the Chinese government is limited in Tibet... by spirituality and other atmospheric events.
[Edit by="ebuck on Sep 18, 10:09:20 PM"][/Edit]