Thursday, 8/2, afternoon session - Clayton Dube, USC

[clay dube]

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the sound trouble on the films. I highly recommend each of these films. Please note that you can ONLY use films made in Asia by Asians primarily for Asian audiences for your film review. This means that you CANNOT use The Last Samurai or The Last Emperor. You can use hundreds of other films, including:

Zhang Yimou, To Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB7HYhUpDz8

Zhang Yimou, Ju Dou: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZsThCePxGc

A new film by China's most successful director, Feng Xiaogang, is Youth, and is available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY0OK1tj-DU  (subtitles don't start until there is dialogue)

Other films by Feng that are worth watching: Cell Phone, Aftershock (about the 1976 and 2008 earthquakes).
By Zhang: The Road Home (1999)

A useful website to see if a film is available via streaming services (either for free or rent) is: http://www.canistream.it

According to can I stream it, I could rent Aftershock (2010) for $3 or purchase it for $8. Well worth it.

More recent romantic comedies from China include:

Sophie's Revenge (2009) 非常完美 (ebay $10-12)
Beijing Meets Seattle (2013) 北京遇上西雅图 (ebay $10-25)

Other films available on dvd from Netflix (dvd.com), all highly recommended.
The Blue Kite (1993) [cultural revolution]
Aftershock (2010)  [aftermath of the Tangshan quake which killed 240,000]
Farewell My Concubine (1993) [Beijing Opera, cultural revolution]
City of Life and Death (2009)  [Nanjing massacre]
 

[Courtney Hendrix]

I would also like to dive more into the colors in Chinese culture as I found the different representations interesting. In our day-to-day we don't always give much thought into the colors we wear or what they represent, so I think it would be fun to talk to the students about the meanings behind certain colors in the Chinese culture vs other cultures. To me it was a good reminder that colors have more power then we realize and how colors are used differently in different cultures or how some can have universal meanings. 

[Akunna Uka]

The video on the South China Sea hits you over the head with the message-the South China Sea belongs to China and young Chinese are committed to China. There were strong military visuals throughout the video and much of the setting took place near the sea. Manga, KPop, and other aspects of popular culture outside of China were acknowledged but the singers quickly followed with how they don't give a ***** about them. 

[Juana Evink]

I enjoyed professor's Dube presentation on colors, ramdom images and symbols.I think that one of the reasons why Mao's images are stilll round, is probably because he represents a symbol of the old great days for the farmers, peasants, and soldiers. Also, his further explanation of Chinese's soft power made it clear for me what it is. Now I see other countries' sof power everywhere, like Greece, there are a great number of cities name Athens or Olympia in the U.S.

[Juan Liebana-Mena]

I really liked the afternoon discussion about soft power. It was very interesting to dissect some of the topics covered throughout this week and analyze Professor Rosen’s presentation about soft power. This type of open forum discussion really allows for community building and to instill curiosity in our students.

The clip of the movie To Live we watched was very fun. I wish we could have watched a bit more, but I am now very interested and will watch it. I would like to know more about which are the topics or points that were identified as critical and why it was banned in China. Professor Dube states that it covers over 50 years of Chinese history. The journey of the boy and his character seem promising.

The last section about Criticizing Lin Biao and Confucius presented a set of posters and visual culture elements. I was curious about why somebody would criticize Confucius, but it appears that he represented the old society, hence the reason for aiming at him.

 

[Jessica Rodarte]

The afternoon session on soft power, colors, images, etc by Prof. Dube was very helpful in clarifying the ways in which soft power is used.  I am interested in creating a lesson that addresses soft power in the contemporary world, particularly during and after the Cold War.  I haven't yet decided exactly how the lesson will develop but I know that it is a topic that I find extremely interesting and one that I think most people should understand--very rarely are people aware of the socio-political processes that are occuring in their nations.

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Prior to Professor Rosen's articulation of the term "soft power" I had never heard of this term nor had any idea of what the term refers to.  But after Professor Dube allowed a following discussion of the term this afternoon, my understanding of this idea has become a bit less nebulous. I knew that China has invested and continues to invest in efforts to promote the idea that China has this soft power, that aspects of Chinese culture have a greater influence and appeal to the larger world and on the global stage.  It is not hard to see why China desires to promote this view within its citizenry.   This promotion of soft power is an aggressive government strategy in China.  In contrast, within  the United States, we do not aggressively invest in promoting this view but clearly have it as we see the appeal and influence U.S. sitcoms, Hollywood and other aspects of American pop culture have in other parts of the world, China being one of them.  I am still not sure how I could implement this concept into my teaching, but I am open to ideas of how this can be accomplished and would like to explore ways in which I can integrate this new concept into the classroom.   

[Mayra Brady]

Thank you, Professor Dube, for explaining soft power with concrete examples. I now understand and realize how soft power works.  I believe China is not the only country who uses soft power.  Some of the colleagues in the class did say the United States also uses soft power and I agree.  The second part of the lecture was about culture colors.  I am going to focus more on color and teach the students to look at cultures and discuss colors in film, pictures, or reading   I really enjoyed the afternoon lecture.   

[Wen Shi]

Thank you for the very inspiring lecture about random pictures and questions.

Regarding to the Chinese currency that is replaced by Mao,I think it indicates that the communist party want to centralize the power and continue Mao's legacy. In my opinion, Mao is a controversial person. Regardless the mistakes he made in his later years( cultural revolution, the four-people gang), he unified China in 1949. For me, the image of Mao represents a strong centralized government which is what the Xi government prmoting or working on. The currency is a symbol or an indicator of what's going on or what will happen in the future. To my understanding is that the Chinese government will regain its legacy and rejuvinate the country despite numerous issues in Chinese society nowadays.

To bring the lecture to my classroom, I am thinking about in my social studies and world history, I could combine ancient china, medieval China and contemporaty China all together so that students could get the big picture of China's history and what's going on nowadays. The challeng for me is the reading materials that I am going to present my students. Ideally, it has to be authentic matierals like newspaper and news on TV or internet. However, I may need supplenmary materials to present the information.

[Kim Leng]

I enjoyed our class discussion on soft power.  Thank you for clarifying “soft power” today. Prior to today’s lecture, I had not heard of towns such as Pekin’ or Canton.  I have heard of Chino Hills in Ca.  Now that I have a better grasp of soft power, I see its existence in the current number of Chinese restaurants compared to any other restaurants.  Check out Jennifer 8 Lee’s Ted Talk “The Hunt for General Tso” https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_8_lee_looks_for_general_tso#t-31382. Chinese food is everywhere in America!  From America naming towns after Chinese towns, opening of Confucius centers, and eating Chinese food, Chinese soft power is more prevalent than I thought.  I think a lesson on hard power vs. soft power would be interesting for students to learn and then discuss.  What do students think is more effective?   

As Mao appearing on the Chinese currency in 1999, I think it’s because he’s a recognizable image for China.  Whether you love him or hate him, Mao has played a huge influence in China’s history.

[Juan Liebana-Mena]

Hi Wen! I really like your approach to bringing the ideas from this lecture to the classroom. I think the concepts and imagerie about currency and nationalism are powerful to boost students interest and curiosity. How do you plan to use this? What are the grade levels and content units you think this would work best with? I am intesrested because I might try to launch an interdisciplinary lesson with other history teachers in my school so students can work on projects for both English and History.

[Jennifer Place]

I also found this information to be interesting.  Color can have a very strong influence on us, consciously or subconsciously,  I woud like to dig into this in more depth with or without my students!

[Stella Castro]

Jacqueline, I have to agree with you on your  post, In every sentence that you wrote you hit it right on the button with your observation/s of what is going on and happening in regards to the remembrance or Mao.  Then with the president continuing to worship Mao Zedong, even though he is no longer a leader,(oralive0, the continuity of the Mao tradition will endure. As you mentioned Mao Zedong memory remains deeply rooted in the minds of the Chinese peoples. It is hard o imagined just how, just one man, one person, (Mao), was able to influence the people so  much and  how much control this man had over his nation/party. I find it bewilderingly that the Chinese currency would have the picture of Mao Zedong, on its paper bills. But then again, why not, we have our presidents on our currency; it’s just amazing what a stranglehold this person has/had on the/one nation. But it is up to the people of China to make changes, if they really want to abolish the remembrance of Mao’s’ leadership, or continue to commemorate his actuality.

[Stella Castro]

: It was quite interesting to learn what the color representations mean in Asia, although sometimes some the colors can mean a different thing in a different society or towns/villages. For example Professor Dube, said that the color white represents cold, which makes sense, (e.g., snow), the color red meaning festive ,however  sometimes the age of a person helps determine what color they can or cannot wear, for instance the color red. I never thought that colors could have much meaning to a person’s age; it is funny that if one wears a color that they are not supposed to, it is bad. To me wearing whatever color one wants should be acceptable. as it is here I the States. But it does remind me of the gang members here wearing red, “The Crips”, and “The Bloods” wear blue, and they are not supposed to wear the wrong color. I don’t know what happens if they wear the wrong color, but I assume they get in trouble.  This then misrepresents my aforementioned statement about one wearing whatever color they want.  But that is just for gang members. Anyhow, it was interesting to find out that in China white is the color of mourning, whereas here ut is black. So if one was to attend a funeral in China and not know the meaning of the color white for mourning and would wear black as we do here, then I think the Chinese would take insult upon that person, and probably not be very kind to that person, then or in the future may even hold a grudge towards that person.  Mr. Dube also mentioned the fact that black arm bands are worn to remember lost ones, but I wonder when they would wear them, like if there is a certain day for mourning,(e.g., Day of the dead),  or can someone just wear them, anytime they please. In my opinion, this part of the lecture was too short, as I would have loved to learn more about the certain colors, their meanings and representation of.

[Stella Castro]

 It was quite interesting to learn what the color representations mean in Asia, although sometimes some the colors can mean a different thing in a different society or towns/villages. For example Professor Dube, said that the color white represents cold, which makes sense, (e.g., snow), the color red meaning festive ,however  sometimes the age of a person helps determine what color they can or cannot wear, for instance the color red. I never thought that colors could have much meaning to a person’s age; it is funny that if one wears a color that they are not supposed to, it is bad. To me wearing whatever color one wants should be acceptable. as it is here I the States. But it does remind me of the gang members here wearing red, “The Crips”, and “The Bloods” wear blue, and they are not supposed to wear the wrong color. I don’t know what happens if they wear the wrong color, but I assume they get in trouble.  This then misrepresents my aforementioned statement about one wearing whatever color they want.  But that is just for gang members. Anyhow, it was interesting to find out that in China white is the color of mourning, whereas here ut is black. So if one was to attend a funeral in China and not know the meaning of the color white for mourning and would wear black as we do here, then I think the Chinese would take insult upon that person, and probably not be very kind to that person, then or in the future may even hold a grudge towards that person.  Mr. Dube also mentioned the fact that black arm bands are worn to remember lost ones, but I wonder when they would wear them, like if there is a certain day for mourning,(e.g., Day of the dead),  or can someone just wear them, anytime they please. In my opinion, this part of the lecture was too short, as I would have loved to learn more about the certain colors, their meanings and representation of. Also seasons play an important role in artist’s paintings, drawings, and/or postcards. With orchids representing the season of spring, the lotus representing summer, for fall its chrysanthemums, and for winter it is the ever popular plum/cherry blossoms

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