Week 1 - China at the Center (January 31)

[Jenai Sheffels]

I had heard that the BRI was barely on Xi's radar anymore and, as Nina mentioned, hadn't been a major talking point as of late.  Instead, it had been replaced by the Global Development Initiative?  There are many countries who owe debts to China due to the BRI that cannot be repaid.  Of course, there's also been the crackdown on big tech (Alibaba, Tencent, etc.) and the "reeducation" of its Jack Ma.  It's not difficult to imagine that China is the current Big Bad Wolf of the world, and maybe just in the absence of a bigger threat.  However, the human rights violations are worth our concern.  That being said, we don't ever seem to move beyond concern as a country and maybe there's just no appetite for actually standing up for the little guy, no matter where he's from.  I think I've wallowed in depressing news for too many days in a row now...

 

[Bridget Ruiz-Acevedo]

I have to admit that much of the information that was presented was new to me. I was aware that China is a powerful country but was unaware of the negative perceptions attached to it. In taking this course, I'm excited to learn more about the history of China and extend my knowledge about its' people and their culture. And even though there are obvious politcal differences we can learn from each other as development in China continues to progress. As far as the classroom, learning about China's past will help me with understanding how to approach lesson plans that I would use with my students today. 

[Jerrica Keane]

Hi Bridget! I felt the same when starting this course. It has been really informative so far. I particularly enjoy hearing the diverse experiences and perspectives from everyone in our discussions, on zoom and in the sources we have read. It really goes to show how much geopolitics is not only economic relations, it is also social and political. 

[Courtney Caldwell]

As for lecture 2, this lecture left me wondering so much about China's reputation in the world vs. why China actually makes the moves it does. After feeling humiliated and exploited for so long, it would make sense to build/implement systems that keep that from happening again. I just appreciated this perspective because the narrative the world has of China (really specifically here in the US) is very much one of China as the aggressor and threat vs. a country that is simply trying to not allow history to repeat itself. It was a perspective I hadn't really considered and as an ethnic studies teacher, I appreciated this new counter narrative of why China has made the decisions is it has in more recent history. 

[Richard Rosales]

I found it quite enligtnening to discover the sentiment expressed by Chinese leadership and the roots from which it evolved.  When viewed from this perspective it is much easier to emphathize with the current prevailing attitude of the Chinese population.  One can understand the defensive and non-trusting attitude that seems to be pervasive in China when the history of persecution is brought into consideration.

[Brendon McGirr]

It is a really fascinating historiography study, or at least will make one in several years. I am reminded on the perspective of the expansion of the USSR right after WWII. From the Western perspective, the USSR was forcing communism and was just concerned about expanding their territory. However, the USSR was trying to build a buffer zone to protect themselves, as they had been invaded by Western Europeans 3 times in 100 years, and feared of a unified W. Europe/US doing the same (which is legitimate, Patton wanted to push the tanks to Moscow while they were weakened as Berlin was falling).

 

I feel like China's role in Africa really shows the effects of the end of the age of Imperalism. Using the BRI to gain influence in a region that has a lot of economic potential shows China being innovative.

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