Yan - Globalization and Individuals in China (Wed)

[Anonymous]

yeah, I feel the same way. Nice reflection...thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

Wow! Professor Yan is an amazing "individual". If you "desire" the current social situation in China, Dr. Yan is the man. Being just 12 hours removed from Bejing his lecture was impressive, and knowledge and experience is difficult to match. I really enjoyed this man.

[Anonymous]

The video on the shrimp injections was enlightening and disgusting. In the future is going to be difficult for me to order and eat (shrimp) at some of my favorite spots. Vietnamese food is very tasty and i thought healthy?

[Anonymous]

I was not surprised by the gay men who hide their sexuality to appease family but I do feel for them. They are stuck at such an incredibly harsh crossroads in which they must grapple with personal identity and desire versus heritage & the need to provide grandchildren on a daily basis. Once again, I feel so fortunate to be who I am, where I am, when I am.

[Anonymous]

I loved this movie. Directed by Xue Xiaolu in 2013, this romantic comedy was very entertaining, cute, and at the same time introduces some key points a foreigner may experience in US. Jiajia was a mistress of a wealthy Beijing tycoon. Because she couldn't have baby in China, due to her relationship with a married man, she ended up in Seattle to give birth. At the beginning of the movie Jiajia was a spoiled "princess". She was rude, materialistic, and egocentric person, who thought that a credit card could do anything. However, she meets with a wonderful person, Frank, who cares deeply about her and her baby when she was alone and "penny less". They fall in love, but Jiajia returns to her rich boyfriend, probably thinking that it would provide a better future for her baby. After a while she realized that she can't find her happiness in loneliness, and leaves her boyfriend. At the end of the film Frank and Jiajia get reunited, but now she is a hard working, caring person. I will recommend my students to watch this move because it has a strong message that the material wealth is nothing compared to love, care, and trust.

[Anonymous]

Hearing the lecture on Wednesday help reinforce some of my knowledge of China. I however did not know that a person was not considered to be a full person until they fulfill certain mandatory requirements. How a person could not think of themselves as a person but as part of a linear line of ancestors and descendants. The term “I” was not used but rather “we” or “us” was more common in older generations. After the migration of Chinese people, they began to embraced individuality. Now it has shift back to small family unity. Chinese feel so much pressure to succeed which is not surprisingly the death mortality is higher there. I also did not know that average life expectancy for Chinese is shorter by 20 years when compared to the world because of being overworked. The lecture was very informative and helped me understand why the Chinese people have so much money and still feel so much pressure by their grandparents and or parents. Having this information has helped me understand the family dynamics a lot better which hopefully will make me a better teacher for my students.

[Anonymous]

• It was great to hear Professor Yan lecture on the evolving concept of individuality in China because it helped me gain a deeper understanding of a lot of the communal practices in Chinese culture. One of the most obvious examples I can think of is family style dining. In my experiences eating in China, sharing food items makes for social situations that help people communicate and interact with one another. This style of dining and frame of thinking reminds a lot about Latin American culture and practices in that the family is largely involved in a lot of things that would be done individually in countries like the US. In thinking about how I can make links between Chinese culture and my students who come from Latin American backgrounds, I would probably start a discussion about how they assert individuality in their homes and/or with their families. I can imagine that individuality is probably something that is ingrained in them in school where they learn a lot about American culture and practices.

edited by nramon on 8/4/2016

[Anonymous]

• I also thought is was very interesting that the introduction of communism allowed for individuals to separate themselves from their ancestors and rely more on the communist party. In many ways, it seems that China retained its communal practices in that the Communist Party forged a very different form of unity as seen in the communes and in the way communities were made to work with on another for the development of China under Mao. It thinking of China today, it is clear that China is developing and changing at a rapid pace, but at the same time, I wonder if in some ways it is also attempting to reconnect with its past. In my travels through China, it seems that there is an effort to conserve and recollect a lot of the cultural items that were lost during the Cultural Revolution. I wonder if the same is happening within the context of social practices.

edited by nramon on 8/4/2016

[Anonymous]

• I was also intrigued by the idea of not being considered an individual until you have fulfilled a number of responsibilities/reached certain milestones. This reminds me a lot about how being a woman is defined in Latin American cultures and on some level, even in American cultures. There is always the idea that a woman is not entirely fulfilled until she is married and has children because it is simply not enough to be unmarried and single. With the growing cost of living, being single and childless seems to be a growing trend in China and it seems that even today, Chinese society continues to play with the idea that an individual is not full until certain milestones are reached.

edited by nramon on 8/4/2016

[Anonymous]

I am so appreciate to have this opportunity to learn the change of China from Professor Yan. Both my parents were moved from China to Taiwan after WWII. I remembered, when I was a kid they can’t write letter to their families who still in China. There are so many things I learn about China were from school, some of them were true and some were exaggerated.
My first experience to know Chinese from China was 1983 when I take my graduated study in University of San Francisco. Compared to Taiwanese students there were just a few Chinese from China. Those days, all Taiwanese call ourselves Chinese, so in the school our “ Chinese student Club” was including those students from China. I really experienced that they were different from us(Chinese from Taiwan), they more keep distance from us and study harder than us. Their English also worse than us, but they really more focused on learning and most of them plan to go back to China after the higher education. Those Chinese friends were so different with the Chinese students I met in these 10 years.
I only know the changes is because the Chinese have more changes to connect to western cultures, but never know the relationship changes modern china coming from when and what.
Leaning from Dr. Yan, I have more understanding how these 30 years change happened, when was the influence happened. How china society changed from strong Mao’s era to now. As a Chinese, I really appreciate to learn about this.
If my students like to put their interesting about China, I can help them to do a better research from Dr. Yan’s articals.
edited by ysun on 8/4/2016

[Anonymous]

When professor Yan said, in the old days they always said “we” or “our” not “I” or “my”. All the sudden, I understand what it was. Those experiences I had in 30 years ago, those days I first met people from my parents’ home town. I kind of find the puzzle in to my old memory.
The people I met from China in the present days, they are different from my old friends. Because there society has changed even their political leaders are different now.

[clay dube]

Responding to Robert -
The rural collective is largely dead. In some places, collectives still oversee some economic production, but beginning in the late 1970s, land has been assigned to households and most rural enterprises have been contracted to private managers. A lot has been written on this, but let me recommend three books:

the Potters, 1990, China's Peasants: The Anthropology of a Revolution http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/anthropology/social-and-cultural-anthropology/chinas-peasants-anthropology-revolution

Friedman, Seldon, et al, 1993, Chinese Village, Socialist State http://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?k=9780300054286

-- 2007, Revolution, Resistance, and Reform in Village China http://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780300125955

Agriculture in the richer eastern part of China is generally done by older people and women caring for children. And in many villages near cities, it is now done by companies from poorer areas which use farmers from those areas. Most older people are still cared for at home, but nursing homes are increasing in China. When I lived in rural China in 1990-92, these were mainly caring for a handful of elderly women whose children had moved away or who did not have children. But now, so many people have migrated that this is becoming a significant industry.
edited by Clay Dube on 8/6/2016

[clay dube]

Cindy raises great points. The pressure on all people, but especially women to get married within the "use by" date, is large. Partly parents push it because their own friends and family make a bigger deal out of it over time. But people in China and in America are getting married later and some elect to never pair up. Some elders complain that millennials are too picky or that this shows their immaturity. Others recognize that with rising divorce rates in China and high divorce rates in the US, perhaps pushing folks into early marriage isn't such a good idea.

[clay dube]

Eunjee asks to know more about millennials -- we have videos on this: http://china.usc.edu/video-millennialminds
Please watch and let us know what you think.

[Anonymous]

This is very similar to what occurs in Mexico. In some areas, women take their husband's last names and in some they do not. I'm not sure why that is the case. Personally, most of my Mexican female relatives choose not to change their last names. I guess, this similarities between THailand, China, and Mexico exists in other places as well.

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