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Aleida RojasHi Lynne,
First of all I was very surprised to learn about the fact that China actually allows people to be part of the Catholic or other major christian churches. As I continues reading, I realized that the only reason why the government allows Chinese citizes to be christians is to exert control over them. The government gets to regulate religion and they also get stop cults from taking over the masses.
Aleida RojasHi Billie,
I guess what I do not understand about this Hokou system is how it hurts the Chinese Economy. I know that China wants to be a super power so that is what makes it very difficult to understand their approach toward their own citizens in the country side. If they want to continue to lead the way, China's officals must provide education for all of its citizes.
Aleida RojasHi Robert,
I intend to use those maps and maybe the lecture about Hokuo in my class. I will have the kids label the map and draw arrows to where the major cities are and where all the countryside people are migrating to. I think that this activity will help my students understand the Hokou system and they will also understand the descrimination factor that comes with it.
Aleida RojasHi Billie,
Have you seen the video of an "infected person" bieng dragged out of their homes and put into a box? I remmeber watching that on the news and I was horrified. There is a lot going on in China but they are very good at hiding things.
Aleida RojasThis lecture was truly scary. The water situation in china is a very urgent matter and I cannot believe that the government allowed things to get this bad. 16 % of ALL land is polluted and 20 % of all arable land is also polluted. We already dicussed how land is being used for urbanization purposes and how China is putting itself in the hands of major food producers because they cannot longer provide food for their growing population. This will cause a major problem for china because they will be forced to buy food and water from other countires making their economy dependant on such countries.
Aleida Rojas1. One of the most interesting points in the first lecture /video is the transittion from the "work point system" to the Household Responsability System Contract. As we disscussed last week, the new system allowed families to meet their quotas and sell their surplus. This created new jobs, new opportunities to earn additional income, and it also allowed pople to have second jobs in the city.
2. It made me really sad to learn that China also has a long history of mistreating its migrant population. Migrant workers in China have been used as scapegoats and are often blamed for the increase of crime rates in the cities.Some migrant individuals have been beaten to death. China also has detention centers that can house up to 3 million detainees and these centers are also known as repatriation centers.
3. For a nation that takes pride in its communists ideals, it is also sad to learn that China has lost its family/communtiy values. These breakdown of community values is maily due to income inequality, caused mainly by the Hokou system. And because of this, there are 61 million children who are basically abandoned by their parents as they seek a better job in the city. This is a major crisis in China, I cannot believe that they have allowed this to happen, especially as they face a labor shortage in the near future.
4. One surprising factor was the increasing number of Chinese people turning into christianity. 100 million christians compared to roughly 86 million communist party members has started to make Chinese Government officials nervous. the fact that government officials have two branches of Chritianity as government acknowledged religions was very surprising to me becuase I always heard christians in the U.S. saying that their religion was banned in China.
5.But after I read the article from the Financial Times, I understood why the Chinese government "allows" christianity in their country. They think that they can control Christians by putting cameras inside churches. But they also use religion as a form to control people and a way to prevent the spread of dangerous cults. The unexpected rise of christianity in China comes from well educated individuals, influential, and demanding middle class individuals who supported the communist party during the reform of the 1970's.
6. finally, my heart ached for all the villages that have dissapeared to make room for urban development. 300 villages per day is the fact that impacted me the most. With the loss of all these villages, China is also losing its culture and its traditons. The good news is that Chinese officials are trying to support the indivisuals who still carry with them all these beautiful traditions. I hope that they realize how important it is to conserve all this cultural heritage. I also hope that they change their awful view of farmers and the rural chinese regions, especially when 80% of their heritage comes from rural traditions.
Aleida Rojasa. I was really surpirse to see how the U.S. and China seem to share the same educational problems. In the U.S., we seem to be graduating kids from college with a huge amount of debt and with very few skills to find a jobs in this market economy. China is also experiencing the same issue. Many migrant workers in China lack the vocational skills to be employed in what China sees as their future economy. This includes jobs that requiere a highly skilled workforce; but because of Hokou, China has made it almost impossible to create the skilled workforce that they need for their new economy. China is now facing a severe labor shortage in the skilled and highly skilled workforce, which is a major contributor to China's labor cost. The U.S. is also having a hard time getting kids to enroll in vocational schools and that is having an impact on our labor force as well.
b. The other thing that I found really interesting is China's debt. Most importantly, where the debt is coming from. Years of corruption and State Owned Enterprice has created a very unstable banking system. It has also led to a lot of unfainess since these enterrices dont pay the same interest rates as the private firms and they do not have to pay their debts. There are so many Zombie institutions due to overcapacity, but China must keep these companies afloat to avoid high unemplyment rates. It remainded me of The Bank bailout during the American economic crises.
c. I think that all the economic problems that China faces today have root on the one child policy. They now face an aging work force, they face a decrease in child birth, and an economic downturn.
d. I learned that China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasure Securities. Because of this Chinese-American economic transaction, the U.S. is able to keep interest rates low. I have always say to my students that if the Chinese economy goes down, we are going down with them, and after doing the reading this week, I think that this is very true.
Aleida RojasI think that what impressed me the most was the Hokou system. I cannot believe that China is still using this system that discriminates against its own people. The government has created a system that has second class citizens who are not allowed to get an education.
The second thing that impressed me the most is how China has used its economic power to influence other countries. The fact that they got apple to get rid of apps that allowed people to override China's fire wall seems very impressive and disappointing.
The Reign of Xi Jinping reminded me of how Stalin rose to power. Xi Jinping got rid of all his opponents in what seemed to me like a political purge. Once he did that, he took absolute control over the party and the nation. The fact that there is still hope for a democratic China is not only in the hands of Chinese citizens but also on US foreign policy. This policy must remind China that with economic power, comes great responsibility. Especially in the role that China plays in global warming, trade, and the militarization of small island in the region.
Aleida RojasHi! My name is Aleida Rojas. I have been teaching for 21 years. I have taught elementary, middle school, and high school. I currently teach 10th grade world history at East Bakersfield High School. I am always looking for learning opportunities to improve my craft. I'm very confident that participating in this forum will help me gain more knowledge about China and I will be able to create better lessons to engage my students and improve their understanding of China. This is also the first time that I take an online class and I'm kind of nervous. Thank you in advance for your patience and your support.
