[Ann Huynh]

 

The article about the "Top Ten Things to Know About Korea in the 21st Century" is a great way to get the students familiar about the country of Korea.  There are many fascinating tidbits about Korea that will allow students to know more about this country.  For example, Korea is a technologically advanced country and that a lot of people use cell phones.  This is like America, where many people are on some type of smart device all the time.  Another interesting fact is that the two Koreans want to be united so that families’ wounds can be healed and unified.  According to the article, the Koreans feel that if they were united they would continue to “assert its role of leadership and achieve new marks in the world economy and culture.”  In other words, if the two Koreans become united, they would have more land and people so that they can continue to be a country that will be an important player in the world.     

[Ann Huynh]

 The Japanese samurai has always been a point of fascination.  Prior to this reading, I thought that they were just soldiers, but they have a strict code and are highly disciplined.  In the "Principles of Warriors," it went into exact details what a person need to do to be a samurai.  He must obtain two kinds of principles, the ordinary principles and the emergency principles, before even being a samurai.  Throughout the text there is a heavy emphasis on discipline and a continued focus on cultivating skills that are deemed acceptable according to the samurai code.  They are not ordinary soldier, but someone who dedicated their life to being an esteemed citizen.  This helped explain why the Japanese tea ceremony is a meticulous and long process.  The people in the tea ceremony are very disciplined.  

[Ann Huynh]

The article that resonated with me is the one about Japan.  Here we a have a country that is just as modernized as America, but the biggest problem they have is an aging population.  According to the article, more and more Japanese women are delaying marriages because of the expectations imposed upon them after marriage, namely childbirth.  Whereas the woman might have to give up her career, the men will have very little responsibility in taking care of their children.  This is very unfair and I can see why the Japanese woman might not want to get married immediately because they will not have time to build a career for themselves.  Furthermore, the government is trying to come up with policies to prevent the woman from earning more so that they will get married sooner instead of later.  In America, we have similar thoughts about marriages.  More women are putting marriage on hold to pursue a career because of the advancement in education.  

[Ann Huynh]

The Cultural Revolution in China led to many people accusing and turning against families and friends.  The people who ended up with the most power was the red guards, the youths of China.  They might have been swept up in the ideology under Mao of creating a better China that they created big character poster to denounce those who were revisionists (a threat to the Communist Party).  We would look at some big character poster and talk about its effectiveness.  At the end, we might create some big character posters.

[Ann Huynh]

China has always been a country where most of the people occupation are agrarian.  The people are tied to the land and this due to partible inheritance, in which all the heirs laid claim to the land.  This system of inheritance made land reform in China under Mao’s rule problematic.  The land reform ended up causing many to perish and very little land was left to be distributed.  The idea of partible inheritance will give the students an opportunity to see how wealth may be distributed.  This is different from primogeniture, in which the oldest son will inherit everything.  The students will compare the two types of inheritance and see which one they would prefer and why.

[Ann Huynh]

Opera is an interesting art form.  A story is told through singing and dancing and for my students, they might liken it to a play instead of an American opera.  I never knew that there was such a famous Chinese opera singer that he was even given an honorary degree from USC.  This is great because our school is very close to USC and the students are very interested in anything having to do with USC.  I can show them an image of Mei Lanfang without his costumes and makeup and then have an image of Mei Lanfang in full costume.  This way the students can see the difference and know that it takes a lot of work to be a performer in a Beijing opera.  Marital arts are utilized in the opera, which is another way for the students to relate to an artform that came to America from another country.     

[Ann Huynh]

In England, we have Kings, but in the Asian countries, we refer to the kings as emperor.  The last Manchu emperor, Puyi, was removed from power and taken prisoner from Russia as the Communist party eventually seized control of China.  His story was told through the film "The Last Emperor."  I would use scenes showing the forbidden city so that the students know the scale and size of the palace in China.  This way they will see why so many people in the past has fought for this position.  Unlike the Kings in Europe, the emperor in China justify their rule because of the “mandate from heaven” and that if the mandate was revoked, they would lose power and a new emperor would replace them.  

[Ann Huynh]

I am impressed by the MIT website "Visualizing Cultures."  This is a great way to obtain images to use in the classroom and help the students see what and how the Chinese, Japanese, and South Korean are different from each other.  The numerous problems that plague China caused many notable people in China to leave and devise solutions to help her.  As a result, what ultimately happened was that a new leadership would arise, the Communist Party and the Nationalist Party.  I never knew that the Nationalist Party would eventually leave China and rule Taiwan because they ended up losing the battle to unify China under their rule.  Furthermore, the man known as the father of modern China, Sun Yat Sen, was educated in Hawaii and Hong Kong and is widely recognized and celebrated in China during China's National Day.  On the other hand, I never knew that the Communist Party displayed pictures of Lenin and Stalin, including Marx and Engel during certain times of the year.  When this happen, it is a big deal, like July 4 in America.  I would like to link and connect these two ideas together so students will understand why certain days are so important.   

[Ann Huynh]

The debate about what China should do is a great way to get the students to think on a deeper level about the history of China.  Having students role play the people during that time will provide a way for them see the threat that the Chinese was facing both internally and externally.  Furthermore, students would learn to work as a team and justify their positions using evidence to support their reasoning.  These are the skills that we are asking our students to do now as a result of the Common Core State Standards.  I wish my teachers in high school had done it this way.  It would be so much more interesting. 

[Ann Huynh]

During this time, China is undergoing many changes.  The Manchu Dynasty is weakening and failing in its duties to protect the Chinese people from foreign power and foreigners are taking over territories.  Internally, there are many factions who wanted China to change.  Among this faction is the self-strengthening movement, with its leader in Li Honzhang.  Unlike the other factions, Li wanted China to get stronger by investing in her military prowess because they have learned about the Japanese superiority over Russia due to her military capabilities.  China had lost the Opium War so the self-strengtheners strongly believed that advanced military technologies will contribute to make China stronger.  They did not want to get rid of the emperor, but work on ways to strengthen China.  They felt that the rebels and reforms were too extreme.  China needed to do something because it was being carved up like a melon and this period became known as China’s National Humiliation according to the Communist Party.  Letting students know about this long history of China might help them see why the Communist Party is able to justify their rule over the people and to maintain power, a mighty military is necessary.

[Ann Huynh]

The documentary, "We the Workers" showed China factory workers struggle for better pay and work conditions was very moving.  The film opened with a group of people attempting to get the people to understand their rights as workers and to try to advocate for those rights.  Those people were not always successful, but the film goes on to follow the case of Qingsheng in which the workers successfully fought for collective bargaining and increased pay.  As of now, factory workers all over China are trying to have collective bargaining with the owners.  Watching the film, it made me realized how much we have taken for granted the struggles of the people who had fought for those same rights in America.  During the Industrial Revolution, many factory workers were working in unfavorable conditions and it took many tears and years before the conditions are as it is now.  I think the director, Han Dongfang said it the best.  He made the film so that one day the younger generations in China will know how their ancestors fought for better conditions through the utilization of collective bargaining and that they will not forget.  This documentary is a great way for students to see how and why the conditions in the factories need to change, just as it did for the factory workers in America now.  In one of the clip, a worker was working at a motorized machine with sparks flying as he was filing down an object without safety goggles.  This is dangerous and would be prohibited in America and students need to know how hard the struggle was for better working conditions. 

[Ann Huynh]

This lecture was captivating.  Professor Kurashige knowledge about Asian Americans is extensive.  For a long time, according to the Africans the Asians were considered “honorary White” and that they were treated like White is misleading.  Just like any other minority groups in America, they encountered discrimination after discrimination.  There were numerous immigration acts that prevented and excluded the Asians from serving and becoming United States citizens.  It was not until 1952 that Asians can start to attain citizenship, but they have been immigrating to America since the late 17^th century.  Also, many Chinese helped built the railroad and settled into communities, such as Chinatown.  The students have heard about Chinatown and a few of them have visited it, but a lot of them that do not know why Chinatown came about.  I would start with Chinatown and then have the students talk about their own family journey to America so that they can understand and know why their family immigrated to America.           

[Ann Huynh]

The end of World War II also led to the division of Korea.  There is a North Korea (communist) and a South Korea (democratic).  The focus would be on South Korea.  From South Korea, we have impressive technologies that is currently used in America.  It ranges from cellphones to cars.  Many of the students in my class have heard of the brands Samsung and Hyundai.  They also grew up listening to the catchy Gangnam style song.  This is a great way to get the students to learn about the Korean waves through such medias as songs so that they are a little bit more familiar with this country's history.  

[Ann Huynh]

Japan rising power in East Asia, defeat, and rebirth is a lesson.  This would help explain why the Japanese left Japan and decided to look for greener pasture elsewhere, namely Hawaii in the United States.  Many of the second born sons have very limited opportnities that a lot of them decided to move.  Therefore during World War II, many Japanese Americans were relocated to camps because of mistrust.  The war ended with the dropping of the two atomic bombs, but the aftermath was problematic.  The deaths and birth defects resulting from the radiation was unplanned.  I would introduce this time period to the students using the novel "Sadako and the Thousand Cranes" to help them understand the war and its aftermath because World War II is a major focus in America history.  

[Ann Huynh]

Japan has long been a country of interest for me because of their impressive technologies in America.  I grew up using a lot of items that were made from Japan or came from Japan so to learn more about their history was an enriching experience.  One of the most fascinating thing in the lecture was the vendetta registration system.  The Japanese government was granting permission to the people to carry out justice as they see fit.  The story of the 47 ronin and the subsequently suicide is a great teaching point.  I would use the image and have a discussion with my students about what they are seeing as a way to introduce the students to the ideology of fairness and what could happen if you break a law.  There are consequences for all your actions and that you are responsible for it.  This is very similar as to why there are laws in America.  This would be a great connection for the students.     

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