[Chris Hertzog]

Also, the section of that report where they talk about the Pearl River Delta cities that remained open and functional world traders, even during Mao's cultural revolution are still growing and open for business.  

"In the years after Mao’s rise to power, Guangzhou regained its historic role as the commercial contact point between China and the rest of the world, playing host to the China Import and Export Fair, or the Canton Fair as it is better known. Launched in 1957, the Fair soon became a crucial source of foreign exchange earnings for the Chinese government and was important enough to be kept running through the tensest moments of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s"

While trade and outside contact was small in the 1950s it began to grow and word got out to foreign banks and investors that a large market was available, perhaps risky, but definitely available for the right business and marketing strategies.  It seems everyone around the world likes "stuff" and perhaps may be willing to trade.

This again is a great document series to use in World History class.  The Ming dynasty relation and comparison would be a great place to insert this into a class read and discussion, and a great outside source for an AP DBQ essay!  The early Ming sent out Zheng He on his famous Indian Ocean trade expedtitions only to come back and say that the world had little to offer and then following this Ming Emperor Hongwu shuts down most all foreign trade and establishes specific trade ports like Macau to be the contact point to western traders.  Whether that was a prudent decision or not, it certainly did not contain the desire to trade for the western traders or Chinese merchants.  It does not look like much changed, and interestingly, things went on even during what is usually portrayed as the closing off of China during the Cultural Revolution.  Yet trade continued.  I think this would be quite helpful for students to see how blurry political and national lines get when it comes to trade and business.  People like their stuff, no matter what period of history we are looking at, or things going on right now.

[Chris Hertzog]

I concur with Margret that this is a great video to use and get a big picture view of the land reform movement and the key players in China's recent history of land reform... and thanks Clay for the reminders of all the U.S. participants.  Wow, I had not seen that picuture with Ford & George and Barbara Bush in China.  Very interesting.  That would get modern students eyebrows raised, especially this generation that hears all this stuff about China taking over the world, but still building and making most of our products, and with this clear history of U.S. presidents visiting, especially back when China was painted in that "evil empire" broad brush narrative of the 1980s.

But back to Margret's great point on land reform.  This is a terrific way to bring up Mexico, many South American countries as well as post-WWI and WWII treaties and resolutions in Africa or the Middle East.  Or even the U.S?  Manifest Destiny???  Anyway, it gets kids attention and makes them think how history is now.  These things keep coming up over and over.  The simple issue or problem for every culture, empire or nation is how do you get babies born, fed, grown up and repeat the process for the next generation.  You need land and that land has to produce food and materials for human life to continue.

In AP World we cover all of the Chinese Dynasties and it is a constant issue.  This is a great video, topic and some of the other articles this week are a perfect platform for students to compare modern Chinese land reforms to those of say the Song, Tang or Ming.  How were they similar or different?  Is this only a Chinese issue... or do we all have to look at it?  What is unique about China

[Chris Hertzog]

California dreaming? Shenzhen’s success has seen it start to draw comparisons with Silicon Valley. The city is home to Tencent, whose WeChat messaging app is used by hundreds of millions of people. 

Above is a quote from the HSBC "Week in China" on the Pearl River Delta report.  This is a perfect type of document or chunked up document  that I can use in AP World classes.  One of the skills students must develop in the course is how to source a document.  POV, typically its called.  Point of View.  Who is saying the information and why, what is the purpose and audience this information or source is given to or for?

In this case, this definitely would bring interest to students about China's silicon valley model as well as how teenage students all over the world are interested in tech, and in most cases this is a strong personal interest.  Teens are keen on tech and typically get excited in discussing and researching it... SO good attention grabber here, plus the format of this document makes it easy to chunck up and give to students as part of a lesson or an entire lesson.  Depending on the reading level and historical knowledge of the students.

So there is a wealth of topics in this article alone but in addition, getting students to research what it is saying and why and who?  I am going to use this one, especially as a document for sourcing exercises.  We do go over the start up of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation HSBC and of course the incursion of the Western powers into China, but this is a great article to have students look at the past to the present.  Why is HSBC still there?  What is their role now in China and internationally?  Why would they be publishing such a document?  What is its purpose?  Who is it written for? 

Excellent source for class.

[Chris Hertzog]

Brett brings up some great topics for discussion... and a great idea on a socratic seminar.  There is so much in the article and along with the all the recent event that would stimulate a great conversation from students.  Ya, I hear that phrase, or something like it quite often, "They hate us because our freedom."

Getting students to ask questions about what China is really doing for themselves as opposed to against someone us or someone else would be a good conversation.  Also bringing up topics like the Marshall Plan or Dawes or even asking students to ponder how the biggest communist system has embraced many economic ideals that look at times quite capitalist, that of couse involves a police state.  It is a time in history that we may need to look for new categories to explain what this new China system is.  Stalin like yes, but with U.S. and international companies welcome in the borders.  The Ming Dynasty chose not to trade with the outside world except by specific exports, Qing try to keep it contained to certain areas and then colonization takes over.  What do we see in Jinping's redifining the rules and the past choices in what is taking place now... or as it were, a world where China makes the rules on foreign powers instead of the other way around.

I think students today are very interested in all of this.

[Chris Hertzog]

Wow!  Right around the corner, that is pretty clever.

[Chris Hertzog]

Thanks!  I will grab some from there.

[Chris Hertzog]

I was unaware that there were over 500 Confucian schools funded by Xi Jinping inside the U.S.!  As I read this article I was thinking that he was sounding like a “Neo” Neo Confucian leader. Almost as if he has set in motion many of the ancient ideals of order, behavior, efficiency, loyalty and a new form of filial piety to the party or system… or to himself.  A militant, expansionist confucian school.

 

He is definitely aggressive in the areas of  economic growth, technological expansion, infrastructure building and military expansion.  It is interesting to wonder how far this can keep going as the Council of Foreign Relations does in this piece by Elizabeth Starr.  The push back on Xi may just be by his own people, especially those with limited internet access or those affected by family disappearances or revoked passports.

 

Certainly many are benefiting from Xi’s policies, including U.S. firms and those in Korea, Japan and India that are working with Chinese firms, but how long will all these nations and corporations tolerate or accept his China first attitudes?  Will it go too far?

 

Building islands and expanding the military is one thing in the South China Sea, but setting up bases in other regional hotspots or entering into territories that have been overseen by other powers may be too much for the other powers of the world… and not just the U.S.  Russia, the E.U. or others may grow tired of losing influence, money or intellectual property and call out China and Xi’s “China First” policies. It is a curious dilemma since everyone’s economic future are tied together.

 

Starr does raise some good points to question if the traditional U.S. policy to ‘lead by example’ will be enough to convince China to be a bit more democratic or to at least respect copyrights or others property, intellectual or otherwise.  Our current administration is trying to pressure with tariffs, but will that be something that will even make Xi blink?

 

[Chris Hertzog]

Very useful lecture and overview on modern Chinese regional distinctions, peoples and geographic features.  The river maps and pictures on flooding are an excellent way to use in relating the ancient attempts at controlling the larger river systems to what has happened throughout Chinese history in regards to massive flooding issues, the building of the canal systems and the impacts on irrigation on agriculture and urban growth.

 

The satellite images from the Yellow and the Yangzi rivers showing  the sediment flow and pollution along with the intentional changing of the flow patterns into the seas is really mind blowing.  How a country of such a massive population has to alter the landscape in order to tame nature or provide more land or more water to certain areas points to the endurance and longevity of Chinese civilization.

 

It has always fascinated me how the Chinese have stayed relatively stationary as an empire, country or nation.  It seems that through much of their history they stayed in the lands of “China” and did not set out to build an empire on distant lands like other groups (Mongols, Ottomans, Spanish, British) but remained in their heartland from the Qin until now.  But in staying in these lands they have looked to harness the lands, the water, the resources to make it work for China.

 

Perhaps some of these projects or policies may not have worked as planned or created some other issues, like the “Three Gorges Dam” or the continual failure of the river levee systems.  But despite these setbacks, they continued to build, grow and push forward. It certainly seems their resolve to deal with all kinds of civilization ending issues continues to this day. Many civilizations did not make through the centuries they have.  The fact that they can do all of this management of geography and continue to have over 1.5 billion population is a testament to that resolve. I enjoy bringing that aspect into my teaching and getting students to explore how these systems work in conjunction with human growth and civilization developments.

 

[Chris Hertzog]

I share the usefulness of this article with Margaret.  Very fascinating article on the impact of the 1979 "one child policy" following the 1949 policy of encouraging the Chinese people to have many children.  The charts and graphs are really helpful and I will be 'borrowing' those for my lectures and student hand out articles on China for my AP World History classes.  We cover all of the Chinese dynasties, revolutions and republics, but information like this is helpful in connecting to past decisions leading to the ones recently enacted.  From the earliest dynasties to the modern era of China there is often a major concern and major strains concerning national resources in proportion to the population. 

Most every dynasty had to deal with a food to population issue.  Most tried land reforms, government food storage or granaries, food distribution and other measures to feed the population.  Dynasties like the Han, Tang, Ming and Qing will lose the "Mandate of Heaven" to lead the people then chaos and rebellion will lead to the collapse of each, primarily due to massive famine hitting large populations.  There were more people than the resources of the land or government could support.  Throughout China's history there always seems to be a tension between a large and growing poplation, which is often many times larger than other civilizations at any time period, and the access to food and resources.  Each dynasty issued policies to try to deal with a famine, drought, plague or other lack of resources.  Now it seems the problem is a growing older population coupled with a low birth rate to be the future care of this older group.

China in the 21st century seems it is no different, but since the 1979 "One Child" policy was inacted the issue was to keep the population down and now that they got it down the growing retired population needs to be supported by a younger working generation.  The graphs and info in this article are perfect to add to materials even in the earlier dynasty units, as it gives students the larger picture of China's continual struggle to find good land for agriculture, food and other resources to sustain their population and at the same time, a large enough working population to keep the overall population going.  

[Chris Hertzog]

Hi all, especially to the other Bakersfield member!

 

[Chris Hertzog]

Logged in and testing it out again!

 

[Chris Hertzog]

Seminar Reflection

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed and gained a greater understanding of East Asia through the content and information from this course.  I have always approached learning as something to be done for life.  As an educator, I have realized, learning is never done.  There are always new things to learn, but there are also new ways of approaching older understandings with new attitudes and new approaches.  For me, and for my teaching, this is where much of the application of the information from this course really will be put to use.  I have really appreciated the different perspectives, approaches and teaching styles offered by the different professors and speakers during our time together.  I have definitely learned a great deal of new details, stories and inside information on Japan, the Koreas and China.  Having taught high school World History and U.S. History for almost 20 years, the shell of all this history has been there, but to hear the detailed accounts, different perspectives and new research from professors speaking from their field of expertise has been a phenomenal experience for me.  

 

After teaching a subject over and over for so long, you can lose perspective or think you have it all down, but this course has shown me otherwise, especially in the arena of teaching Asian history.  My personal knowledge has increased, as I have not heard lectures on the subjects we covered since my university days, but really, the application for me and for my students will be on a more focused and more refined approach to teaching about East Asia.  This will occur in depth of knowledge but also just in the use of the documents we have used, powerpoints and ideas I have picked up.  Professor Kurashige’s talks on anti-Asian sentiment and his research and writings on this in regards to California and U.S. history really stands out as material that I have already discussed and used in my classes, terrific materials that really made me think and consider some of my own approach on the same subject.

 

I have already used some of the strategies and ideas from the speakers we have had, and I will use more.  The scholarship and quality of speakers and information has been terrific, so I will be applying much of what I saw and learned for a while.  As a side note, one area I have found immediate application, multiple times, is in pronunciation.  Hearing proper Korean pronouncements, proper Japanese names and proper Chinese pronunciation while reading the words or names has been terrific for me, especially with my Asian students in my classes.

 

This leads me to an observation to the before and after for what this course is all about, to help teachers teach about East Asia and what our job is about.  I have realized much of the weaknesses in my own teaching depth on East Asia but also the holes lack of depth even in state curriculum on East Asia.  We can do better, especially here in California, I know I will and I will be using many of the resources and information I learned in this course immediately.  

 

A thank you to Clay Dube and his organization and presentations as well as for Prof Jung-Kim, Prof Yamashita and Prof Kurashige.  Terrific information and presentations that will be used and passed on.

 

[Chris Hertzog]

Good point Rick.  I wonder how long it will be that google or some research or search source will be questioned, seriously questioned by current leadership, more than just slammed or called 'fake'.  There is no google China, but how do we have much of the same going on now.  I have been discussing this with students in class, especially when you have examples like Deng's speech or other historical figures who say and do things that we in the States say we would never do.  That is what we say and yet here we have an elected leader who may not be blocking or purposely preventing information being presented, but you do have a leader that like you state, says whatever however ridiculous or not credible, blames who ever, sets up straw man arguments, furthers conspiracy concepts and because it is a free country with freedom of expression this is appearently acceptable.  Are we that far off?  Propaganda is reinvented again it seems.

 

[Chris Hertzog]

I have always been fascinated with the Great Leap.  That article is powerful.  How all this plays out with the Red Guard and this extreme attempt to get into the 20th century has always seemed to impress my classes as well.  Very rich amount of materials to get into with this topic that grabs interests of high schoolers.  It is a terrible time and shocking as to what happens, it is amazing that while the 'Leap' is a disaster, they still do leap forward, or at least do industrialize and do gain technology and within 30 years they do bring about radical change.  They do end up modernizing, but could they have done all of this without so much suffering and so much pain, including cannabalism, canabalism of the whole countryside and people?  The crazy part of history is that they do make it happen, with massive human suffering, was this part of it?   Did that suffering make the success of China, at least in part, possible?  Perhaps not, maybe they would be even more successful than they are now.  It always impresses me though that that much progress could happen with that much destruction.

 

[Chris Hertzog]

Good point Carlos, when we teach on the "isms"; communism, totalitarianism, socialism and such, we tend to use this clear cut categories.  I confer, I never thought about how a Leninist system lines up or how it works in a system.  When we begin to look at the system and break it down into a mechanism then we can see how it works, not just how it is defined.  It is easy to give a definition with a simple description without looking at how it actually works, like you said, make communism a synonym for dictatorship. I confess that I have done this over the years without looking at or comparing the mechanics of the system.  Looking at the different legislature styles and mechanics of them we can see how they work and what they are underneath the rhetoric.  I think that is a great idea about comparing and contrasting how those systems work out and comparing them to our own government or even the proposed government styles (Virginia vs New Jersey plans). What a great way to get the students to see the inner workings.

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