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Hi everyone! Thanks to all who have weighed in on the stamps. I hope others will as well. There is quite a variety. Rabbits are a favorite subject on stamps. I only included those focused on the lunar new year. Why do some countries produce these stamps and others do not? Why did Canada previously create these stamps, but then stop doing so?

How might one use stamps to launch discussions in your classes? Could your studnets create stamp designs to teach about particular themes, people or places in China's history of the world? What would they need to consider?

Would students like to check out stamps for their "animals"? Do you have a favorite stamp for your animal?

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Hi Everyone,
We'll meet in our first live discussion session on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 5 pm PT. Prior to that session, please watch the recorded lectures and the required readings. The lectures and readings invite your comments and we'd like you to post your observations, questions and suggestions below. Please approach the materials as someone curious about China and the world and as someone teaching students in the U.S.

Please always keep in mind that our aim is to stimulate discussion of ways you can incorporate these topics and materials into your own classes. You know your disciplines and your students, so please think about your course needs, your students' abilities, and the sorts of activities you might employ to infuse these topics into your classes.

Lecture 1- Real and Imagined Pasts

 

 

 

Lecture 2: Never Forget

 

 

 

Required Readings:
Selection of materials on Chinese infrastructure efforts in Africa (2014-2022) (download below).
Josh Chin, Wall Street Journal video: Huawei in Uganda, 2019.
An Ning et al, "The Everyday Chinese Framing of Africa," Geopolitics, August 2020 (download below).

Recommended Readings:
Yu, Miin-ling, "From Two Camps to Three Worlds: The Party Worldview in PRC Textbooks (1949–1966)," China Quarterly, 2013 (see link below).
Silver, Laura et al, "Negative Views of China Tied to Critical Views of Its Policies on Human Rights," (read pages 1-21), Pew Research Center, June 29, 2022 (see link below).
He Weiping, "A Year of Great Strides," Beijing Review,  Jan. 9, 2023.

Recommeded Audio/Visuals:
(Mentioned in lecture 1): Gu Jun, director, Tales from the Silk Road of the Sea, CCTV (Chinese state television)
Episodes: 1, Rediscovering, 2, Family Inheritance, 3, Original Hometown, 4, The Connection, 5, The Heritage, 6, Ancient Wisdom, 7, Pulses and Connections
The China in Africa Podcast (long running, range of experiences and views), recent recommended episode featuring Josh Chin and Liza Lin of the Wall Street Journal, another episode on Africa and China's foreign policy.

Curriculum resources:
UNESCO, Youth Photo Competition, 2022
SPICE, Arts of the Silk Road (2007); Silk Road Ensemble (2013)
China Institute, From Silk to Oil, 2005 (review)

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

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Jennifer's suggested several resources on the Korean War that you will find valuable. You may also find the SPICE curriculum unit on "Divided Memories" on textbooks from different Asian and American publishers to be of interest. American perspectives on the war are plentiful, including a virtual exhibit from the US military, NY Times article on "forgetting," US documentary film, Russian documentary film (English subtitles), PBS series on Chosin Battle, and the accessible book by David Halberstam, The Coldest Winter (NY Times review, interviews with others, publisher's page, Google Books, readily available at libraries).

One recent and interesting Chinese perspective is a hugely popular Chinese feature film on the same battle (famous directors, trailer, full version with English subtitles, CNN article).

The Wilson Center has a collection of translated documents from top Russian and Chinese officials on the war. One example, Stalin wrote to Zhou Enlai on July 5 (just after the start of the North Korean invasion in 1950) to send Chinese units to the border.

Some of the American soldiers taken prisoner by Chinese forces elected to stay in China after the war. This documentary by a Chinese Canadian includes interviews with a couple of them and with family members. It's a fascinating story that few Americans know about.

Please share other resources that you've found useful. BTW - some may find our discussion with Julia Lovell about Global Maoism to be of interest. The links to Vietnam and to other places in Southeast Asia, not to mention Latin America and the U.S. and Europe are fascinating.

 

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From Sun Yatsen to Xi Jinping, leaders and would-be leaders have decried the individualism and diverse sense of identities among those living within the borders of China. China is huge and multiethnic and their are big regional distinctions even among the largest ethnic group, the Han. Under Xi, there's been a much greater push to extinguish differences that matter, while permitting some that don't. China's not alone in wrestling with diversity. Places as different as Nigeria, Indonesia, Mexico and the U.S. have struggled to elevate shared values and to find a way for differences to not produce conflict. Nationalism is on the rise worldwide. I'm hoping that it doesn't produce the sort of fires it has previously.

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Great observations Molly, particularly on the shared aim of ridding China of foreign intrusion and privilege. Also, both parties have Leninism at their core. Why the Communists won remains hotly debated. The brief opening of Soviet archives in the 1990s helped answer a lot of questions about USSR efforts to support the CCP and the key role played by Manchuria. We'll talk more about this.

The notion of democracy within the CCP remains on the books, but in practice it is hierarchy and discipline that drives everything.

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The 19th century battles were complicated. British and French forces combined to destroy Yuanmingyuan, near Beijing. The astonishing palace where Qing rulers spent more time than the Forbidden City. That was the culmination of fighting that started four years before and which should have ended with the 1858 Treaty of Tianjin. But the foreigners collided again, issued ultimatiums, and invaded again in 1859 and 1860. A year later, French and British forces used artillery to win the Battle of Shanghai against the Taiping. Before that British and American individuals played roles helping fight the Taiping. The Qing also benefitted from ships leased from the British.

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Hi Everyone -
Please let us know ([email protected]/[email protected]) if you haven't signed up for our historical encounter on Monday, 9/26 (5 pm Pacific). Each person will be a self-strenthener, reformer or revolutionary for our discussion about 1) why is the Qing empire vulnerable to internal disorder and threats from  abroad? 2) what should we do about it? what should change? Useful readings are available in the post above.

From the handout:

The Qing Empire and its peoples face critical choices. Foreign powers have invaded, forcing us to permit them to live amongst us along our coast, promoting their beliefs, sullying our empire. Rebellions have raged in different places, driven by different forces but always challenging Qing rule and producing instability. How are we to cope? What can and should be done?

For the purposes of this discussion, we’ll compress the period 1860-1910 and bring together groups that arose in different places and situations to discuss how to deal with the external and internal threats. What are the most pressing issues? How can they be dealt with? What changes are needed to ensure survival? Ci Xi, the Empress Dowager (Tz’u Hsi 慈禧, 1835-1908) will preside over the discussion. Three groups will participate, each with their own assessement of our challenges and how best to cope with them.

Leaders of the groups:
Li Hongzhang (Li Hung-chang 李鴻章, 1823-1901)
Kang Youwei (K’ang Yu-wei 康有為, 1858-1927)
Qiu Jin (Ch’iu Chin 秋瑾, 1875-1907)

Members of the groups should examine the ideas and actions of the “self-strengtheners,” “reformers,” and “rebels.” Each person needs to invent her own past and social place and to argue from those experiences and positions. Some may wish to channel other prominent figures from the three camps (e.g., Zeng Guofan, Yung Wing (Rong Hong), Zuo Zongtang, Liang Qichao, Tan Sitong, Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing, and Song Jiaoren).

Already signed up:

Self-Strengtheners
Harry Dauer
Robert Parker
Denis Vovchenko

Reformers
Shurong Tu
Tongya Jia

Revolutionaries
Molly Cowan
Carlos Pizarro
Ramabadran Sudarshan

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Prof. Bharne introduced the fascinating tale of the Kowloon Walled City. Here's a 2014 video from the Wall Street Journal about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj_8ucS3lMY

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A dozen years ago, one of our students spent time studying the rehabilitation and restoration of downtown Foshan, along the river. Here is his short article accompanied by photos about it: https://uschinatoday.org/features/2010/06/08/student-experiences-preservation-in-foshan-china/

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When China feared attack from the Soviet Union (and to a lesser extent, the US) in the 1960s, extensive tunnels and bomb shelters were built. In the early 1980s, some of these were turned into restaurants and retail stalls. Now, the high cost of housing in many Chinese cities, but especially Beijing and Shanghai, has led people to choose to live close to their jobs, even if it means living in tiny places in the basements of buildings. USC's Annette Kim has studied this extensively and spoke on it at our Finding Solutions conference in 2018: https://china.usc.edu/watch-presentation-housing-panel-china-finding-solutions-conference

At an earlier event, historian Qin Shao spoke about struggles people waged to preserve their homes, often against developers and officials. https://china.usc.edu/video-qin-shao-resident-protesters-urban-china
 

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Taylor (and others), Thanks for the great ideas for class activities. Thinking of a building as meeting the needs of residents as villages meet needs - what is gained, what is lost. Our big box stores are convenient in some respects, but also a bit strange. I recall Ikea coming to Shanghai in the early 2000s. People loved it (and not just for naps and coffee refills -- plenty of documentation on that), but how to haul that stuff home? Everywhere else in Shanghai (as Miguel can attest), people relied on public transportation and Volkswagon Santana cabs (manufactured in a suburban town, an example of local protectionism). But outside Ikea, plenty of small van taxis that you wouldn't see elsewhere. Now China is by far the largest auto market in the world, so many people have their own SUVs to lug stuff home.

Miguel raised the question of the increasing sterility of some places in China. With high prices for land, plus the desire of officials to "modernize" you see that many services now require travel when it was once close at hand.

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Great suggestion Hannah - it's just up the street from USC. A couple more links:
https://losangelesexplorersguild.com/2022/04/22/velaslavasay-panorama/

Shenyang is a fascinating place, with a variety of influences and districts (including 14 years as a Japanese colony, but also a significant Korean presence). All of northeast China is too infrequently visited and discussed. Farther north is Harbin, where the influences are primarily Russian.

 

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Bin - thanks for these images to illustrate these styles and techniques.

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Great suggestion Richard, the preview can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-ORgu5ascc Those who use the PBS Passport (by donating to your local station) can probably still see the film there, but it is also available for purchase/rent at other sites.

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Great NY Times history of Kit Kat in Japan, includes a wonderful opening the article"
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/24/magazine/candy-kit-kat-japan.html

 

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