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Diana CoreySo many of these articles about the BRI mention something about the US and other countries' alleged intentions to get more involved in Africa and countries and ports included in the BRI in order to stop China from gaining a more powerful position in those areas. In the interview with Mr. Le, he talks about being in favor of similar initiatives by other countries as long as everyone is "working in concert" rather than working to undermine China's progress. The page with articles about China-Africa relations included headings about the Trump administration's dealings in Africa being an attempt to keep China from becoming more powerful than the US there. It is quite interesting how these questions seem to show a worldwide fear of China becoming too powerful (and using their power for -- not the greater good, presumably).
Diana CoreyI have actually been curious for some time about why China imports rice from other countries rather than the other way around, and now this makes a lot of sense.
Diana CoreyThe environment issues are quite scary. Reading about the toxic soil and food supply filled with cardimum really struck me. While in China, I have a personal policy of not thinking too hard about where my food came from or the cleanliness of the hands that prepared it (lest I end up starving myself or missing out on delightful food due to paranoia). Reading things like this make that policy a little harder to stick to. That same article, I believe, mentioned that China has a "vast scheme" to reroute water from China's moist south to the more arid north. I am very interested in what this plan looks like and how reasonable it is. Learning about the different ways China manipulates its resources, like rerouting currents emptying into the sea to create more land, weather cannons to cause rain to reduce air polution, and this plan to reroute water to the north. In 2008, I was fascinated by the weather cannons. For several months leading up to the opening ceremony, they would shoot the cannons off on Friday nights, it would rain all day on Saturday, and then Sunday would be bright and clear. We would all go outside, spend the day the park, and get quite sunburnt.
I don't think I was aware until fairly recently that we have been shipping our trash and recycling to China. The idea that they no longer want our waste feels like, well, duh, and I wonder how we are going to handle this problem. When I take students to China I send the on a scavenger hunt for the duration of the trip. One of the scavenger hunt items to find is someone going through the trash to find plastic bottles. I am inspired to be able to share more information about the environment to help students understand why they might see this.
Diana CoreyThere are multiple references to gun use in the articles about dancing. I thought people were not able to own guns in China. Am I wrong? In one article, a man disrupts a dance party by shooting his shotgun into the air.
Diana CoreyA couple of interesting (I think) anecdotes on Chinese students going abroad for school (and going back home). I had a roommate in Beijing who had not scored well enough on his gaokao to get into any decent universities in China, so his parents (who are quite wealthy) sent him to England instead. He studied marketing there. When he graduated and came home, he was highly marketable as companies valued his experience abroad, which he was only prompted to get because he had not done well enough in school to attend college in China.
About 7 years ago or so the school where I teach began partnering with an organization that sends students from China to the US not just for a year or semester of exchange, but for their full high school careers, and the intention is that these students will then go on to college in the US before returning home. I have not heard of other organizations like this, nor have I heard of this phenomenon coming from any other parts of the world, though I know it has happened from time to time that an exchange student applies to stay for a second year or spend a second year in a different high school. It is interesting to me because that dip in the graph at the end of the second lecture lines right up with the beginning of my relationship with this organization.
Diana CoreyI recently came across this article and the video of the troupe practicing under the bridge as I was looking for resources for my students to learn about different ethnic minority cultures in China. Reading this again, I am reminded of a conversation I recently had with a friend who finds himself frustrated every year during Black History Month that Black History Month is a thing that has to exist. He was talking about this ideal future world when all ethnic groups have bred together and the world is one giant homogenous group of mixed-race people. While I think it would be lovely if all of the people of the world were in a place to be able to relate to one another and be on equal footing, I really think my friend is missing something. He is part of the majority culture here, and it is difficult for him to understand or value the preservation of culture, traditions, or customs of groups to whom he cannot relate. He believes that a world in which everyone is equal and we don't have to highlight different minority groups because they are no longer oppressed is ideal, but without appreciating where different people of different backgrounds have come from, he is missing something. A lot of somethings. For too many of us, I think, these ancient customs are interesting things that deserved to be preserved and written about, displayed in museums, shown in documentaries, and otherwise put on display for us to see how things were for people long ago. It is difficult for us to relate to how these traditions may be important in the modern, changing, growing, technological, global world. In the article, Lei is quoted, "I think it's pointless because you have to be from our village to understand how important this is."
Chinese civilization is so much older than American civilization, and the indigenous peoples of this area had much of their customs and land eradicated long before I existed here. In China, there are still pockets of people practicing traditions that have been passed from generation to generation since many millennia before this country was established, desperately clinging to their cultures as they see them being wiped away. I see these kinds of stories time and time again, and it feels like such a losing battle. I hope that it is not. I hope that the modern world can figure out how to appreciate and preserve culture.
The final jab in this article was hearing that the whole point of relocating this entire village was to build a golf course that never got built. The village lays in ruins unnecessarily, and the villagers are just hanging out, trying their best, but accepting their fate.
Diana CoreyThis is actually the first I have heard about the Canton Fair, and I am pretty fascinated by this new information. I had no idea it existed throughout the 60s, through even the "tensest moments of the Cultural Revolution," offering opportunities for trade with foreign companies. This fair may have only been for a few weeks every couple of years, but I didn't think there was much foreign exchange at all during the Cultural Revolution.
Thinking about how this fair operated in the 70s, with Chinese officials compiling lists of the country's import needs and negotiating for those needs at this fair, just blows my mind. These days everything is available to everyone in the world (practically) with the push of a few buttons, and I don't think of my government providing for my "country's import needs." My millineal mind is having trouble processing what that would even mean.
I lived in Shenzhen for a short time in 2006-8 and have been back a few times to see how it has grown and changed, so I really enjoyed reading about the Canton Fair, about Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening up Policies and proposals for special economic zones, and seeing how Shenzhen's development looks compared to other SEZs. I have occasionally wondered why Shenzhen was chosen, and I'm sure I've heard it before, but in this article it struck me that these areas in Guangdong were chosen because they are far enough away from the cities of Beijing and Shanghai that they could be shut down and quarantined if things did not go well. I wonder what outcomes would have caused that to happen.
Diana CoreyYou showed a couple of clips from different propaganda videos in your second video. They both sound like children's songs, and both were a little confusing to me as to what exactly they were trying to teach or communicate and why. Who exactly is the intended audience for these videos, and where did they air? I was honestly super confused by the 13.5 one. It seems to merely be announcing that a 5 year plan exists, but doesn't seem to say anything about what it entails... Perhaps there would be more information if I watched the rest of the video? Either way, super strange choices of imagery and delivery.
Diana CoreyAfter attending the screening of One Child Nation this summer I planned to show it in class this fall during my family unit in my upper level courses. At that time, unfortunately, it was not available yet for streaming, so I am pleased to see that it now is!
Diana CoreyFirst, the introduction to China video is very well done. I plan to show parts of it as I introduce the Chinese geography research project that I assign to my middle schoolers each year. Thank you for that!
Second, I must confess that one of my greatest weaknesses as a world language teacher is that I am not personally inclined to keep up with the news and current events. I have plenty of background knowledge about Chinese history that I gained through studying East Asia in college, and I have experienced a rapidly changing modern China while living in Shenzhen and Beijing from 2006-2009, but my interactions with and experiences in China have been limited to short trips annually over the last decade, which is not enough for me to absorb all that has changed. It is course opportunities like this one that help to keep me engaged with learning more, and this one in particular has me incredibly excited about getting a solid grasp on what has been happening in China and with US-China relations over the course of the new century. The article on China's new revolution was very informative about what has been happening under the presidency of Xi Jinping and has raised many new questions for me that I am eager to follow up on. For example, I am curious as to where Xi is seeing examples of other countries drawing on "Chinese wisdom" and taking a "Chinese approach" to solving global problems. I would like to learn more about the Belt and Road Initiative and would be very interested to see imagery of what this looks like/is projected to look like. I am wowed by the idea of a "social credit system" that would punish or reward citizens based on their monitored use of the internet from paying bills to playing games to participating in online discourse. Big Brother really is watching! I am curious about China's thoughts on the idea that "with global leadership comes greater global responsibility."
One thing that really struck me in this article was the Made in China 2025 self-sufficiency drive. It reminds me of China's exclusive exportation without importation that led to the onset of the Opium Wars. It reminds me again of China closing its doors to international visitors during the Maoist Era, relying on nothing but the collective efforts of the people to produce all foods and goods, which in many cases resulted in famine and tragedy. I wonder how an initiative like this cannot ring out to the Chinese government as horrible moments in history about to repeat themselves.
I am looking forward to tonight's discussion!
Diana CoreyHi all! This is Diana Corey from St. Louis. I teach Mandarin at a small, private middle school/high school. It is a ton of fun. It is important for me to keep up with how the times are changing in China, especially as someone who was not raised there and has not lived there for over a decade. I am looking forward to this class!
Diana CoreyI came to this seminar hoping to gain some insights to answer my students’ questions about gender and generation in East Asian culture in this age where gender roles and even gender as a concept are rapidly changing. As a teacher of Mandarin, and especially as a non-native speaker who did not grow up in China, it is crucial that I continue to learn about traditional and changing values and customs in China and other parts of East Asia. Because of the prominent LGBTQ population in my school, these questions have been at the front of their minds, and I have not been immersed in Chinese culture enough recently enough to feel up to date about my answers. While the seminar focused on gender and generation in East Asia as a whole and did not specifically aim to address my students’ pressing questions, I definitely gained some insights that have helped me think through issues that members of the LGBTQ community face and the traditional values and perspectives that impact them. I have come away with some better understanding of the traditional values that still prevent gay marriage from being possible, for example. I have seen a difference between biological males presenting as feminine in US culture and soft masculinity in Asian culture. While I feel more equipped to help students think through these questions as a result of this seminar, I have also walked away with so much more than I sought upon registering.
Incorporating information and literature about gender and generation in East Asia throughout history into my Chinese language lessons on family, home living, festivals, occupations, etc. will help students to build a foundation of exposure to centuries old perspectives that continue to impact values and actions in the present day. I plan to introduce stories of Mencius’s mother in my beginning classes when we learn about family members, and to reintroduce it in Chinese in a higher level when we learn about housing. I plan to introduce Ban Zhao’s lessons to women during a unit on marriage and children, and to weave instruction on China’s familism and neo-familism throughout all levels of Mandarin. I am still exploring all of the texts and resources presented at the Gender and Generation in East Asia seminar and hope to find ways to incorporate some of the modern pieces in the original Chinese into my upper level classes. This seminar has provided me with a wealth of materials and resources to help me enrich my teaching about China and East Asian culture. It is overwhelming to process how I can use it all, but I am excited to start weaving what I have gained into my lessons immediately!
Diana CoreyI have not exposed myself to much information about Korea or Korean culture besides what has naturally come into my path. Though we were anxious to move downstairs to see the rest of the museum, I think the most meaningful part of this presentation was the introduction and spontaneous Q and A with our docent. I have gone into each session trying to think about what I can take back to my students to enrich their worldview and the Mandarin program, and I now feel more equipped to answer questions my students inevitably have about Korea (and Japan) as they make connections between what they are learning in Mandarin and what they have experienced in their own K-pop saturated lives. One thing that struck me was the artifacts in the glass display and how we could very well have been in a Chinese culture museum. The instruments, calligraphy tools, and many other things are incredibly similar to items used in China during similar time periods. The virtual reality tours were also inspring. How cool would it be to have a VR China tour corner in my classroom?!
Diana CoreyI thoroughly enjoyed our far-too-brief visit to this museum. To be lead through the museum by someone who lived part of that history was a powerful experience. I was moved by the personal stories our docent wove throughout his introduction. I would love to have been able to stay for much longer and really absorb the information, stories, images, and experience. Unfortunately, I am one of the out-of-towners, so I am unlikely to have an opportunity to return any time soon, much less get students in for a field trip. I am not sure yet exactly how I can work this kind of content into my Mandarin curriculum, except to take time for a bigger look at what was happening all over the world as we look at the Sino-Japanese war and aftermath.
Diana CoreyThat was a moment that struck me, too. I am interested in looking for opportunities to have discussions like this with my students as well.
