[Elizabeth Quintero]

I found the video “How China Became and Innovation Powerhouse” very fascinating. I do not know much about China’s economy, but I have often heard so much talk about how China is going to “overtake” the U.S. and that we are unable to compete with them. This video put the why China’s economy and innovation is so strong in a clear straight forward perspective. There has always been this idea that to innovate and have a strong economy, the government needed to be democratic. Authoritarianism is thought to kill innovation and instill fear and restriction in your people. China is the greatest example of why this is an exaggerated, outdated outlook. I found it especially interesting that The Great Firewall, which was originally created to protect China’s information, evolved into a tool to ensure that Chinese internet startups could rise without the American or western internet platforms competing against them.

Also, the video talked about how China has sought out and kept ties with researchers and companies around the world, this being seen with numerous Chinese engineers, professors, scientists working around the world. This has often been met with criticism and hostility by many politicians in Washing D.C. as some people see these connections as a move by China to steal American jobs. The video clarifies that the Chinese government has not been the master mind behind this move, the driving forces have been companies who want to work together with other companies around the world, to reap the financial benefits. I notice that most of the products that American consumers use come from China. It’s obvious that the “keep China out” strategy would hurt our economy much more than it would help us. It makes much more sense to observe and learn from Chinese strategies and adapt them to American markets and our needs.

[Elizabeth Quintero]

For the lecture, video and readings I zeroed in on the issue of Australia-China tensions as I found it most fascinating. From the lecture, I was surprised to learn just how big of a role China plays in Australia’s economy and how many Chinese Australians the country has. I am by no means an expert on the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in foreign countries, but I will mention that much of what I have seen and read (materials provided by this course and outside materials I have come across) I can surmise the Chinese government will go to extraordinary lengths to censor any voices it deems threatening. As I was reading and watching the materials for week 2, I began to think back to a prior video provided during Week 1 where journalists were interviewing people in rural China about Covid 19 and they had people working for the Chinese government following them around and interjecting by quite literally pulling people away on the streets as they were getting interviewed.

All this being said I do not think this is a “manufactured” crisis that the United States is ultimately behind. The first article I read was about Cheng Lei’s detention and prison conditions. She is accused of “suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas." I was shocked to learn the conditions Cheng Lei is experiencing for merely being a suspect. The next article I read was the Global Times Article that attributes the tensions between Australia and China as a “difference in values” and states that Australian politicians who have adopted an Anti-Chinese stance have done so at the behest of the United States. This article read as an opinion piece although I could not find “opinion” anywhere on the article’s page as I usually do when reading articles written by the New York Times, for example. I couldn’t help but get the feeling that this is a propaganda piece by a Chinese government friendly media outlet. Knowing nothing about the Global times, I researched it and found a slew of “anti U.S” articles and discovered that the People's Daily owns the Global Times. The People’s Daily is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It seems like it is very believable and most likely possible that the Chinese Communist Party has “donated” or rather bribed government officials in Australia all to control the narrative that is written by them. I then watched the video about the Four Corners investigation titled “Interference: China’s covert political influence campaign in Australia” and was surprised to learn the extent to which Chinese government officials but also wealthy businesspeople working with the Chinese government have ties to Australian politicians. It made me wonder whether if anything similar to that could be happening in the United States and our government officials considering special interest play a huge role in shaping policy in the legislative branch.  

With regards to the questions posed in the lecture…I believe the perceptions of one’s homeland can have a significant effect on self-image. I cannot speak on behalf of Chinese people who often have to clarify that the Chinese Communist Party is not representative of China’s people as a whole. However, I imagine it must be very challenging being associated with a government that has such a bad reputation (from a Western lens). Living in a country that regards the Chinese government as hostile, authoritarian and interventionist may have a negative impact on how Chinese people living abroad in Western countries view themselves. In the U.S. for example, there is a constant flow of negative media coverage about China. Living and working in a new place can sharpen one’s ideas about what is important to them because it gets people out of their bubble, their comfort zone. An American for example, living and working in China would have the opportunity to step out of the barrage of negative perceptions about China they were exposed to in the U.S.

[Elizabeth Quintero]

It is interesting how the Chinese government is working on this Belt and Road initiative. We live in an immensely interconnected world and I’m sure that this "new silk road" will serve to further connect us. I wonder how the news of this initiative is being taken by people who are weary of China's power and their innovation.

Regarding the questions posed in the first lecture, I would engage my students in a discussion about leaders and their use of history to garner support for actions or policies by asking them to think about any examples past of present of leaders doing this. Most recently I can think of politicians evoking nostalgia for the “good ole days” and using rhetoric that implies their country can go back to these days all to garner support. The techniques I saw China’s leaders using were including images of children which immediately makes people think of the future and progress for their sake. The cultural buttons I saw being pushed are the fact that they include children of different ethnicities/nationalities in the video holding hands, singing, and dancing together. This promotes the ideas of inclusivity and cooperation. I believe these approaches must be very effective in getting support from not only Chinese people but people from other countries who will benefit from the new silk road. I believe that what students know about China’s present and past makes it harder to employ historical imagery in this way since they are looking at this imagery through a lens that has often viewed China as a hostile place. From first glance, the average American student or adult for that matter may look at the promotional video and think it is some sort of propaganda.

Regarding religions and how they have connected the world past and present, I would like to know more about why the Chinese government considers Islam a threat? I have heard a lot in the U.S. media about the human rights abuses and camps in China where there are Muslim prisoners. Considering that the belt and road initiative promotes interconnectedness and inclusiveness, I wonder where China stands on Islam.  Regarding the questions, students might be able to explore how aggression or exchange might foster technological advance or cultural growth when studying the Cold War. Students of World History may analyze how the threat of aggression from “the other” often lead to intense competition that foster technological advancement. The Cold War and the Space Race are evident examples of that. Students may potentially do a research project on how aggression between the U.S. and China has led to attempted technological advancement on both sides but more so for China. One case from the past that might be useful in learning about the costs and benefits of expansion and trade could be Imperialism. Those go gained were the imperialists, predominately European countries and Japan and those who suffered where the colonized people’s. 

Regarding lecture 2, it was so interesting to learn about how China has taken their “humiliating history” and turned this history into a tool to evoke trust, support, and admiration for the communist government. I also was not surprised to learn that the Chinese government often brings up this humiliating history when dealing with other powers, in international relations. I can definitely see a pattern in the news whenever the U.S. choses to publicly condemn China for human rights abuses, the response from China is usually that the U.S. should be the last one to be speaking on the subject considering their rather long history with human rights abuses. I wonder if there are any people in China who believe that this humiliating history should be left in the past and not remembered which as much ardor as the government wants it to be, especially not to the point of having a national parade remembering this history. The reason I wonder this is because the lecture mentioned that this remembrance has been used to fuel anti-Japanese sentiment. It is fascinating to me that China’s position is to never forget this history, commit to growing and becoming stronger but at the same time, not using hostility and invasions to acquire to this power. 

 

[Elizabeth Quintero]

Hello everyone, my name is Elizabeth Quintero. I am currently a high school social studies teacher for Los Angeles Unified School District. I teach world history and the relatively new class of ethnic studies. I am very much looking forward to learning about China in this course. I definitely feel like my world history class is too focused on Europe. The content standards and subsequently the textbook focuses too much on Europe, and I believe it overlooks countries in Africa and Asia. I believe this is a problem considering the class is called "world" history. I am hoping to acquire new knowledge about China and incorporate it into both my world history classes and ethnic studies classes. 

[Elizabeth Quintero]

I really enjoy the 1987 Hong Kong stamps. I do not have a favorite color because there are so many colors I love. Burgundy is one of the colors I like the most so the burgundy colored stamp with the light yellow rabbit caught my eye. These two colors also seem to be the USC colors. Regarding the questions above, I would assume that the countries that produced these stamps in the past and are no longer doing so, like Canada could be because these countries might be dealing with increased political tensions. However, I'm sure there may be other reasons. I think having students create stamp desins is a wonderful idea. I teach high school world history and I talk about China when we cover Imperialism, World War II and the Cold War. I'm thinking of how an assignment on stamps can tie into these units. 

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