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Gisela GaonaThese two lectures and readings were particularly interesting as they helped place China as a global political, sociological, and economic machine. Focusing on the political first- China's SAR's immediately come to mind. The political restlessness continues in SAR's such as Hong Kong as they begin to forge their own individual identity outside of the Chinese communist party.
The Umbrella Movement that took place a few years back perfectly exemplifies the growing manifestations that Hong Kong's people have taken in order to show China that they are a force to be reckened with. Skip forward to the political unrest of the late 2019 and early 2020 pre-covid where daily manifestations were a thing on the main streets of HK. It is more than crystal clear that HK wants independence from China and I am excited but scared for the people of HK to see those events unravel in the future.
Taiwain is another SAR, in which much contention exists. The people of Taiwan identify themselves as Taiwanese, while also clarifying that they do indeed have Chinese heritage and connections back to the PRC. The case of Taiwain is of particular interest to me, because they seem to enjoy many more freedoms than other SAR's enjoy such as HK. It appears from an outsider perspective that there seems more interest in reigning in control over HK than over Taiwan.
Overall, I am interested in seeing what direction/s PRC takes when it comes to either reliquinshing control over their SAR's or completely putting a stop to any and all insurrection movements across their territories.
Gisela GaonaA reoccuring theme that seems to be highlighted throughout my course of study of history, is that citizens are always the least enfranchised in the decision making, while also being the most affected. This is no exception when it comes to China's Family Planning Policy. Although China abandoned the 1 child policy in 2015, it still reverbates to to this day. China's population like that of the West, is an aging one. Many issues arise with an imbalance of age groups. One of the articles stated that in one province alone there were 100,000 elderly parents to left behind to care for themselves. Due to sex-selective abortions and infanticide, China today is forced to reckon with a reality where men starkly outnumber women. What is more, as the market economy opens up these young men have left the countryside (and with it their parents) to seek higher paying jobs in the city, or even in the West. As a result, neighbors, fellow elderly people and other folks from the community are left to play the role that is traditionally assigned to children.
As China's economy and culture become more enmeshed with Western practices, thing such as retirement homes now exist in China. This is a major paradigm shift for the Chinese culture as this creation essentially signals the end of the longstsanding practice of "filial piety". According to this philosophy, it is shameful and dishonorable to not look after one's parents in their old age. Chinese culture is ripe with stories from antiquity that are exemplars for what sacrifice of the self looks in for the sake of their parents. I am interested to see how these two conflicting ideals continue to develop and converge to create a new face of China.
Gisela Gaona
Gisela GaonaHi Kimberly,
I couldn't agree with you anymore. In my cluster of social studies teachers many of us focus on the differences between traditional fascism and it's morphed friend Nazism. It would be worth to do the same with traditional communism and Bolshevism and Maoism. Going back to geography, I've experienced that students many times forget that Russia and China are next door neighbors and that they both subscribe to a form of communism. Although it is important to teach students about the differences that separate Maoism and Bolshevism.
Gisela GaonaHi Jonathan,
I wanted to repsond to your 4th point because I find it interesting and easy to incorporate into my macro-econ classes. As the US faces as a period of de-industrialization or post-industrialization where we see cities that were once large ports or bussiness hubs decay into what we now call the rust belt, it would be interesting to have the discussion about China's future from an economical standpoint with students. I'd like to see what students will predict will happen with the massive growth the Chinese economy has incurred in a few short decades and whether or not it is destined for the same road that many other developed nations have gone down.
Gisela GaonaHi Ryan,
While I do not teach US history, I think this would still totally work for world history. I just finished teaching the Industrial Revolution both in Britain and in the US. As an extension activity, I could potential compare and constrast the British or the American I.R. with the Chinese I.R. It is quite interesting that despite how different they may seem, once you study them you find so many comparisons. For our ELL learners, I could supplement this material with visuals. Pictures, videos, other visuals that show what the Chinese I.R. looked like. This will help have an informed opinion about China, which is something that most teachers gloss over entirely in world history.
Gisela GaonaAs I watched the pre-recorded lectures and read the assigned material, I kept reflecting on the ways that I could incorporate these new ideas into my everyday classroom usage.
World History:
It was astounding to me to read the "Financial Times" article wher it describes the fact that Christianity is rising in China. The article stated that, "By 2030 China will almost certainly have more Christians than any other country" which is interest to mark given that they are a communist state. One way to incorporate this into my world history classroom is by teaching my students the idea complexity. The world certainly isn't a binary system, and neither are societies. In the unit about world religions, it would be interesting to pose questions such as "Why is it important that China is projected to become the largest Christian nation on Earth?" or "How does China reconcile atheism while also being the largest religion in the world?" Moreover, the pre-recorded lectures talked about the State having 5 approved religions, one of which Christianity falls under. Therefore, that leads me to believe as to how the government will grapple with an ever increase following of Christianity if it one of the state approved religions.
Government:
The article about access to the web can be perfectly incorporated into my government classes. The articles written by the NY Times was written in 2000, so although it is a dated it provides a great insight as to the distribution of internet usage over the country of China. As the article point out, in the year 2000 50% of the internet usage was used by only 5% of the population. This population is of course concentrated in the major Chinese cities, all of which lie in the Eastern portion of the country. The Western side of China according to the article is under-developed, slow to reach the internet age. I could find an article or infograph about the US's internet usage in the year 2000 to compare the usage across the country. Students incorporate a little bit of their political science science skills by creating bar graphs, pie charts, or any other sort of visual to share with the class as to how the US compared to China in internet usage in the year 2000. I could add another layerto this by having them do research of the distribution of internet usage in the year 2021 and have them compare and contrast that data to that of the original 2000 NY Times article that is posted above.
Gisela GaonaI completely agree with you Johnny, the lectures and readings in this class have forced to shift my perspective to what I previously knew or believed about China. I for one, also did not know how widespread Christianity was in China. It was shocking to me read that there are so many Christians found in China. I am interested and wondering how Chinese people were able to continue practicing Christianity or any religion for that matter during the period where Mao ruled China. Food for thought for sure.
Gisela GaonaAs I read through the readings and perused the infographics, I was quite taken aback by how quick China was able to build up their economy into transforming into the 2nd largest economy in the world. I took particular interest in one of the infographics that laid out the numbers per million of Chinese living in poverty throughout the years. I was astonished to see that the number was well over 600 million just 30 years, and now is down to a very low figure. As a macro-econ teacher, I always try to think about how to frame China’s ever growing economy in comparison, and perhaps in competition with our own American economy.
One great exercise that I am planning to employ with my students is to create a Google Slides presentation where we talk about the infographics and their implications both on the domestic level in China, and at the world stage internationally. I am also planning to assign as a short reading part of the Skillsgap in Chinese labor market. China was able to boost their economy to magnificent proportions largely through the vehicle of cheap, unskilled labor. However, as China transforms their labor markets, it also transforms the type of labor China requires. The assigned reading did a great job at explaining where the past and present labor needs are, and the projections that China will need to implement to maintain their stakeholder as a major world economy.
Gisela GaonaHello everyone! I've had a chance to read the rest of your self-intros and I am delighted to be a part of these USC lectures for teachers. I took a different session when we were still in person, and I am so happy that we are able to continue doing so virtually amid the pandemic.
I am social studies teacher in Bakersfield, CA and I've visited many Asian countries over the past couple of years including twice to China. I am thrilled to be here!!!
Gisela GaonaFirst and foremost, this article taught me that China does not give pandas to other countries, instead they allow us to lease them for a number of years. The number of years is usually worked out between the Chinese and the recipient government, but one factor remains the same for all countries -- each loaned panda comes at the hefty price of $1 million dollars per year.
China first became to realize that they could use the gifting of pandas to foreign countries as a way to exert soft power over countries that they wished to established political relationships with. Interestingly enough, this article discusses the gifting of a panda cub to his hopeful mother- Angela Merkel, leader of Germany. This gift from China was anything but altruistic, as China hopes to cement a relationship with Merkel as the new face of the Western world.
In my opinion, it is interesting to see how China has began to use an animal on the endangered specie list as a form of soft power. China has more than doubled the number of bears in captivity, and scientists begin to worry about the breeding numbers in comparison to the number of bears that live in the wild. As the US continues to lose leverage in the international community under our current leader, it will be fascinating to see how major world powers play politics amongst each other.
Gisela GaonaThis card is photo of Mao waving his right hand in the air, I am assuming that it is a hello to the people of China. Underneath Mao, Chinese citizens can be seen doing a variety of activities. For instance, a number of people are marching in the streets holding up a photo of a bearded man. (perhaps Marx?) The man in the forefront can be assumed to be a farmer as he is dressed in a hat and overalls, and in his hands he is holding an enlarged version of Mao's Red Book. Mao has the sun shining behind him signaling to the viewer that his revolution brings a "new day" for China.
Gisela GaonaIn this card it is clear that it is three male Chinese soldiers. The soldiers are respectively holding a missile, binoculars, and the last one is holding Mao's Red Book. Interestestly enough, the soldier that is holding the Red Book is above the other two soldiers, and he is looking up and ahead, whereas the two lower soldiers are looking directly ahead. Furthemore, the red flag of China is in the backdrop to remind the viewer that China is at the forefront of defense. The message of this propaganda poster is that the People's Army cannot be defeated because they are guided by technology and communist ideology.
Gisela GaonaThe charts you shared with us are astonishing. I am wondering why there was a huge peak in deaths in China in the year 2005? I wonder what China did during that year to increase their pollution which led to the deaths of so many Chinese citizens?
However, on a brighter note, I do know that China is now the world leader is developing technology and implementing clean energy sources. I found an article written on Forbes, that reinforces what I previously stated. Interestingly however, the article stated that China is moving towards green energy for economic purposes. This makes sense as many times public policy IS moved by economic incentive.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillbaker/2017/10/17/china-gets-that-going-green-is-a-win-for-job-creation-why-doesnt-trump/#1a5a1313252a
Gisela GaonaAccording to tge handout titled, 20th century Japan, the United States substantially trumped Japan's warship tonnage by a significant number. For instance, in 1880 the US produced 169,000 tons of warships, where as Japan only produced 15,000. However, by looking ahead at the year 1914, we are able to see the rise of Japan's economy fueled by the manufacturing sector. According to the chart, by 1914 Japan rivaled the US's production by 700,000 tons to that of the United States--679,000 tons.
The question then arises - WHY did Japan have to modernize, jumpstart their economy and lead a mass overhaul on their societal stratification? Part of the answer to that question can be found in the chart found in the same handout. In the year 1868, Japan's deficit was at $69 million, and in the span of 12 years skyrocketed to $380 million.
