[Jacqueline Mercado]

Gerlinde, I also saw this movie (thank you, Professor Dube for posting this in the forum!) and like you was very touched by the resilience of Fugui and his wife.  Despite the tragedies that came their way in the midst of all the political change that took place in China, their determination for a better life was sincere and allowed them to persevere in the face of much adversity.  In this sense the movie is optimistic, hopeful and uplifting. 

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Jane, thank you for posting the picture and providing some background information.  It is remarkable that more than 100 years later the sentiment expressed in this picture is relevant and still exists today within our current political climate, commerce and government policies.  

[Jacqueline Mercado]

I was impressed with all of the posters and images presented in today's presentation.  I appreciated seeing how diverse the topics of the posters were and the didactic nature of these posters intended to teach specific values and principles, from good parenting to hygiene.  This gave me a new insight into the Chinese culture and the values important within the culture.  The didactic nature of these posters gave me ideas of how these posters can be used across curricular classes such as in health and science class.  Some of these posters could be used as examples and as a springboard for students to create their own posters designed to teach ideas, values, principles or processes in these classes such as to show the benefits of healthy habits and exercise, for example.  This idea might specially useful for younger children, students who are language learners and student who are visual learners.

[Jacqueline Mercado]

This poster's focus on youth, specifically teenagers, caught my attention and I too think that it is significant.  It appears that the aim of this image is to involve the young people in the revolutionary cause and their commitment to the health of the state is unequivocal as they collectively train their bodies to be healthy for the good of all.  The emphasis on this very young youth, with their bright eyes, youthful radiance, freshness and innocence evokes an emotional response as well as give the revolutionary cause a freshness and unrivaled vitality.  I am reminded of how one of the efforts of the revolution was to annihilate the old and tired traditions that would hold China back.  The youth in this poster are not only really young and fresh but are running forward pointing to the fact that the future of China is ahead, and not in the past.  Their position and youth are symbols of the new and the future.  Nothing revitalizes and inspires more than the hopefulness and newness of a committed youth.   

[Jacqueline Mercado]

I am attaching my reflection essay. Thank you all for a wonderful summer seminar.

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[Jacqueline Mercado]

Natali, I agree with your observation that this image was created during the Cultural Revolution, around the late 1960's to early 1970's.  The smiling faces of the workers and bright colors along with the red tractors are reminiscent of the propaganda produced at this time.  As you mention, the workers are in a prominent role in the image as are the tractors which symbolize the new technology that will catapult China into a new and modern era.  What stands out to me in this image is the inclusion of the foreign Africans and how a close and friendly relationship is established between them and the Chinese workers.  The inclusion of foreigners surprised me initially but as I thought about this, it provided me with a clue as to the message of this image.  While I do not read Chinese, I can guess that the purpose of this propaganda poster is to depict a modern China that is forward looking and welcoming of foreigners with an eye on diplomacy and economics.  It establishes China as a progressive country ready to do business and establish positive relationships with other countries, particularly Africa.  Both the Chinese and the Africans seem to embrace the tractor suggesting that both countries can benefit from this technology.  The image portrays an alliance between these two nations and a China that is both receptive to foreigners and is well received by foreigners.  

[Jacqueline Mercado]

The purpose and role of art has been a question that artists and philosophers have considered for centuries.  Based on his musing recorded in the Talks at the Yenan Forum, we see that Mao also thought about the role the arts should have in the new China he envisioned. Mao leaves no ambiguity about what this role should be: the arts must espouse the values of Marxism-Leninism and of the revolutionary work, divest itself of all middle class values and carry on the stuggle of the working class.  For Mao, art was valuable and "correct in orientation" only when it propagated the values of the revolution and not solely because of its aesthetics or artistic expression. Hence during the Mao era, art was controlled and weaponized for political purposes.  This past summer I visited the USC Pacific Museum and enjoyed the exhibit comparing Chinese and Mexican mural art.  It was interesting to see how Mexican artits were viewed as revolutionary by Chinese artists because they produced art that expressed their personal emotions and ideas, while the Chinese artists were restricted by the government to produce propaganda art.  After the death of Mao, art became less restrictive and more personal, depicting the thoughts, feelings and personal experiences of artists and not as a means to serve government propaganda. Since the role of the arts is a question of interest, I would like to design a lesson in which students explore the role of art during the Mao regime. Students could look at the Talks at the Yenan Forum text and other texts along with examples of propaganda art produced at the time.  

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Professor Rosen's discussion of the Chinese and American dream is both interesting and illuminating.  The American dream, the idea that regardless of his or her background anyone can prosper due to the freedoms and economic opportunity the US offers to all, is apppealing to many younger Chinese.   The concept of the Chinese dream is relatively new and it is interesting to see the similarities and differences between these two dreams.  Both dreams espouse economic prosperity and as China's economy grows, it is logical that China wants its cultural appeal to grow in influence globally.  In "The Chinese Dream in Popular Culture," Professor Rosen points out that while the American dream emphasizes individual success and prosperity, the Chinese dream is more about the nation rather than about individual success, true to China's socialist ideals.  Younger Chinese, however, are not invested in this vision  but rather find aspects of the American dream more appealing such as individual success and materialism rather than self sacrificing for the interests of the nation.   Happiness is tied to material possessions in China more than anywhere else in the world. This is quite remarkable and points to a shift in perspectives and values.  The collective good while important is now secondary to individual pursuits.  This reality not only creates a dissonance between old and new values within China but also a challenge for the Chinese government as it works to achieve greater influence abroad.   

[Jacqueline Mercado]

I agree with your obervation about the video presented to us at the Cultural Center and like you, I understand why the information presented was more idealized than what is the reality of the history of Korea.  I personally found the video misleading but also understand that the purpose of the video is to present the positive attibutes of Korea and its culture as this is the Korean Cultural Center.  But if students were to watch this video, I think it would be important to present other points of view, other sources of information that would present a more complete picture of Korea, its history and culture. I would not want them to have this idealized, one sided view of Korea.   By presenting them with other sources, such as an educational documentary as you suggest, students would not only be introduced to a complete picture of Korean history and culture, but would understand the purpose behind a narrative and that history is more complex and nuanced.  Having said this, I enjoyed our visit to the center and viewing new and interesting facts about Korea that I did not know.  Our visit to this center was very educational for me and I especially appreciated learning fun facts about the Korena language.

[Jacqueline Mercado]

During our visit to the Chinese American Museum, one of the images depicted in a framed poster caught my attention.  The image had many scenes in it and its focus was on a wall built with the words: competition, un-American, non reciprocity, jealousy, fear an so on on  it and a row of workers, all who appear to be of different nationalities, holding a brick for the wall construction.  Due to technical limitations, I am not able to post this image, but it caught my imagination as it captures the racist sentiment against immigrants and the fear of the other.  For this reason I thought it might be good to include this images in a lesson on the immigrant experience in the United States.  I could use this image to have students analyze how the "other" is depicted and what this might suggest about people's attitudes and perceptions of people who are different from them.  I could compare this with propaganda used by Americans to portray Japanese Americans during the Japanese internment.  Including visuals such as these is an effective teaching strategy to teach about history and create student engagement as they develop analytical skills, particularly for those students who may be struggling readers.  I was glad to have visited this museum as it has not only broadened my understanding of American history, but has provided me with some resources to include in my lessons.

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Although I am a Los Angeles native, this is my first visit to the Chinese American Museum.  This is one of the many reasons I am appreciative of these seminars, as they never fail to introduce me to topics and places of interest.  This small city gem provides an overview of the Chinese American experiene in California through its interesting displays and exhibits.  It documents the hardships the Chinese in Los Angeles endured from soial marginalization, lack of political representation and oppportunity to their unfortunate displacement from the original Chinatown.  Fortunately, with the advent of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's and the immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, this changed and we see the movement from social marginalization to activism, and eventual inclusion.  It would be easy to include aspects of the Chinese American experience and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 in my US History class.  I would include this part of American history and compare it to the treatment of Japanese Americans during the Japanese internment. Since the history textbook we use at my school includes little information about these two historical topics, it is particularly important that I supplement the material presented to include these voices, which are glossed over historically.  My students would relate to this topic as many of them are either immigrants or children of immigrant parents.  By including both primary and secondary texts that introduce students to the experiences of Chinese and Japanese Americans, students can make the connections between their experiences and their own as I would have my students interview family members and write about their own experiences to include their voices and perspectives in class.    

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Prior to Professor Rosen's articulation of the term "soft power" I had never heard of this term nor had any idea of what the term refers to.  But after Professor Dube allowed a following discussion of the term this afternoon, my understanding of this idea has become a bit less nebulous. I knew that China has invested and continues to invest in efforts to promote the idea that China has this soft power, that aspects of Chinese culture have a greater influence and appeal to the larger world and on the global stage.  It is not hard to see why China desires to promote this view within its citizenry.   This promotion of soft power is an aggressive government strategy in China.  In contrast, within  the United States, we do not aggressively invest in promoting this view but clearly have it as we see the appeal and influence U.S. sitcoms, Hollywood and other aspects of American pop culture have in other parts of the world, China being one of them.  I am still not sure how I could implement this concept into my teaching, but I am open to ideas of how this can be accomplished and would like to explore ways in which I can integrate this new concept into the classroom.   

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Professor Brown's presentation on Japanese postcards has broadened my view of the humble postcard!  Some of the images included in his presentation were visually stunning and some were challenging due to their graphic documentation of historical events, but all were engaging and telling of the Japanese culture and history through different time periods.  I was struck by how an everyday artifact such as the postcard offers a lense into the Japanese culture and history and can be a useful tool for use in the classroom in the teaching of world history.  As a medium of documenting everyday life, postcards are a visual primary text that can help students examine historical details and let them arrive at their own conclusions about historical events.  As a visual text, a postcard can be specifically useful to help students look at images and how these can be manipulated to promote a particular view, shifts in culture across time and so on.  I was also impressed at how the simple postcard at the time was the means through which private discourse becomes public.  Because the postcard was inexpensive and easily transported, it facilitated people communicating with each other from far away places.  In this manner, it became an essential promoter of people communicating publicly and connecting with each other, pointing to a modern way of communication, an essential part of modern life in Japan.   Finally, I was enlightened to see the different functions or roles of Art as seen through postcards.  Art, as the postcard, documents shifts in time from the old and traditional to the new, in the culture and it can be used to propogate a sense of nationalism of a nation. 

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Jessica, as I thought about how Japanese women were portrayed in Ukiyo_e art, I had a similar thought about creating a lesson in which students can compare how women were depicted in Japanese art and other Asian art, specifically art from China and what motifs, messages about feminity they portray and what this reveals about the roles of women within that society.  Students can examine the commonalities and differences that exist in comparing these two cultures and what values these representations promote and for what  purpose.  Students could also create their own artistic representation of women that corroborate with the traditional depictions of women or that counter it. 

[Jacqueline Mercado]

In this session we were introduced to the world of Ukoyi-e prints and the art of Japan. The term Ukiyo-e which means "pictures of the floating world" or a life given to the pursuit of transient pleasure, the moment, beauty and fashion has aquired a historical significance as this type or art reflects popular representations of the busy city life of the Edo period of Japan.  This kind of art does not only depict scenes of the popular life but also became part of the formulation of what was popular, trendy and valued in the Japanese culture at the time.  An important aspect of the depiction of life in art at this time was how women were portrayed in these prints.  Women were depicted differently by different artists and time periods, from their physical features to their clothing to the activies they were involved in.  It is interesting to note how the environments in which women were portrayed evolved from nature scenes to amorous encounters to  more personal and intimate portraits of women by themselves doing every day activities.  I would like to include some of these Ukiyo_e prints in my art classes and have students analyze the elements of these prints such as the use of color, texture and emotion and have them articulate what is being depicted in the image and to what effect, specifically at how feminity is used to promote an ideal of beauty and youth and what this reveals of the Japanese culture and life.

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