[Jane Shen]

In Prof. Dubes mini lesson 4 to ward to the end, He mentioned about several challenges that China facing now ( attached screen shot) which I cannot agree more:

Lack of global brands: compared to South Korea, China is 44 times bigger than South Korea, however, this little country as Korea has so many global brands such as SamSung, Hyundae, LG and so on. However, China barely have any global brands. I wonder what is the reason that China cannot create it's own global brands?

Little social trust: So true that in China, Chinese citizens do not trust their government especially the rich ones. They do not trust any of the Insurance companies nor investment products. The rich Chinese are immigrating to develped countries searching for secure retirements and preserve their assets. I wonder why they have so little social trust and are there any solution to it?

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[Jane Shen]

I am attaching the screenshot from Professor Dube's video lecture above regading the GDP China vs. USA.

According to the chart, In 2018 the Chinese GDP is $7,080 which is around 15% of USA's GDP $62,520.

But I want to argue that considering the few cities produce majority of the incomes vs. the huge portion of denominator due to the large population, the ratio of GDP comparation  China vs. USA which is 15% cannot be accurate to evaluate the incomes in China's major big cities. 

First, the housing price in Shanghai, Beijing is much more expensive than California and some even closed to the price or New York.

Next,  the education fees that parents spend on their kids are unblievably high. I heard from my recent summer trip to China that an avarage education fee per child per month is from $ 2000 to $5000 for extracurricular only.

Those middle class Chinese whose monthly income is around $3,000 to $5000 can afford the living and education expenses in large cities such as Beijing or Shanghai. So in these cities, the GDP should be closed to USA.

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[Jane Shen]

In professor Dube's mini lacture, I found an interesting fact in the Heathy Life Expectancy map. In the map ( see attached screen shot), it shows both male and female living in the three majoy autonomous cities: Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin are the top longivity cities. Besides the bad weather in Beijing, severe air pollution, or serious driniking water shortage in Tianjin, these three major cities with citizens equipped with higher education are living longer than the other cities.

Base on the data found in China, I can see that a healthy lifestyle could overcome the naturally living conditions?

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[Jane Shen]

Hi Marcos,

Thanks for your interested in my post.

As far as I know that the Rural Chinese ( farming peasants) are not benefits from the cheap grains since they can grow their own. But they could still be benefitted from the coupons of meat, fabrics for clothes, cooking oils as well.

Since the farmers cannot receive monthly wages from work, their livings are more depending on their harvest. So in some good harvest years, after mandated selling to the government at a given price, they would still have enough food for themselves and have extras to sell at a a higher price. Usally their income in only one times in the Fall season and use them through out the year.

Due to the above mentioned reasons, young adults are desperate to get out of their farm land and obtain a city Hukou. There are some ways to swith their Hukou from Farming to Non-Farming: best way is go to college and being assgined to a government company, marring a non-farming spouse is another way. In recent years, the many young adults would just work in the cities ingoring their obligation to farm.

[Jane Shen]

Since I came to America 20 years ago, so there a need for me to update my knowlege of contempory China due to the absent from some of the major movemnets such as the governments transform from Hu Jintao to Xi Jin-ping, the most current Economy battles.

Through this class, I would like to learn more about current issues related to the Xi jinping leadership, and the politic and economic diagram changes recently in order to explain better in my classroom.

[Jane Shen]

In my classroom, one of the reading I will assign for my students is from the the magazine of "In the Worlds"Vol. 13 dated Feb 2013. ( attached). As you can see from the pictures, that the same Beijing with different colors. The left side is the polluted view, and the right side is the Beijing during the APEC ( Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting in 2014 when the roughly 10,000 factories in teh surroundings were forced to suspend production during APEC, and additional 39,000 ran on reduced schedules, over 60,100 industrial plants and 123,000 other ventures were cosely inspected. "APEC blue" is a governer made during APEC meeting.

The artical is titled "Beijing's Polluted Air Opens China's Eyes". In this artical, AQI ( Air Quality Index) was used as a tool for measuring air pollution. The AQI measures pollutants on a scale of 0-500, and from 301-500 the air becomes hazrdous to everyone. The shocking AQI number of Beijing had reached to up to 866 according to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. As for the Chinese government tried to hide the polution as "bad fog.", however, Beijing's residents have been able to see the U.S.Embassy's hourly AQI readings on internet have used social media to spread that information and demand government improvement.

In this artical, the author analyzed several reasons caused the Air pollutions:

1. Weather and geographic cause. Colder weathers in winter caused the increase of burning coal. Mountains surround Beijing in a horseshoe shape cause the pollution accumulated as it blew in from many factories in neighboring cities. 

2. Burning of coal as energy sources produce the most of Beijing's air pollution.

3. Increaing usages of automobiles followed by the economy growth.

Bad air produces bad effects, nearly 400,000 premature deaths in China each year caused by pollution, the lung cancer rate in Beijinghas increased 60% in the last decade.

People wearing masks had became an obligation in Beijing. However, wearing masks should not be the solutions to the Air pollution, the governments needs to take action to replace the current energy source of burning of coal. People in Beijing do not want to see the air that they breathe.

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[Jane Shen]

I used the term of "modern orphans" for those children who had parents but do not live with either of them.

As the migrants workers moving from small cities or rural areas to bigger cities, they left their children at hometown with grandparents or relatives. Similar to this, many Chinese elites are immigrating to oversea countries for better education or better living conditions. 

These parents movings create "modern orphans" in their hometowns. For example, many villages in North-East China, there are mainly seniors and children left while the young laborers searching better chances to earn money or education in bigger cities or abroad. Grandparents support for the Children's education is limited to barely feeding them. Children have limited parents care and companions leads to many social and school diciplinary issues. Even with those whose parents are highly educated and persuing even higher degrees overseas, children's education and emotional health had became a big concern until nowadays.

Will there any solutions? I personally do not know if there is any.

[Jane Shen]

The documentary video of Meng Yun's story showes a typical struggle of a migration workds family.

Parents left their hometown to make money in order to provide a better lives for their children. They either work for menior jobs or run their own business whose income depends on the length of working hours. In this video, the parents of Meng Yun run their own Batthing business. Parents struggling to survive, working long hours, stressed and poured out their anger to their kids. While kids who were rejected by the regular public schools, had to go to the schools with other migrant kids. Constant changing of classmates and mixed aged, and grade classes leads to even lower quality of education than their small hometown.

Instability in residing places, low quality of living conditions, low education conditions forced Meng Yun's parents give up their business and move to another city with their kids struggling with the unstabilities.

[Jane Shen]

Several years after the "Birth Control"policy , as the then born children receiving all the spot light from their families, they were raised as spoiled "little kings"and 'little queens" . This result in the lack of social skills as well, kids received better edcations with more resources however more selfish, weak in team works.

As time goes by, when these "Birth Planned" childeren became adults, the family structure had changed from a regular triangle of 1 couples-2 children-4 grandchildren in to a upside down triangle: 4 grandparents-2 parents-1 child. Newly wed couples need to negotiate which side of the parents they need to spend holidays with since one side happiness leads to another sides loniness. 

And Chinese culture of valuing "son"in the family could also provide sound excuses for divorce or out of wedding affairs.

Also, the "Birth Control" policy accompanied with the legal allowance of free "abortion" also lead to the social problems in teen abotions . In Chinese clinics, the announcement of a pregmancy is not followed by "congratulations"but a question" do you want to keep the baby or abort ?", if the woman choose to abort the infants, there are no questions will be asked, they just need to move to the other room for the abortion. Abortion had became a routine procedure in the hospital that neither the doctors , nurses nor the moms are feeling guilty for the murder of the new lives.

 

[Jane Shen]

In terms of "Birth Planning" policy, I would like say that "planning"sounds like more volunterilly decision by each couples. However, I would like to use a different word to refer to this policy-Birth Control.

The reason I say this is that during the 40 years of this policy, especilly the first 5-10 years, the government had enforced this policy closed to enforcement of laws. In every governer ranned companies, there was committee of "Birth Control", in each local residential area, there were people in charge of the "Birth control" issue. Couples who were pregnant with "out of quota" baby were under humongus pressures, people with red arm band will visit them constantly persuading the abotion, or even escorted them to the hospital. Couples who disabeyed the policy and gave birth to an extra baby will lost their jobs and chances to promotions due to political disobediences.

 

[Jane Shen]

I would like to say that the HuKou system in the beginning during 50s, 60s and 70s is more like a beneficial passport for the residence from their local governments. As Professor Dube mentioned before, during those three decades, China with limited resources compared to its population, the government has to distribute coupons of grains, eggs, meat, cooking oil , even the facbircs for clothes to each household according to the headcounts per family in urban ( non-agricultural ) area. I remembered that when I was little, people needed to go to the designated shop to purchase grains and cooking oils with the coupons and also the Hukou red booklets to verify the residences. In these shops, grains are sold very cheap according to the government regulations. Meats, eggs could be purchased in government runned stores. The stocks of these survival foods can barely cover the needs for the local residents. I remembered that all the college students need to move their Hukou from their parents house to the schools in order for the schools providing foods. And there were no refrigirators in China back then, so the amounts of coupons issued each month could also help the local stores planning their stocks. During these decades, rural residences are madated to contribute their harvested grains at a low governments regulated price to the country while keeping the left overs for their own lives.

From 80s to 90s, as the Chinese government under Deng Xiao Ping motivating the free market, private business are encouraged, foreign intestments are welcomed to hire Chinese, this is the beginning of the migration of the Chinese from rural area or small cities to the big cities. Farmers were allowed to sell their harvested grains,fruits, vegetables for higher prices in the ruben cities. The country is no longer collecting the grains to distribut to the ruben citizens. So Hukou is no longer a chain for food and surviving daily supplies. However,as the private and foreinn invested business grew in big cities, the migrations started to fill in the job markets. Elite college graduates refused to work in their governent jobs found jobs in the big foreign companies, while the majority migrations filled in the bottom lines in the labor markets. They worked for private business owners or as daily laborer in the labor markets. These people are relatively less educated compares to the high end colleges grads, so lower-class were labled as one of the reading said. 

Since late 80s and 90s and moving to the new millennium, as for the upper leveled migrations chances to learn more in foreign countries grew, and for the lower leveled parties, chances to work as the blue collared workers in foreign countries with much better pay also openned, so Hukou became the restriction for them to obtain passports from where they were originally registered as citizens. And education in public schools are restricted for the migrant children while the private schools openning to the richer ones among the migrants.

As a conclusion, the Hokou was a survival booklets for most of the ruben citizens, while currently was more likely a proof of citizenships to obtain official documents and benefiial in public educations.

[Jane Shen]

Hi~ my name is Jane Shen, I am a 4th generation Korean who were born and grew up in China, now living in USA for 20 years. 

I am teaching Mandarin in a LAUSD high school in Hollywood for 3 years. And prior to that, I had been running my own Chinese language school for almost 10 years.

I love everything that pleasant to ears, to eyes and ofcurse yummy staff which satisfy my mouth.

I love reading children's book with my 10 year old boy, hiking and watching movies.

I wish through this workshop, I would be able to make some friends with you .

Jane Shen

[Jane Shen]

Thank you so much Cathrine for posting the presenters ppt files. They are rich visual resource for my own learning and teaching. Very precious.

[Jane Shen]

Hi Daniel~~your guess for the women in the center is interesting. Since I read Chinese, the popoganda flyer she is holding says Birth Planning Flyer. And the whole poster is about the benefits of birth planning: better studying teh Marx Leninism and Mao's thoughts, better education for the next generation, better health for women and children, better liberal, production, and the prosperous of the nation. So according to the theme, I guess the pills in the bottle might be a birth contrl pill?

[Jane Shen]

Thank you so much Prof. dube for posting the  list of Chinese movies which worth the time and money.

I watched " To Live" with every class I teach, and so far for more than 20 times, but still every time, it touched me into tears. Great movie! And thanks for Ruth who posted the Teacher's guidelines for this movie. here is the link

 http://www.aems.illinois.edu/downloads/To_Live.pdf 

"When Beijing meet Seattle" was a Chinese version of finding Mr. Right. It shows the trend of many rich Chinese who give birth to their child in American for the USA citizen. And also the Chinese richmen's family values in recent years. 

" Goodbye my concubine" is another legendary movie that I loved and watch it so many times and never disappoited.

 

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