[Jenai Sheffels]

Kirstjen, this is one source: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/02/04/china-may-soon-become-a-high-income-country  

[Jenai Sheffels]

Yes and no--perhaps Professor Dube can weigh in here.  I seem to remember one of the caveats to doing business in China was sharing IP.  I can't remember if this is only in the SEZs or just business in general.  You could certainly argue that U.S. businesses make a choice to agree to this in exchange for access to the huge Chinese consumer market and cheaper labor, but they do not release the rights and patents of their IP.  Yet, as we know, it is intellectual property, expensive brandnames and even patents that are copied and exploited.  This seems to be hugely problematic.  Initially, in both China and Japan, wasn't it the West that was sending advisors and machines to help China industrialize so we could do business with them?  Then at some point they learned to build those machines and even perfect them on their own.  This isn't necessarily innovation since they had a leg up to start with--they didn't have to go through the initial research and development or trials and testing.  There was just an interesting article in (I think) the Economist about how China is still treated as a developing country and yet they have the second largest economy at this point (soon to be first according to most).

[Jenai Sheffels]

It may not be a negative reflection on China, but it is interesting to consider that Chinese students still seek out a U.S. education when there is once again so much anti-Western sentiment.  I guess I would expect the party to keep tighter control on where students attend.  I listened to a lecture at my alma mater, the University of Washington, where they had done exit interviews with Chinese exchange students.  They wanted to know about preconceptions of America before coming, what they had appreciated while being here, and whether they would want to stay.  They learned that there were Chinese "minders" of sorts who frequently checked in with students, presumably to check the courses they were taking and to ensure they were not indoctrinated.  At one point, UW was asked to alter one of their classes (I think it was a poli-sci or international relations class) re: the Chinese content, but declined to do so.  What the researchers found was that the students appreciated all the freedoms they enjoyed in the US, and recognized them as such, but did not feel they'd want to live here.  I found that fascinating--that you could enjoy a newfound sense of civil liberties and exploration but still determine it was better to return.  If I remember correctly, I think the questions were asked in a way that had them choosing systems and not other extenuating circumstances.

[Jenai Sheffels]

I love China's 2011 rabbit.  The intricate pattern but simplicity of the figure just does it for me.  I like the idea of having students create their own animal stamps based on their birth year.  It would be a great way to have them tie in personal symbols about themselves.  I think you could do some of the same ideas using symbols with history units, too.

 

[Jenai Sheffels]

I had heard that the BRI was barely on Xi's radar anymore and, as Nina mentioned, hadn't been a major talking point as of late.  Instead, it had been replaced by the Global Development Initiative?  There are many countries who owe debts to China due to the BRI that cannot be repaid.  Of course, there's also been the crackdown on big tech (Alibaba, Tencent, etc.) and the "reeducation" of its Jack Ma.  It's not difficult to imagine that China is the current Big Bad Wolf of the world, and maybe just in the absence of a bigger threat.  However, the human rights violations are worth our concern.  That being said, we don't ever seem to move beyond concern as a country and maybe there's just no appetite for actually standing up for the little guy, no matter where he's from.  I think I've wallowed in depressing news for too many days in a row now...

 

[Jenai Sheffels]

Your comment about neocolonialism got me to thinking; prior to the 1900s, Japan studied the U.S. and other "great" nations to determine what it was they did that made them world powers.  One of the things they returned with was that they needed to have colonies and that they needed to be an industrial power.  China had never attacked another nation, nor had they really had extensive colonies.  Maybe they were just later to the game than everyone else.  After their experience at the hands of the British, the U.S., and Japan, why wouldn't they want to play the same game, but do it better?

[Jenai Sheffels]

Hi!  I'm Jenai and I teach at Tesla STEM High School in Redmond, Washington (a suburb of Seattle).  We are a Microsoft Showcase school, literally just down the road from their headquarters, with a focus on Problem-based learning and STEM contests/mentorships.  I teach Contemporary World Problems and Civics to all our seniors.  My course is structured from the 1900s on, with a focus on the historical foundations first semester and then connecting to contemporary issues second.  I'm excited to learn with and from all of you.

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