[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

I greatly enjoyed the Crossing Boundaries in East Asia seminar.  All the videos of lectures are very well presented and the reading materials are very insightful and interesting.  The live discussions deepen my understanding.  The only recommendation I have is to have opportunities for socialization among the participants. 

I teach Chinese level 1 to 4 in a public high school in Atlanta GA.  Many of my students took Chinese because they are anime fans.  Some of them also love Korea and Japanese cultures.  While the material in this seminar may not be very applicable to my beginning level students, I think some of them will be very interesting to my upper level students.  I intend to incorporate the concept of Buddhism vs Taoism vs Confucianism  and the topic of music and China into my teaching. I also found a few movies that I could share with my students.

One of the possible topics would be “How did Buddhism spread to China”.  I will have my students watch Ms. Meeks presentation on how Buddhism spread to China,  and have my students compare and contrast Buddhism vs. Taoism vs Confucianism and understand how Buddhism has to cater to the local existing philosophy in order to be accepted.  Such discussion and exercise will help my students understand the guiding Chinese philosophy deeper.  This is the video I would use. https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/index.php/extwidget/preview/partner_id/125662/uiconf_id/44937212/entry_id/0_g3bw05nm/embed/dynamic

Another possible topic would be “Understanding of Confucian self-cultivation, self-discipline, and classical music”.  I can have my students read from page 8 in the article “Why Chinese people play Western classical music: Transcultural roots of music philosophy. Hao Huang, Scripps College”, and summarize Confucian’s theory regarding music.

I can also have them learn more about “Classical music in China” and have them watched the presentations from professor Cai and Ms. Melvin. 

 In terms of movies, I think the “American Factory” would be a good one for my students to compare and contrast Chinese and American work ethics.  “Farewell” is a good movie to understand the family bond in China.

I feel that these are topics of the greatest relevance to my Chinese language and culture class to my students.

 

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

Music has evolved greatly since my childhood in the 70s.  Popular songs/Rock and Roll started to come into China and became super popular since the 80s.  I remembered listening to Michael Jackson's songs, and learning English with songs from the Carpenters.  I was also a fan of singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan.  And shared the love of many talented singers in China with my cousins.  So all the songs I remembered well are songs from the 90s before I came to the U.S..

I came across this documentary that shares the story of an Acapella children’s choir group, a group called “Soul Shake”  made of musicians from the West and interview of Chinese legendary rock musician Ding Wu from a popular rock band from the 80s called Tang Dynasty.  Perhaps that can give you a glimpse of the music scene in China now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IYTXs19rfs

And since I was always a chorus member growing up, I am especially interested in seeing choir music. This is one of the great groups I have been following.

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC3EcrXH6Wu1-iu8dqDwhgw

 

To increase their influence around the word, many pop singers created interesting MTVs, and have English subtitle for their songs. Here is an example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BEFukvLZfI&list=PL3oW2tjiIxvSKa-uFKnIlmKgPGT64G1-p

 

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

I am getting another great teaching idea here.  As a high school Chinese teacher and someone who has experienced the boom of China, I can use this article to help my students understand the development process in China and why people are satisfied with their lives and living standard in China. And many people consider this as a great achievement of the government and of the people.

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

Like your idea of sharing this video with the students at the beginning of the school year.  I teach Chinese to high school students.  This will also show them that songs are a great way to learn a language.

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

Marina,

I totally agree. Sometimes we are so caught up in life that we forget that our utmost priority is actually to be healthy and do things that are good for our health.  After the seminar, I started looking around for a Zither, a classical Chinese instrument that I learned to play when I was in middle school.  My favorite piece to play was Yu Zhou Chang Wan, it depicts the happy mood of the fishermen coming back with a day's catch in a magnificent sunset.  

As a Chinese language teacher, I always use songs/rhymes to help my students learn.  Music is a universal language.  We saw the Chinese lady singing Mariachi songs in Chinese, learning Spanish and is even tasked with reviving this Mexican music tradition. I know how to sing many Russian songs in Chinese since those were the songs from my parents’ generation when China and Soviet Union had a good relationship.  Here is one example of the song “the night at Moskow’s suburb” .  My students love songs from C-pop singers, this one is Luhan’s interpretation of a very famous old song from Teresa Deng, a beloved singer in southeast Asia, Tian mi mi, with an interlude from a love song every Chinese person knows  “the moon represents my heart”.  Young people in China are also exploring other musical traditions such as hip hop.  It reminded me of how Rock and Roll, pop songs first became popular in China in the early 80s.  It all started with lots of skepticism from the older generation, but slowly more and more people accepted it and it became mainstream.  As professor Cai said, good music will always survive since it is able to adapt and to incorporate elements from other cultures.  My new swag is a song that incorporates Chinese opera into hiphop.  

Good luck with keeping up with your piano playing.  When Covid is over, I wish to go on your Russian tour and learn more about Russian arts!  I also lead a Chinese tour in case you are interested.  Here is my website http://www.minglechinese.com/

 

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

In reading the article on “Why do Chinese Listen to Western Classical Music”, I learned about Confucius’s process of learning the Guqin and that he was never satisfied with his progress until he was able to master the melody, the skill, the aim, and to grasp and fulfill the intent of the composer.  The author mentioned that “In the Li Ji (Book of Rites),  Confucius is quoted as saying:  Music produces pleasure which human nature cannot be without. That pleasure must arise from the modulation of the sounds, and have its embodiment in the movements of the body – such is the rule of humanity. These modulations and movements are the changes required by nature, and they are found complete in music. (K’ung-fu Tzu, 1885/2008, p. 57)”  I love this quote and totally believe in the power of music just like what Confucious has said. 

But as I mentioned during the lecture, there is a decline of interests towards Chinese classical music in China, just like the decline of interests in classical music in the western world.  As Mr. Cai very well put, an art form can only survive as it adapts and changes with the time.  Cellist Yo-Yo Ma created The Silkroad ensemble in 1998 to spark collaboration from world-class musicians from the globe and create new music together.  https://www.silkroad.org/about。   I also like a great ensemble Zi De Qin She that plays classical Chinese instruments but adds their interpretation of pop songs. Here is a Guqin version of the TikTok hit song Yi Jian Mei（Xue Hua Piao Piao）

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ptoxrr9XBA

I also like this full Chinese orchestra that plays one of the two very famous Chinese contretos, the Butterfly contreto 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu5XohUR3Pg&t=163s

Here is an interview with one of the composers https://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2166740/chinese-composer-recalls-birth-butterfly-lovers-violin-concerto-60

And a live version of the same piece played by Yu Lina in a live concert in 1998.  She played the same piece when she was 18 in 1958.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjGGYFguYjo&t=335s

I plan to share all these with my students when we talk about Chinese classical instruments.

 

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

Deborah, after reading your review, I finally watched the documentary from the beginning to the end (I started a few times). You have summarized it so well. And I love the activities you have for your students (I use Flipgrid a lot also).  Very thought-provoking and creative.  I am learning from you and will have my students do similar assignments for my film review. 

The documentary shares the story of how Fuyao Glass, a Chinese company, is trying to establish its global presence in the U.S. I became very interested in knowing more about the chairman of the company, Mr. Cao Dewang and also how the documentary was made. I read interviews with Mr. Cao in Chinese and in English and also read an interview with the directors of the documentary.  Please see the links below for your reference.

https://www.glassonweb.com/news/interview-with-mr-cao-dewang-president-fuyao-glass-industry-group

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/21/20812012/american-factory-interview-netflix-reichert-bognar

Here is what I found out about Mr. Cao:

Mr. Cao was born to a rich family in 1946 but was forced to quit studying at 14 due to changes in family situation.  He did many jobs to survive.  In 1984, at age 38 he was able to take over a run-down glass factory and turned a profit within 2 years.  Once he went into a taxi with a hiking stick and the taxi driver told him to be very careful not to break the windshield since it was very expensive and was only available through import, this small incident made him see the opportunity in manufacturing glass for cars. He grasped the opportunity, through investment in research and automation,  Fuyao became the last automobile glass manufacturer in China and second in the world.  In 2003, Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co Ltd became the first Chinese company to win its case against the dumping ruling of the US Department of Commerce (DOC).  And in 2016 was when he starts to invest in the U.S. and starting to take the company global.

He is a devoted buddist, philanthropist and also spends at least 1 to 2 hours reading on a daily basis. 

 

Here is what I like the most of from the interview of the directors of the documentary: 

The interviewer Alissa Wilkinson sums it up really well - “So much of American Factory explores how our culture affects what we think we should get out of a job — what we’re looking for in our work. Everyone wants to get paid, of course. But what the Americans in the film are asking for from the experience is different from what the Chinese are looking for. It depends on what they’ve been conditioned to expect.”

For example, one of the Chinese engineers did not unite with his family till working for two years in the US since his task is to make sure the investment in the US becomes successful even if that means sacrificing his personal time with his family.  And a American worker was upset because he did not even get a pat on the back when he did a good job.  Even though it is changing, with a 1.3 billion population,  education through encouragement is just not the norm in China as everyone is trying to do their best to out beat their competitors.  

I also love the fact that the directors have the cultural sensitivity to realize the importance of collaborating with two Chinese directors to tell the story from the Chinese workers’ perspectives.  

 

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

Cheryl,

Thank you for sharing the article, I found the site for learning more about Buddism.  It was great being in the seminar with you.  My email is [email protected] if you want to keep in touch and have more crossing boarder culture discussions!

 

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

Rebecca,

Yes, I read the American Born Chinese with my kids.  Will check out the Epic Crush of Genie.

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

Journey To the West is one of the four classical novels of Chinese literature written by Wu Cheng’en in the 16th century.  It tells a fascinating story of the monk Xuan Zang from Tang Dynasty, who was escorted by 3 disciples through a treacherous journey from China to India to get the Buddhist scripts. Many of the concepts of Buddhism are embodies in the story.  It also touches upon the competition with Confucianism and Taoism. Here is a very good summary in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West.  This novel is translated into many languages and there are also many movies and TV series made about the story.  I can use these to share some concepts of Buddhism with my students.  And below I will list a few resources that you can be shared with different age group of students. 

For all ages: (this is the one I mentioned in our live session)

Cartoon movie from 1964 in Chinese with English subtitles: A more embellished cartoon movie version of the how the monkey king was born and made a "Havoc in Heaven".   It is a classic created by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio between 1961 and 1964 that incorporates lots of Chinese culture elements including Chinese opera, Chinese painting, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu0XosgxCyU

For High-school students and above:

TV series Journey to the West from 1986 （25 episodes) and sequel from 1998 (15 episodes) with English and Chinese subtitles, PG-13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3KNpyKILHM&list=PLIj4BzSwQ-_sfc7l2xm1wQswAd5jqrrDS&index=1  

In 1986, 25 episodes TV series started to air during Chinese New Year in China and it made a record viewing rate of 89.4%.  This is a miraculous accomplishment even considering that at that time a total Chinese population of 1.1 billion was using 120 million television sets (around one set for every 10 people, in fact, the first color TV for my family, and at the same time, limited high-quality shows were available.   In 1998, the same crew created a sequel that was aired in 2000, again a great success.

For Kindergarten age kids, elementary school and middle school students:

Cartoon series (108 episodes, 6 minutes per episode)  from LittleFox in English

 

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

Over the weekend, I had an interesting conversaiton with a collegue of my who grew up near Boston and now is considered a southerner by her relatives.  She mentioned that up north people seems to have less of a stigma regarding vocational school compared to the south.  And more and more vocational schools were closed after the "no child left behind" policy.  In China, Mr. Huang in the ariticle became an early advocate for vocational school after he came back from the US in 1915.  In China now, after primary school,  kids scored below a certain grade in the the middle school entrance exam grade cutoff are sent to technical middle school, and there is one more selection during the high school entrance exam, and college entrance exam.  So to be able to make it to normal colleges, you will have to go through 3 selelction process, let along you want to be able to compete in  a glocal market, etc.  no wonder pressure is higher and higher.  On the other hand, I think vocational school is a good alternative since it allow students to learn a trade early on and start to work earlier than students who are heading to the other track. 

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

Through Ms. Jung-Kim's video lecture, I came to know the ban of K-pop in China in 2016 and start to allow groups tour in 2018 and was curious about the current situation.  I found this interesting video about Chinese young people's view on K-pop vs C-pop (Chinese pop) and an article on the current situation.  As it was stated in the video, Chinese youth can always find a way around the ban if they want to.  Another interesting thing is in the popular group EXO, four of the original 12 members are Chinese nationals.  Currently only Yixing Zhang is with EXO, but he is also affected by the strained relationship between the two countries and focuses more on his solo activities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVdATXIPnkA

https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/celebrity/article/3040955/will-bts-ever-perform-china-how-k-pop-and-korean-culture

 

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

I read Huang Yanpei's comparison of the American and Chinese education systems from 1915. Huang was one of the “China's pioneers in educational modernization, he went on to lead the vocational education movement, founding the China Vocational Education Society and various vocational schools.”  It is intrigued to see that many of the differences are still the same today.  For example, he mentioned that Chinese students have to take lots of difficult classes to the point that ”the course load is too heavy for their mental powers to handle” while American students “ take only 4 a year”.  More than a hundred years later, even though the Chinese education system has changed a lot, but each time I went back to China, I found that students who are college-bound are under more and more stress and longer studying time. In the last two years of high school, while preparing for Gao Kao, the college entrance exam, many students go to school 6 days a week, even more than when I was in high school in the 90s. That’s why more and more Chinese students seeking to go abroad to study, not only in college but even in middle school or high school.  

I also like the video “Chinese woman becomes mariachi singer in Mexico” which shares the story of a Chinese woman who went to Mexico at a young age and learned Spanish by singing mariachi songs both in Spanish and Mandarin.  This became her passion and she is performing in the streets and is very well received.  Her Mexican music producer is hoping that she can revive this art form in Mexico and even spread it to China. 

Both of these are very relevant to my Chinese learning students.  I want to show them how students coming to the US to study are just like them, struggling to learn the most basics of a new language.  And by learning the language and culture, they can become the ambassador of a culture and bridge the culture differences.

 

[Jiaxing Weng-Zhang]

My name is Jiaxing Weng, I am the founder and director of Mingle Chinese Services, a Tai Chi instructor and a Chinese teacher at a charter high school in Sandy Springs, GA.  I grew up in China before coming to the U.S. for advanced degrees.  Now I have lived and worked in U.S. longer than my time in China   I am passionate about cross-cultural understanding.  And believe that this is even more important at this moment in history.  I look forward to learning and sharing with y'all!

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