Menu
close
Jonathan TamI love the question that you posed at the end of your post because as we learned from Dr. Yan about all the things that traditional chinese women had to face, it's so important to remember that young people and in particular young women today are ungoing the same levels of oppression. I don't quite have an answer... but I had a conversation on a hike with a friend recently about how in these oppressive states, it's important to leave aspects of your culture behind and also take aspects of your culture with you - but it's not rare for new cultures to form. We look at Asian Americans, for example, who like Rachel in Crazy Rich Asians don't really fit within all Asian customs nor do in American customs. And in this void, a new culture forms with values of its own which can leave folks with a sense of empowerment.
Jonathan TamDespite the fact that the seminar this morning presented a lot of hope for individualism and improvization in the future, I was left with the notion that in some ways, it seems like there hasn't as much progress at all. The quote that resonated the most with me was when Dr. Yan shared that "the possibility of mobility seems to encourage people to participate in the system." This seems really clear in the case of Ban Zhao - but what if Eleanor just gave Nick the ring to propose to Rachel in order to give the illusion that she accepted Rachel. When in actuality, this was just so Eleanor could maintain the patriarchal values of her family. It seems to be in some ways that we have changed the players, but the game seems the same. As I read, "Being the Right Woman for Mr. Right" and the account of Wang Rui, this idea seemed to be reinforced - especially in Wang Rui's account of western culture. In her eyes, the west was the key to a society that was more liberated from the patriarchy - only to find that patriarchy existed in a different form.
Jonathan TamHi everyone. My name is Jon and I teach at the School of Social Justice in Downtown LA.
Jonathan TamWhen I reviewed my notes on Kunming, I was left with a impression that there was an underlying tension to the city. Considered China's frontier, Kunming sits in the southwest corner of China and mixes together the cultures of the neighboring countries, the remnants of early China, and China's cultural revolution. And yet, all the while, it is a city that holds China's magnificent stone forest and majestic lakes.
Something that definitely clicked early on, having visited Xian and Chengdu earlier, is the fact that Kunming is a city that is developing compared to other cities that we have visited and it is a strategic point in China's push to the west. The unfinished buildings and constructions certainly left that feeling, but the emergency of multi-million dollar acres of golf terrain left some hint that Kunming is a rising destination for rich developers. How the locals feel about this - however is not fully understood.
Jonathan TamThanks for doing a lot of the frontloading, Stephanie. (I didn't see this until now)
In addition to the Green Lake and Yuantong Si are the Dianchi Lake and Huating Temple. In the time of the Great Leap Forward, the Dianchi Lake was victim to a heavy amount of pollution and still suffers form massive losses in biodiversity. Certainly not a hot spot to see, but in light of the losses in biodiversity, initiatives in Kunming have been started to research and support indigenous life. The Huating Temple has been around since the Yuan Dynasty of 13th century China and represents the prevailing influence of Buddhism in this region of China, much like Yuantong Si.
Because it will be the farthest south that we go, one might expect the temperature to be the hottest - but Kunming is actually elevated towards the mountains and can actually get pretty cold (and even rainy). There's definitely some implications to be made by how close it is to Southeast and South Asia. I suppose a question worth asking is if its proximity to South and Southeast Asia has had any implications on how its religious and environmental sites have prevailed.
Jonathan TamI consider any form of class or professional development successful If I can walk away with at least one thing useful for my professional or personal life. And I find myself walking away from each of these seminars with 5 things learned or 10 things learned each time. There has been without a doubt a lot of personal merit that class has provided me with, but as a class with the intention of improving the visibility of East Asia for American students, there is much that I will be bringing back into the classroom.
Having taken classes through the China Institute in the past, I have typically used the photographs and anecdotes the most. But, something that I focused on in particular this year was how to create standards based instructional units. Many of the seminars focused on a particular question to be answered. In Seminar 2, Clay posed the question of why standardization strengthened the Qin dynasty? In order to introduce highways and trade. And in Seminar 6, Professor Ye posed the question of why people suffer? In order to segway into the appeal of buddhism. These inquiries engage student thinking and are ways that i can make the learnings from this seminar more appealing as one of my school’s instructional coaches.
Beyond just effective Depth of Knowledge (DOK) questions, the seminar also did a great job of providing framework for understanding cause and effect. The class constantly focused on understanding the multiple implications and reasons for historical events such as the rise and fall of the Qin Dynasty, the appeal of different schools of thought in China and even the end of the warring states in Japan. And while this cause and effect isn’t as appealing as a pretty photograph for students to learn about - it certainly is standards aligned. Where as many of these can be found in textbooks and online resources, understanding the spheres and layers to each of these reasons typically is not. Textbooks typically teach things such as the fact that the political climate has influences in the socio-economic climate. But, what they tend not to teach is that there is an international climate and a rising school of thought in the young people of the educational climate. There are so many layers that bind us in a much greater picture of a global time period.
I think that whereas I initially was “along for the ride” so to speak with the first seminar last fall, I see a greater and more realistic role that this content can exist in schools and can benefit more people than just myself. I want to take a moment to thank all the professors and teachers and organizers of this program. And I certainly plan to recommend this to others in the future.
Jonathan TamThe USC Pacific Asia Museum is located on 46 North Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena and houses works collected from Asia as well as the pacific islands. The facility boasts 15,0000 rare pieces of art an in 2013, the museum became part of the University of Southern California. In this post, I will be describing some of the aspects of the museum that I found most interesting as well as its value as an educator. The museum moves in a chronologic and geographic sequence from Pacific and South Asian art to Chinese and Japanese art. At the time that I visited, an exhibition on Ceramics was also featured as well as an interactive display of the Silk Road. The second Sunday of each month is free for all visitors and so you can really plan things in advance as a teacher before you go using those free visits.
The most interesting thing that I found at this museum was the deeper mythology and religion to some of the pieces. The seminar has touched on figures of mythology in the past, but there’s something about being in the presence of art that evokes the mythology much more. A piece that I spent a few minutes looking upon was the Guardian Figure (Nio). The figure was used to protect Buddhist temples with “wrathful faces” and “bulging muscles.” There was something incredibly terrifying to stand in front of it, and yet incredibly insightful to read about. There were similar protector pieces shared in Chinese art, such as Charger - a depiction of the “qilin,” which was a mythical protector in China. The Charger was created during the time of the Yuan Dynasty and represents emerging influence of Persia and Mongolian culture. These fantastical beasts convey the look towards higher powers to maintain the values of those time periods.
The temporary exhibit, Winds from Fusang, offers insights into the mural culture in Mexico as well as the emerging creation of Asian murals. Many Mexican muralists were invited to China in the late 20th century and something that the museum features for the very first time is a massive Asian mural.
The museum is pretty small, but breaking the museum into groups certainly makes it manageable. The art pieces feel in particular for older audiences, but exhibits like the Silk Road are almost specifically for children because they offer simple english explanations as well as hand-ons activities.
Jonathan TamThe Wailing is a horror movie directed by Na Hong-jin. It is by far one of the most terrifying films I have ever seen and despite the fact that I think it holds very little place in the classroom for being so graphic and horrifying, there might be a place for students to leisurely explore films like this in their own time. The film transitions heavily between a lot of tropes that are present in American cinema. It begins as a murder mystery after the appearance of local distress and phenomena - much like something you would find in the hit American series, Stranger Things. It then transitions to an Exorcism-esq film, where a Shaman attempts to prye evil spirit from a young girls body. And it concludes with the confrontation with a monstrosity that is beyond our world - much like something you would find in Halloween or It.
Again, this film really hold no place in the classroom itself, but I think it holds a place in students’ free time. Just about every student at my school has a netflix account or shares a netflix account with someone else. And if there ever was a way to enhance visibility of South Korea and Asia in students of downtown Los Angeles, I think it might be through a shared appreciation of horror. To say that The Wailing was a good horror film is an understatement. It is great horror film that doesn’t hold back any violence or pain and takes considerably risk in evolving its plot. It is a battle between Light (the Woman in White), Darkness (the Demonic Japanese Man), and Human (the Shaman and Police Officer). And for that reason, it is an incredibly compelling film for any horror fanatic.
I plan to do a few more South Korean horror films just to spread the word through my students. Especially with such commercial success in films like It and Get Out, I really do hope that films like The Wailing find themselves experienced by my students.
The Wailing: 9/10
Jonathan TamIt was interesting to hear how sushi, soba and tempura emerged as fast foods in Japan. It’s capacity in the United States seems very much like a dine-in food, but the storage and expedited nature of these foods allowed the Japanese to work more in an ever growing 1600s economy. I have personally never had Soba noodles, but enjoy sushi and tempura very much. I don’t think that I’ll get to a point soon where I can afford Sam’s recommendations for restaurants, but I certainly feel more inclined to explore on the menus at the regular sushi places that I go to. I would certainly like to try more types of nigiri sushi.
Jonathan TamSomething that Sam touched on was the emergence of a Vendetta system towards the end of the century. He argued that it was a way to rid of criminals, but I see it as a way for citizens to participate in aspects of justice. Where there may not have necessarily been the opportunity to influence aspects of government, a vendetta system seems like an opportunity to do exactly this. You would apply for a vendetta and then have the opportunity to carry out. You wouldn’t need to fairly duel the person on your vendetta, but generally, they would know that someone was coming after them. I wonder how many vendettas were carried out, but also how many went awry as a way of seeking personal justice.
Jonathan TamI have always wondered what the history of early Japan was and so it was interesting to see most of all the diminishing influence of warrior values and emerging influence of economic values. Through the history of early Japan, Samurais emerged through the Heiji uprising in service of their clans and eventually died out as the period of warring states ended. Military governors became funded more and by the 1400s, the warring states were long over, but a new war emerged between villagers and the daimyo (the feudal lords of Japan). It’s interesting to see a new level of warfare emerge all throughout early Japan.
Jonathan TamThe controversy of leadership seems to be such a well articulated theme throughout this course and this was is certainly articulated through Mao. It’s always incredibly entertaining to hear how much his cult has grown from stories of how his land breaks production value to curing disease, but also the more critical nature of his leadership. It seems very clearly that with only 2 ounces of meat and 40 pounds of rice a month, farmers were grossly undernourished. And so I’m left curious as to whether the amount of deaths from 1959 to 1962 were entirely due to famine, but rather other sicknesses that they did not know how to treat. I’m further curious about what the perception of Xi Jinping has been, having worked in the farms and also being compared today as Mao. I’ll need to do some personal exploration on this,
Jonathan TamI found the diaries and excerpts of Lu Xun interesting for the reason that they depict a side of China that we’ve not yet seen yet - the reclusive and melancholy side. There is such brevity and sadness to the way that Lu Xun’s work is shared. It almost feels like the Ernest Hemingway of the Eastern Hemisphere. In conversations that we have had in class about how China is very much in the same latitudes and experiences the same weather, I almost imagine Lu Xun sitting on the equivalent of a rocking chair in the equivalent of a cabin in the equivalent of the American west. I found his tone familiar and his reclusion relatable.
Jonathan TamI was blown away by a very simple epiphany that Dr. Sheehan had, which was that as history changes and leaders change - people continue to live (although sometimes they also die). And it’s in these stories that we truly learn about how lifestyles change and grow empathetic to their experiences. Dr. Sheehan’s seminar focused on case studies that allow us to see interactions with Mao and foreign influences. Something that he focused on early in the seminar was the welcoming of western cultures at treaty ports as well as the quick change of lifestyle in the time of rural revolution to the west. Initially, Qipao dresses were popular among women and western pajamas were welcomed among men. Routines included western traditions of reading, but also mixed in time for chinese food. These opportunities were quickly replaced as markets were taken control of and the early maoist PRC set the tone for management and goals.
Jonathan TamRemembering that Wu Sangui is the Benedict Arnold of China was something very helpful for understanding the transition from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Known for opening the gates for the manchus to invade, this seminar brought us into the time of the Qing Dynasty, which introduced new traditions to china including common haircuts as well as a new political line of emperors. The Qing dynasty reached as far as Taiwan, Russia, Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet and lasted 250 years. To say that it brought China all the way up to the 20th century is not an understatement.
