[Lin Kuang]

Summer seminar refelction. 

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[Lin Kuang]

This ia actually my 2nd time to visit Ja[anese American National Museum. The tourguide brought up very touching stories from his life experience in the camp/ barraacks as a Nissei who was a secod generation Japanese American. Itś oainful to go back and fact teh reality of the violence of human rights. As Edison Uno stated, "it was not until the moemntwhen we glimpsed the sit itself, when we saw again its barranness, the tatteresremnants of the barracks, the tufits of sagebrush and mesquite , until we fely again the sharp, early morning desert wind, that we fully pervieved what was in the offing for us,that we perceived how tragic the past really was..." This is detailed depiction of Manzanar Comcentration Camp. Itś so sad !

[Lin Kuang]

It´s  an amazing trip we made to Korean Culture Center even though my best firend is a Korean who is running Cal America Language Institue and M.I R. Aviation Academy, in which I first landed when I visited USA in 2001, I never have a chance to enter Korean Culture Centre passing by all the time without stops. The Kpop and Virtue Reality Studio are very impressive to experience authentic Korean culture.  I really think our students will enjoy a trip here. Especially, when I was told they actually offer $200.00 bus tour for public schools. How can we miss this great opportunity to bring our students here to learn the history and culture of this miracle nation on earth. I will talk to our 10 grade  teachers and make sure our Fall semester filed trip will land here.

[Lin Kuang]

Qiu Jin was born in 1875 with excelent education and family background. She was a great writer. She wrote  many jorful poems about domestic activities. She also wrote about Chinese female heros and warriors. She has strong self-confidence and desire to become a strong female writer. Her tragety started her marriage with a wealthman under her fatherś arranged marriage. She was very unhappy about her marriage and depicted her husband "...He treats me as less than nothing..." and "When I think of him my hair bristles with anger, itś absolutely undearable."Her poems in this period reflected her self-doubt and loneliness.She started to writing poems  about current events and the fate of China. Later on, she went Jpan in 1903, she became vocal in her support for womenś rights.. She viewed the traditional families as oppressive to women. She became very well-known as brave woman to help the poor and weak. She sacrificed her lif efor her belief at the age of 31.

[Lin Kuang]

Qiu Jin was born in 1875 with excelent education and family background. She was a great writer. She wrote  many jorful poems about domestic activities. She also wrote about Chinese female heros and warriors. She has strong self-confidence and desire to become a strong female writer. Her tragety started her marriage with a wealthman under her fatherś arranged marriage. She was very unhappy about her marriage and depicted her husband "...He treats me as less than nothing..." and "When I think of him my hair bristles with anger, itś absolutely undearable."Her poems in this period reflected her self-doubt and loneliness.She started to writing poems  about current events and the fate of China. Later on, she went Jpan in 1903, she became vocal in her support for womenś rights.. She viewed the traditional families as oppressive to women. She became very well-known as brave woman to help the poor and weak. She sacrificed her lif efor her belief at the age of 31.

[Lin Kuang]

What Makes a Chinese Women Beautiful? This is a great topic to discuss. In my opinion, the beautiful Chinese women should have inner and outer features. Physical appearance is attractive and grabbing others ’attention immediately but temporarily that can last long. But inner beauty gives us intelligence and witty. The roles we play as a filial daughter, a lovable wife, a dedicated mother, and a successful career in society, these women should be the most beautiful women.  Traditionally Confician Ideal womanhood defined beautiful woman “Man is for relying on, so he should be liable; woman is for love, so she should be lovable” with virtues ( material rectitude, sagely intelligence, benevolent wisdom, chaste obedience, pure righteousness, and competence)talents and beauty. The women as role models have the following qualities; teaching the children and helping the husband. I really think most of Chinese women met the two requirements. Born and lived in Modern Era of China, we are still deeply influenced by these virtues and obediences from traditional and classical points of views, but we also accepted the concepts of pursuing happiness and not relying on man to live a life, to be independent with our own career is more reasonable standards.

 

[Lin Kuang]

Robin Wangś article "Yinyang Gender Dynamics: Lived Bodies, Thythmical Changes, and Cultural Performances" discussed a very important concept of Yin and Yang, man and women, heaven and earth, inner and outer, which is interrelated and complementary."Yin should be guarded and protected Huangdi Neijing sayss, " Yin is inside but guards yang: yang is outside but is is sent by yin". As the result of the yinyang thinking paradium, there is no such exclusion or separation of nature in early Chinese. In CHinese tradition there has been woman, female, and feminity as long as there has been man, male, and masculinity. From here we understand the relationship between women and men are corelated and complementary. Women are supposed to do what womenś responsibilities, and men fulfill their own responsibilities. We also compare women as soft as water, and men as strong as rock. Sexism in traditional China was “ correlative” with interdependent, complementary aspects like Yin and Yang, earth and heaven, inner and outer. Women and men are both oneness and otherness. This view does not imply that everyone is the same; each person has his or her own Ming, which cannot be a basis for the subornation one to the other. 

[Lin Kuang]

Professor Bernards explored the themes in the stories by Chinese Hugo awards winners, Liu Cixin and Hao Jingfang to understand modern China and its developemnts, which is very impressive. Themes explored in the stories, such as global warming, floating populations, self-sacrificing parents, unwanted baby girls, etc to help us look at China in different perspectives through reading and analyzing Chinese literature via his variety. He also inserted lots of  stories, movies, pictures with detailed information related for us to use them righ away. Self-sacrificing parents are surrounding me. Ny high school sboolamates just landed here in Arcadia in order to help their only child for his btter outsomes. THe mother retired ahead of time from her govenment position, and the father is monitoring his Trading Company online. They admitted their son to Arcadia High School, and rented a single house in the neighborhood. They sent the boy to the Summer School for his English Proficiency the second day after they arrived,  whiling joining golf club & tennis club and taking piano lessons before he goes to high school here. Moving an entire family here , they have to start everything. They have to learn survival Englsih, learn how to drive,, and etc. They are overwhelmed , but extremely happy becasue they finally settled their son for better education as they beleive.

[Lin Kuang]

I went to the One Child Nation screenings last night with a couple of our teachers. I also lived through the entire one-child policy rea and I just have one son, but I never experienced and heard about the babies-killngs, human traffickers, and adopitions "depiscted in the documentary film.. Based my experiences , I knew the one-child policy was foucsing on people who worked for govenmetn with iron bowels, for villegers which is different, Chinese government stated that they can have two children. Even though, people still have more than two children attemding universities now. One of the twin sisters in the film is  obviously abandoned by her parents for the opportunity of getting a boy. Thatś why she has no interest to renuite with her twin sister even though they finally found her in a adopted American family. I completely understand her situation. The Human traffier who was jailed was depicted as a charity organization to collect abandoned baby girls under the one-child policy, which is s big twist of the truth. He and his followers are criminals who violate the human rights. The purse for this documentary film through a Chinese firlś experience is more obvious and convincing, but as a Chinese American who lived through this era, I didn know anything the film depicted at all. 

[Lin Kuang]

We were watching clips from Late Spring (1949) directed by Yasujiri Ozu who was considered as one of the "Big Three"postwar directors. I really think this very silent and plain films reflecting the poat war Japanese family issues, which is really resonable. The Character seems very attached to her father and demonstrated her filial respect to her father. She wanted to stay with her widowed father not to get married at the very begining. Through the conversation, we found that the arraged marriage will bring her happines from traditional point of view. It seems she had her ideal husband like American baseball play Dary Cooper. Itś surprisingly to see the conflicts between two generations, and Noriko finally subdued to Japanese tradtion to follow her fatherś advice to get married with someone arranged. Their thoughts and concepts about being happy is so simple as to stay with her father / or getting married and being a good wife instead of pursuing her own happiness. I wonder what exactly will make her happy. She probably doesn even know what happiness for her. She is living a life not for her, just for her family. How does she define the roles of being a woman? Is it just for reproduction, being mom and wife, or a filial daughter to her father? What bigger pictures did she see in her life rather than just being a women in Japan under the allied power occupation?

 

[Lin Kuang]

https://youtu.be/sjVgX0A8Jtc Hero was directed by Zhang Yimeng, staring Jet Li, Zhang Ziyi in 2002.

Calligraphy (from Ancient Greek: κάλλος kallos "beauty" and γραφή graphẽ "writing") is a visual art related to writing, which was very common in ancient China. It is the design and execution of lettering with brush (as opposed to built up lettering, in which the letters are drawn). A contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as, "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner". Modern calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the letters may or may not be legible. Classical calligraphy differs from typography and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may practice both. Calligraphy continues to flourish in the forms of wedding and event invitations, font design and typography, original hand-lettered logo design, religious art, announcements, graphic design and commissioned calligraphic art, cut stone inscriptions, and memorial documents. It is also used for props and moving images for film and television, testimonials, birth and death certificates, maps, and other written works.

[Lin Kuang]

Professor Kim presented a great concpet of "Good WIse , wise mother, which really connected to our Day 1, Ban ZHaoś five lessons for Chinese womenfor our i further discussion female roles and gender development in Korea. It seems Korean women are pretty similar in characteristic with Chinese and Japnese women in their demoestic roles as a wife and mother, whcih to serve their men and children traditionally. Now more women uplfted their positions in different areas as professionals and seeking their own happiness and freedom. Many women sacrifice their own freedom and happiness for their family and children. I am not sure if all Korean women do the the same as Chinese mothers developed themselves for better - educate their childree and prepare their children for their best outcomes, but we can see the trend that their roles have beend changed. My korean friends even USC graduates never worked as teachers with USC degrees, Instead, they became housewives staying home serving their husbands and children for 13 years without complains. Ironically I called them  "USC Certified-mothers". Obviousely, she is a female homemaker and responsible mother holding her family together and making extreme efforts to pretect her family. 

[Lin Kuang]

I really appreciated the fact Peffessor Lynn led us to look at the word choices of the Japanese poets amd proses to look at the gender of the poets to understand that male and female wrote quite differently in different perspective. Interesting to study further about the Japanese poems in Heian focusing on the beauty of  the natural. This is a great strategy for us to apply in our analysis of the characteristics of the any stories we study to understand any piece of literature. Especially, the peoms in ancient China and Japan, they poems are very structured with profound moral lessons and background info. Prefssor Lynn intentionally made acllssroom activities suggestions, which is really thoughtful and purposeful, and sheś constantly engaging us with her discussion about the topics she is exploring to help us go deeper about the classical gerneding in Japan.

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[Lin Kuang]

Great connection with Mulan, who was the heroic femal figure who demonstrated characteractics of being a "perfect daughter" to fight battles for her father to share his pians and responsibilities. According to Ban Zhao and other Chinese traditional rules, femalesś jobs are to serve her husband and children without given names and rights. Interestingly to know, these kind of unfairness has embedded in Chinese, which restricted many Chinese women to purpue their own happiness and true identities.

[Lin Kuang]

Interesting question! I was told to respect elders when I was a little child or we would be puniched by "Shang Tian"(Sky). My grandmother told me a story about the filial piety, which was fictional. Onece a child was very disrespectful to his grandpa. He gave him leftover food and torn clothes living in a darkroom. The sky ( mythologically) knew and got very angry to throw a big thunderstorm, Mr.Thunder took the bad kid out and ordered him to kneel down under a big tree to apologize to his grndpa as his punishment. SInce ever I learned the moral lesson of filial piety. Whenever I heard thunderstorm, I imagined that someone must be pumnished by Mr. Thunder because of their his disrespect to elders. I dare not even talk louder to my grandma becasue I was so scared of Mr.Thunderś punishment.

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