[Lynne Szczepanek]

I felt a little lost with this too. What was the purpose for the videos, who was the target audience? Perhaps the government thinks of themselves as much more superior than the common person? Their view of the people as that of children and that was a way to communicate on their level?

[Lynne Szczepanek]

The whole cover up of the CoVid-19 has been quite alarming to me. The suppression from medical doctors when they first began seeing this is mind-blowing. I remember when a student came into class in November and said there was a new virus in China. I still do not know where she got that information so early on.

~Lynne

[Lynne Szczepanek]

Diana I have to agree the first video was quite informative. I think as we move on in our own little world, we forget about the sheer size of China and the different zones. Living in TX, I have learned first hand how the climate zones vary. We are in East TX, which is very humid and very green. Most people associate TX as being full of dust and tumbleweeds. I think that I will be showing this video at the beginning of World History next year when we first look at China.

~ Lynne

[Lynne Szczepanek]

See I think that it was targeted against those that did not support Mao or his policies. I am sure there was a lot of collatral damage with a multitude of deaths. Maybe that is a thing in history that needs to be re-visited. How do we classify genocide when totalitarian leaders have no regard to human life. Just my thoughts. Thanks for explaining what you meant.

~ Lynne

[Lynne Szczepanek]

This seminar was very enlightening to me. I knew (and still do not know) very little about modern China. I teach about the various dynasties, but we do not focus on the current, except in current affairs. This was why I signed up for this one. I could not answer a lot of my students' questions. I am hoping that I can feel a bit more confident in that.

It was also very surreal to talk about CoVid-19 at the time that it was happening in China and now in the US. This whole virus could have taken up every week in discussion. I wish I had more time to hang around after, but I was working on an 8 week masters class that I had to complete too. The timing was less than ideal on my end, but I felt this course was needed for my growth.

The hoku system and the one child policy were very intriguing. This was an area that I was not familiar with at all and learned so much about. Thinking about the restrictions the government has put on its people is staggering. I could not fathom that a government in current day could have that much power over its people. I know the one child policy is not in effect today, but the consequences to such a policy is still feeling the aftershocks of it. This is one area that I am glad they restructured, in some way. It is not perfect, but it is a start.

The big takeaway from this is that I still have a lot to learn about China. China is ever changing and their changes not only affect their people, but the world around them. Thank you for offering this great course.

[Lynne Szczepanek]

Can you explain what is problematic? I am trying to understand this process too. Mao murdered those that did not support communism, the murdering of Muslims and Christians. I am confused my Mao's actions would be classified as genocide unless they are classifying the non-conformists as ethnic cleansing.

[Lynne Szczepanek]

When my sister went to China to adopt her son, the family was surprised at how much air pollution there was in the northern parts of China. They did go at the end of January. She said the smog was terrible and she had already had a cold. She said that it was terrible trying to breathe and had to wear a medical mask when she went outside.

The cadmium is quite surreal. To think that a country the size of China would have this issue, especially in a main food item is a bit unnerving.

Lynne

[Lynne Szczepanek]

It seems like Xi Jinping is taking steps to slow the rise of Christianity, but it really seems like he is trying to rid the country of Christianity. Even though the constitution allows it under strict government supervision, it seems that he is going above and beyond to rid the country by destroying recently built churches. 

Here is an article about the Pope reaching out to try and come to an agreement with the Chinese government: https://cnsnews.com/article/international/michael-w-chapman/cardinal-zen-we-are-witnessing-murder-church-china-those

It does seem that the Catholic faith would have a difficult time putting its roots down since they are not allowed to recognize the Pope as the leader of the Church. I have seen articles where photos of Jingping are being hung where a cruifix would be hung. Also there have been news reports about Catholic priest being killed in China.

https://bitterwinter.org/xi-jinping-portraits-replace-catholic-symbols/

[Lynne Szczepanek]

Could the "new economic" growth concentrations be a result of President Trump's policy with tariffs or a lot of backlash of the products coming out of China? For example lead in crayons and on toys? These mistakes brought embarrassment to the Chinese?

[Lynne Szczepanek]

There are so many aha moments this week. I never knew about the hokou system, which is probably the one topic I had never heard of. Prohibiting work outside of your resgistration area sounds so discriminatory, but with the population, it makes sense to restrict where people can work, in order to provide jobs for those that live in that community. 

The demographics of where people live versus open land was also quite interesting. I had always assumed that the population was more dispersed than what the maps showed. This is something I can not wait to share with my students and hear their thoughts.

 

[Lynne Szczepanek]

My name is Lynne Szczepanek. I am in Longview TX. Longview is on the eastern side of TX and I am an hour from LA. I teach at a Catholic High School. Currently I teach World History, Western Civilizations, US History, and US Gov't/Econ. My students always have questions about China, especially modern day issues, and I do not feel confident that I can answer them adequately. I am hoping to better understand the modern day issues.

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