[Percy Ortiz]

Reading The Classic of Filial Piety one starts to see how deep the social conventions of ruler subject and subject family relations were by the time the Han Dynasty comes to power. There is a heavy emphasis on family respect, loyalty to father and mother, to son and sister, which then transfers into the social levels of society. All the different positions were important and I am assuming that the basic unit structure, the family was a reflection of the greater superstructure of rule. I found it very interesting when it talks about the common people as being people who, "follow the laws of nature...........take care of themselves and are cautious in expenditures in order to support their parents." Not only was respect and care for family important but also in the manner one spent money. I can imagine that one had to be very conscientious of how family business was conducted. 

Along those same lines the comics that were given to us on filial piety go well with this primary source material because it gives the reader, especially middle schoolers, a better idea of what the term means, but also on what the expectations of a child were as they were growing up. In fact, I was surprised to see how the comics had young people making big sacrifices for the betterment and health of their parents, and how their commitment and reverence to their parents is what somehow brings blessings or poetic justice. One of the comics that stood out was the one where the kid sees his father struggle at night to sleep. The father is not able to sleep because mosquitos keep biting him at night, which then affects his work. The son sees this and figures out that by putting himself near a window without a shirt will attract mosquitos to him and not his parents. This works, but he then is affected. To make a long story short, the son's filial piety is acknowledged by those in power, who then give him money to buy a mosquito net for the family.

In the classroom, and after introducing to students the basic concepts of Confucianism, I'd give excerpts of the Classic of Filial Piety, then have them read it individually or in groups or even project a part of it on the board and have a class discussion. Then I'd have students write short reflections on what they think the author is trying to say. Then I'd provide copies of the comics to have children have a better understanding of what filial piety meant. I am also inclined to suggest using the film The Road as another example of filial piety in a more contemporary setting. 

Overall the readings on filial piety were insightful, and when comparing these readings with those that we read in our first session it made me wonder how deeply the effects of an aging population will have on concepts like filial piety which have been an essential part of East Asian life for centuries. Maybe the legalist will have answer to that?

[Percy Ortiz]

I have found that reading The Art of War and listening to the audio book has been a valuable and practical tool in my teaching. One of the biggest lessons that I've gleaned from the book is that, a warrior has already won before having gone to battle, or something along those lines. This means that as a teacher has already won they have prepared and even before the students have stepped into the classroom. I also like how it uses examples on preparation and practicing even before anything has happened, and as a teacher this becomes evident in lesson preparation and the vision that you have. It also shows, that you have to be willing to adapt, and even when the odds might be stacked against you, potential class management situations or contentious students, there is a solution. One of my favorite quotes from the book is something along the lines as, "if you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your opponents will float by." Another line states, "treat your men as you would your beloved sons, and they will follow you into the deepest valley." It tells the teacher that if you are fair, consistent and connect with students, they will follow, at least the majority will. Yes, it definitively has a lot of practical uses.

[Percy Ortiz]

If I were a Daoist and saw my father break a law, what would I do? A good question. It got me thinking of the different possible answers that I could give and I came up with several. Who knows if my father was a Daoist or not? If he were not a Daoist then his actions would have reaffirmed my beliefs that rituals and laws simply make humans more cunning and lead them to breaking those laws. However the Daoist would accept this and take no action, though that does not seem right (in my own view). The question then becomes if this is a moral law or a government law. Nevertheless, following Lao Zi's train of thought where he states, "I take no action and the people are transformed by themselves," seems to be something that often comes up in the Dao De Jing, so I’ll stick to that.

Somehow this creates a scenario that might appear to be a bit what Chuang Zi describes several times in his book. The first being the opening scene to his book, where it states, "Once upon a time Zhuang Zi dreamed he was a butterfly......but when he suddenly woke up, he was the same as always." So, my question then becomes, is the son dreaming of the father breaking a law or is the father actually breaking a law. I would also argue using one of Chuang Zi's parables, where a man loves his horse so much, he bathes his horse, combs its hair and loves it so much that when he sees a fly land on its leg he immediately tries to swat it, but in the process manages to startle the horse, which then kicks its master and kills him. The Daoist, would have said to let things be and hopefully my father learns a lesson, though what lesson is there to learn when man has made laws. What would a Confucius do?

[Percy Ortiz]

What professor Dube brought up was a good point on the power of labels and how we label things. As a history teacher working in a public school it is easy to forget the power of labels, especially when trying to build the skills that students need to take various state assessments that check for understanding of writing, listening, reading and speaking level. However, when I returned to the classroom, I took this idea and let my students think about the types of images we get when we think of different music genres and the people we associate with them. In this case building on Black History month I let my students watch a short documentary on the history of rock music and the associations we make when we think of rock. During the video the same topic of labeling is brought up and how much power that evokes. Needless to say the students learned a little bit more on the history of rock and its pioneers.

Now, bringing it back to what was discussed in the seminar. I can recall how labels have power, and how history and what is written about regions also has a form of power. Hence when China decided to have its forum on Goguryeo and applied for some sites within its borders to become a UNESCO World Heritage it created some outrage and controversy. So, we are left with some loose ideas of what happened in these regions and we can gather some understanding of their past, but when it comes to writing history and whose history it encompasses then there is reason for alarm. This shows not only the divergent views that countries in East Asia have of their respective histories, but also how with enough money and power countries can counter how history is written, hence the incidents happening in the US. Here the politics of how we name parts of East Asia are also coming up, and in a fascinating manner, from a plaque that was put up in Culver City a few decades ago to the innocent but controversial labeling of a time line in a museum, which led to simply removing the sign. I definitively want my students to carry with them a sense that everything that they read must be judged with a grain of salt, but at the same time they too must be willing to express their critical thoughts through writing, but ultimately they understand as well as I that history is fluid and can be changed by the whims of those in power or those beginning to have access to power.

[Percy Ortiz]

This article was quite interesting because it shed some light into where Japan's political power was held after world war two, while at the same time it somewhat explained how rice was seen as a symbol or some type of cultural artifact that must be kept in the traditional narative of Japanese history. Despite the fact that less people are consuming rice, and less rice is being grown it appears that the Abe government might be looking into changing traditional policies. A question that came to mind while reading this was how will traditional forms of political power change in the coming years in Japan? From a teacher pesrspective I see this topic as an opportunity of show casing two things to 8th grade students in U.S. History class. One, how are farmers in Japan and in America the same and different? Two, if Japan is a highly urbanized country where does its political power lie, in the cities or country side? In terms of rice production, this is an interesting question to focus when students are learning the plantaion system of the Southern Colonies. The article mentions how these days farmers can be part-time farmers since its a higly mechanized industry that requires less human hands. It made me wonder how many people had to work on the rice fields during colonial times, what could have been the number of slaves that had to work on an acre of land as opposed to how its work on today, say in California or Japan? Returning to political power, it made me think of the states that yield a lot of influence at the federal level, the "swing states," where populations are low but political capital is much more than in the more populous states. I could easily see an activity where I have some students sit in groups of four and others alone with three empty spaces, and figuiring out a way where decisions made in the classroom are heavily influences by two or three students that sit by themselves, now how does can this be used to shed some light into Japanese politics, I'm not sure, but an activity where students vote and move around would get them to think about how people organize society in places like Japan and how we in America organize our society and how that plays out in our every day lives.

[Percy Ortiz]

Hello, my name is Armando. I worked as a substitute teacher for almost three years before getting hired as a full-time Social Studies/History teacher at Clinton Middle School. I've been there for a year and a half teaching 8th grade U.S. History.  Prior to getting into public education, I spent some time in South Korea and China, studying and traveling. I've been fortunate enough to have visited and seen many places in China, fulfilling my own desires of learning about that complex country. I studied at Yonsei University while doing my undergraduate degree, and after acquiring my masters spent a year and a half at Beijing University's Foreign Language School. My wanderlust has also taken me to Japan a few times. All along I've learned that East Asia is diverse as well as teeming with different ideas. I am hoping that these seminars give me a better focus on how to introduce and to teach students about East Asia's rich culture and history. It's also a way for me to review, reflect on all that I've learned and done, in relation to East Asia, in the last 20 years as well as to prepare myself for my up coming visit to China. Cheers! 

[Percy Ortiz]

To build on what you mentioned in your post related to Japanese occupation of China. Another good film to watch which touches on that subject is Red Sorghum. I saw a few years back, but it gives an example of how the Imperial Army ran through the country side. In addition, there is a Japanese author, Haruki Murakami, who talks about similar incidents that happened in Northeast China' (Manchuria) during Japanese occupation. In his Wind-Up Bird Chronicle you have a bandit who performs a similar act as done in the film. In addition, thought a Wild Sheep Chase is about finding a rare sheep it also tells you how Japan systematically prepared for the invasion of China by raising sheep. I never really came across it in history books, but when you put them together they begin to cast a light on something that is not talked about in History. The question that this rises is, how can the Red Sorghum help explain the trauma that people experienced when Imperial Japan invaded China? Another question to ponder on is, how does Japanese literary fiction shed light into the violence that was experienced in China by all the varying participants of its invasion during that early 20th centry?

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