[Ping Pian]

Thanks Angela for sharing all the links! I only watched Maangchi a few times when I was searching for Korean recipes. Will definitely check out the others when I have time.

 

[Ping Pian]

Hi Everyone! My name is Ping Pian. I teach Chinese language at the University of Rochester. Besides language, food and film are my favorite subjects. I really think one can learn a lot through food - family, culture, people, history, etc. I love all kinds of food. I had the opportunity to go to Taiwan in 2019 and really enjoyed restaurants and night markets there. Great food! I have not yeet travled to Korea so I am really excited about this class, to learn more about the cuisine and the history. I love to try different food, learn to cook it, and try to make it use ingredients available locally. I guess that's my grandma's influence. We lived in northen part of China, her cooking was mainly southern style. And since she was in France for a few years and there was definitely western influence in her cooking. Anyway, I am looking forward to this class and learn from everyone.

[Ping Pian]

In “Who Will Feed China" (page 24), the author mentioned that rapid industrialization leads to heavy loss in cropland which causes food production decline. I have to mention the loss of farming population here. In 1949, China's population was 540 millions. Among them 482 millions were farmers, over 89% of the population. In 2018, China's population was close to 1.4 billion, only 565 millions were farmars, 40% of the population.

In the 70s, China had a slogang "备战备荒" (prepare for war and prepare for famine) because of tension between China and the Soviet Union. Will China today reconsider its econimic model to put more emphasis on food production to inrease food security?

Hu Line or Heihe-Tengchong Line devided China from the northeast to the southwest. To the east of this imaginary line, lives 94.1% of the population with 43.8% of land area; to the west, 5.9% of the population and 56.2% of the land. In the unfarmable west, water resource is a big issue. Will China divert water from the Himalayas to make this 50% land farmable? What will happen between China and its neighboring countries if they do so? Or will China look for other parts of the world, such as Africa, to meet their food demends so they don't depend on U.S. as much?

 

[Ping Pian]

Hello!

My name is Ping. I teach Chinese language at the University of Rochester. It's very quite here comparing to NYC or other large cities. We used to call Rochester a "city", but now the Chinese students from mainland  call it a "village". Besides language, I am interested in food culture and Chinese films. I was lucky enough to be in Taiwan for a week long trip in 2019, loved the night markets there and really enjoyed the all kinds of food. I don't have much experiences of other East Asian food, nor history. Really looking forward to this opportunity to explore. Thanks USC US-China Institute for hosting this. I know this will be a great seminar, because I was in a few others in the past. Thanks!!!

[Ping Pian]

Thanks, Clay! Will definitely check out Qiu Xiaolong's books. I just started The Three-Body Problem. It's a very interesting book too.

[Ping Pian]

Hello everyone! I am very excited about this course, and am really glad that I am able to enjoy you all virtually. I teach Chinese language at the University of Rochester. I missed a lot of the social and economic transformation in China because I came to the U.S. quite early. Looking forward to learn more through this course.

[Ping Pian]

East Asian Design 2020

Dr. Bharne’s vast knowledge, engaging style, open minded view, and all the topics he put together made East Asian Design a great seminar. I truly enjoyed it. All the topics either taught me something new, such as democracy and socializing concept in European city designs and Kao Gon Ji’s (《考工记》) influence in Chinese ancient city designs, or brought my understanding to a higher level from what I know and experienced, for example, from stupa to pagoda, from old Shanghai’s French concession to old Beijing Hutong, and aesthetic in architecture.

This seminar not only taught me something in architecture, but also taught me the importance of open mind. I have always looked at and talked about colonialism in one way. Now, I am learning to look at it from a different angle. As an educator, I am aware the importance to teach students not only the knowledge but also to approach things with open minds. Dr. Bharne’s lectures reminded me this importance.

As a language teacher, there are a lot of interesting facts from this seminar I can use to teach words, phrases, and culture points. For example, 塔 for stupa; 买东西 from map of Chang’An (the east and west markets); city planning when learning directions; traditional Chinese architecture and high rises in reading into a new China; material, sustainability in environmental protection, etc. I am sure that students will find them interesting and learn more about the language and the culture.

Thank you again for such a wonderful experience. I am looking forward to another seminar in the future.

[Ping Pian]

Beijing definitely faces some issues, housing, water, trafic, air polution, urban villages, etc. Take water resouces as an example, Beijing used to be a city with rich water resources. With fast growing, the balance of population and water resources is broken. thus the large South-to-North Water Division Project.

In the 50s, 2 Chinese architects had a proposal, a new city plan for Beijing, which had the capital placed to the west of the old city, but it was not adopted. I am wondering what Beijing would be like now if the capital, was planned according their way. At least, old city walls and gates would still be there.

 

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[Ping Pian]

Agree with you and Thomas. Now I see colonialism from two aspects, architecture/culture and human/social justice.

[Ping Pian]

Thank you for pointing this out, otherwise I would have not read about the "Japanese General Government Building, Seoul". Even for the preservation side of voices, I can see people wanted this building saved as a history lesson and to never forget the humiliation brought by the colonial era.

[Ping Pian]

Thank you for sharing your photos. I was in Shanghai from 1995-1997 and left July 1, 1997, the day Hong Kong was handed over. Looking at your pictures brought back a lot of memories. I was told that Shanghai then has 17% of the construction cranes in the world. I do not know if that figure is correct, just remembering all the cranes I saw everywhere I looked. Quote one number from a government official: "Shanghai uses 100K tons of construction materials every 24 hours."

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