[Zoey McKinney]

One thing from Professor Miyake's lecture that really interested me was the idea of separating genders through language. She mentioned that men mainly learned and used Classical Chinese for official documents, government edicts, and their personal diaries, while it was forbidden for women to use it. Women had to use vernacular Japanese in their writing, including diaries and poems. However, many women did learn some Classical Chinese, which created the Chinese-Japanese hybrid she discussed. I think the choice to oppress women by excluding them from a certain language is fascinating because it is more subtle than physical forms of oppression. It's interesting that women were not meant to be illiterate - in fact they needed to have writing skills in order to have high social status. However, neglecting to educate them in Classical Chinese was an effective way to keep women out of men's domains, such as government and economics. Education is empowering, as we all know, and lack of education is used to oppress in many circumstances. My 4th grade students last year worked on raising money to sponsor the education of a girl in a third world country through Heifer International. Some of the students were confused at first as to why that goal was important or why it specified girls but not boys. We discussed lack of education opportunities for women historically and in the present day, and how education is often the first step towards a better life.

This part of the lecture reminded me of Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a novel that revolves around nushu writing. Nushu was a system of writing used exclusively by women in Hunan. I love the idea of women responding to oppression by excluding their oppressors from their own language. I am curious if there is any similar phenomenon in Japan or Korea.

[Zoey McKinney]

The excerpts from Ban Zhao demonstrate how dualism plays a central role in her philosophy. She discusses Yin and Yang, which is the classic example of complementary, interdependent forces. Ban Zhao notes the need for firmness as well as compliance in a marital relationship, intimacy as well as respectful distance, control and service. You can tell that women's lives were filled with these kinds of contradictions. In order to present herself as honorable, Ban Zhao has to deprecate herself to show that she is humble. It's interesting that she advocates for the education of girls as well as boys, which is generally an empowering thing, but the reason behind it is so that the girls are able to properly serve their husbands and thus maintain the balance in their marriage. I think Ban Zhao is interesting because her life contradicts itself - she spent it demonstrating subservience and modesty, and she did it so well that she became famous. In a way I think she found a way to thrive even under the oppressive society she lived in. 

[Zoey McKinney]

I was thinking the same thing - I definitely see how the status of women has improved in the modern era, as it seems like their work is valued more highly and they wield power within the family. But at the same time, the idea of "super mom" still bases the woman's value on the fact that she has had a child. I would be interested in learning more about women in China who choose not to have children - how often does this happen currently? What is the perception of this choice? It seems that women may have been "liberated" from the home - as in, it is more acceptable to have a career and develop individuality outside of the domestic sphere - but they are still heavily bound to the idea of family and raising the next generation. Before, a woman needed to raise her child with filial piety so that they would honor the ancestors. Now, I feel like there is a similar amount of pressure to raise the child correctly, but "correctly" today means more along the lines of high-achieving and accomplished.

[Zoey McKinney]

Dr. Yan's lecture challenged my beliefs about societal structure in modern China. I certainly associate Chinese culture with patriarchy and familism, but I see now how that idea is based on my knowledge of China's traditions. Chinese culture is certainly steeped in those ideas, but I was unaware of how these have been changing since the turn of the twentieth century. A point that was particularly interesting to me was that one might find those traditions better preserved in Chinese societies outside of mainland China. It certainly makes sense to me that people in Taiwan, Singapore, the U.S., etc. would go to extra lengths to maintain and pass on their culture as they knew it, for fear of losing it. On the other hand, people in China would not feel as pressured to preserve their culture, since it is all around them. This can relate to my students since most of them are first or second generation Americans, with the majority of their parents coming from Iran or East Asia. How do we reconcile the culture that we (or our parents) left behind with the culture that has been evolving ever since? 

[Zoey McKinney]

Hello! My name is Zoey Smith and I am teaching fifth grade at Warner Avenue Elementary School in Westwood. This is my second seminar with the institute and I am looking forward to it!

[Zoey McKinney]

I entered this seminar with the intention of building my own background knowledge in order to bring it back to my students as well as to connect with my heritage. Through this experience, I was reminded of how vital visual arts education is in schools, as it can often get lost in the focus on math and language arts. Visual art connects us to each other and the rest of the world, and holds value for all students. During the seminar, I was exposed to many forms of visual art that I had never seen before, and others which I had never examined closely, and I am excited to bring that experience to my students.

 

From the very beginning, Dr. Kim’s lecture on North Korean film showed me another side of a society and culture I know very little about. The “Lazy Pig” animation she showed us was particularly fascinating and relevant to a fourth-grade teacher, whose students love watching cartoons. I would like to show such a clip to my students and have them analyze the theme, as this is a concept we study in depth. I think students can easily see the cartoon’s strong nationalistic messages and would enjoy discussing whether they agree or disagree with them. Throughout the seminar, we saw video clips that could be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. Films such as Flower Girl can give insight into a culture and its history. Visuals such as film are very powerful in engaging students and allowing them to picture the country and the people they are studying. Films such as Tokyo Story can also be analyzed aesthetically, allowing the students to focus on the filmmaker’s techniques and what they accomplish. Clips such as the one showing Mao visiting the USSR can be examined for bias in the news, showing students how video clips can be manipulated or used to show certain perspectives. Clips of portrayals of China in Hollywood movies can be used to learn about the relationship between China and the U.S. The video clips stuck with me especially because they are artifacts of the time they were created, and experiencing those artifacts can be much more powerful than just reading about the period itself.

 

In addition to the videos, we looked at many other visual art genres. One thing that stood out to me was the use of color and symbolism, which I discuss with my students in the context of the California state symbols and seal. My students have always designed their own California flags, and I think it would be very interesting to expose them to the symbols we learned about in the seminar to show them how colors and symbols can mean different things in different contexts. For example, red might mean strength or courage to the students based on the American and Californian flags, but more commonly stands for luck in Chinese culture. White stands for purity and innocence in the West, but mourning in the East. I think making students aware of these differences will not only educate them about Eastern cultures, but, over time, will help them become better global citizens who are aware of people, customs, and cultures that are different from their own.

[Zoey McKinney]

By the way - did you see that China will not show Disney's new Christopher Robin movie because of the comparisons between Xi Jinping and Winnie the Pooh? Here is an article with a couple more instances of the comparison: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-45083944

I find the government's response to this meme really interesting - it seems to me that the more you try to clamp down on something in the age of the Internet, the more fired up people will get about it. If they had let the original image go, would that have been the end of it? 

[Zoey McKinney]

I definitely had a similar thought while we were watching the video introduction. It was really interesting and very informative about Korean culture, but seemed to present an image of Korea that was maybe idealized or sanitized. Then I thought about the creator of the video and their purpose and audience. It seems clear to me that the video was meant for Americans who had never been to Korea, and I thought it was probably promoting tourism, which would make sense for a Korean Cultural Center. In that sense I understand why the video might shy away from presenting some of the historical and political information, especially that which might make Americans feel uncomfortable. I can also see how a cultural center might want to focus more narrowly on language, art, and material culture, although I agree with you that culture is always situated in a historical and political context. I think this video could actually be used effectively in a classroom, not just to inform about Korean culture, but also to talk about author bias and how the purpose behind a piece of media affects its message. It could be interesting to compare it to a more documentary video on Korean history and politics and think about what information is presented in which video and why.

[Zoey McKinney]

On a related note, China City is a really interesting topic to learn about too! China City existed 1938-1949 and was an effort by Christine Sterling (the mother of Olvera Street) to put Chinese culture on display in a romanticized and exoticized way. The museum had a couple display cases showing some objects from the time period. Christine Sterling's plan included having the store owners and business people of China City wear traditional costumes and speak with an accent to make it feel more "authentic." They had a chop suey house, rickshaw rides, and actually used props from the movie The Good Earth as kind of set pieces for the place. China City competed with New Chinatown after Old Chinatown was razed, but ultimately was burned down. I find it really fascinating as an example of how white Americans would turn Chinese into "the other," and create this totally inauthentic experience in the supposed quest for authenticity. It really shows how the Chinese were taken advantage of and how the culture has been fetishized.

[Zoey McKinney]

I love the Chinese American Museum! I interned with El Pueblo (which covers the CAM, Italian American Museum, Avila Adobe, and Olvera Street, among others) when I was in high school and it was good to be back!

The CAM's heavy emphasis on the immigrant experience is a really valuable teaching tool and is so relevant in today's political climate. I love the exhibit right at the front showing what people brought with them and asking the visitor what they would pack. What a great little activity to get students to start shifting their perspective a bit (for those who were born here). Chinese immigration is a huge part of California history, becoming especially important during the gold rush and trans-continental railroad period. Every year I talk to my students about the Chinese term for California "Gold Mountain," and how they joined in the rush for gold, hoping to strike it rich and bring wealth to their families. We talk about how the Chinese experienced racism from the start, but were persistent in coming to America and staying here, often taking up the lowliest jobs (e.g. Chinese laundry, and later the physical labor of building the transcontinental railroad). I try to impress upon my students the vital role that the Chinese played in the completion of the railroad as well. I have always wanted to take a field trip to the CAM to take a closer look at the immigrant experience...maybe this will be the year! 

[Zoey McKinney]

Hi - I'm in the back row directly under the little red-headed character in the mural.

The Korean Cultural Center was great because it gave background information about the history of Korea in addition to the exhibit on pop culture in Korea. As many have mentioned, the information on Hangul was very interesting due to the differences between it and English. English has so many rules and so many words that break all those rules, and that can be so frustrating for English Learners (and teachers of English Learners). It seems like Hangul would be a lot easier to teach! I think it would be really fun for students to spend a few days learning how to read it - they would feel so accomplished afterwards! More importantly, it would bring them one step closer to another culture and make them more aware of different writing systems. This would also be a great opportunity to give the Korean students in my class the floor. 

I also thought the videos she showed us of the different cities were very interesting. Living in the United States, we know what huge diversity of scenery and landscapes we have here, but I think most people would have very little idea of what Korea looks like. They might draw up a picture of Seoul, maybe Pyeongchang due to the recent Olympics, but that's it (I think this is true for a lot of countries, not just Korea. The United States is so big and many people never leave it.) To be able to see the very different regions of the country gives a better idea of it as a whole, not just a single city. My fourth graders do projects featuring the four regions of California (desert, valley, mountains, coast). Why not research the regions of other locations as well? Maybe they could each pick another state or country and compare its regions to California's. 

I also really enjoyed the K-Pop station in the pop culture exhibit. I've seen a couple K-Pop videos before, but to see just how many there were and to watch a stream of perfectly produced videos, one after the other, really gave me a sense of the industry as Dr. Kim presented it on Monday. 

[Zoey McKinney]

Professor Dube talked about the use of the dragon as visual shorthand to represent China, with the examples of the Economist covers. I thought that was interesting because you could argue for those images being universally recognizable, but you could also argue that it is lazy! I would love to do what he suggested, and have my students draw what China means to them. I expect it would result in a lot of pandas and dragons, but it would be interesting to discuss why they associate those things with China. Why are those the dominant images? Do they have any knowledge of those things other than "comes from China?" Probably not. Each year I discuss with my students the state symbols as part of our Social Studies curriculum. We talk about the state flower, bird, fish, etc. They always have an "aha" moment when they realize that we have many yellow state symbols because they are associated with gold. We also talk about the grizzly bear, and how there are actually no grizzly bears left in California. Why do we continue to use this bear as our symbol when it really has very little to do with our current society? I think we could have similar discussions about pandas and dragons in China. I also have the students draw their own California state flags each year. I discuss with them their use of symbolism, color, and slogans, much of which has been touched on in this class. It's a great way to get them to understand that designs are intentional, and that artists include many details that might get overlooked. It also helps them think more deeply about what represents our state in their eyes, other than simply settling on the grizzly bear. Some students do decide to keep the bear, but they then have the historical context of the Bear Flag Revolt to back it up. Examples and discussions of Asian art and symbols could fit so well into this unit, to give students a broader perspective.

[Zoey McKinney]

I think another way you could tie in the influence of the past is through the manga and anime productions based on historical events or literature. The easy one, of course, is through the Tale of Genji. While reading the manga couldn't replace reading the actual book, I think it would be really interesting to look at depictions of the story over time, since people have been reading and being inspired by this book for a thousand years. It would be a great hook to even play a scene from the anime and ask students how this connects to Japanese history or what they might have learned from it. Why do they think the Tale of Genji has such staying power? Can they think of Western stories that have been similarly influential? 

[Zoey McKinney]

We have a drama unit in 4th grade where the students' cumulative project is to write a act their own skits. One of the things I like about kabuki theater is that it is appealing to boys, who I sometimes have struggle to engage. Sometimes they hear the words "drama" and "theater" and are ready to dismiss the whole unit as something "girly." When you're looking at these prints of kabuki actors, especially the aragoto "rough style" roles, you can make no argument that the genre is "girly." I think the students would have so much fun looking at the prints and coming up with their own poses to represent their characters. I think they would also be fascinated to learn about women being excluded from acting, and men taking over all female roles. We could talk about how, historically, theater was dominated by men both in the East and the West as others have pointed out. Once the students are comfortable with the idea of acting, they usually have so much fun expressing themselves on stage. I think introducing kabuki theater would be a great hook to get them to buy in.

[Zoey McKinney]

I think the distinction you're making is exactly what he was talking about when he said that Chinese promotion of soft power hardly exists apart from the government while ours is not linked to our government. Our media definitely reflects our government, and individual politicians might make their own endorsements, but we don't have our government as a whole gifting us tickets to certain movies or mandating that we consume any media. I think other countries might see this as an example of our American freedoms and democracy, while the Chinese government's involvement with its media might raise eyebrows, regardless of the quality or artistic merit of the media.

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