Reflections for Session #8 (3/12)

As ususal there was a wealth of information. So much struggle going on in China. I am continually amazed at how resilient China is. To have to deal with Civil war, foreign conflict and invasion from Japan and still emerge somewhat victorious is just amazing. All signs point to China being divided and conquered buy the West and Japan. It's also interesting to speculate what could have happened if the Nationalists and Communists could have collaborated, could war and conflict with Japan be avoided? Would they have been able to resist the Japanese in Machuria and Nanjing? If the Guomindang had been able to defeat the Communist after the long march, and unify the country, would the result be different? Would China have emerged as a super power? If the civil war had ended, perhaps the country could have allied behind one true government and defeated the Japanese. Highly unlikey though since Mao was able to reach the peasants and rural farmers, whereas the Guomindang had focused on the cities. Perhaps the Guomindang would have realized this and tried to unify the rural and urban areas of China. Taken a cue from Japan and begin the modernization process? Which brings me to Clay's questions. Why did the new government establish laws regarding marriage and land?
First with regards to marriage ( I deliberately have not looked/researched here), I can only imagine that there was a desire to return to traditonal Confucian ideals and a return of family order. The rebellions of the ealry 20th century and the modernization of China was a jolt to the Chinese people I am sure. So Mao, having come from the peasant class, probably felt that the country needed to return to traditional ideals. It will only strengthen the country. With the experiements of divorce, it seemed to only create more internal struggle, I would say that it was an attempt to keep a hold on the country in the easiest way it saw fit.

As for land, China's welath ahs always come from land and taxes. So the Communist are trying to fulfill the land reforms that it campaigned on. If the wealthy had the land, warlords, etc, then if the peasants are on the land, it can appease them and still collectthe taxes that the country needs. I am not sure if this is the right idea, but that is what I am going with. Looking forward to seeing what you all think.

I was impressed by the wealth of information that was given to us during the last session. So many events took place during the years of the revolution and civil war in China. It gave me so many ideas to incorporate into my lessons, but the one that called my attention the most was the experiment of the gender equality during that time. It was interesting and thought provoking to know that there was a very brief time when women were able to request divorces if they were not happy with their marriages. What was happening in the minds of those people? What was the role the women were trying to achieve? Why men got so worried about their marriages dissolving? Most importantly, how this experiment in gender equality came to be? Other event that got my attention was the fact that the communists were almost defeated and years later they became the leadership of their country. Also, the fact that both parties had the same foundation and philosophy, but different goals. Then why they were so opposed to each other and why in the end they did not work together to defeat the Japanese. I wonder if they had worked together the massacre of Nanjing could have been prevented? Sadly, there are not ifs in history, but I believe we can learn from it to help modern societies to avoid senseless lost of lives. Cheers!!

I most interested in the rape of Nanjing because some of my students are currently studying this for a project we are doing. The next day I tried to get Iris Chang's book, but my library only had a different book she wrote, and not the one on Nanjing. I would have liked to have read it; I find her story very tragic, and wonder why she killed herself over the backlash of this novel. If not her book, what credible source can be used to research this topic? I'd like to rent Flowers of war to learn more about it. I'm looking forward to learning more about communisms role in China, what was discussed on Tuesday interested me.

I find it very interesting that the Nationalists and Communists had the same mission and yet the end product was different. I believe the same happened with the Red and White Russians. Am not sure if this is endemic of these types of movements or any movements/politics. Though, Trotsky's fate was different than Chiang Kai-Shek's.

In the classroom, this lends itself to all kinds of possibilities: pro/con; Nationalists vs. Communists; different courses of actions (the Nationalists should have finished off the Reds when they had the chance, etc.); CKS vs. Mao, and on and on. A geography lesson and activity also lends itself to this.
edited by mcastillo on 3/28/2013

I really enjoyed the Women’s Revolution topic in the lecture from March 12th. I found it fascinating that even in a Communist society women are fighting to be heard. American women were fighting to be heard in the late 1800’s. It is evident that women across all cultures and times are trying to be treated as equal as possible. Recently in Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah ruled that women would be allowed to vote and run as candidates in nationwide local elections for the first time in 2011. This served as a huge step forward for the Muslim community.
Another topic that really stood out to me was that divorce was being granted to married couples in the Communist party. This reminded me of the Reformation time period in Europe when King Henry VIII separated from the Catholic Church in order to divorce his wife.

As gruesome as the topic was, I found the discussion of the horrors of war to be particularly eye-opening. I was shocked to learn about Unit 731. I usually think of Nazi doctors as one of the worst examples of medical war crimes, but low and behold Japanese treatment of prisoners for the purposes of medical research were truly atrocious.

I have always been interested in Mao and this class I found particularly interesting. In addition, I use the Rape of Nanjing in my World History class and am appreciative to have the additional information from Professor Dube regarding this event. My lectures keep on getting more and more interesting. I have used excerpts from Chang's book but will reconsider now knowing that it is a little more biased than I knew.

The rape of Naajing and the continual oppression of women by and for military men is an issue that horrifies me. I connected this to my English class as we read other articles about women being blamed for witchcraft and along with the Scarlet Letter. Opening my predominately male class to the sufferings of their sisters and mothers and brought about poignant conversation.