Colonial Korea (10/29)

War. What is it good for? When we strive to achieve greatness for the common good, we sometimes step over the smaller man to our desired goals. We forego our teachers from father, uncles, neighbors and mothers. We forget our lessons from mothers and teachers and do despicable things. We create comfort women, rape, ravage and destroy our brothers and sisters. To what end to we try to achieve greatness for the common good?

I read , with interest, about Korea's (is South Korea ALWAYS "Korea", while North Korea needs a "qualifier"? I guess I know the answer to that...) new FEMALE president, Park Guen-hye. I heard an interesting article on NPR (my favorite news source) about her advocacy for unwed mothers. Aside from that social interest, she is purportedly quite conservative. It will be interesting to see what develops in their economy, that hope, it is said, she won.

I am in agreement with slieu. What good does war create? Again, I am horrified by what happens to people during times of war. In other news, the FEMALE president is of interest to me. I feel as if there is so much repression of women, that a female leader is always a good thing.

Its amazing how trying to prove a point through showmanship can become costly.Case in point as noted in our readings was when the Soviet delegate departed the UN security vote in protest of the American petition to have the UN get involved with the Korean conflict. If the delegate were not so nearsighted, he could have prevented the UN from entering the conflict.

With regards to the 19th century readings, I did not know that Korea and China had very little communication despite the fact that the two countries shared a boarder. Another amusing tidbit i learned was the term "In-law government". They used this term for monarchs who were weak and dominated by powerful clans. I was delighted to learn more about the history of Korea because I had so little background knowledge.

I really enjoyed the readings about how the identity of many Koreans were stripped because of their mandate to denounce their family name and adopt a Japanese one when the Japanese took over. This concept can be linked to class lessons when teaching about slavery or the Holocaust. Many of Africans who came to the states as slaves adopted the names of their masters. This just demonstrates power and sends the message that "I own you, therefore, you must abide by my rule." It's almost like I am now your parent and you must do as I say. The last names of many Jewish people have been modified to become more "westernized." Our last names reveal a lot about ourselves and what we want to receive out of life. Because I immigrated to the states from China, my family had to romanize our Chinese last name. It was originally Zhang, but was later changed to Chang because my dad didn't want me to be last in line when placed in alphabetical order. It's crazy how we consider the little things when choosing a name. It affects so many aspects of our lives. Plus, Zhang indicates that you are from mainland China, while Chang could be from Taiwan or Korea. It was more ambiguous and prevented others from making quick judgements about our background.

I found it interesting that Christianity was not spread in Korea by missionaries, but rather by intellectuals who learned about the religion through translated Christian texts, and sporadic contact with Christians in China.