nov. 8 - session (china/us to 1842)

To go back to the theme park discussion we had, I've been meaning to mention a discussion I had with some friends who grew up in Orlando. Neither had ever been to the China theme park, though one said his parents had gone there. It seems like it attracted an older demographic. My friends pointed out, though, a major reason that it wasn't successful: there's already a China Pavilion at Epcot. Apparently it "always has Chinese acrobats," and it seems that it more than filled any desire that Orlando tourists had for the China experience. Why go to the China-only experience when you can "go around the world" with all the Disney-fied versions?

By the way , great shot of Temple of Heaven!!!
I have wondered at times how knowledge about gunpowder reached the western world from China. In the session of 11/08, it was interesting to note that the Mongols acquired this knowledge about gunpowder from China and then were instrumental in passing on this knowledge to the west in course of their battles with the western kingdoms. Also, though the Mongols are said to have ruled over the biggest kingdom ever known in history, I do agree with Clay that their kingdom did not extend to as far south in the Indian subcontinent to the Deccan plateau as depicted in the map but it was only up to the region of Delhi which is more in northern India.
Another point I keep pondering about is the theme of calligraphy which is a big cultural thing in east Asia. How did this concept reach the middle east (though trade?) to the extent that Islam - the youngest of the religions - uses calligraphy to decorate their religious sites since figures are not allowed to be used in their religion?

1. Think of 20th century US only, you are going to Chinese HS. ID 5 essential things to teach in CHINESE HS about US.
a) I would point out the many ironies in US and its history: Emphasis of Equality/ tolerance of Jim Crow; a nation of immigrants/ nativist hysteria and Indian removal; The freedom to succeed/tolerance for failure; the “greatest” nation also has/ largest prison pop., difficulty of access to healthcare.
b) The musical influence of US has on rest of world.
c) I would inform these students of the majesty of the first amendment freedoms and the complications Americans live with in expressing these freedoms.
d) History of dissent in US
e) Artistic movements in US this (20th) century: from abstract expressionism and Dada in painting and music to various literary styles. All served to challenge the status quo.
2. 5 items someone needs to know about US.
a) US is free to move about the country, no permission needed.
b) Modesty/defense about personal space.
c) The many racial differences in Americans
d) Freedom = capitalism is axiomatic, when will China demand more personal freedom?
e) PLEASE Chinese people, try some other restaurants in this country besides Chinese ones!

When I teach Imperialism in Asia and Africa, I cover the Opium War and my kids just have a hard time with this period of time in Chinese history. Many of them really get upset. They especially get upset with what Belgium did in the Congo and what the British did in China. They continually ask, how can a country allow drugs to be sold to another country? Then, how can that country fight a war over it? I try to give them modern examples of the drug trade in Columbia and Mexico and how the governments allow drug dealers to do what they want, because they get to enrich themselves. This also allows me to discuss the failure of our own drug war.

interesting discussion on Marco Polo. I guess I had never really given it that much thought. Does this mean that spaghetti noodles do not come from China? About trade with the US in the early years - how much trade was the US doing with China? I realize that the move to push west was to increase our trading ability, now I will have to do more research on the trading partner to our west.

I agree with you, the idea of their not being this great explorer Marco Polo, interesting. Makes you wonder about the facts and history! In reference to your quest for further research, it is not far, the magazine given to us in class has a wonderful article entitled, The US Founders and China, The Origins of chinese Cultural Influence on the United States. I found it very informative and truly interesting that our founding fathers were interested in China trade, exploration, technology, and husbandry. The idea of the Great Wall of China even influenced early Americans. The concept of building a porcelain factory assisted in the colonies overcoming their dependence on British imports and the building of the Erie Canal played a major role in New York City's rise and created canal growth and facilitated much economic growth which linked the Northeast to the colonies have had a major impact of the economic development and growth of New York and the midwest. It is an excellent read.

It looks like my colleagues in the seminar were interested in the same articles that jumped out at me. The description of the influences of Chinese culture on the American founding fathers was particularly noteworthy. I had no idea how much of an impact China made on the young US. The second article that struck me was the description of 10 languages to encourage in schools. It seems like many people today think a child should learn Spanish over any other language, not taking into account the potential usefulness of Chinese or other world languages.

I was surprised to learn from the lecture (11/8) that the US and China had such early contact....late 1700s. However, I was also surprised to learn about how the Chinese did not embrace trading with the west.
Of even greater interst is the Ming dynasty -- perhaps because it lasted so long and because it really only was overturned recently......(1911) -- How much has changed in both the west and east in only 100 years.