Final session

[clay dube]

Great issues --
The key point for all to remember is that China's rise doesn't mean that others must decline, only that the gap between China and others will narrow. The trick will be avoiding the perception that power is always zero sum, that is if you have some, then I must have lost some. The challenge, as always, is what states elect to use their strength to accomplish. China's leaders assert that they are focusing on internal development issues. Some of China's neighbors, and their American ally, aren't so sure and see China as acting in a more aggressive way. I think the difference is less in Chinese words (they've long claimed expansive sea holdings), but more in the recognition by others that China is now better able to act to affirm those claims.

The Mao period did set the stage for some of what was achieved in the post Mao period. This can mainly be seen in water control, electricity, and road infrastructure. Mao's policies, however, caused immense disruptions, bred fierce distrust of the regime, and brutally took lives and the spirit of many who survived. Mao did establish an independent China that for better or worse has determined its own course for 60 years. Because of this, he's still got considerable respect in China.

[Anonymous]

I must say that I enjoyed out last session and I would like to state that I used some of the lecture in class today. My students are reading The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham. A good portion of the setting is in China circa 1920s. One student asked: "Why are there English people in China?" This question led me to the Opium War. If it were not for the lecture last night, I would not have been able to give my student an answer. So, I believe that the USC US-China Institute has served me well.

[Anonymous]

I agree with your assertion that we must not look at China's increasing rise to prominence as a threat to Western nations. One of the experiences I walked away with from the seminar, was a deeper understanding about China's historic importance in the region. China had thrived without expanding or interfering in the West. This type of co-existence is what we need to promote. I was wondering if you could refer me to any sources on the role of Mexican silver in funding global expansion. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I totally agree that we should not view China's rise to power as a threat to our way of life. While the current Chinese government has at times ruled its own people with an iron fist, it should be noted that they have been far less prone than the West to involve itself in the politics of other countries. This has been evidenced recently with the case of North Korea. Despite intense international pressure, the Chinese have been very reluctant to intervene in the politics of North Korea. While I doubt if anyone is ready to consider China an ally of the US, there are plenty of common interests with which both countries can agree and work together. Just my humble opinion.

[Anonymous]

Just read a great and relevant article online. I'm sorry I'm not able to paste the link, but if you go to msn.com and search for an article called "Tax Deal Says We're Deadbeats," you will find it. It talks about the Spanish Empire of the 16th century that was using vast amounts of gold and silver from the New World (mostly Mexico) to finance imports of silk, porcelain and other products from China. It goes on to say that this outflow of wealth eventually bankrupted the Spanish Empire and led to its decline. It compares this situation to the US economy today-- how we are spending our nation's wealth on imports from China and how this situation is unsustainable and may eventually lead to bankruptcy and our decline. Fascinating article. I hope you're able to find it.

[Anonymous]

It was not an easy job for a professional historian to run through the centuries ignoring hundreds of details he would like to pay some attention to. However, despite the speed, the review was extremely informative, inspirational, and thought provoking. The lecture, like the previous one, offered clear and memorable periodization of the Chinese history. One of the strengths of the session was the “logic” of the events and their sequence. Namely the “logic” of the historical consequences of certain factors or combination of factors makes the periodization memorable. Such an approach gives a lot of food for thought, e. g., I’ve never thought of the connection (though distant and indirect) between the Opium Wars and the rise of the communism in China in the late 1940s.

[Anonymous]

That's so great to hear that some of the information we have gained during our sessions has helped a colleague out in such a short time! I really enjoyed the information about the Opium War as well as I had heard about it, but never really knew how it came about or even the basic facts around it. I wish we had more time to expand on some of the topics briefly brought up as well, like the foot binding the Clay mentioned but didn't get to elaborate on.

[clay dube]

Heather and others,
I'm sorry we didn't get into this fully. I can discuss it at the follow-up session we'll have about a month after you turn in your units on 1/21. Each of you will make a short 3-4 minute presentation on your units and I can spend a few minutes on footbinding. Right now, please note:

Footbinding was a cruel practice. None of those who study it will describe it differently. All acknowledge the pain and suffering it meant for girls. It's important to remember also that plastic surgery, tattoos, piercings, and so on are generally undertaken by adults (well informed adults? that's another question, sober adults, yet another question). Also, these are generally reversible (not pain-free and not necessarily easy, but reversible). Footbinding was carried out on children by adults and left them permanently injured.

Please will note that in addition to being cruel, footbinding was an act of love and an act designed to serve the family. Please listen carefully to these points.

Footbinding is one of the topics that every teacher needs to discuss when looking at the varying experiences of Chinese women. It emerges about a thousand years ago and survived into the last century.

Not all women had their feet bound. Many non-Han ethnic groups such as the Hakka and Manchus did not bind their women's feet and it was much less common among ordinary people in the South than it was in the North, probably because women in the South usually joined in agricultural labor.

How are we to understand this custom and role men and women played in perpetuating it? How should we raise the topic with children? Is it enough to note that our own culture imposes standards of beauty that cause some to endure suffering, surgery, or psychological damage?

Below are some web resources on footbinding that you may find interesting.

California resident Beverly Jackson is a longtime collector of the shoes worn by Chinese women with bound feet. She traveled to China and interviewed women who had their feet bound and produced a lavishly illustrated volume Splendid Slippers. Her website offers short excerpts from the book, reviews of it, and -- of course -- a link to buy the volume. Combined with works by Howard Levy and Dorothy Ko, this is a good resource to draw upon in introducing the practice to students.

http://www.silcom.com/~bevjack/

Levy, Howard S. Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic Custom, Foreword by Arthur Waley. Introd. by Wolfram Eberhard. New York, W. Rawls, 1966.

Ko, Dorothy. Every Step a Lotus : Shoes for Bound Feet. Berkeley : University of California Press, 2001. Below is a link to the UC Press webpage on the book. You can download and read chapter 2. It includes terrific images. Prof. Ko has also written "The Body as Attire: The Shifting Meanings of Footbinding in Seventeenth-Century China," The Journal of Women's History 8.4.

http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9687.php

Feng Jicai, one of China's most popular writers, authored an interesting novel on the custom and its place in family and social life. Three Inch Golden Lotus. It was translated by David Wakefield and published by the University of Hawaii Press.

Yue-qing Yang's 2004 film Footbinding: The Search for the Three-Inch Golden Lotus is available and includes interviews with Chinese about the custom. In the film, Dorothy Ko argues that footbinding is routinely misunderstood.

http://www.channelcanada.com/Article638.html

[Anonymous]

The idea of Qing accommodation shows a regime that had a keen recognition of successes and failure of previous Chinese dynasties. Teaching Chinese history during the middle ages has always been a great challenge for me, in that I struggled with a way to organize the long history into a streamlined and easy to understand format for my 7th graders. This year I worked with my students to understand the cycles that China went through during the development of its imperial state. Although, we do not reach the time period of the Qing, my students were able to formulate opinions about what would be the best way to establish a strong government. I myself, did not have a great understanding of the Qing until this seminar, and I must say that even without knowledge of the Qing, my students came up with, for the most part, similar ideas of cultural accommodation.

[Anonymous]

Another point that I thought was very interesting was the European knowledge of math, especially geometry and how much respect and influence it provided for them among the rulers of China. I drew connections to the cultures of the Americas and how the Mayan rulers reinforced their political power and divine connections thanks to the cosmic knowledge of their priests and their solar and ritual calendars.

[Anonymous]

I agree with you completely. Food production will increase and prosperity will increase for the rest of the world because of this increased consumption

[Anonymous]

Footbinding has not been prevalent in China for at least the last seventy years, and it was probably limited to the wealthy and privileged.

[Anonymous]

The last session was a great success. My statement is based on the responses we read. It is obvious that all of us enjoyed it and learned from it about events we knew about, moviedo has used the info already or even better the lecture encourages us to find more on certain issues. All of this proves the importance of the class we finished yet our interest in the history and culture of East Asia has just started.

[clay dube]

Renli's right that footbinding has not been prevalent for a long time. Campaigns against it began in the 19th century and it was largely eradicated in the early 20th century. It's useful to note that there were others who opposed it even earlier than this. Li Ruzhen wrote Flowers in the Mirror (李汝珍, 鏡花緣) about 200 years ago. This novel is quite pointed in its criticism of bias against women. Women go to compete in the civil service exam and they even bind (or threaten to bind, I've forgotten) the feet of a loudly complaining man.

The practice varied from place to place. In the paddy rice south, it was most limited to the better off because there women worked in the fields. In the north, however, women generally didn't work in the fields (the land was less able to absorb additional labor, rice can absorb all sorts of extra work, whereas dry crops can't productively absorb as much) and a larger portion of the female population had bound feet.

It's worth saying again that most of China's ethnic minorities did not follow this practice. If you're interested, the books cited above have a lot of information about it.

In addition to the works mentioned, another readily accessible autobiography illuminates the practice: Ida Pruitt, Daughter of Han. It's an oral history of a woman born in the middle of the 19th century. The subject was a servant and had bound feet. She also describes the binding of her master's daughters' feet.

I want to stress that while part of late imperial China, footbinding doesn't define China or the period.

[Anonymous]

Though I am fascinated by the detail of footbinding (us with our 3 inch heels, and our grandmothers, and mothers with those narrow pointed toes!!!), I am also interested in the "Cue". I did not know that the origin was in the Manchu dynasty, and that it was a sign of submission. I did not know that you could be arrested and punished for not having it. And, I did not know, that in America that it was still a sign of submission to the emperor. I had heard that having it cut off by others in America was a great shame. Footbinding, and the "Cue" (is that how you spell it?) are the little tidbits that get junior high kids interested in history.

As this is my last post about the class sessions, I would like to compliment my class mates. I have enjoyed being able to read your posts, and to be associated with the people of genuine intellectual curiosity .

[Author]

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