General Discussion Forum for the Class

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I read that article too and I was equally impressed by the speed and attention to detail used in erecting these cities. Compared to construction in America or in other countries which do not lag far behind-building is money, and all countries like money- its just amazing how the demand fuels this unprecedented growth in China which clearly out paces other industrialized countries.

I spent some time in Boston, which is going through a major reinvention and rennovation, but has had so many delays and accidents and litigation that we don't know when the new Boston will be done. I don't know if any parallels can be drawn between the cities in China and Boston, but one wonders about whether the problems in Boston might not happen in China.

Conversely, there is alarming concern about pollution in China and the lack of fresh water. This may be a casualty of that accelerated growth mentioned in that article. When an economy expands exponentially like China's is, there is a human cost that impacts generations. Problem is, China is not going to slow down any time soon, which means the problems that come with fueling an economy will get worse.

[Anonymous]

That is a good distinction-I don't see the militaristic Japan that swept the world in WW2 happening in the future. I think the lessons of global dominance were too painful, and other nations as well as Japan see how unfruitful that path can be. I think Japan will expand its autonomy in some areas militarily, but their overall military complex will plateau, and Japan will be, hopefully, more likely to fill in the gaps diplomatically when it comes to disputes with other nations.

The greater interdependence these pacific rim nations have with one another, the more likely they will be inclined to avoid a military solution to problems that arise. The idea is to not upset the apple cart with so many apples worth so much money inside it.

However, there could be, as an analogy, some cold war saber rattling that our nation so eagerly embraces, especially with North Korea looming large, but as we have seen, these nations will take it only to a point, then cooler heads will prevail through diplomacy.

I am keeping my fingers crossed!

[Anonymous]

I think Dubai could be a good comparison for Shanghai. Dubai has exploded over the last 10 years and currently has 15% of the world's cranes constructing new high-rises!!

[Anonymous]

After reading “Penal Servitude in Qin Law” and “The Tang Legal Code,” I noticed that there were similarities between both documents (Chinese Civilization: Sourcebook, pg. 51-53 and116-119). The idea that laws are important to guide and reinforce moral behavior resonates in both documents. The philosophy of Legalism is a recurrent underlying thread within both dynasties.

I read the selection “Infant Protection Society” and found in “Qin Law” a reference to infanticide. The law condemns this practice and sees the death of an infant who is “born whole and normal” as killing of a child. The sentence for the crime is to place the individual as a convict laborer. Was this law truly enforced in the countryside? If so, to what degree?

[Anonymous]

I had the same problems. I started creating a list of characters and their actions. It seemed to help.

[Anonymous]

No, I didn't have any problems. It is a good source of information on various
topics.

[Anonymous]

I also picked up the June issue of National Geographic. There is definitely an interesting article titled “China’s Instant Cities” by Peter Hessler. I especially enjoyed the journey of designing and opening the Wang factory, which demonstrates that factories are the center of these new cities. The workers are pulled into these areas for economic reasons. When the factories relocate or close, the workers continue on to a new factory. The factories rely on the people from the countryside. China’s landscape is changing due to the factories. This is very evident when hills and mountains are leveled with explosives. The prospect of economic profit has brought great changes to China’s people and geography.

Hessler characterizes China as a country with the possibilities of social mobility. He describes the upward socio-economic mobility of many peasants, such as the Ji family. The patriarch was a farmer, then a construction worker, and finally ventured into the real estate business. They are now millionaires!

This is an awesome article to use in a classroom to show students the massive changes occurring in China. To compare and contrast the images of China in their seventh grade textbook with the images of China in the twenty-first century.

[Anonymous]

In “Widows Loyal Unto Death,” I was shocked to read about the suicide of many betrothed women. One fifteen year old girl named Huang Yijie was to marry Chen Rujing, but he died before they could marry. Soon after discovering that she was going to remarry, she slit her throat. There were so many stories similar to Huang Yijie. It was very sad that many of these women were so young that the death a potential mate could drastically alter the course of their lives. It was upsetting that their society would exalt their deaths as virtuous, and glorify their actions in banners and arches. But after reading “Widows Loyal Unto Death,” I realized that customs and traditions are so ingrained in the psyche of the people that any attempt to alter or eliminate them threatens their self identity. [Edit by="vbautista on Jul 9, 1:35:24 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

In “Concubines,” it was interesting to learn that owning concubines could be seen as a symbol of social status (Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, pgs. 245-252). The concubine market affects every facts of society because the poor families supply their daughters while the rich and middle class purchase these women. It appears to be a sad cycle for the families and women. Although, there were no stories of abuse from husbands or primary wives, you can just image that the first wife would not have been too happy with another woman in the household. In the last story “The Spite of Lotus,” it deals with all the drama that can unfold with so many women sharing a husband under the same roof.

I thoroughly enjoyed the selection on how a potential customer is approached and the deal is finalized. If a man shows interest in a concubine, he will find several “teams” at his home. The customer will select one team and the man will be taken to the broker. The customer will be shown several women and he will select one. The owner of the women present the customer with a list of “’betrothal presents.’” Soon afterwards, a “wedding celebration” takes place (246). It’s interesting to read that the selection of the concubine is “legalized” with such procedure. It obviously reveals that concubinage was routine and natural in early Chinese society, but is was interesting to receive the information from primary sources.

[Anonymous]

The memoir of the “Yangzhou Massacre” in Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook is very powerful. This was an account written by one survivor of the incident. At the start of the event, there had been eight in the family and after the massacre only three had survived. It is the story of a man’s struggle to survive a rebellion that had horrible effects on innocent people.
The eyewitness account of the Yangzhou massacre presented a human dimension to the events that cannot be found in textbooks. It would be very powerful for students to witness the events from a personal perspective. The class could use the material to analyze the function and purpose of different text, to fill in the gaps in the textbook regarding this event, and rewrite this section of the text to incorporate the eyewitness account.

[Anonymous]

Interesting news report courtesy of AFP concerning the 2008 Beijing summer Olympic games. Chinese officials are apparently cracking down on inappropriate public behavior in order to improve the quality of the games for all. Spitting, swearing, cutting in line, smoking, and the growing of beards by male cabdrivers are some of the behaviors that are being targeted. The aforementioned officials are hoping that the games themselves will spur people to be on their best behavior, and that in turn, this will inspire them to make better lifestyle choices. An interesting way at looking at a sporting event, to say the least. The American/Western idea of the sporting event is quite different- corral as many people into a structure as you can, fleece them for as much as you can, and then turn them loose and let "security" handle any problems (..and this goes all the way back to the Colosseum, which really, was not that different from the WWE in its constituency). If you approached your American sporting enthusiast prior to a game and solicited their willingness to participate in "appropriate behavior" while spectating, you would most like receive a glazed stare or a lecture on constitutional freedoms. Of course, it is entertaining to see how Beinjing spins it crowd control policy into a public re-education program.[Edit by="gjones on Jul 9, 10:42:41 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="gjones on Jul 9, 10:43:36 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

In “Peasants in the Cities,” I realized that there are some very industrious country people (Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, pg.488-495). This selection includes an article of a peasant who used the government’s reformed policies to become wealthy. Some of the policies allowed greater mobility of the peasants into the cities and granted them the opportunity to sell any surplus crops. The second article discussed the backlash of the mass movement to the cities that overwhelmed the city’s infrastructure and created animosity toward the new group of migrants. I was just remembering the recent article in National Geography titled “China’s Instant Cities” and thought if there was any backlash against the peasants who are moving away from the countryside today. Does anyone know?

[Anonymous]

I always thought that the one-child family law was indiscriminately applied across the board, but there were several exceptions. In “The One-Child Family,” there is a description of the birth-planning rules in Sichuan. Some exceptions to the one-child family rule include couples from remote areas, a couple who is returning from overseas, or the “first child has a nonhereditary disease and cannot become a normal laborer” (Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, pg. 479). It would be interesting for students to read article 23and 25, which proclaim the fines imposed for extra children and the privileges that would be revoked. This is a great resource for students to draw inferences to possible implications of these laws, and compare the source to those dealing with infanticide

[Anonymous]

The one child law is going to be hard to apply in a country that size. There is a news story today that talks about a certain kind of Chinese pastry being made out of cardboard, and there is nothing the authorities can really do to stop it. We often complain (and rightly so, IMHO) about rampant governmental regulations in our state/country, but it seems that many people are able to flagrantly ignore these rules, or the agencies themselves are incapable of actually following through...excepting the almighty IRS, local DWP etc. I often hear about the Chinese inability to implement regulations in their country, so you have to wonder how often these kinds of things really happen. In the past, when I thought of the Chinese government, I had these nebulous notions of a huge, well-constructed, all-reaching entity that had its figurative eyes/hands on every aspect of everyday life. Not so. In fact, quite the opposite. Just this week alone there was an item on NBC Nightly News about the "food safety issue" in modern China, and the death penalty had been meted out to some manufacturer that had knowingly compromised safety regulations during the manufacturing process (to put it lightly). This one manufacturer is the sacrificial lamb. How many others are doing the same thing? The Chinese government seems to be dealing with a logistical nightmare that never ends. What happens when you are finally able to recognize a problem in your society? Impose a rule or regulation and attempt to enforce it. What happens when you can't enforce it? Impose a further sanction or create another superfluous regulation, or even better, create another committee to tackle the problem that the previous commitee could not handle. I have been reading a very interesting and well-informed biography of Mao, and his government struggled with many of the same problems that the current government does (although their respective solutions were quite different). Whew- what a mess! It would seem that modern China is simply too large, too populous, and too complicated and fast-paced for a government to regulate (whether or not governments should regulate a society is outside the bounds of this post).

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed the selection “The Changing Course of Courtship” found in Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. After reading about so many restrictions placed on Chinese life, it was refreshing to read the liberties allowed to young people. In the first article written in 1950, there is a more relaxed view of the relationship between men and women. They are encouraged to date in public, to disregard ridicule by society, and to delay marriage after only a brief courtship.

This selection also includes the changes toward courtship during the Cultural Revolution. For example, the Communist youth league is very determined to prevent courtship and marriage among their group. The league authorized transfers to separate couples and spies were allowed to infiltrate the league to collect evidence of romantic relationships.
There is such a drastic difference among the two documents. It could be used in the classroom to analyze the economic and political motives driving the new views on courtship during the Cultural Revolution.

[Author]

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