Make-Up Assignments (Please Post Here)

[Anonymous]

Make Up Assignment #2
Japanese House and Gardens at the Huntington Library

Henry Huntington brought over the garden due to an interest in the East and this garden has been at the Huntington since 1912. The entry arbor in the garden is a stunning representation of symmetry and balance in Japanese culture. Two large trees frame the bridge as tiny perfect bonsai trees line the path. Stunning attention to detail and design. Not only is the garden gorgeous but you can also visit a traditional house and a beautiful Koi pond. While walking the path, you may read about Japan’s traditions with landscaping. After the Japanese House and Gardens, we also walked over to the Chinese garden and were visited by begging ducks that wanted a snack or two. I recommend a visit to the Huntington Library. Bring a picnic, a blanket, a loved one and enjoy the beauty that the Huntington family has left for Los Angeles to enjoy.

[Anonymous]

I went to LACMA to see their exhibition: Ming Masterpieces from the Shanghai Museum, which is on display until June. If you can make time to visit, I highly recommend it. Although only 10 works are displayed, they tell so much about life and values within the Forbidden City. We have no money within our budget, but I would love to take my AP World History students. We could stand in front of each piece of artwork and discuss the artist’s point of view and motives. For example, in images of peace and order, is this propaganda to uphold the Ming Emperor? Taking students to view an exhibit like this is also a great way of bringing Chinese philosophies to life. The themes range from nature to court life to upholding the scholar. If you cannot attend, or just want a preview, the website has a short video: http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/ming-masterpieces-shanghai-museum.

[Anonymous]

Make-up for Jan 29th - Amanda Axelson

I also attended LACMA yesterday! I enjoyed the Japanese prints by Hokusai - especially the "giant wave" because my roommate used to have a copy of the print hanging above our television, and I never knew anything about it. If you want to check it out, on May 5th, a curator named Robert Singer will lead a tour on the Japanese Prints. He is the department head of Japanese Art. Would have been cool to go the day he would be leading the tour - it's free with cost of museum admission.

I also got to check out the Ming Masterpieces - which meant a lot more to me now since I have more background information about China. I am adding a link here because I think it is worthwhile, and we went over this philosophy in class:

https://www.lacma.org/album-daoist-paintings

It's a an album that depicts a range of Daoist subjects. One landscape represents the yin and yang - which was interesting since we discussed the meaning of this in class. Overall, I would love for my students to be able to go here and visit - and interpret the art. It would probably have to a visit on their own time for extra credit - BUT I could take some of the images they have on the LACMA website and use them on the projector to discuss themes.
edited by aaxelson on 4/28/2013
edited by aaxelson on 4/28/2013

[Anonymous]

Attended a presentation by writer Gail Tsukiyama. She was speaking at the CATE conference. Her novels include Dreaming Water, The Language of Threads, The Samurai's Garden and the Night of Many Dreams. While she focused primarily on her writing process, and her growing discomfort for a writers need to be public during this digital age (her publisher wanted her to start posting on facebook and twitter), she also spoke about growing up as both Japanese and Chinese. Her work reflects these themes. In terms of her writing, she spoke primarily about The Samurai's Garden. This is the book that seems to be taught most frequently in schools. The novel is set during the Japanese invasion of China. It is the story of boy who, like the author, has one Japanese and one Chinese parent. Ms. Tsukiyama spoke about writing this book because she wanted to understand more of her Japanese heritage. The lead character is suffering from Tuberculosis and travels to his family estate in Japan where he is deeply influenced by the estate gardner. Although I have not yet read this novel, I plan on it soon.

Ms. Tsukiyama's other novels, with the exception of Dreaming Waters, focus on twentieth century events in China -- primarily on the time around world war 2. I have just started to read her book The Language of Threads which is about a young girl escaping from the Japanese army. Although only about fifty pages in at this writing, it is a beautifully written book so far. She has the uncanny ability to bring the time to life. I am also looking forward to reading her book A Hundred Flowers, which takes place during the cultural revolution.

I found Ms. Tsukiyama to be an inspiring speaker and I am looking forward to reading the rest of her novels.

[Anonymous]

On Sunday April 21, I attended a special Tai Chi swords class taught my Master Nzassi Malonga, and Master Pauline Brooks.

Although I have been practicing tai chi for a number of years, I was really out of practice. I was in a bike accident a few years ago which caused vertigo which has made my tai chi practice difficult (if I change directions to quickly I get dizzy).

The focus of the class was the meditative aspect of weapons practice. In it we learned a new walking drills that focused on creating softness of movement and the connection to the sword. What I continue to be mystified by is the concept of softness as a martial art. It seems so counter intuitive and yet it is the softness, the grace that gives it power. To my western way of thinking, I always seem to want to solve an issue by powering my way through things -- force. But it is this very thing that gets in the way of a successful tai chi practice. It is only through the grace that we find real strength. This got me to thinking about all the political challenges facing China today, and I need to reflect more on how this individual idea is playing out.

[Anonymous]

Dina Salama
Make-up Date: 4/13/13

On Sunday February 17th, 2013, I attended the 114th Annual Golden Dragon Parade & Chinese New Year festival in Chinatown (Downtown Los Angeles). It was attended by thousands of people and featured performances, ceremonies, food, traditional decorations, and music. All around the shops were covered in decorations and little red envelopes hung in many doorways.
I learned how important this New Year celebration is to the Chinese Community from a spiritual point of view. Although our U.S. New Year is marked with the theme of renewal and time for change, the Chinese New Year embodies a much deeper, spiritual force that permeates all of the traditions and the extensive 2-week celebrations surrounding it.
I witnessed as the community gathered at a local temple to welcome good health, prosperity, and harmony for the “Year of the Snake”. Thousands gathered to make offerings to the deities, set off firecrackers to awaken the spirits, and burn incense to usher in good fortune for the new year.
Participants in the ceremonies and parade include lion dancers, Buddhist and Taoist monks, the heads of family associations, and many other important figures from the Southern California Chinese Community. I learned that the temple ceremonies occur on the eve of Chinese New Year’s Day and is usually followed by several days of return visits to the temple for blessings and public celebrations.

[Anonymous]

Name: Isabel Gonzalez
Date: Session 6, second half of Saturday, March 2
Event: Japanese American National Museum
I found this museum to be informative on Japanese American History with many visual aides like photographs, life size posters of families, and their belongings. There were several examples of individual stories. I thought the museum was limited in space and resources. But I think it really made up with its various stories. One of those stories was on Gary Okihiro. He was a Japanese man that lived in Hawaii during Pearl Harbor. He spoke about how he quikly became the enemy. He remembers how the government declared Martial Law in order to control the “Japanese problem,” and sent 40% of Hawaii’s population into concentration camps. The rest of the country was also affected, the Japanese community lived in fear.
Another interesting, but very sad story was that on racial segregation. State laws outlawed marriages between Whites and non-Whites from the 1660s to the late 1960s. Asian women were often stripped of their immigration if married to a White man. This caused a lot of heart ache and conflict for mixed-race families. It wasn't until 1967 that these laws ended.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Dear Colleagues,

Please post your make up assignments below. To make it easier for me to log, you can just "reply" to this thread with

• your name
• date/session that you are making up make-up post.

Your make-up post can be about the following:

• Attend an event (lecture/meeting/discussion panel, etc.) that focuses on issues related to East Asia or visit a museum exhibition or performance relating to East Asia.
• A good place to start is by logging on to our USC US-China Institute website where we post East Asia-related events, exhibitions at USC, UCLA and the community. The address is
• Submit" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://china.usc.edu.
• Submit

a 150-250 word summary of what you learned, and post it below

Thanks! Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Best,
Yingjia

[Anonymous]

Name: Isabel Gonzalez
Date: Session 10, Saturday, April 13
Event: Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena
On Saturday April 27th I attended a Chinese Calligraphy class. Well, more like observed the class because I didn’t actually get to do any brush strokes since I didn’t enroll for the course. The presenter offered useful information on Calligraphy and its history. This is an area that really interested me because I thought it would be something that I could bring back to my classroom and show my students something interesting about China through art. And since my students have special needs they need the most access to multi-modality instruction as possible. From this class I learned that the word “calligraphy” originates from a Greek word meaning “beautiful writing.” Calligraphy is one of the four basic skills of Chinese literati. The others being painting, musical instruments, and board games. We aslo went over several ways to present this in a classroom. I hope to be able to use this with my students.

[Author]

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