Readings on Chinese Civil and Mao Era (12/10)

[Anonymous]

Listening to the stories of my parents and grandparents, I had a vague understanding of Mao. I knew my parents didn't favor him much. In the classroom, children can compare and contrast Mao with other dictators and analyze how these leaders were able to appeal to the mass. What are the essential characteristics of a leader? What makes an effective leader? Just because one has control does not mean he/she is an effective leader. If we want to cultivate future leaders, we need to expose children to the various types of leadership seen in history and instill in them a sense of empathy and compassion for the greater good.

[Anonymous]

dsciarrotta: I commend you for addressing the topic of body image. So many girls nowadays have such a negative view of themselves, often being overcritical of their appearance. Just a few suggestions to unpack your lesson: attire then and now, in the U.S. and across the world; feet binding and social norms; the power of choice in today's world; substance abuse (Connection to the Opium War). This would definitely take an entire year to cover, but there are just so many great connections that you can make to the history that we have learned about in class.

[Anonymous]

Not sure where to post this so I will just stick it here. I find the Opium war sooo interesting. I've always been told by people that opium lead to the demise of the Chinese. After completing the readings, it's so sad that the British bullied the Chinese. I just find it unbelievable that the British were able to get the Chinese to cave by declaring the situation as a violation of trade. [font=Helvetica]British went back home and plead for lobbyists to rally for them. Parliament ordered sanction to secure British merchants. No where did GB argue for opium. It wasn't even listed listed in the sanction. Opium war follows.1839 (beginning of modern history. century of humiliation: which is really 110 years long. -1943 Treaty of Nanjing ends war. And of course, not only did the Chinese lose their fight against a drug-dependent country, but it had to pay millions of dollars! [/font]

[Anonymous]

There was a quote from William McKinley in the second reading from Clay that stated, "...(T)here was nothing left for us to do nut to take them all and to educate the Filipinos and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could by them as our fellowmen for whom Christ also died."

I find it interesting that the were and still are people around the world who wish to "civilize" people from other parts of the world. Who are we to determine what is civilized and what is not. It has continued throughout history as Native American, Indians, African, and Asians to name a few have been "civilized" by those of European descent.

[Anonymous]

@llewis- Apparently this was published in Time magazine. I have to say that the entire piece was ridiculously stupid. It states in the first paragraph that "even an anthropologist, with calipers and plenty of time to measure heads, noses, shoulders, hips, is sometimes stumped". If this is the case, then how does the article go on to state the various physical differences in height, weight, eye settings, and hair growth patterns between Chinese and Japanese. I'm still flabbergasted by this.

[Anonymous]

I find it interesting that Maoist leaders invested so much energy encouraging young people to organize themselves into Red Guard units. I suppose this was a way of ensuring that the Culture Revolution would survive in future years. I could not help thinking about our last two elections and the fact that the Obama campaign invested so much time and energy recruiting young people. Based on the results, it appears that mobilizing young people can yield positive results.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Dear Colleagues,

Clay will be covering the Chinese Civil War and the Mao era on Monday (12/11). The readings are below.

Best,
Yingjia
edited by Ying Jia on 12/5/2012

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