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AnonymousIt was great to revisit Chinese history again. Professor Dube's lecture was once again very clear and easy to follow. One of the observations worth mentioning in this reflection is regarding growth and development of China after Ching dynasty. 276 years of reign under Qing (Ching) dynasty abruptly ended 1911 and same communist China inherited Ching's system. Until 1960 many Chinese people labored at home that is because of industrial infrastructures were not developed. Chinese government was operating under communist socio economic system; and as far as I am concern if capital economic system took over during this transition, China would have distributed wealth with more people than few elites today.
AnonymousI was deeply impressed by the information presented in the last lecture. Prior to joining the China institute I was so misinformed about the Chinese way of life and the astonishing levels of synchronized organization driving the system or bureaucracy. Despite the flawed governmental system, China leaders merit credit for harnessing and developing (for better or for worse) the sheer volume of human capital. Given that, the collective effort to engender, motivate and maintain the vitality of “mass consciousness” is a daunting task! I am hoping to present the information from the perspective encapsulated in materials presented during the seminar. I will try to facilitate China’s historical background based on scholarly research using anecdotal, primary and secondary sources. Furthermore, I found that the information provided in the lectures is consistent with California state standards for the middle grades; 7.3 China-How can different cultures influence you? And 6.6 Ancient China-Why are our family traditions important to us? When are they considered outdated or wrong? How do you finish a job when it is too big for you?
The questions below are a useful strategy to elicit students’ responses about a given topic on China and related topics. Other instructional strategies I will use to engage my students in critical thinking would be using visual examples of topics for discussion, including graphic organizers, such as “GRAPES”
Geography/Religion? Achievements-Arts?Politics-Government/Economics-trade-commerce/Social Structures
• General Essential Questions for History (any grades)-(this questions were generated by our history coach at Clinton Middle School)
-Why study history?
-What can we learn from the past?
-How am I connected to people in the past?
-Whose “story” is it?
-Who do we believe and why?
-Is history the story told by the “winners”?
-How has the world changed and how might it change in the future?
-How does where I live influence how I live?
-What causes change?
-Why do people move?
-What story do maps and globes tell?
-How and why do maps and globes change?
AnonymousThis video tells the story of silk production in Shanghai, China starting with the eggs of silkworms to worms' production of fibers to make their cocoons. The silk is unraveled from the cocoons like thread from a spool. The Chinese have cultivated silkworms for more than 5,000 years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wbmEjTvszI
Anonymous"During the Ming and Qing Dynasties silk was transported to Europe and America from Manila and this meant that China dominated the world's silk market until 1908.
Chinese characters including the component "silk" have the intonation of silk or its implication of fine and deep. The richness of color, texture, strength and beauty of silk make it the means to imply something is fine and impeccable. A woman's raven hair is referred to as 'black silk' ; tender feelings are 'feelings of silk' and the Chinese word for a lingering and emotive feeling contains the component of "silk", and evDuring the Ming and Qing Dynasties silk was transported to Europe and America from Manila and this meant that China dominated the world's silk market until 1908.
Chinese characters including the component "silk" have the intonation of silk or its implication of fine and deep. The richness of color, texture, strength and beauty of silk make it the means to imply something is fine and impeccable. A woman's raven hair is referred to as 'black silk' ; tender feelings are 'feelings of silk' and the Chinese word for a lingering and emotive feeling contains the component of "silk", and even a flavor can be silky and smooth.en a flavor can be silky and smooth."
AnonymousI want to reflect on an article in the LA Times entitled "A course change for China?" Dated November 8th 2012 and filed for tonights return to China lecture. The crux of this article is that the new leaders will have to " steer its economy on a more sustainable path," according to certain experts A" perfect storm" of a super large aging population unable to innovate like advanced nations but too prosperous to compete with [other] low-wage manufacturing nations. I would assume this to be Korea, perhaps a united Korean peninsula looming in the horizon!?! The Communist Party now faces 30 years of steady and amazing growth, BUT not development, particularly sustainable development that will reduce international pollution but address the dreaded lack of useable H-2-O !!! High growth rates or blue skies and clean air!
AnonymousA generation of Chinese have know nothing but boom. But now protesters in the thousands protested the opening of a new chemical plant in the eastern city of Ningbo in November of 2012. The report by Kerry Brown of Sydney Australia, executive director of the Sydney University's Chine Studies Center, goes on to point out that the gap between rich and poor is widening and that the China Youth Daily ran an online poll that decried income inequality. The youth were shown to be willing to slow growth in exchange for sustainable development and even belt tightening. This in a nation that has lifted tens of millions out of desperate poverty.
AnonymousI enjoyed hearing characteristics of Tibetan Buddhism and would love to learn more about the Tibetan-Chinese relationship. I also appreciated the many images of people along the Silk Road; it’s important to show our students images like that so that they can understand the diversity of the people. The video I am attaching is one of a child training at the Beijing Opera that my students love – you cannot love this adorable boy. I have also included a video of the Chinese Dynasty song. These aren’t my own students, but it’s the same song, same melody. My students have much better pronunciation…
AnonymousWhat's interesting, and quite ironic, today is that despite it's communistic intentions, China looks more like its imperial past where ultra-wealth was given to the few (aristocracy), and most Chinese (peasants) struggled in poverty. In the past, this extreme difference would sometimes lead to peasant revolts. What happens in China in the next decade is going to be fascinating to watch. You have to figure that at some point, especially with technology being what it is today, the people will organize themselves and become empowered by their ability to have their voices heard. I'm rooting for the people of China!
AnonymousNow that I have taught about China from pre-dynastic to Ming in my AP World History class, I am more than ever struck by the unique continuity in Chinese culture and how that continuity translates into political stability. Alone among the world's cultures, China has repeated a similar imperial structure for over 2000 years. Notwithstanding continual pressure, invasion, and even conquest from central Asia the Chinese empire has persisted. Maybe this is partially due to the geographic isolation of China compared to the easy movement between India, southwest Asia, Europe and North AFrica.
As described in this lecture, the Qing Dynasty proves the point again. A culture only peripherally connected to China gains political power and then adopts the historical Chinese pattern for governance with some unique variations. Perhaps this infusion of "new blood" into the Chinese body politic reinvigorates the same approach to governing adopted by the Han. This also makes the current Chinese government seem more like just another "dynasty" than anything radically different. The same problems of inequality, corruption, and stagnation seem to exist.
AnonymousChina has had influences on other countries based on their own progress. Under the Qing Dynasty, the Manchurians were so impressed with the Chinese form of writing that they created their own form of writing. The Manchurians invaded China and took control with their armies. After taking control, the Manchurians made all Chinese men shave their heads. They wanted to be able to tell the difference between who was Chinese and who was Manchurian. Monks and bald headed men were exempt.The Manchurians had a policy that other countries could not come to live in their country. However, overtime Chinese people began to move into Manchurian. Because, there were more Chinese people than Manchurians there was nothing the Manchurians could do to stop them.
AnonymousA big aha moment for me to take back to my students from this lecture is that the China of today is based on a multi-ethnic empire. This is key for students to understand because too often students don't understand that China is indeed very diverse. If students can understand the multi-faceted contributions made by various people in China as well as the Asian society in general, they will have a greater respect for Asian people as a whole. As an educator, I would like to impart a greater sense of respect and understanding of the contributions made by the many people of China so that their understanding of China as an ancient civilization is more meaningful for them as we move through the unit.
edited by nfreeman on 12/19/2012
AnonymousI found it interesting how there are characters in the Chinese language that refer to people that have viewpoints differing from the dominant ideology (i.e. referring to with certain ideologies with the symbol for “animal”) VERY reminiscent of the how, in the west, people who held a communist or Marxist/Leninist viewpoint have been vilified and categorized (criminalized, in the worst of cases), and even how this is currently promoting a very unnecessary level of ungrounded dislike for socialist countries in Latin America, primarily Venezuela and Nicaragua. It is sad to realize that a lot of people adopt these viewpoints and later promote the same intolerance towards a distinct social/political structures or viewpoint without understanding why.
I am interested in learning how economic growth versus economic development has played out in recent Chinese history. It must be a difficult balance of each of these factors to become competent and successful on a worldwide scale, especially given the huge number of factors and transitions (political, social, economic, cultural, etc.) that have taken place in China in its recent history. How can growth vs. development be seen in China, and when has either been more advantageous to China’s economy?
I was pleased to learn about the question of the longevity of the Qing dynasty. The approach of “accommodation” is one that has been seen to have a higher degree of success than other approaches, when talking about control of a people/territory. Two examples come to mind: 1) Spain under the Moors, during which Jews and Christians were allowed to practice and hold their own beliefs (which is in stark contrast to when Ferdinand and Isabel “united” the country and persecuted/exiled all non-Christians), and 2) the Incan Empire, perhaps the largest/most spread out empire in pre-Colombian history in the Americas, during which there was apparently a high degree of tolerance towards those conquered, and which more than anything emphasized tribute to the Incan empire by those smaller societies which were assimilated into their power. The criticism against the Qing dynasties shortcomings and thus downfall seems to be very simplified and even infantile, especially when coming from voices who did not live that context and also that have not yet but a fraction of that time span in power.
Anonymous1644 CE
The Manchu emperors of China ordered all subjects to shave the top of their heads and wear the rest of their hair in a braid. The men complied until 1911 but the women did not.
from:
http://www.historymole.com/cgi-bin/main/results.pl?type=phrase&search=china&x=24&y=3
Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It's gettin' kinda long
I coulda said it was in my way
But I didn't and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
Yes, I feel….like I owe it… to someone
Lyrics: first verse of my favorite Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song from the Déjà vu album (1970).
Throughout the ages, at least of recorded history, hair has been an expression of sometimes obedience, servitude, conformity, uniformity, and in other cases defiance, artistic expression, freedom, decadence and prestige. In Europe, elaborate wigs were designed to achieve the desired effect for those with the means to afford them. Religious orders, sects, military institutions have all succumbed to fascist hair policies. The shaving of the incarcerated symbolizes a loss of liberty. The grooming of politicians is an art form subject to the acceptable standard of the age. To this day, we still judge people to some extent by how they carry their hair. We may be tolerant of the vicissitudes of fashion, but hair (or lack thereof) continues to speak volumes.
I’m glad we live in a time when the Chinese can enjoy their hair (politicians excepted – they just don’t get it).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP5ikeaYH8Q
edited by rjessel on 12/19/2012
Anonymoustrente-trois
AnonymousI appreciated Dr. Dube's lecture on the Qing Dynasty, and how this empire grew and flourished while maintaining a relatively peaceful period. This was evident in the Qing arts, particularly ceramics. At this time, the Chinese ceramics industry was noted for the perfection of its porcelain bodies and for the development of new techniques for their decoration. As Dr. Dube said, from 1644 to 1912, China was under the control of the Manchus, a people of northeastern Central Asian origins, who had conquered the Han-Chinese Ming empire but maintained ties with Europe. These porcelain vessels were traded in increasing numbers to different nations in Europe, helping to spur changes in the ceramic.[font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif][/font]
The link below gives excellent visuals with descriptions of these beautiful ceramic pots.
http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/ceramics-qing.php
edited by mwatt on 12/20/2012