Reflections on Session #5 (10/15)

[Anonymous]

I agree with you (nfong and abarker) about being shocked at how common gender specific abortions are in Korea and East Asia in general. I wonder at how these abortions have affected women emotionally. Last year I had a student in my class who was adopted from China. She brought in some photos when it was her "All About Me" week. The photo she had of herself at the orphanage in China was very telling. She and her mom had labeled the photo "Me and my Chinese sisters." The photo was of the 30 babies at the orphanage and they were all girls. Not only are gender specific abortions common, but so is putting baby girls in orphanages. It is amazing to think of the different life my Chinese student is now living since her adoption at 18 months. Her parents love her and cherish her. I am glad her story ends happily. I fear many others do not.

[Anonymous]

Thank you lvaden for sharing your student's story and picture information. It really makes it all real for me, rather than hearing or reading about it. I have friends that have adopted a baby from China as well, and another couple that are in the process of adopting from China. I guess since I was able to have kids on my own I never really had the need to consider adoption from another country. I also had never made the connection as to why both of my friends were adopting girls from China. I never asked if there was an option to adopt a boy, or whether there was a lack of "selection".
On another note, I found it interesting how the Jesuits had so much influence on the Chinese in regards to religion and technology. In these days, I would assume that the Chinese always had more technological advances over the Europeans and Americans and that many of our religion had stemmed from their cultures.

[Anonymous]

I found the question over whether Marco Polo actually made it to China very interesting. I never thought his travels were in question. When teaching my students about California history, and the discovery of America, it always begins with Marco Polo opening up the East with his trip to China. That's how I learned it, and now that's how I teach it. It's interesting to think about it from a different angle and whether it actually happened.

[Anonymous]

I had no idea that Zheng He who was an admiral for Yongle had ships that were larger than Columbus roughly 100 years before Columbus set sail. I find it interesting that Zheng He travled to Africa to bring back exotic animals and that they though the Earth was square. Imagine how different history could have been if the philisophical shift in the in kingdom had continued to push for naval resources. Perhaps the western dominance later in history might not have occured if China had continued to explore outward earlier.

[Anonymous]

I remember learning in history class that Marco polo and family were merchants in venice and they traveled the silk roads to china. They returned with goods and information about China. There is a story about that he brought back spaghetti or the idea of making a noddle like pasta that we know as spaghetti. Maybe the Marco Polo adventures didn't exist but certainly people from europe did travel to china on the silk road and brought back goods and information.

[Anonymous]

Manchu’s ability to run China is accommodation.
ethnic demographic realities. They understood their limitations because they were outnumbered by the Chinese. Cultural accommodation: patronize Confucian/Buddhist pursuits. They gave money to rebuild temples instead of shunning existing practices. Capture knowledge of civilization. Wanted to send the message that their beliefs were valued. Political dual rule: Chinese weren’t required to learn Manchurian. The gov’t docs were in Chinese. This was to include the people. Economic accommodation: The Manchus didn’t come and change things. They didn’t challenge the existing order. This wasn’t the case in Shanghai because they had the temerity to vocalize their loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. The people did have to pay the Qings but just continued to get on with their daily business. Reminded people that the Manchus were above the rest by having their names on the top of every texts. Traditional Chinese is top down writing. [/ol]
This approach is genius! I think we can all learn from the Manchus when it comes to leadership: understand your limitations, value the belief of others, ensure that the people feel included, and don't create too much change in the beginning and show respect to the existing order.

[Anonymous]

The conversation on Marco Polo reminds us of how pervasive and accepted an idea can be when it is repeated often enough. We must keep in mind that many if these last stories that we interpret as common knowledge and history are often the result of overexposed stories meant for mass appeal in a time when very little verification of facts was done. If it was catchy and exotic, the story or book would probably sell. There are many well know stories about people such as Paul Revere, George Washington, and yes, even Marco Polo that simply do not stand the test of close scrutiny.
edited by eleyva on 1/17/2013

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Hi Colleagues,

Please post your reflections of Session #5 below.

Yingjia
edited by yhuang on 10/16/2012

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