Reflections on Session #7 (11/6)

[Anonymous]

When I came back to UTLA session, few colleagues told me how great session 7 was. One person told that she almost had tears in her eyes. Wow! Art and music were used for illiterate people to know and participate in history by easily memorizing the event in art form. One teacher told me how it will be like to students to either sing or chant constitution of United States. That will be a challenge.
edited by jkim on 11/15/2012

[Anonymous]

I would like to be a more prolific reader. I have read extensively from French, British and American literature, and in some of those novels or travelogues, I have traveled vicariously to most parts of the world, including the “far east”. Yet, I must confess that I have not sought out much literature from that part of the world itself, a couple of books by Japanese authors perhaps. I have seen many movies from East Asian countries, but then the visual cinematographic element and convenience of a two-hour film is much easier to contend with than wading through an awkward translation for several days. I hope that now equipped with this general framework of the emergence and development of Chinese literature, the technological advances in printing, the evolution of aesthetic styles, the context and interconnectedness with historical episodes, will make a foray into Asian literature more accessible and appealing.

[Anonymous]

The point made that history books are not the best source of information to discover the reality of the past is well-taken. Many of us are by now quite familiar with Howard Zinn’s epithet that history books and legal documents are written by the victors, and consequently, they usually offer a biased point of view regarding historical events, and in some instances, a revisionist interpretation that obliterates the truth or undermines another class or group of people. For example, many Americans believe there are fifty states, whereas in my book only thirty-seven are recognized.
The dynastic changes in China have also been guilty of rewriting official versions of historical events to justify the newcomers’ claim to the seat of power and to discredit predecessors. I am sure that the current history textbooks in the People’s Republic have a certain prejudiced or advantageous slant, just as do ours in the “west”.
So where can we find an honest account? I can accept Professor Ye’s faith in the study of the cultural products, archeological artifacts, and aesthetic accomplishments of any given people at any given time. These products reflect the reality of a people’s daily life, economic factors, cultural values and spiritual or intellectual aspirations. Paintings, poems and architecture present us with a window into the past that may be less subjugated to a political agenda. Archeological findings have been our only source of evidence to construct fifty thousand years of human history. The written documentation of history is by comparison a recent innovation and sometimes just as speculative depending on your point of view.

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed this session very much. It brought a unique and engaging approach to presenting information often skimmed over or not discussed in depth about the Chinese culture. Professor Ye's ability to share his talent for presenting literary information about China was quite engaging. Reciting poetry, singing, or chanting are great ways to help students connect to information that may seem "irrelevant" to them.

[Anonymous]

I have always found language to be a fascinating topic. I believe it was Norm Chomsky that said you can only think in the words your language allows. I was told once that both English and Japanese were linear languages. The verbs were concerned with time-future, present and past (will, is and are). Thus are societies concerns are time related. We are a scheduled people. We walk around with agendas and scurry from one event to the next. A society that has chanting as a component of the language along with nature references makes me believe that linear would not be the direction they were going. I think chanting is wonderful. It gives a new depth to the language. I really enjoyed hearing it from Professor Ye's. I think students when they RAP are also tryiing to get in touch with the pure musicality of our language. I wonder what they would say about chanting.?

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for sharing your notes. It is always useful to see other people's notes to compare. Also many times, it is useful in case I missed something. I really appreciate the fact that you take the time to post you notes. Thanks again and it was a great class.

[Anonymous]

The chants and the songs reminded me of the oral history that my grandmother would share with me. I learned more about my culture through the songs and the stories that my grandmother would tell than from general history books. All ways to learn about self and cultural history is great because that is a great way to keep the history of a specific region or area alive. I was extremely interested in how the chinese people write with the same characters but do not speak the same language. It is hard to understand how so many languages were created, I am not sure if it is a dialect of the same language and because of distance the different tribes never learned each others pronunciations. Or maybe because they (chinese) were never conquered by one language and forced to follow. I loved the energy in which the professor taught the class and his personal connection to the subject.

[Anonymous]

The chants and the songs reminded me of the oral history that my grandmother would share with me. I learned more about my culture through the songs and the stories that my grandmother would tell than from general history books. All ways to learn about self and cultural history is great because that is a great way to keep the history of a specific region or area alive. I was extremely interested in how the chinese people write with the same characters but do not speak the same language. It is hard to understand how so many languages were created, I am not sure if it is a dialect of the same language and because of distance the different tribes never learned each others pronunciations. Or maybe because they (chinese) were never conquered by one language and forced to follow. I loved the energy in which the professor taught the class and his personal connection to the subject.

[Anonymous]

What a pleasure it was to listen to Professor Ye sing and chant in class, allowing us to hear how these poems were meant to be heard.

On another note, I found Dr. Ye's explanation as to why Buddhism diminished in India, yet flourished in other countries, curious. Dr. Ye stated that Hinduism allowed its citizens to live in the world and still be Hindus. He believed that for a person to be a Buddhist, s/he must separate from society. Indeed, Hinduism is intimately a part of the ritual and everyday life of its citizens. Buddhism, on the other hand, is about detachment and Dr. Ye could not understand how a person could practice Buddhism and still be a part of the community. I believe it was common for monks to separate from society and practice meditation, but Thich Nhat Hanh (a renowned monk) believes that a Buddhist monk should learn to live as a spiritual guide within a community, not separate from it. I suppose Dr. Ye's point is that Thich Nhat Hanh's view will work in most societies, but in a place like India, with a religious tradition so embedded in the culture of its citizens, living a Buddhist existence there is a big challenge.

[Anonymous]

It really is interesting to consider that the Great Wall of China really didn't do anything to protect the Chinese from the north, but was more of a symbolic "line in the sand," as in, "this is our space, this is your space, please do not cross it." The walls that did prove to be more useful were the ones surrounding Chinese cities. But even these had limited effect. When the Mongols came down from the north, they would simply surround a walled city until it ran out of food and was forced to surrender.

[Anonymous]

Wow, this is a lesson I will never forget. I loved to hear the professor performing. He was amazing. It is easy to see how passionate he is when teaching his subject matter. The performance takes the subject closer to us. He did not show a video or a audio piece. He did it himself, that is a very effective practice to encourage students to become engaged in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

chjuo and Kim, One thing that I read about religion from the South American author, Garcia Marquez, is that we, the people, believe in "something" "anything" because we have a need to believe. We need to have hope, to feel we are not alone and that there is a force that has control over the things we feel we cannot control. Some of us believe in things we have no idea exist, things that are someone else's ideas. We just hope there is some truth to those ideas.

[Anonymous]

This is so true, history books many times lack the unbiased information needed to get a better understanding of the events that took place in our world. As a good example is the Armenian Genocide, there is very little information on the event and it is not fair to forget such important events that shaped our history because after all as the saying goes "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat the same mistakes"

[Anonymous]

Since I had the oppportunity to visit China and the Great Wall, I didn't remember much about the historyical background. This session discussed its importance or what it was meant to do for China, protect it. I thought it was ironic that they great wall did not proctect China as it was inteded. Professor Ye was very passionate about the topic and it was evident when he explainend and gave examples during the lecture.

[Anonymous]

Two topics from this lecture really stood out to me. First all the different dialogs their is in China. I must see to believe this! I was shocked to learn that if I was from China and would take the train to another area not to far from me, I would most likely not understand the dialog! This to me was amazing. The second part of lectured that I liked was the chanting vs. singing. I have never put to much thought into any of the two. Now, I understand that a chant is a speech and song mostly used in religion.

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