Session 12 - Discussion

[Anonymous]

I think the reverence for Mao is more for his leadership as a general during the revolution than as Chairman, much the same as for Washington for Americans. Land reforms for Chinese people were very important because of their long history. Land had been held in the same families in some cases for over a thousand years, as long as the family was able to protect it from war lords. Comparing to American history, where land was up for grabs, from Native Americans of course, from the beginning of colonialism up until just recently. In fact some Cowboys in Oregon today are trying for a new land grab.

[Anonymous]

I think the reverence for Mao is more for his leadership as a general during the revolution than as Chairman, much the same as for Washington for Americans. Land reforms for Chinese people were very important because of their long history. Land had been held in the same families in some cases for over a thousand years, as long as the family was able to protect it from war lords. Comparing to American history, where land was up for grabs, from Native Americans of course, from the beginning of colonialism up until just recently. In fact some Cowboys in Oregon today are trying for a new land grab.

[Anonymous]

This was a great lecture to end the course. It was very helpful in providing a broad spectrum of themes within China, since we discussed environmental issues, education, women, aging, religion, etc. I found it particularly interesting the three goals that all communist leaders wanted: stability, development and equality. A wondering I have though is if this really was the case that all leaders were on the same page with, and if so, what exactly were the action steps done to make this happen? While it was stressed by different leaders at different times, my wondering is if these ideals were carried through over time, and if not, then were they really uniform ideas?

Another point of discussion I found interesting, but a bit disheartening was the discussion of women working in the factories, and the pressure they had not to have children (and the consequences they would endure if caught pregnant). The picture of the forced abortion shown was especially shocking, and was hard to digest that they could treat women in this way.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the above posts that this session was a great way to close out the seminar. Lots of great information was shared, but it definitely left me with a lot of questions and a hope to keep learning more about China in the future.

As someone who has studied the Cultural Revolution in depth prior to this course, I feel like its hard to study Chinese history and not become enamored with Mao. I guess we spent a lot of time in this course looking at the American perspective on China, but I remember studying more of the Chinese perspective in the past. There was so much propaganda and he was such an enthusiastic and inspirational speaker that the Chinese people really did love him (at least that's what I remember learning, albeit that was many years ago). We have such different feelings about him because we have such different information to look at now. This also makes it difficult to conceive why people would show such reverence towards him. I think it would be really interesting to show both sides to students, and have them come at their own conclusions about what kid of person he was.

[Anonymous]

The effect Mao had on his people was incredible. I found Professor Dube's explanation of Mao's rise to power to be interesting. Mao was credited with miracles. He was elevated to god status. He published the Little Red Book.

He truly controlled the population with his radical change to the university system and widespread belief that books made one stupid, and it was only by studying the teachings of Mao that one could be the source of truth. Universities close under Mao and the system comes to an end. Mao says the more books you read the dumber you are. Mao took a college test and turned it in blank.
Mao wants to be the only source of truth.

1978 universities reopen; however, I n order to go to college, you need a good recommendations from a worker, a peasant, a soldier.

I find this to be fascinating and will use this information when I teach my students in preparation for the memoir Red Scard Girl. Students will need background knowledge of Mao, communism, and I am much more equipped to teach them.

[Anonymous]

I agree with a lot of you on this being a great lesson to close our seminar. After all we studied I find myself comparing and contrasting all that's happened in China, Korea and Japan to events in America and Latin America from the way women are treated unequally to the violations in labor and violence in certain communities. I see history repeating itself through the years and throughout the world regardless of culture, economic situation or political associations.
I took an extensive amount of information to not only share with my students but to understand how this communities function politically, socially and economically.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

It has been a great experience to be able to learn so much about East Asia. I heard about the program from someone who traveled abroad with a similar program and I am so glad to have been able to take part in something so fun and different from the usual Professional Development meeting I attend. I am excited to see what other sessions will be coming up in the future.

As for the lecture in session 12, like always very informative. I knew close to nothing about East Asian history at the start of this class and am now so pleased to be able to understand more about Asian culture and history. Mao and the treatment of Mao in China continues to amaze me. I was surprised and confused by why there was so much affection for Mao yet his wife was arrested immediately following his death. I didn't understand why she was being accused of many of the things that Mao had done, and yet there is still admiration for Mao. He certainly changed the coarse for the people of China.
I found the part of the lecture about the land reform interesting because on the one hand something like that in the United States would be completely unconstitutional, but on the other it seemed to work out fine for the Chinese. Was there any negative impacts from these land reforms that have had some long lasting impact on the country? I would also like to learn more about the history of education in China, I would appreciate any recommendations.

[Author]

Posts