Session 2 - discussion

[Anonymous]

I found session 2 really interesting, mostly for the parts on gender norms and how they are incorporated in Chinese literature (and movies!). This session reminded me a lot about The Good Earth (by Pearl S. Buck), which I was required to study extensively in high school. I kept remembering different parts of that book as Brain Bernard was lecturing about the two short stories we read for this session. While it's been some time since I read the book, I feel like I didn't have a rich understanding of Chinese culture or literary traditions when I was reading the text. This lecture made me think a lot about the ways women were treated in that story and how Pearl Buck (having lived in China for most of her life) was probably drawing on the literary traditions of the time to tell her story. The novel has a high degree of realism and is definitely China-centric, two things I didn't take much note of when I was reading the book. I'm not sure where my copy of the book is now, but I definitely want to go back and re-read it after this session.

[Anonymous]

[font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]Professor Bernards lecture provided a good historical context into better understanding the stories. I appreciated him sharing about the new culture movement, and how upset China was after the play out of the Treaty of Versailles after WWI. I found it interesting how they went against Confucianism, and all the ideas of filial piety, respect and family values, and how ironic that is given the situation today. I also found interested how Professor Bernards spoke about how the rise of new fiction led to vernacularization. I find it so fascinating how the spoken language is so different from traditional prose, even today, and how many different languages they have! [/font]

[font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]In terms of our discussion of New Year Sacrifice, I appreciated the quote that Professor Bernards referenced at the end of the discussion on pg. 26, on how it had a distrubing ending in the sense that instead of having a typical Hollywood ending like we do here, it had a more dark ending, finishing off the celebration they were having instead of helping us cope with the death of the wife.[/font]

[Anonymous]

Professor Bernards's lecture and discussion helped me understand the background of Chinese history and culture and the framework for Lu and other author's writing. It also gave me a better understanding of their motivation for writing--to point out flaws in society with the aim to change society.
edited by rcorona on 1/22/2016

[Anonymous]

I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Bernard's lecture; primarily his discussion of The New Year's Sacrifice. I can see this story really resonating with my middle schoolers. Only a cold heart could not be melted by the story of Hsiang Lin's wife. This story will encourage many very rich discussions on a variety of important topics - gender roles, superstition, empathy.

I would also like to delve further into a few other pieces of Japanese literature we touched upon in the lecture: Rickshaw Boy, Embroidered Pillows and The Golden Cangue. The author Eileen Cang was a particularly interesting woman - and reportedly quite the diva.

I also want to check out Wolf Totem - both the movie and the book. Lots I want to read and watch after this lecture!

[Anonymous]

Someone asked about the film I mentioned in the class discussion about the Japanese invasion of Nanjing. It's titled Nanking (imdb link here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0893356/) and it tells the story primarily through diaries and letters of people who lived through it. Overall, my students found it very engaging, especially because they recognized some of the Hollywood actors cast to read the letters. My biggest concerns with the film were the predominately Western voices (many of the letters are from European missionaries and doctors), and some of the tales of horrific violence against women and children. Best to preview it and discuss these issues with kids before showing it in class. NY Times review of the film can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/movies/12nank.html?_r=0

[Anonymous]

The Rape of Nanjing is certainly classifiable as a genocide in my mind, though I would not use the term Holocaust out of deference to what the Jews went through, 1039-1945. In researching it further, I came across this site sponsored by Time magazine, showing images of the slaughter, some known, some less well-known. Most fascinating of all, however, is the open discussion board at the bottom of the page... I don't know if it has an active moderator, bc the comments really lay into one another... and they're all submitted BY Chinese and Japanese readers, probably using a translation service at times. Amazingly, a high proportion of contributers on the Japanese side deny the Rape of Nanjing ever happened Others basically say "get over it", such as the presumably-Japanese contributor below:

"In any case, China has had SOME sort of apology from Japan so they really need to let go. Sure its horrible. But looking at this squabble, it feels like china is almost loving the fact that they can victimize themselves. The holocaust was worse and even that didnt garner this much DRAGGING hate. I have a feeling that if japan asked china what sort of apology they want, they would ask for something totally outrageous (like provide them with money for the next 100 years) and get butt-hurt if its not met. China isnt exactly known to be humble."

Several submissions are actually in Chinese. The effect of the discussion is to leave one with the amazing feeling that the internet really has brought the world closer together, which, on some level, HAS to be a good thing.

http://world.time.com/2012/12/13/the-nanjing-massacre-scenes-from-a-hideous-slaughter-75-years-ago/#comments

[Anonymous]

I must say that the assigned readings for this lecture didn't interest me much at all. I've just read that Tawainese TV is translating a soap opera into Spanish for Central and South American market. They translate into a similar Telenovela. I never like those either.
On the other-hand, I've been reading THE RICKSHAW BOY. This book I find very fascinating. I'm only a third into it. It was great to be told the allegory that was being alluded to by the author: a renunciation of Confucius and his emphasis on personal responsibility. In the story, despite Xiangzi's personal integrity, he keeps getting stomped on because of external circumstances. Still I feel that if more people took on personal responsibility that the external circumstances would be improved.

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed the topic of Literature in session two. It was very interesting to me to first hear the background of the culture that was creating the literary work. Understanding the European influence on the writings gave me a different perspective on the assigned readings. In my experience history has almost always been very Eurocentric and with this has come a lack of understanding how European decisions have shaped the world around them. The themes in the Chinese literature we read were a bit surprising in their focus on femininity. The women in the different readings were both portrayed very differently giving you a full sense of the many ways woman could be seen at the time. I have always wondered how much power was given to women in China. I know I have read that one of the first novels written was by a Chinese woman who lived in the palace. The book was fiction but shared much about the author's actual life. I am very interested to learn more about the role of woman in China and how that role changed in the shift of imperialism to the 1900s.

[Anonymous]

Brian Bernard’s lecture on Chines Literature was most enlightening. The place of women in all cultures is particularly of interest to me as I hope to co-teach an elective course at our school next year, Women in History. I plan to teach the literature portion while my colleague teaches the history portion. Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston is one of the anchor texts I plan to use but I also need shorter pieces to help students understand how to read another culture. The other course I hope to someday teach is an elective on Asian Literature so I was thrilled to see the inclusion of East Asian literature in this course and look forward to immersing myself into future pieces of fiction and non-fiction, alike.
edited by niruparmar on 10/18/2015

[Anonymous]

Today’s lecture on Chinese literature addressed a lot of the observations I made as I read the novellas. I was better able to understand why the readings for this week reflected reservations about traditional Chinese rituals. According to the lecture by Professor Bernard, during this time in China’s history, the decline of the Imperial China ensued as a result of foreign intervention. It is easy to see why so many people lost confidence in the government, as China found itself in the middle of its so called “Century of Humiliation” These feelings of despair seem very present in the novellas as there is a lot of critique on the 0of western influence. For instance, in the lecture Professor Bernard was better able to situate Shanghai by informing us that during this time, the city was under a semi-colonial treaty that vested a lot of liberty and autonomy on its European residents. Again, I am left wondering, how much the presence of western culture led for Eileen Chang to write about Chinese traditions in a critical manner.
edited by nramon on 11/5/2015

[Anonymous]

The time period we focused on here dates from the transitional time of the founding of the Republic of China through the Second World War. It seems like writers were forging a modern Chinese identity while reflecting on the past. I understand how the atrocities of war and the rise of Communism would change writers perspectives.

[Anonymous]

After learning more about women in Chinese literature I went back and did some more research. I came across a great website (http://tswl.utulsa.edu/review-essay/negotiating-the-traditional-and-the-modern-chinese-womens-literature-from-the-late-imperial-period-through-the-twentieth-century/) that revealed more about gender roles in Chinese society. The researchers discuss the women's role in the domestic realm as having certain "prescribed roles." They describe writing for women as a sort of escape from their daily lives. Writing often for women was used as an outlet for other things such as death, sickness and hardship. The work was filled with emotion and had often had purpose. I agree with a peer when they said it was a little hard to get into a flow with the reading because of the writing styles used in the readings. I found it necessary because of this to research more and read more Chinese literature myself and with my students. This is also a great way to bring gender studies into the discussion.

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed this session because I learned about women in Chinese Literature. I loved reading The New Year's sacrifice. At the beginning I thought Ms. Xiangling would be happy at the end after so much suffering, but it was the opposite. Women were oppressed in society and Lu Xu portrayed this opression by showing how the main character suffered from beginning all the way to the end.

[Anonymous]

Several of this week’s readings including Sun Yat-sen’s “Fundamentals of Reconstruction” and Xu Zhengkeng’s “Things About America and Americas” are remarkably well versed and perhaps convey a sense of dejà vu. For Xu Zhengkeng, much of his words reflect those of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and in some part, Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoer’s essay, “What is an American”, while Sun Yat-sen’s invokes our two of our foundational documents: The Declaraction of Independence and the Preamble to our Constitution. It’s unclear how much of Xu Zhengkeng and Sun Yat-sen’s words were inspired by foreign documents, but it is clear that the notion of being an American – identity, democracy, and economy—influenced both men’s work. For Sun Yat-sen, his proclamation for reconstruction is reminiscent of our own nation’s origins. Of the three principles, the principle of democracy most mirror the words in the United State’s Declaration of Independence, though the other two – nationalism and livelihood – echo sentiments also found in our founding documents. While not exact, the “Principle of Nationalism” seem to call to attention the need for a divided China to garner recognition not as “independence in the family”, but as it “…[was] inherited from [our] remote forefathers” paralleling the call of Patrick Henry at the Virginia Convention to join as one unified nation, not separate colonies against a tyrannical ruler – King George II. Similarly, Sun Yat-Sen ask the Chinese people to rise – independent of their own tyrannical rule – Qing dynasty. Furthermore, Sun Yat-sen and Xu Zhengkeng convey a strong urgency for economic solvency – though the means vary by each man. Perhaps in creating a revolution, all men of power must look to those who have succeed in the past to ensure their own success. Regardless, reading these texts bring to light the principles that connect China and the United States.
edited by crhude on 1/22/2016

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I really enjoyed Brian Bernard’s lecture on Japanese Literature. It was really insightful to learn about the reasons for canonization of the literature we read this week such as the “New Year’s Sacrifice” and “The Golden Cangue.” It really was evident from Lu Hsun’s writing that his goals were to transform Modern China with his literature. I like what was mentioned about Lu Hsun’s past with leaving the medical field because he realized it was not the bodies that needed to be fixed, but the minds.

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