Session 3b: Cosmopolitan East Asia

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Please reply to this thread with your thoughts and comments on Professor Yang Ye's presentation on "Cosmopolitan East Asia."

[Anonymous]

Whew! Quite a bit of information to digest in just three hours! To be honest, most if not all of the dates have already fled my head. However, many of the names and ideas remain. Good thing I am not a history teacher.
Items I thought were particularly interesting:
a) Poetry, calligraphy and painting all requiring the use of a single tool -- the unification and relationship between these arts is readily visible with that fact.
b) The evolution of the Chinese language on the ppt slide. I am a visual person and seeing some words beginning as distinct pictographs, but then becoming the characters we see today.
c) The civil service examinations requiring applicants to write poetry. How fantastic! I especially enjoyed Professor Ye's suggestion of the SATs mandating sonnets for college-bound hopefuls. I would love to see high school seniors struggle over perfecting their sonnets so they can get into SDSU.
d) The classification of traditional Chinese painting reminded me of classification you see in the science community. What's the genus of this painting? I love the specificity and seriousness that the Chinese use when dealing with their artwork.
e) And of course....the idea of the horse as man's best friend. Do American Indians have a similar notion since the horse is prevalent in their culture, too? Dogs are lame, anyway.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps because it was the last of many fascinating observations Dr. Ye made, this quote from Jorge Luis Borges really caught my interest:

We love over-emphasizing our little differences, our hatreds, and that is wrong. If humanity is to be saved, we must focus on our affinities, the points of contact with all other human beings; by all means we must avoid accentuating our differences.”

As Rebecca already wrote, we had a totally nerdy experience sharing lines of poetry last night. What first caught my attention was the open format of the poems on pages 224-227 in Birch’s Anthology of Chinese Literature because it looked just like the format of the pages in the book Crank that my students LOVE to read. So, if they love Crank, then they will quite likely enjoy reading these, too – even those who hate poetry.

Then we realized that these ancient Chinese poets were following the same progression in logic as the American poets – from Emerson to Thoreau to Whitman to Shelly (okay, so he’s British…..) all the way to ee cummings.

Wang Wei’s poetry (220-223) follows Whitman’s cinematic style; then on pages 239-40 Tu Fu writes an antiwar poem that sounds just like cummings.

And then look at The Ruined City (Birch 190-193) and compare it with Shelly’s OZYMANDIAS:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear --
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'

So much for saving ourselves from the errors of the past! But at least we can build bridges for the future….

[Anonymous]

“Nirvana: To disappear like a drop of water into the ocean.” When Professor Ye said this, the statement lingered in my mind for the remainder of the lecture. I like it. I would like to explore this concept in more depth. In America, often the goal is to shine, to stand out, to be the best and receive recognition for it. We do not want to disappear. And we won’t. Perhaps if we reach Nirvana, we have done our job as contributing citizens of the world. We have left our mark. We are now an integral part of the society, the world, the universe. It is as if we are all a stitch in a knitted sweater: you may not look at each stitch individually - and in fact you should not recognize one stitch because that would mean there was some glaring mistake – but if one of those stitches is cut, the entire piece would unravel and be reduced to nothing. Just as the Little Mermaid visits us as the foam of the sea, each of us exist for a purpose, affect the lives of everyone around us, and contribute to the world as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Although I was getting tired at the end I found this lecture more interesting than the first. Not that the first wasn't. These facts caught my attention: First, that the red stamps on the pictures showed ownership. I always wondered about that. Second, the writing on the painting is usually a poem written for or inspired by the picture. This can be by the artist or the owner. Third, Shanghai has more large building than New York. Fourth, the numbers 4 and 14 are unlucky numbers and are sometimes not included in large buildings.

Also, did anyone else notice that the word yuan means ape according to the poem that Professor Ye read. The Chinese were also ruled by the Mongols for a period of time, which was known as the Yuan Dynasty. So was there another derivation to the word yuan in Yuan Dynasty or did the Chinese consider them apes (not literally). Either way it seems that way.

All other information was highly interesting and I look forward to studying it more on my own. I think I will start with the time period when the Chinese seemed to admire eccentric and odd behavior.

[Anonymous]

I asked Prof. Ye about a different word (Liao) which had the meaning destitute in the power he read us. He said the same word has many other definitions. In Chinese, words spelled the same way have different meanings just like in English (but I think it happens more often in Chinese). So though its funny Yuan means apes the context of the word changes the meaning. Just putting it out there. 😀

[Anonymous]

I felt that today's session with Dr. Ye went from really good to fabulous. It was brain drain toward the end of the session. I was very impressed with HOW he lectured for us. He included elements of good teaching we learned so long ago....visual and auditory methods, visuals, and the demonstration with song and chanting. He really was a good example for us and I'm glad to have had this opportunity. Some ideas I've taken away from this session: Building a lesson around the chrysanthemum flower for 6th graders. First teach about symbolism. Have the students draw a storyboard or at least 4 panels where the chrysanthemum is featured as part of the story and there are no words printed. The story is told only be picture. Have the student present their picture story to a small group or the class. Then see if students can determine the symbolism the author intended to show. This should work well for all students,especially those who have limited writing skills. A second thing I want to develop into a teaching lesson is the phrase "Playing the Qin". It will work nicely with a music , English, or social studies lesson. It might even work into a "character counts" lesson which some school do. Roughly, the teacher would tell or show the story about playing the instrument and the difficulty of finding a listener who understood the music. The lesson would revolve around "finding someone who understands you". Some of the concepts might be parents, friends, making choices, sharing your thoughts, making a friend, communication, etc.

[Anonymous]

Exciting! Awesome! Spectacular Info! I learned so much more that built on the days prior today. So much info that I am still chewing on it. Small things that stayed in my head were that caligraphy has a high significance in Chinese culture. That they actually like doing it as enjoyment; coming home, kicking off the shoes, after dinner unwind with a class of wine and a little caligraphy. Another little tidbit was that man's best friend is the horse and not the dog. Even Liu Ling who was an excentric who had drinking parties and was historically the 1st nudist in Chinese history.
The bigger chunck of info about China's development as a cosmopolitan country lead to many people making sacrifices to put it all together, so to speak. The movie we viewed today ( I don't remember- anyone have the title) with Jet Lei depicted how many people realized that things had to be done for the good of all. Many of us really don't think like that, example, when we vote, we vote only on issues or for candidates that meet our needs; we never look at the big picture.
One thing that upset me today was when Dr. Ye said that some of China's treasures are in the British museum. Museums in Britian make money off other country's historical artifacts. Egypt has had to endure the same fate. The beard for the Sphnix is in Britian among other artifacts, while Germany has Nefertti's bust, and France has the Rosetta Stone. These treasures should be returned to their rightful countries. These other countries have no cultural bond with ancestors to these artifacts except they are making money on it. China's as well as Egypt's artifacts should be returned.
One last note, "There is an end to our life, but there is no end to knowledge" is what Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) said. It is true, I don't know everything and it was a pleasure learning more about China's advancement in the different dynasties.
[Edit by="rosanna_elgohary on Jul 31, 12:00:02 AM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I absolutely loved the Chinese artwork that the professor shared with us; I was amazed at how each piece appeared so unique but yet shared such similar objects of focus. I took a wonderful art history class on Spanish artists while studying abroad in Spain and never did I see pieces in which the artists wrote upon them to convey their meaning; I found it very fascinating that Chinese artists wrote poems upon their work to deliver the message they wanted to tell.

I do wish however that Professor Ye would have elaborated on his discussion of the assigned readings. I read through much of it without gaining any collective insight and therefore do not know how I would incorporate it into my history curriculum. Lesly, you shared some very interesting thoughts yesterday morning on what your interpretation was of the readings; would you put those thoughts to pen?!

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with almost every comment my collegues have made. What I can add is I found it very interesting to know they had to make their ink fresh everyday and most Chinese are right handed. I also appreciated Prof. Ye sharing about his childhood education. I did enjoy the art work, but I am most fond of the simplistic work that doesn't cover the whole page. It seemed more tranquil to me. I have never had to critique a film before so his suggestions will be very helpful. I usually just watch a film for pure enjoyment to relax and not have to think too much, but now I have an idea of how to look at the artistic side of pieces of work. I teach earth science and world history, but I have always been a short cut kind of thinker. In other words: How can I get this done with the least amount of energy in the fastest amount of time? I am beginning to see the beauty of looking at things in a different way. I'm not quite there yet, but the oriental philosophy is have a profound impact on me and I kind of like it.

[Anonymous]

I feel much more enlightened about China's history. I bragged yesterday that I just MIGHT be able to rattle off the names of the dynasties in order and give 1 or 2 facts about each. This is a landslide victory for this program, considering what I came in with.

I love how Prof. Ye talked about cinema, poetry, and art--and kept using history and philosophy as mile markers in the discussion. I could listen to him chant all day, and now I'm really beginning to realize how much I need to read poems dramatically. I tend to read them semi-dramatically for effect, but as each poem is really a song, I need to slow down and emphasize each sound and syllable.

My only critique: I too had a hard time with the readings. Some of them I instantly loved-- "In Praise of Wine" I thought was brilliant, and not just because of the subject matter!-- but some I didn't get and needed more historical context to realize the relevancy. We are babes in the woods, and sometimes need our close reading to be a group effort with a sage on the stage to tell us why the crocodile needs to beat it, and why the Buddha's dirty finger bone is not welcome.

[Anonymous]

The 3 stages of the the development of Chinese Civilization was a bit difficult me. Having said that there were a few points that I will always recall and share:

Chanting - I WILL use this in my classroom. Mr. Ye gave me a new meaning to chanting. Hey better than rapping - pure repetition and line length. Wow!

I did not know the six The Six Principles:
Rhythm of vitality
Pattern of brushstrokes
Verisimilitude
Color according to species
Arrangement of position
Transmission of models

I did not know that the Three Perfections refered to Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting
or that the writing brush was used for all three. Maybe I should have known, but it did not click.

Thank You Prof. Ye

[Anonymous]

I bought a set of "four treasures" for the classroom use. Students love it.
When students study the language, they all like the speaking part. The part they dread the most was writing the character. After I give them the lesson on Chinese calligraphy. It seemed like they changed their attitude toward character writing. Here are two good websites on teaching students the correct strokes on character writing.
href="http://www.cchar.com/">http://www.cchar.com/
href="http://www.bluetec.com.cn/asp/mymandarin/bishun/bihua.htm">http://www.bluetec.com.cn/asp/mymandarin/bishun/bihua.htm

Teaching students how to hold the brush is quite a challenge. Without holding the brush correctly, one cannot write correctly. So far, I did not find a good website on calligraphy lesson. The existing sites that I searched so far either did not hold the brush correctly or did not teach the viewer the correct way of writing the calligraphy. The site teaches the viewer to go over the strokes repeatedly after writing (re-touch). That is a very poor habit that all the teachers ask students not to do. I think another possible resource will be borrowing a good video tape from the local library in giving step-by-step procedure on how to hold the brush and go over basic strokes (see above web site on basic strokes) before letting students write characters on the rice paper practicing newly acquired words that they learned from the Chinese class. [Edit by="vchiu on Aug 1, 10:33:06 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

This lecture felt taylor made for me, since I am an teacher of visual arts as well as language arts. My heart swelled with joy when art was elevated to a point equal to literature. Often art in public school is treated with disrespect and thought of as unnecessary. I wish my principal could have heard this lecture today. The idea of the brush as a tool to write and paint with is a beautiful concept that I will use in my classes. Caligraphy, poetry and painting what joy!

[Anonymous]

Wed. 3B
I have to admit I was in heaven on Wednesday afternoon we talked about Art. I loved learning the art principles of the period:
Rhythm of Vitality
Pattern of brush strokes
Verisimilitude
Color according to species
Arrangement position
Transmission of models
I should have asked it these principles stand today?

Today’s principles are:
Emphasis
Balance
Harmony
Variety
Movement
Rhythm/Pattern
Proportion
Unity
They are not much different how they are stated is really all that is different.

I wanted to say that the history of Cinema in China was wonderful, how fast it has develop after Mao and the resent cross over is great. I know that all my students have seen a Chinese martial arts movies. I have to admit that if my students like something I try to use it in the classroom any way I can.

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