Session 5 - discussion

[Anonymous]

What a thought provoking lecture! I found the drama surrounding the "Visualizing Cultures" incident at MIT particularly interesting. Who would have thought that a century old Japanese woodblock print would cause so much controversy? It's fascinating that a project dedicated to overcoming the destructive effects of violence and racism was interpreted as doing just the opposite! The incident brought up many very interesting questions:

Should MIT have given in to the outcry and taken the site down?

Should we allow concerns for sensitivity inhibit teaching and research?

In this age of political correctness, these are very important, timely questions to consider.

As a lover of reading and writing, I was also particularly interested to learn about Chinese essayist, diplomat and philosopher Hu Shih. His guidelines to Chinese writers were just wonderful:

*Speak only when you have something to say.
*Speak what you want to say and say it in the way you want to say it.
*Speak what is your own and not that of someone else.
*Speak in the language of the time in which you live.
edited by khumphreys on 11/16/2015

[Anonymous]

During this seminar, I had two main takeaways: WWII started in Asia, and symbols can be transnational and used for opposing purposes. I really had no idea that the conflict leading to WWII began with issues in Asia! I am surprised that I never learned this in school, but I guess our standards are self-centered. My second takeaway comes from the idea that the Manchurians forced people to shave their forehead and grow their hair in a braid as a symbol of rebellion against the regime. I thought this was interesting because in this instance, this hairstyle is a sign of strength and solidarity, but when people begin to move to the United States, this same hairstyle then becomes a point of contention and ultimately leads to persecution. In San Francisco, this hairstyle becomes banned by law as a step towards assimilation. I find it interesting how these same symbols can have very different meanings and effects. This also leads me to wonder if the hair style was banned in China if it was a symbol adopted by revolutionaries.

[Anonymous]

[font=Times, 'Times New Roman', serif]This reading reminds me of the times I went to visit my family in Mexico when I was a child. The village where I am from is much more modern than it was before. The people there have access to the internet now but that was not always the case. When I was in 4th grade I remember that the running water was not very dependable. It was not very dependable when I went a year ago but that was because of drought. Any who, the questions my cousin asked me seemed like they would come straight out of this reading. They had the wildest images of the United States. One time one of my cousins came to live with us. He was watering the plants with the hose and he got some of it on the concrete. When the water hit the concrete, suds of soap came up. Every so often, my mom would use the leftover mop water to wash the concrete outside of our house. My cousin thought that in the United States, soap automatically comes from the ground, which explained to him why everything was so clean![/font]

[Anonymous]

The article that I enjoyed reading was "Things about America and Americans" This article presents us the perspective of others about our country. As Ivett previously mentioned, this perspective has not changed at all throughout the years. The author basically tells us that we do not enjoy our lives, the only thing we do in America is work and worry about the money and material things. According to the author, our happiness is based on how much money we have and appearances, based on what the person has (money) is what they are worth. I also disagree with the author in regards to the appreciation for educators. Students are molded by teachers and we do not receive the appreciation we deserve. Teaching is not a good investment for those who just want to earn a check. Teaching is a great investment for those who want to make a difference.

[Anonymous]

I found the reading "About Americans" most interesting as well because it shows a foreigners perspective and understanding of American traits and customs. I also found it interesting that Chinese people would be interested in reading this for the purpose understanding American culture. The perception of Americans only interested in material things and wealth I found revealing. I feel that foreigners who come to America have an interesting perspective to share, kind of how Alexis de Tocqueville had about the democratic process in the U.S. in early American history; this reading I felt was sociologically revealing and if anything, should inform us of how foreigners view Americans. A very interesting read!

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I enjoyed this week’s discussion on China. Much of the history was much more in depth that any discussion I do in my classes. I can see using some of the documents provided in the discussion board in my own courses. The Fundamentals by Sun Yat-Sen could be used in class as a primary source tied to either the Enlightenment or Chinese Revolution in units that I teach.

During the discussion It was interesting to get the backstories on various leaders like Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-Shek. Their educational and personal backgrounds definitely shaped their ideas for revolution.

Curious if anyone else has ideas on how to use some of the documents provided in lessons you teach?

[Author]

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