Session 9B: 20th Century China

[Anonymous]

A lot of information from our last session enthralled me as it did other posters:

[Anonymous]

I was very impressed with learning about Xi Ci the Empress Dowager. Powerful women are always inspiring to me. The fact that she was the “de facto” ruler for a century truly displays the power she had. She was nothing more than a concubine; yet, she was able to harness her power over, not only her son, but other male relatives as well. She was not given her power. There were emperors ruling at the time, at least attempting to rule at the time. But that didn’t stop her from taking over, in a totalitarian fashion at that. I think it would be great for students to explore how she was able to do this in a male dominated world (society). I’m not sure yet how I can fit this into a lesson, but I am excited about trying to put something together.

[Anonymous]

Matt Pailes and I got in the habit the last week of the seminar of zipping back to the suite and trying to find the series Naked Chinaon the tube. On our last night, one of the pods was called "Toxic Villages" and examined a couple of towns in southern China where huge quantities of e-waste, mostly from the US, are processed. When they showed a village that burns this waste I expected to see a repeat of the Cuyahoga River fires when they showed the waterways. What a Hell! The workers in these villages were, by and large, migrantss and could make about $12 a day. Migrants across the world get all the sh*t jobs.
When they did the segment at the toxicology, lab I expected to hear horror stories similar to the rash of acephalic babies that popped up in Mexico after some badly polluting maquiladoras were sited across the Rio Grande, but, lo and behold, lead accumulation in children was abating (maybe because they use a lot less lead solder in circuit boards now?). And yes the US is the biggest producer and exporter of e-waste. The US has signed the Basel Convention which prohibits the sale/dumping of e-waste in developing countries, but the Senate has not ratified it thus giving it the force of law.
Watch the video "Toxic Villages" here: http://current.com/items/76355482_toxic_villages

[Anonymous]

There seems to be so much more to learn about China. I feel the changes in China over the last 20 years rivals the history of most nations since their day one. It took me a long time to understand why Mao is so revered--picture at Tienneman Square, picture on the currency, and even the souvenir watch. The 70% good,30% bad was what I needed to hear to understand it. I've learned a little from my own primary sources, which I'll share here. I attended the 9 hour Peony Pavillion Opera and a lecture on it at UCI. By the time it was over I actually liked the clanging drums and the high pitched voices which lend themselves to half-singing,half-talking at the same time. I learned that when the opera was banned and music burned, some of the artists got together in the re-education camps to practice and recite lyrics so they would not be forgotten. This lasted 30 years and was passed down to younger generations. So the opera we can see today is basically the same, due to the diligence and spirit of those original artists. I also attended a lecture at UCI by the speaker Dan Wang. He was a young man who was at Tienneman Square in 1989 and saw what happened. And yes, the Chinese account is not accurate. There was alot of excitement and confussion and movement in the Square. Although I made a bee line from work, I arrived late and caught just part of his speech from the back of the room. He answered questions from the audience and posed for pictures with people (which I got) , while autographing his book ( he has 2 books,written in Chinese). He's currently a doctoral student at Harvard. I'd be interested in knowing more about him ( ie. his schooling, how he came to stay in the U.S. etc). I have his business card, but he has not responded to emails. Another piece of information I can share is the book "The Coming China Wars" by Peter Navarro. He's a professor at UCI and I may email him with questions I have, but probably not before Sept 9 to include here. His book is very much anti-China ( which I disagree with, but he does have alot of facts and credibility) It has made me more conscious about China today.He writes about China's breakneck industrialization and the wars of tomorrow with other industrialized nations for oil, jobs, technology, for starters. He also writes about drug and human trafficking, Sudan, and the environment. By reading the book I now pay more attention to what China is doing worldwide and the alliances that are being set up. I hate to think he is right in his perception of China, but he has strong arguments.One of the posts to the back of the book from Stuart Hart (S.C. Johnson Chair of Sustainable Global Enterprise, Cornell Univ.) states"What Al Gore does for climate change, Peter Navarro does for China. This book will hit you right between the eyes. A gargantuan wake-up call." If anyone else has read this book, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts. I would love to make an appointment and go in to speak with Dr. Navarro, but for now, I'll try to summon up the courage to write an educated email with questions or comments. I feel that I gained insight and knowledge from our classes this summer to reread the book and have a better understanding of it.

[Anonymous]

I thought about our concerns with current Chinese culture as I read Edward Wong’s essay, “The Games Began. Hearts Swelled,” in this Sunday’s (8/17/08) New York Times. I’ve attached a link to Wong’s article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/sports/olympics/17wong.html

In Wong’s discussion of the pride Chinese take in the Olympics, the sentence I found most relevant to our seminar was, “But for many Chinese, especially those overseas, love of country doesn’t necessarily equate to love of the Communist Party – it can mean admiration for, or loyalty to, Chinese culture (‘5,000 years of history’ as most Chinese will tell you), and a desire for the West to respect the Chinese.”

I think Wong would approve of the content and attitude of our two week seminar, and I highly recommend this article to anyone who wants to explain the connections of pre-communist China with China today.

[Anonymous]

20th Century China

I think that this session was a very important one for me because although it was lengthy and abundant with information; I was able to return to my readings and discover why China was such a focal point during the 20th Century.

I learned that after Marco Polo went to China, that’s if he ever went there; his contacts sparked a great interest in China by the West. I didn’t find it surprising that the West soon saw China as a possible colony. As any country that is invaded by foreigners a feeling of resentfulness is apt to happen, and so it did.

The few that decided to stand up and fight against foreign invasion called themselves the “Righteous and Harmonious Fists”. I’m not sure if I want to think of them as being righteous, but they did serve a purpose in China‘s history. The boxers who rebelled and attacked western missionaries and foreigners were soon stopped dead on their tracks when they faced the 19,000 troops of the allied armies of the Western Imperialist Powers. When the rebellion was over China was forced to accept a humiliating peace settlement.

The one thing that frustrated me the most was how the West forced itself into China and expected them to be okay with their invasion. Although the Rebellion had the right idea to defend what rightfully belonged to them their failure to throw out foreigners made the Chinese people lose confidence in a system that had been in place for a long time. The Rebellion was the beginning of turmoil that continued on for the remainder of the 20th century.

The lesson I derived from the Boxer Rebellion was to maybe be careful what you stand for otherwise you may put yourself in a predicament that might be hard to overcome.

😛

[Anonymous]

The session was combined with 19th Century Cina. At the beginning of the seminar, Prof. Dube distributed numerous pages of informative handouts to read. Since the 20th century is in the time frame when we were born, we need to continue learning about this peiod.

I was interested in how the 2 parties in China (Guomindang and Chinese Communist Party) were formed, and how they gave influence to China. These two different parties are still affecting the two parts of China (Taiwan and mainland) today.

When I was attending the National Taiwan University during 1970s, all the students had to take a course "The philosophy of San Yatsen (1866-1925): Three People's Principals" as a general education even though I was majoring in Chinese Literature. At that time, the emphasis was on the Guomindang, and triumph of Jiang Kaishek (1887-1975). Although they talked about Communism, Communist China and Mao Zedong (1893-1976), all of this was evil and bad.

I wanted to know more: why did the CCP win the war and the country?
John K. Fairbank wrote: "The immediate underlying factor in the Communist rise to power was Kuomintang's failure to lead the country in a program of creative action....Intent on holding power, it distrusted the enthusiasm of private agancies and individuals. It feared change in a rapidly changing world. Its failure in political leadership gave the Communists an opportunity which they otherwise might not have had."
Edwin O. Reishauer wrote: "There were probably two major reasons for the Kuomintang failure. An abvious one was Jpanese aggression against China....another and more fundamental reason was ....the very magnitude of the task it faced and the difficulty for any one group to achieve the whole of it. As the years went by, the Kuomingtang increasingly came to represent the status quo and thus began itself to stand in the way of progress."
After the communist took over mainland China in 20th century, they continued stuggling, such as the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976): Mao used popular images and power to attack the party, battle on campus freedoms (Beijing University). Then there was Liu Shaoqi and Mao Zedong (work teams, stability vs. masses, chaos). Liu Shaoqi lost this struggle. During the Cultural Revolution, many educated people were singled out for persecution. College professors, middle school teachers, news paper writers, musicians, party cardes, factory managers, and other who could be classed as educated suffered a wide variety of brutal treatment. Tens of thousands were killed or committed suicide. The most important economic change was the land reform: take the land from absent landlord, and re-distribute it to the people who worked it.
Today China is facing the problems such as pollution, religious revival (Catholicism, Protestantism, Muslim, Buddhism, and Daoism), and family planning.

The 20th century in China is a very interesting topic for our students to study. In my language class, I will introduce the main events and give the students reaserch assignments. Then we will discuss why this happened, how these affected China, etc.

[Anonymous]

This lecture (Thanks again, Clay!) had some truly striking visuals and stories; it felt like a lesson that in itself could have been expanded to a full seminar of material. The conclusion of the Opium War with the Treaty of Nanjing cut the Chinese so deep on a national level- having to pay reparations, Hong Kong given to the British, French missionaries later allowed in, and finally the US 1885 agreement for all of the above PLUS "Most Favored Nation Status." Extra territoriality was the end-all in humiliation (and something I've talked about to many people since the program ended), and this was still not nearly as devastating as the horrors of the subsequent century. To finish the seminar, then, with talk of the Olympics (which were a massive success) symbolized an epic turnaround. Looking forward to receiving this powerpoint among others...

[Anonymous]

The opium wars and the British involvement was really shocking to me. I, too, as one other poster said, maybe Matt (manchester), thought that opium came from China rather than went into China. I'm glad to have the knowledge to correct people who have the same belief.

The most striking image for me this afternoon were the images of young Mao and old Mao. The young Mao seemed so idealist and righteous? His country was in trouble, he wanted to change things, who was to know of the power hungry soul that lived within! Or was it that he became corrupt after he gained power...you know the old saying: Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. This seems to be true of so many revolutions, the leader always turns.

Rebecca, your post echoes my sentiment about one person deceiving millions and how people's need to blame somebody for their misfortunes can dull thier decision making abilities.

Next year I hope to take the first steps in creating a humanitas program at my school. Animal Farm will undoubtedly be on my reading list and where my history counter-part will use the traditional Russian revolution, I will absolutely encourage him to include Mao and China in it. I think it will be eye opening to studetns as they see the connections between the two countries.

[Anonymous]

I found a great website for those of you who are interested in mid 20th century cultural revolution collectables. I have alway been an appreciator of the CR posters of the red guard. The idealized figures and poses, the beautiful grapics and inks used. I did frequent the CR stores in my neighborhood in the 1970s around Universal City, CA when I was a youngster and did purchase some of the tin cups, a Mao pin, red book, blue CR jacket and such and still have some of the stuff. I had a feeling then that these would be the collectable of the future. Now you can view these things on a museum type website. culturegems.com

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