thoughts about session 9 (China w/Dr. Clayton)

[Anonymous]

The issue of food and weight in modern Chinese children is an interesting topic. I didn't notice that when I was in China, but that doesn't mean it's not there. The rate of Type II diabetes is on the rise in China and other parts of Asia. I did notice presence of western fast food chains in Kunming. I even ate at a McDonald's. I got a vanilla cone and it had an odd after taste. I found out later that just about everything with dairy in it was made with whole milk. Anyhow, with walking distance of my hotel, there were two McDonald's, both very busy. Close to the school where I volunteered was a Pizza Hut. There was a Wal-mart about half a mile from the hotel and another one half a mile from the school. I was not expecting to see any of this in western China.

[Anonymous]

I agree with you Akohen, having the huge mausoleum for Mao is contrary to Communism, but it is cool to visit. I feel that the gang of four where used as scapegoats to avoid a power grab after Mao's death. The party leaders knew that there was some devision amongst the officials and these four where chosen to take the fall. Is it right or fair, no but this is politics.

[Anonymous]

I agree with you Akohen, having the huge mausoleum for Mao is contrary to Communism, but it is cool to visit. I feel that the gang of four where used as scapegoats to avoid a power grab after Mao's death. The party leaders knew that there was some devision amongst the officials and these four where chosen to take the fall. Is it right or fair, no but this is politics.

[Anonymous]

The attempt to erase the past is not all that surprising, but it definitely is interesting. Having started a revolution, it seems to make sense that the revolutionaries attempt to start something that eradicates what wasn't working with the old regime. The Communist revolution, along with other major revolutions in the 20th century, tried to elminated everything prior to their acension but failed. In China, many of the things, ideas, concepts, etc that existed prior to the Communist revolution still exist today. Some exist in diminished forms, while others are thriving.

The Cultural Revolution tried to eradicate religion, and while China is officially an atheist country today, there are many people in China who practice a variety of religion. In fact Christianity is on the rise. One of the people in my volunteer team attended a Christian service in Kunming, and reported that the church building was huge and had state of the art technology.

Buddhism is also thriving.

[Anonymous]

I would love to see Mao and Lenin's mausoleums. It's a bit morbid, but definitely something I'd would like to do. Of course, it would just be a trip to see their preserved bodies, rather I would make it part of a bigger trip. It's a contradiction to destroy the old and celebrate the new. Preserving Mao's legacy is a double-edge sword. On the one hand, he got China to modernize in a short time, but on the other hand he policies caused millions of deaths.

[Anonymous]

What stood out to me about Session 9 was that before the revolution, the university, and education, was the 1st most valued institution in China, while the army came in as the 2nd most valued. However, after the revolution, the army took 1st place and was viewed as a very prestigious institution. I guess war and fighting seems to get more attention and is more glorified than education all around :/ I also enjoyed the tid-bit of information regarding the military uniforms and how they do not have pockets in order to avoid having the soldiers look as though they are not taking their jobs seriously.

Another point of information shared,, that I was unaware of, is the 5 major religions in China; Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestant, and Daoism. I am interested to see the role that these religions play in the Chinese culture/society because when I was in Japan it was not popular for Japanese to be anything other than Buddhist. This is a point that I would definitely like to research further.

[Anonymous]

in these lectures we touched on the one child policy of China, and the fact that the society was becoming more accepting of daughters as opposed to son as is was in the not to distant past. One aspect that we did not talk about but, I am curious to know more about is, What will happen when this single child has one set of aging parents and two sets of evan older grandparents to take care of. Will there be the reverse of infanticide, with the elderly being eliminated, will the government step in and care for the aging population. Professor Dube did mention about some communities that built housing for the elderly, but in the not decade or so China's elderly may be the largest portion of its population. It will be interesting to how they handle it, because the "Baby Boomers" here in the U S will be there as well.

[Anonymous]

In this lecture, an event that happened in this criticle priod of time in Chinese morden history was discussed, that is the down of gang of Four. Now I am curious What would happen if the gang was not down and they took the control of the goverment. Would China be like what it is now? Can anybody imagin the picture and give a rational for that. Thank you

[Anonymous]

I had a hard time digesting the topic of late abortions in China. We recently had Council in my class and one of the topics was “how many children would you like to have in the future” as the question was discussed around the circle, the talking piece came to a Chinese teacher who said he had no other choice except one. It raised many questions among the students and we heard first hand how sad it can be for people to have to give up their longing and desire to have more than one child. This particular teacher also explained about the early indoctrination of a one child philosophy is taught as well as the consequences for not following it.

I was also shocked that universities and schools were shut down in the name of loyalty to the Communist Party. It was very contrary to what I have heard from some of the Chinese co-workers I have.

[Anonymous]

The scope of the content covered and discussed was outstanding. I really enjoyed re-visiting the "doctored" photos of Mao's death.

[Anonymous]

Like many others, I was intrigued, if a bit mystified, by the discussion of the Gang of Four -- and glad to finally learn who they were, other than a post-punk band of the late 70s/early 80s! It seems to me that the Gang of Four were scapegoated as a way of ending the Cultural Revolution and criticizing its worst excesses without directly criticizing Mao, which of course wouldn't have been possible. Since Jiang Qing and the others had risen to power and prominence in the final stages of the Cultural Revolution, they represented legitimate targets, and their downfall allowed for a limited amount of criticism; once they were eliminated, no further criticism was necessary. Mao had warned that China needed always to be vigilant against enemies, internal or external, and plenty of other leaders had fallen precipitously from power, so presumably the show trials of the Gang of Four didn't seem as ludicrous and transparently political to the Chinese as they might seem to others -- or else they were simply wearily accepted as just being the way things were likely to turn out.

[Anonymous]

As I teach Human Geography, in which a main theme is migration, I really enjoyed the reading on internal rural-to-urban migration in China. Since this is a world-wide trend in less developed countries, it would be interesting for my Human Geo students to compare the experiences in China to those in, say, South American or African cities (which are growing very rapidly and with very little planning or control by the government). Given China's governmental restrictions on migration, I can see why fewer people move to cities there than do in some other countries, but clearly the incentives to move are still there, and people will always go where they think they can forge a better life for themselves and their children (or only child, as the case may be!). I was intrigued by the author's suggestion that this rural-to-urban movement may be slowing, as the jobs in cities are less appealing to migrants and government-supplied services are shrinking. I'll keep an eye out for this trend and maybe do some work with my classes to see what evidence we can find to either support or refute this analysis.

[Anonymous]

A lot of Chinese people in big cities are becoming rich, but how are they going to spend their money? One way to use it is to send their kids to overseas universities for good high education. That's why we can see many Chinese students come to US universities. They study hard to get the degree. I often told my students to study hard, because more and more competent people from other countries will become their rival in getting a job in the future. However,
what is good is that America can make some money by receiving international students. From this we can see that when China becomes rich, the United States can get benefits from it.

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed the readings for this class, especially the ones describing the rapid pace of change and the pressures, pleasures, and anxieties that are accompanying those changes. The competition to get ahead, the often stoic acceptance of harsh realities, the lack of understanding between generations -- all of this seems familiar to me from teaching the history of the US during the late 19th century, when similar, confusing changes were taking place in this country. Of course China's society is facing these shifts in a different context, in terms of technology, international relations, politics, etc., but it seems as if the personal pressures and responses are quite similar.

I'm particularly interested in urban history and design, so the final article on slum clearance in Beijing struck a chord with me. The justifications for "slum" clearance echo the arguments made in the US during the first half of the 20th century, when many vibrant urban neighborhoods were labeled as "blighted" and demolished in favor of tower blocks and parks (that often turned out to be parking lots instead). The appeals to the populace to do what's right for the country and to make personal sacrifices so that China wouldn't lose face in the eyes of foreign visitors to Beijing were, of course, pretty different from the approach of municipal governments in this country. I don't know if I'd have time to cover this in one of my classes (the eternal cry of the teacher!), but it would be interesting to make a comparison of these urban renewal projects, with their attendant policies, politics, and propaganda (how's that for alliteration?).

[Anonymous]

Here's an interesting take on the income gap between rich and poor, as played out in funeral observations and the building of tombs. Apparently the government has made some half-hearted attempts to reign in the more ostentatious funerals and graves (evidence of bourgeois tendencies!), but to little avail.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/23/world/asia/23tombs.html?ref=incomeinequality

[Author]

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