[clay dube]

Congratulations, Darlene!

You managed to post twice! To put content posts up, please look at the blue "tree" of links above the main forum area. You'll see something like
Teaching about Asia Forums > Torrance 2005 Seminar > Re: test zone

Each one of these is clickable. To go to the Torrance seminar list of topics, click on it. To go to all the "Teaching" forums, click on it. For your internet article, you could click on the Torrance link, then click new thread, then your new thread could be entitled "Contemporary China" and your first post would be to discuss the LA Times article you mentioned.

For those interested in net trends in Asia, please take a look at http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu. It is our daily digest of reports. You can search for specific countries and topics.

Earlier this year, we published an article by CNN reporter Rebecca McKinnon entitled "Let a thousand internet filters bloom." Read it at: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=26945

[clay dube]

If you run into installation problems, you may wish to download the latest version of Mozilla to your computer. This takes some time as the download file is more than 10 mb in size. Over a fast connection, it will take a few minutes.

Go to http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/

At this site you can also download guides to using the software.

Here's the official Mozilla guide:
http://www.mozilla.org/docs/end-user/guide/get-started.html

Most people will find it quicker to install the software from the provided cd-rom. [Edit by="Clay Dube on Oct 2, 9:29:42 AM"][/Edit]

[clay dube]

[I sent this out by email, but some may not have received it.]

Your disk has a newer version of the software than what I described in the “Using Composer” guide. The changes in the software are not significant, but one may cause some trouble.

You need to install either the Mozilla or Netscape _SUITE_. Simply having the Netscape browser (called Navigator) is not enough.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Insert the cd into your cd drive.

2. Some computers will display the contents of the cd automatically, for others you’ll need to use My Computer (Windows) or Finder (Mac). Once you’ve got the contents displayed, click on the appropriate folder (either mac or windows).

3. You’ll see a Mozilla file (labels/numbers differ, but they start with Mozilla). Click on it to launch the installation of Mozilla.

4. Follow the installation directions provided by the program. You need to install the Suite, though you won’t use mail and some other components.

5. After installing Mozilla (you may need to restart your computer), start the program by clicking on your desktop icon or using:

Windows computers: START => All Programs => Mozilla
Macs: Macintosh HD => Applications => Mozilla

6. By default, the program opens with the Mozilla web browser, which is called Mozilla Navigator (yes, just like Netscape). On the menu bar at the top of the window, find WINDOW. Click on it to see the different components of the Mozilla Suite. Click on Composer to open your web page editor.

You’ll find that Composer looks and works very much like a word processor. The Using Composer guide should help you as you experiment with building your web page.

[clay dube]

[I sent this by email also, but it may be that this did not reach you.]

We were only able to briefly review several important points for each of the four philosophies. Through the primary source documents in the red curriculum guide, those contained in the Ebrey Chinese Civilization reader, and (if you are so inclined) in the EWP East Asia textbook, you’ll be able to gain a sense of the richness of these teachings and how they are intertwined, how their advocates sought to address the problems they identified and realize, in some cases, shared aims.

If we had more time to cover the schools and for the debate itself, I’d have an elaborate debate format, with each group making presentations on several themes, each would also have a hatchet-man/woman whose responsibility would be to attack the perceived flaws in others groups’ thinking. We don’t have enough time to prepare and coordinate in this way, so we have to take a more informal approach. Please look at the following preamble and focus questions as you get ready for our debate on Tuesday, Oct. 11.

Encounter: A Hundred Schools of Thought Contend

In capitals throughout the region rulers are consulting their advisors. It is a time of crisis, governments are crippled by corruption and war/war preparation is never-ending. States join schemes against other states and powerful families plot with others to improve their own positions. Little concern is shown common people. The elite tends to see them as a resource to be managed and marshalled in struggle against one's enemies. Commoners can only resist by running away. And they are doing this in great numbers, fleeing greedy lords and officials and brutal armies.

What has led to this danger? Technology has advanced so much. Agriculture has never been so productive. Our cities are sites of terrific trade (aided by new means of exchange) and places of a great cultural flowering. There is dance, music, and scholarly investigation.

But at the same time, weapons have been made even more lethal. Armies are larger and the devastation of war is greater than ever. Small states are being devoured by the large. Or they engage in secret diplomacy and espionage to undermine their neighbors.

In the past, in the days of the sage kings, our ancestors did not have to endure such chaos. There was order. There was peace. There was prosperity. Where have we gone wrong?

At our next session, devotees of Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, and Legalism will gather to reflect on the desperate situation that has emerged. They will engage in a debate over what should be done to overcome this crisis.

Focus Questions

Ideologies have to provide three essential elements:

1. A description of how we arrived at the present situation (a history?) – what’s the problem(s)?

2. A description (proscription) of what should be – how things ought to be.

3. A description of what should be done to move from 1 to 2 – an action plan.

Begin your debate preparation by thinking about how your school of thought addresses these needs.

In the debate, I’ll ask questions of each school and you may ask questions of each other. In general, accent the positive in your doctrine, but it may be occasionally helpful to draw contrasts with the way other schools deal with issues you consider critical.

We’ll definitely explore the following:

Education
Is education necessary? Define a "well-educated" person. What would such a person know and be able to do? Who should provide this training?

Loyalty
To which people/institutions should a person owe his/her loyalty? What is the nature and what are the limits (if any) of these obligations?

Society/Government
Describe the ideal society and government's role (if any) in that society. Be sure to address issues such as stratification, relations between people, and qualifications/responsibilities of leaders.

You may find the chart on pages 44-45 (or that neighborhood) useful as you prepare.

[clay dube]

here's the link

[clay dube]

Jack,

There's a story on the Asia Institute website by oneo of the UCLA dance group's staff that will give you a broad overview of their aims and activities:

http://www.international.ucla.edu/asia/article.asp?parentid=23757

Asia Pacific Arts carried a review of the latest Chinese Cultural Dance Club performance. It includes a unnarrated video of a rehearsal:

http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=24097

http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=24636
An APA review of an earlier peformance:

http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=10925

[clay dube]

Back in June 2001, Atlantic Monthly featured an exchange between editor James Fallows (author of the excellent Looking at the Sun) and Alex Kerr about Kerr's just published Dogs and Demons: The Dark Side of Japan. The exchange can be seen at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/fallows/jf2001-06-21/

Fallows appreciates that Kerr takes Japan seriously, that he isn't, as many writers do, just using Japan to make a point about the US (showing perceived US shortcomings or highlighting strengths). Kerr argues that life has become rather ugly for many Japanese. The statistic that Fallows pulls out of Kerr's book to suggest why this might be is startling: Japan has 1/25th the land area of the US, yet it produces and uses more concrete than the US. This can only mean that building is a major constant in Japan.

Unfortunately, only subscribers to the Atlantic get to see the whole exchange. (It's also available to those with access to Lexis-Nexis or other article databases.) Fallows concludes the first round by asking how Japanese civilization, with such a refined aesthetic sensibility, could produce ugly cities?

Are Japan's cities ugly? Compared to what? Please share your thoughts on urban Japan.

[clay dube]

National Geographic's online student atlas includes a rich section devoted to food and agriculture in Asia. It includes a map that students can click on to get stories about food and food production in several Asian locations.

This resouce could be utilized in courses where food supply is being discussed, where the carrying capacity of the land is being explored, and where population growth is a topic under study.

It would be great if a couple of teachers specializing in social studies and sciences could review the site.

National Geographic -- food and agriculture in Asia

[clay dube]

This lesson has students view a PBS documentary and utilize web resources to learn about Hinduism, the place of the elephant in the faith (including Ganesha), and the place of the elephant in its ecosystem. Attention is focused on the impact of human activities, including tourism on elephants.

PBS -- elephants and Hinduism unit

Math and science teachers -- how about reviewing these units and commenting on their usefulness?

[clay dube]

The PBS website includes a couple of useful suggestions on bringing Asia into math classrooms.

Magic Squares and Stars
The author of the lesson says Chinese tradition credits the legenday Emperor Yu (one of the sage rulers that Confucians always herald) with the invention of the magic square. Originating in China 4,000 years ago, the magic square was part of the Islamic world by the 9th century and was in India by the 11th and 12th centuries.

PBS magic square lesson

The Abacus
This lesson sets up a competition between calculators and abacuses.

PBS abacus lesson

[clay dube]

Robert Urkofsky raises an important point -- don't newspapers tend to focus on the unusual and when the place being discussed is perhaps distant and relatively unfamiliar, isn't it possible that the image fostered is a distortion?

In fact, there's much less spitting and public urination in big city China as there once was. In part this is because of campaigns such as the one Magnier describes in his LA Times article and in part because there's less smoking and coal smoke-fed air pollution (both leading to respiratory problems). But most Westerners will likely still take note because both phenomenon are more common in China than "at home".

Don't other cities try to burnish their images? Certainly San Diego's longstanding proclamation of itself as "America's Finest City" stands out. Haven't various mayors launched "smile" offensives?

Anyone interested in China and in this sort of thing will find Chen Jo-shi's story of "The Big Fish" in the collection The Execution of Mayor Yin (Indiana University Press, 1979) interesting. It tells of official efforts to make a particular market that was to be visited by foreign reporters look a bit richer than it in fact was. The stories are set in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). Chen was born in Taiwan and went to grad school in the US. Wanting to join the revolution, she lived in China from 1969 to 1973.

[teachers beware -- a 1,006 word term paper is available on this book for $38 from academon.com]

[clay dube]

Hi Folks,

A copy of the seminar reader table of contents is attached. To open it, just click on the icon below this post. You'll need Adobe Acrobat to read and print it. You probably already have it on your computer, but if not, get a free copy at:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

A copy of the table of contents is in your reader, but some of you may want to preview it.

[clay dube]

The table of contents for the seminar reader is attached. Please note that at each session, certain parts of the upcoming reading assignment will be stressed.

[clay dube]

The recent Japanese film University of Laughs (screened at the New York Film Festival in 2005 and reviewed by Rowena Aquino in Asia Pacific Arts) looks at censorship in wartime Japan. Maintaining morale and stimulating loyalty were assumed by government bodies on both sides of the Pacific to be critical during the war. The Why We Fight series produced by Frank Capra for the US War Department for US soldiers was thought so effective that they were ultimately shown to the general public. They remain available on VHS and DVD and can be readily used in classrooms today to encourage discussions of how we talk about others.

[Why We Fight - useful outlines, notes, clips]

John Dower's War Without Mercy includes an extensive discussion of propaganda and censorship, the focus of which is conveyed by the chapter title: "Race War".

[clay dube]

Mark Magnier, writing in the LA Times on 9/17/2005, says that a massive etiquette cultivation effort is underway in China. The aim of the campaign is to change public behavior so that those visiting China in connection with the 2008 Olympics will not be offended. Among the targets of the campaign:

public spitting
public urination
disregard for lines
slit pants for children (click here to see what is being referenced -- I took this photo on our teachers' tour of China in summer 2004)

Schools have been opened, television spots aired, and the message is being rammed home. The article can be read at (for the next week, anyway): "China Changes Course".

Here is another article about efforts to change public behavior:
International Herald Tribune, 2001

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