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clay dube
SpectatorIf you're panda-crazy (and who isn't), you'll like this solar farm designed to look like a panda:
https://www.lifegate.com/people/lifestyle/china-panda-solar-farmHere's the plan:
SpectatorWith the announcement timed to coincide with Xi Jinping's visit to Rome, Italy announces plans to be the first Western country to issue a panda bonds to raise money for various infrastructure projects.
SpectatorJapanese professional baseball launches 3/29/2019: http://npb.jp/eng/
Taiwan - the leagues streams video from games: http://www.cpblenglish.com/
Korea: http://eng.koreabaseball.com/
Philippines (amateur and mainly collegiate): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Baseball_League_(2019%E2%80%93present)
Article about the history of baseball in the Philippines: http://www.ethnicgroupsphilippines.com/2016/04/04/reviving-philippine-baseball/Article about the decline of baseball in the Philippines: https://sports.inquirer.net/324924/breaking-major-league-baseball-a-stranger-in-our-shores
SpectatorBaseball's opening day is upon us. In 2015, National Geographic assenbled some terrific pictures from the game around the world:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/150328-baseball-sports-history-opening-day/Some of the images are tied to Asia:
#3 Bystanders watch a game in the Philippines.#6 Game played on the frozen Bering Sea.
#8 A man sells hot dogs at a 1960 baseball game in Japan.
#13 Japanese championship celebration.Ichiro Suzuki is playing his last major league games in Japan - Watch from MLB:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fngV4oDggRk
SpectatorOfficial Chinese government statement on religion and freedom of belief: https://china.usc.edu/chinas-policies-and-practices-protecting-freedom-religious-belief
Xi Jinping sees potentially subversive foreign influences in many places, including Protestant churches:
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3001240/official-head-chinas-protestant-churches-says-religions-must-beAn 3 years ago: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/world/asia/china-christians-zhejiang.html
An even earlier story (some of the churches are astonishingly big: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1536757/more-zhejiang-churches-be-torn-down-demolition-campaign
SpectatorJudy asks about what counts as pornography or obscenity. In the US, standards vary from community to community. This is true in China in terms of what people think and do, but with easier transmission of ideas has come a lot of things the government seeks to keep out. There was a time when an onscreen kiss would never have been permitted, but it is acceptable now. Because China doesn't have an age-linked rating system, films are supposed to be made for general audiences. There are discussions about how Chinese versions of games are a bit different from those outside China (this gamer's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aycxWsFMD_o) .
Porn exists in China, of course - often on internet bar servers, and some Japanese porn stars have attracted a big following, but my sense is that it isn't as prevalent as in the US.
SpectatorChris offers an important reminder. It's sometimes hard for students to understand that difference has many sources, including historical factors and choices. The past is a challenge for some students. We need to nourish imagination and acceptance. The Chinese government promotes an idea of 和而不同 which is the idea that we need not be the same to live in harmony. I think most of us would subscribe to that idea. Now, we see this idea not being implemented within China (e.g., re-education camps), but it was promoted at the time of the 2008 Olympics as a way of suggesting that different governance systems could be valid and that not everyone had to get on board the same bus/train. That said, China has signed on to a number of UN conventions on human rights, etc. that include the term universal.
SpectatorHi Folks,
Great discussion - please keep it going here.I mentioned two places that teachers liked, in part because they looked the way they expected China to look.
Lijiang - UNESCO/NHK video https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=22&v=QBlwdphynLY
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/811/
Pingyao -- https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/812
NHK video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjAb8vmiocI
I would remind everyone that it isn't just foreigners who find these places and a life/culture they find different and interesting. Many Chinese are similarly drawn to such destinations.
SpectatorThe Bowers exhibit that Margaret mentions: https://www.bowers.org/index.php/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/448-guo-pei-couture-beyond
SpectatorThe Financial Times article attached draws on a Brookings Institution study. The study argues that China's GDP growth is 12% less than advertised. Here's a key graph:
The paper argues that China's national statisticians try to correct for the exaggerations present in local reports of economic activity and growth, but can't really discount all of it. China's growth remains amazing, but just a bit less so.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.SpectatorSome resources:
William Hinton, romantic best selling book by an American witness, Fanshen
Hinton's daughter Carmen remained with her mother in China when her father came back to the US. She later came to the US and became a filmmaker. Her early films focused on the village reported on by her father. My favorite is about the changing status of women, Double Happiness. It and the others are available at Kanopy: https://www.kanopy.com/product/all-under-heavenNovels about land reform
The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River by Ding Ling (Ding Ling was an influential writer whose Diary of Miss Sophie challenged ideas about women, family; she later was ostracized by the party when she complained about patriarchical attitudes, her story is told by Jonathan Spence in The Gate of Heavenly Peace)
The Dragon's Village by Chen Yuan-tsungSpectatorHi Folks,
The two books I recommended are:
1 - Factory Girls by Leslie Chang
2- Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler
Both have interviews with people who chose to migrate in search of economic opportunities. Most of the people interviewed are in their 20s and many haven't yet married or had children. You get a sense of their hopes and fears. These books, though, are now a decade old and there are many fewer young people AND China's economy is slowing. This creates more opportunities for workers, but is also decreasing the demand for workers at the low end skill/education-wise. For example, we took a group of teachers to visit a Lenovo computer assembly factory in Beijing. Workers there had to have at least a tertiary degree, either from a college or a vocational college. A high school degree wasn't enough - for assembly work. Why? Because robots were already fetching and delivering parts and handling the lowest skilled tasks.The films mentioned:
documentaries
1 - China Blue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9gO9MgSO7A (we screened this at USC in 2007)
2 - (not mentioned, but recommended) Last Train Home (available via Kanopy, other streaming services) trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P313uy9hni4 (we screened this with the director as well in 2010)feature film (If someone finds this via a streaming service, please do post it. The film is outstanding. We screened it last fall.)
3 - Dying to Survive (我不是药神 I'm not a medicine god) A Chinese state television report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uXbkiaEvuAA pirate Vietnamese/English subtitled version is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7M52c-qFqo&list=PLAOWt0nP-YAahUm9-0mvavnwJ3LoMESE9
The film made money before it was even released: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-drug-smuggler-dramedy-dying-survive-became-a-china-box-office-phenomenon-1125299
Here's an article about the film and cancer care in China from The Lancet, Britain's leading medical journal:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(18)30921-5/fulltext
SpectatorHere's the 60 Minutes link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/electric-cars-chinas-drive-to-dominate-the-industry-60-minutes/
SpectatorYes, there are many Confucius Institutes. Here's a recent US government study of the agreements establishing the institutes: https://china.usc.edu/us-government-accountability-office-agreements-establishing-confucius-institutes-us-universities-are
Scroll to the bottom to download the full report.
We've often discussed them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIbAUUR07xgSpectatorOne of the ideas that the Chinese like to share about themselves is that they aren't an expansion-oriented power. I don't think that's quite correct. China hasn't, it is true, sought to extend its land holdings since 1949 (or at least not much - tensions and occasional shooting still happens along the border with India). But it's worthwhile to note that the boundaries of today's China weren't the boundaries in 1600. During the 17th century, the Manchu's conquered China and then extended the area under Beijing's control dramatically. Tibet, Xinjiang, and Taiwan were roped in. And, of course, the Manchu homeland and Mongolia was included. The Soviet Union split off Mongolia in the 1920s, but except for Taiwan, Beijing controls most of its Manchu inheritance. Of course, in recent years, China has built on an earlier claim by the Republic of China to most of the South China Sea. It would not call this expansionist, rather Beijing describes it as merely asserting historical rights. A UN arbitration court in 2016, however, rejected the historical claims put forward by Beijing. Great powers, including the US, tend to extend their economic links and then seek to defend them. We've seen some of this from China in Pakistan and Afghanistan and, of course, the American examples are quite numerous.
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