[clay dube]

These readings are optional, but I'm confident that you'll find them interesting. They look at Chinese in World War I and in Russia at about the same time. Both stories are not well known. The third article is about Chinese participation in the Spanish Civil War. One of the aspects of WW I that is too seldom discussed is the participation of Africans and Asians in what is usually thought of as a battle over control over Europe. These articles, each written for a Hong Kong-based newspaper, the South China Morning Post, may appeal to students. The website for the WW I story includes additional photos.
edited by Clay Dube on 7/22/2016

[clay dube]

If you're interested, please take a look at these videos. The first is from Al Jazeera. It was made by Brent Huffman and Xiaoli Zhou. We screened a rough cut of it at USC back in 2010. Brent now teaches at Northwestern University. At the time, Xiaoli taught at Marlborough School in Hancock Park.

The Colony

And also, two book talks by Deborah Brautigam:

The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa
USCI website | YouTube

Will Africa Feed China
USCI website | YouTube

What do you think of the ideas presented here?

Other videos:
Empire, from Al Jazeera 2014

China's state television network, CCTV offers many videos on Chinese in Africa.
edited by Clay Dube on 7/22/2016

[clay dube]

Tracy - thank you for introducing this wonderful story. I am very interested in China-links throughout Southern California and didn't know about this, even though I've visited Bakersfield. I hope that others will introduce us to local Asia links. It might be a great class project to identify the heritage and contemporary trade, investment, and other links between your communities and Asia.

Here are some additional resources about the Great Castle and its founder.

Bakersfield Californian, 2007 after his death http://www.bakersfield.com/news/2007/01/19/man-was-great-castle-s-king.html

The article begins:
"The Wang family usually doesn't see moths around the house. But for three days after their patriarch's death, one such creature fluttered through the home. "It traveled to the couch, rested a bit, then flew to Tzu Chun Wang's bedroom. It followed the route Wang used to take around the house, said his daughter, Yun-Li.
"Wang, the founder of Great Castle Chinese Restaurant on Union Avenue, died Sunday of heart failure. He was 84.
"According to Chinese tradition, his spirit has returned in moth form, Yun-Li said.
"We told the grandchildren ... 'When you see this, don't try to kill it because that's Grandfather,'" she said.
"Yun-Li, the restaurant's manager, said her father rarely took a day off. He was strict and family members would be in trouble if they were five minutes late to work."

Bakersfield Magazine, 2011 http://bakersfieldmagazine.net/2011/10/great-castle-imagine-my-surprise/
Other resources for the Chinese community in Bakersfield:

The Chinese of Kern County, 1857-1960 - book published http://www.bakersfield.com/columnists/robert-price/2006/02/10/kern-s-vibrant-chinese-past-comes-to-life.html

Article about tunnels under Bakersfield's two Chinatowns (Chinese were blocked from buying property outside them): http://www.gilbertgia.com/hist_articles/community/underground_bakersfield6_com.pdf

Gilbert Gia also wrote this article about the Chinese Cemetery: http://www.gilbertgia.com/hist_articles/civRights/chinese_cemetery_aj_civ.pdf

Virtual tours: Chinese cemetery: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/21a773/

Let Sing Gong Temple: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/219df1/

Bakersfield Chinese School https://sites.google.com/site/bakersfieldchinese/

[clay dube]

The leftover women clip and the story behind it is at:
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/skincare-brand-bravely-stood-chinas-leftover-women-unmarried-after-25-170708

The short documentary that I mentioned on "Leftover Park" is at:
http://www.china.usc.edu/documenting-global-city-2014-leftover-park-%E7%9B%B8%E4%BA%B2%E5%85%AC%E5%9B%AD

The YouTube version of it is at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDh2_R5p39k&feature=youtu.be&list=PL30FD5F0382C99E98

I showed a short portion of that film at our #MillennialMinds conference in Shanghai:
http://china.usc.edu/clayton-dube-%E6%9D%9C%E5%85%8B%E9%9B%B7-outline-future (and at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t10xvoSPHDE&feature=youtu.be&list=PLZoSvm2n7tkdnJ008j4sdZyPVO2t2l4X6)

Please watch the ad agency's clip and please also watch the short documentary, which shows parents and young people talking about the challenges and pressures of finding a mate. Please share what you think about those videos.

[clay dube]

Some can always find a bit of dark humor from Baiducao (https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2015/12/badiucao-%E5%B7%B4%E4%B8%A2%E8%8D%89-anti-smog-red-scarf/):

[clay dube]

Red Scarf Girl is a popular book in American schools. The author is available for paid appearances and has additional resources at her website: http://www.jilijiang.com/red-scarf-girl/

Horrible pollution has caused some to use those red scarfs in new ways (slide show: http://pic.chinadaily.com.cn/2015-12/23/content_22785348.htm):

[clay dube]

From the H-Asia discussion list.
From: Hans Ulrich Vogel <[email protected]>
Membership publication: Hans Ulrich Vogel, _Marco Polo Was in China: New Evidence from Currencies, Salts and Revenues_, Leiden, Boston: Brill (Monies, Markets and Finance in East Asia; 2), 2013.
Abstract:
In “Marco Polo Was in China” Hans Ulrich Vogel offers an innovative look at the highly complex topics of currencies, salt production and taxes, commercial levies and other kinds of revenue as well as the administrative geography of the Mongol Yuan empire. The author’s rigorous analysis of Chinese sources and all the important Marco Polo manuscripts as well as his thorough scrutiny of Japanese, Chinese and Western scholarship show that the fascinating information contained in Le devisament dou monde agrees almost pefectly with that we find in Chinese sources, the latter only available long after Marco Polo’s stay in China. Hence, the author concludes that, despite the doubts that have been raised, the Venetian was indeed in Khubilai Khan’s realm.

Author:
Hans Ulrich Vogel, Ph.D. (1983) in Sinology, Zürich University is Professor for Chinese History and Society at Tübingen University. He has published monographs, articles and translations mainly on the history of society, economy, science and technology in premodern China. Presently he his working on his contribution “The Salt Industry” to Joseph Needham’s “Science and Civilisation in China” series.

For publisher’s announcement see: http://www.brill.com/marco-** polo-was-china <http://www.brill.com/marco-polo-was-china>
For access to the first 120 pages of the book, including the table of contents, see: http://books.google.de/books/**about/Marco_Polo_Was_in_China
edited by Clay Dube on 12/16/2015

[clay dube]

Other networks also had their feeds cut. Here are articles mentioning it:

On Rather getting pulled:
http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id122.htm

In 2006, Rather showed footage of getting pulled. One of the people in the CBS space, not mentioned, but there, was the wife of the US ambassador, Bette Bao Lord: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/rather-on-tiananmen/

On CBS, CNN, and NBC
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/25/world/china-again-cuts-off-tv-news-transmission.html

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-05-25/news/mn-720_1_john-sheahan-beijing-nbc-anchor-tom-brokaw

http://articles.latimes.com/1989-05-23/entertainment/ca-765_1_beijing-tapes-president-for-news-coverage

http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1989/China-Stops-Live-Coverage-by-American-Television/id-29ef01b45abfeeeea5382a6b9e45b092

Chicago Tribune on CNN: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-05-20/news/8902020756_1_cnn-beijing-hotel-chinese

Here is an article about the pixalator that allow phone transmission of video:
http://articles.latimes.com/1989-06-07/entertainment/ca-1790_1_beijing-footage-phone-lines

[clay dube]

Erika, thanks for this great story.

On Saturday, the aqi in LA was 42, in Beijing it went from 155 at 2 pm to 415 at 10 pm. Deadly. Is there any hope for improvement?

Here are some articles about what has been done to improve the air quality of Los Angeles:

2015 LAT: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-what-new-smog-rules-mean-for-california-air-pollution-20150930-story.html

2014 Marketplace series: http://www.marketplace.org/2014/07/14/sustainability/we-used-be-china/la-smog-battle-against-air-pollution

KCET story (by someone Catherine knows): http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/columns/laws-that-shaped-la/how-los-angeles-began-to-put-its-smoggy-days-behind.html

2005 NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/us/california-air-is-cleaner-but-troubles-remain.html

chronology: http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/brochure/history.htm

http://www.nrdc.org/air/diesel-exhaust/california-air-quality.asp

[clay dube]

We would greatly appreciate it if you could scan or take clear photos of those sections of your textbooks devoted to Tiananmen. It will be great to compare these. Please attach the scans to your message. Please be sure to let us know the text title, publication date, and page numbers. Thanks for the descriptions several of you have offered. Are pictures included?

[clay dube]

I have long considered the hukou system the most important and least appreciated of China's control mechanisms. Who one's mother was really did determine your life chances. A couple days after our class on 12/7, China announced changes. Here are some articles. This could be much more important than the one child birth control policy.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-moves-to-normalize-the-status-of-millions-of-people-on-margins-1449749262

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35063788

China state radio: http://english.cri.cn/12394/2015/12/13/4203s908103.htm

[clay dube]

Yang Ban Xi - film on the production of these, includes interviews and film clips: https://vimeo.com/114648184

Here's an article about the film and director: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/mar/04/classicalmusicandopera.musicals

And a fun NPR article about Jiang Qing and model operas: http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2013/04/24/178900162/explore-madame-maos-hollywood-fantasies

Our Assignment:China segment on the Nixon trip, includes his watching one of the operas with Jiang Qing. See it at: http://china.usc.edu/assignment-china-week-changed-world

Red Detachment of Women ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCxE5UirSRk

Chas Freeman was one of the key interpreters for Nixon on this trip, here is is remembrance of the opera/ballet: http://chasfreeman.net/the-red-detachment-of-women-revisited/

[clay dube]

More info on the memoir from Lin Zhisui, Mao's doctor:

Review by USC friend and colleague John Wills: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/review-essay/1994-11-01/emperor-has-no-clothes-maos-doctor-reveals-naked-truth

NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/02/world/the-tyrant-mao-as-told-by-his-doctor.html?pagewanted=all

His contribution to this book resulted in my colleague Andrew Nathan (Columbia) being banned from going to China. Anne Thurston was also banned.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VyU6fwmdjf8C&pg=PA672&lpg=PA672&dq=lin+zhisui+private+life&source=bl&ots=j3lGqCf-2e&sig=hI6M8wNCLxwE2rf-dhKLfG4CzPs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2i-ua8tnJAhVBSmMKHanXAfQQ6AEIQDAH#v=onepage&q=lin%20zhisui%20private%20life&f=false

NY Review of Books: https://www.chinafile.com/unmasking-monster (Mirsky, by the way, is also banned from China, but for his Tiananmen reporting)

[clay dube]

Two "samurai" films that I think are useful are Ugetsu and Twilight Samurai. Ugetsu shows the fluid status of people in the 16th century, before Hideyoshi froze social classes. It's black and white, however, so students may not appreciate it. A version without subtitles can be seen on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOJGh267dEg

Twilight Samurai was made 50 years later and focuses on the end of the samurai era. It has a widowed samurai/bureaucrat who struggles to care for his family, who tastes love, and overcomes fear to fulfill his obligations. The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l-NlkGBWPc . It is a fantastic film.

[clay dube]

Hi Folks,
I hope everyone will try to post a short intro before Monday evening's class. I'm Clay Dube and I work with Catherine at the USC US-China Institute. I previously worked at UCLA and Berea College (Kentucky). Prior to that I taught and carried out research in China and taught secondary school for a couple of years in San Diego. I'm a historian by training, but spend a lot of time looking at international relations and political science. I love history, teaching, and travel. Working with teachers is one of the best things about my job. I've been to China and Taiwan many times and have also traveled in South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, other places that fit into the East Asian cultural sphere. I look forward to spending time with you this fall and hope you'll seize this opportunity to explore the many available resources on East Asia and opportunities for educators to go to East Asia (e.g., with one of our National Consortium for Teaching about Asia partners, with the Japan Society, with the Korea Society, or with Fulbright groups). Many of these resources and opportunities can be found in this forum. Please take a look.

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