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Hi Folks,
Our Mohist crew did an admirable job in the debate a few weeks ago, but I know they were disheartened by the relative disappearance of the teaching from China. Don't fret, when Mo Zi Gong Lue (Master Mo's Attack Strategy -- I think they are calling it Mozi Raider in English) starring Hong Kong heart throb Andy Lau hits the screen next year, you'll be delighted to be so well versed in its teachings.

A link:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-04/25/content_2874228.htm

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Hi Folks,
Our Mohist crew did an admirable job in the debate a few weeks ago, but I know they were disheartened by the relative disappearance of the teaching from China. Don't fret, when Mo Zi Gong Lue (Master Mo's Attack Strategy -- I think they are calling it Mozi Raider in English) starring Hong Kong heart throb Andy Lau hits the screen next year, you'll be delighted to be so well versed in its teachings.

A link:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-04/25/content_2874228.htm

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Rochelle's post raises several interesting questions. A later article in China Daily (Nov. 23, 2005) reports that another survey finds that 1 in 8 Chinese young people are "net addicts."

Altogether, 103 million Chinese are using the web, about 16% of whom are under 18.

This report would be more compelling if it included a definition of "net addict." The example provided was a high school student who cut classes so he could spend up to 10 hours a day playing internet games.

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Hi Everyone,
I'm delighted that Michael and others are bringing articles into the discussion. Please continue to do so, but please note the following:

1. To keep us legal, please only share these in the Torrance forum, NOT the Asia in My Classroom forum.

2. To make forum scanning simple, please save the articles as text files (via Notepad or via saving them as text -txt- files in your browser: file | save as | choose txt) and then attach them to your post. In the message area of your post, summarize the article or explain why we should read it. This will make it easier to scroll through the forum and will still facilitate the reading of the files. Simply clicking on the attachment will open the file.

Thanks.

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It's been broadcast in the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years, but I only recently learned of Inside China, a weekly show seen on a number of public TV stations. CA stations include KCLS (ch. 58 in LA), KCVR (ch. 24 in the Inland Empire), KCSM (San Mateo), and KFTL (San Francisco).

The programs are short, 30 minutes, and feature a range of topics from paper making to aviation and prison life. It's soft reporting, but you'll find a good range of video that might be a nice addition to lessons.

The program website is at http://www.insidechina.org. Duffy Wang's outfit also produces another series, Land of the Dragon, which I haven't seen.

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One of the challenges for all of us is to understand how we know what we know. In fact, when we are discussing early Asian thought, we need to be conscious of the fact that contemporary Asian readers may be able to recognize and assign meaning to all the words in a passage does not mean that their understanding is necessarily what the thinkers hoped to convey. Language is a challenge, even for those fluent in one or more Asian languages. The fact that commentary after commentary was and is produced in Asia for many of the teachings indicates that the ideas were not necessarily obvious to readers even shortly after the period in which the readings were produced. Few of us are likely to have the time or the inclination to become specialists in a particular teaching, so we must seek to latch on to the big ideas and recognize that the fullest possible understanding may elude us.

This is not unusual. As teachers, we must constantly work with generalizations about the human past, even that portion of it that may be recent and geographically near. The best teachers focus on coming up with ways to bring fair representations of ourselves and others to our students and to encourage them to grapple with those representations and how they came into being.

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Hi Folks,
Don't know if anyone still visits our forum, but I thought this article from the LA Times (Nov. 22, 2005) on the rise of mistresses in contemporary China might be of interest. Please feel free to download it by clicking on the icon below and feel free to share your thoughts here or in the "Asia on My Mind" public forum.

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Dear David,

We've been monitoring the Nepalese situation for awhile at AsiaMedia. Please go to http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/nepal/ to see stories on the royal coup and on the rebellion. Some of the stories were sent to us by Nepalese journalists who have come under harsh repression.

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Hi Michael,

Roam about the film festival zone a bit (in Asia in My Classroom) for some discussion of the Last Samurai. Fred Notehelfer, the dean of Japanese historians in CA, found it atrocious and I'm inclined to agree with him. There's much to like about the movie, including some of the acting, but ultimately it's a Tom Cruise vehicle. Go to http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu and do a search to locate an interview we did with Cruise about the film.

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Michael,
Battle Royale is a legendary flick. Please consider writing a review on it for the Asia in My Classroom "film festival" thread.

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Thanks to all who have posted to this thread so far. You've raised terrific points and I look forward to tomorrow's debate. Clearly, some of you are more than ready to share the truth.

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Aki Hirota mentioned Japan's outcastes, the eta, on Tuesday. You might be interested in a report on a talk given at UCLA by Daniel Botsman, a visiting professor on this subject. You can read it at:

http://www.asia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=33148

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Both Sam Yamashita and Aki Hirota mentioned Japan's outcastes, the eta, today. You might be interested in a report on a talk given at UCLA by Daniel Botsman, a visiting professor on this subject. You can read it at:

http://www.asia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=33148

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Has anyone checked out the LA Natural History Museum exhibition that is based on Jared Diamond's book Collapse? I am reading the book which begins with discussions of:

why societies collapse
Montana as a society where the environmental challenges are great
Easter Island as an environmentally overtaxed society
...

I hope to visit the exhibition soon and would like to know if anyone in our group has considered the teachability of this subject.

Here are some reviews of the book:
http://www.grist.org/advice/books/2005/02/08/kavanagh-collapse/

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/play.html?pg=5

http://www.nationalreview.com/books/hanson200505200837.asp

http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,6121,1390552,00.html

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Dan's asked a great question about images for use on websites and in class presentations. Many people who share their travel photos will be happy to give you permission to use them. That won't be much help for some of the historical images Dan and others might like, but there might be some surprises, such as shots taken of plays and the like.

Here's one public domain photo site that may be of use:
http://pdphoto.org

Many photo cd collections are also available. You pay for the cd, but non-commercial use of the photos is generally permitted.

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