Current event — Provide a link to an article related to something going on in Asia. Then, write a brief summary of the article and discuss its relevance to topics covered recently in this course.
The Cultural Revolution — While the Cultural Revolution is considered to be one of China’s “most embarrassing moments in its long history,” there are some things about it that make sense. Play devil’s advocate and write about how the Cultural Revolution (doing away with Confucian principles and destroying old traditions and artifacts) actually made sense for the Chinese. If you were poor and underprivileged, why would you fight for such a cause?
Communism vs. Capitalism — The China film last week, “Up the Yangtze,” tells an interesting joke that contrasts Communism with Capitalism:
An American and a Chinese are riding in a car together. They come to a sign that says, “Turn right for Capitalism or turn left for Communism.” The American passenger decides to turn right. The Chinese passenger agrees that they should turn right, but ought to signal left.This joke suggests that emerging Asian countries such as China and Vietnam are founded on Communist principles but ultimately follow a Capitalist scheme. What are the challenges facing Communist nations with regard to political, social, and economic growth? Also, what advantages do you see them having?
21 comments:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/world/asia/01algae.html
This article I found was centered around the Olympic Games and how the city of Qingdao is trying to clean up its waters to make the Olympic Sailing Races possible. Basically there is an excess amount of algae in the water where the races are supposed to take place, and the algae is halting all hope that the races will be started. The plan is to have the algae cleaned up and removed from the water by mid July, just 3 weeks before the Olympics begin. It is reported that over 20,000 volunteers have taken time out of their busy schedule to help out the cleaning of the algae. According to the country's official news agency, it is said that the algae covers around one-third of the racing waters. The plan is to have a fence of 30 miles long installed around the border of the race to ensure the algae does not return.
Ethan Dung
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7480921.stm
This article talks about the continuing discussions between Tibet and China. Recently this week two Tibetan envoys have arrived in China to talk about the issue that has caused so much controversy especially the closer we get to the Olympic games. The two envoys, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyalsten, have been asked by the Dali Lama to "bring about tangible progress to help alleviate the difficult situation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/world/asia/02beijing.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
This article talks about how China is putting pressure on "dissidents" of the Beijing Olympics. Two U.S. congressmen went to Beijing in order to negotiate with Chinese lawyers for the release of 700 political prisoners, but instead a bunch of the lawyers were detained and the others were warned to stay away. The two congressmen were planning to discuss Human rights with the lawyers, as they believed that the political prisoners had done nothing wrong. China is also trying to shut down protests and petitions in order to make the Olympics run smoother. They are even preventing the peasants from bringing in petitions or complaints to the capital because of the tightened security.
-Kyle
http://www.charlotte.com/world/story/694124.html
This article talks about the landslide that occurred in Chengdu, China. It blocked a highway isolating about 3,000 people. On Monday there were some heavy rains, which ended up blocking three different sections of the highway. There has been rescuers who are helping to clear the road but the Sichuan provincial highway administration official stated that he isn’t sure when the highways will be reopened because the rain is really becoming a problem and new landslides could occur. This is somewhat something we have been studying in this course because one of the stages of the Dynastic Cycle is Natural Disasters. This is an example of a Natural Disaster that happened, which the government needs to fix.
-Sophia
Georgia Kelliher - Algae in the Water
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7482791.stm
Recently in Qingdao, China, algae has taken over one third of the area that is about to be used for the sailing Olympics in August. The algae began to grow in late May and continues to grow till this day. Many Chinese have been attempting to clean up the mess and so far they have already collected 100,000 tons. It is common in China for rivers, lakes and seas to obtain random amounts of algae due to the spilling of sewage, fertilizers, and nitrogen-rich chemical pollutants but they usually clear up on their own. One of the scientists at Qingdao's Oceanic and Fishery Department named Wang Shulian just believes that the algae is growing so rapidly because of the temperature of the water and the amount of salt. This alga is not only in the way of the Olympics, but it is smelly and disturbing to beach-goers. Efforts will continue to be made to clear up the water for the upcoming Olympics but as of right now, not much else can be done.
This article relates to our class because we just had a question on the test about Qingdao and we have been talking about the Olympics taking place in China since the beginning of summer. The algae growth is just another problem China is being forced to face considering the protests that have been going on about Tibet. I found it interesting that this many algae have been growing and people continue to go to the beach and sail in it. If there were pollutants that might have caused it I would definitely stay out of the water.
The Cultural Revolution was an embarrassing moment for China. Confucian principals were done away with, many artifacts were destroyed, and up to half a million people died. However, in some ways the Cultural Revolution was good for China. Mao Zedong was China’s leader at the time, and he ideas for changes in his country. One of the ideas of the revolution was to do away with old traditions and beliefs so that new ideas could be put into effect. While Mao’s methods of carrying out his plans were harsh, he may have been able to persuade underprivileged people to take part in his plans by relating what his ideals were and promising to make China better. He may have persuaded people that their lives would be easier, but ultimately, many people didn’t have a choice because he was the ruler. The Cultural Revolution is not remembered kindly in Chinese history, yet because of the social and economic problems created, this period may have helped China to change into the more modern country we know it as today.
http://www.mapsofworld.com/china/china-culture/chinese-cultural-revolution.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/special_report/1999/09/99/china_50/cult.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23953753-5005961,00.html
This article was about how the French Prime Minister is still debating on whether or not he will attend the opening ceremonies of this years Olympics in Beijing. He says "If they continue to progress and if the Dalai Lama and the Chinese president recognise this progress, then all obstacles to my participation will have been lifted". The article said he will announce whether he's attending or not next week. The article is also about how China doesn't think that their relationship and issues with Tibet should be a factor in the Olympics. China says its an "internal affair" and should not have any affect on the games and should be a private matter.
The Cultural Revolution — While the Cultural Revolution is considered to be one of China’s “most embarrassing moments in its long history,” there are some things about it that make sense. Play devil’s advocate and write about how the Cultural Revolution (doing away with Confucian principles and destroying old traditions and artifacts) actually made sense for the Chinese. If you were poor and underprivileged, why would you fight for such a cause?
Playing devils advocate, I would fight for this cause because it’s almost like giving families a chance to start over. People who are not rich and can barely get by, but because of Chairman Mao, it’s giving them a chance to start over by erasing their pasts. With the destruction of artifacts, traditions, the Confucian Classics, they have a chance to start their lives again, and maybe this time they would be able to make something of their lives. There would be no history to judge them from and they could all be treated equally. It wouldn’t matter if their surname was Qing or Young; rich or poor, they could receive equal treatment.
Scott Hamilton
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/02/content_8476536.htm
This news article talks about how the Olympics has cracked down on 8 positive cases of drug uses to make the player better athletically. This drug is either steroids, or a type of steroids, which is illegal to use period. This drug helps you grow, gain muscle, and help you get better in the sport your doing. They have been getting stricter about the use of these substances, and they have been testing all athletes that have entered the Olympics. For example, a wrestler was caught for using steroids, and he was immediately banned, and he could never enter the Olympics again. This is a type of legalism, but not as harsh. He got punished for using these steroids, and got banned. This is a simple punishment, as if this was more serious, the public services like the police could have gotten involved. This is an illegal drug to take. He could have been put to jail for using it, but he got off with a small punishment.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvR7Ffpl7GXTzqXCPIbGh3zsu6jw
The Tibet government wants to ease tensions with China before the Olympic games. China is thinking about the decision but wants to hold on to the decisions of the Dalai Lama. According to the Tibetan government, China has had a meeting with the Tibetans on Tuesday in the Chinese capital. Tibetan believe that this time the world needs a positive response. China said that the Dalai Lama’s side must implement the three stops. The city of Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of forming unrest in the Himalayan region. The Tibetan government says that 203 Tibetans were killed and about 1,000 hurt in China’s crackdown. Chinese say that only one Tibetan was killed and that they were just trying to stop the rioters. Chinese has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of seeking independence for his homeland.
In class we have talked about Tibet and its issues with China. After reading this article, it seems to me that Tibetans just want to be left alone from China. There is too much tension and disagreement between Tibet and China. The Dalai lama beliefs in his rights and is asking mutual respect from the Chinese. I believe that they should come up to the agreement because this is causing too much tension in the China and the rest of the world. The fact that Tibetans say that 203 Tibetans were killed during the crackdown and China said that 1 person was killed is not correct. There is too much hatred between these two regions and they should settle this in a peaceful way.
Cultural Revolution would have made life easier for those living in poverty. By doing away with Confucian principles you successfully take away the class system, putting everyone on an equal level. While some people would still have more money than those living poorly, China’s underprivileged society would get an extra boost of rights and passages that they could use to survive on. By doing away with the class system, you are essentially taking away the ideals that make some people better than others. By doing this rights are given back to the people at the bottom of the class system. I can easily see that if I was a Chinese citizen living on low wages and struggling to get by that I would be backing Cultural Revolution a hundred percent of the time. If there was anything that I could possibly do to make my life better I would probably take the chance. This desire to make my own life better would multiply if there was a family involved. I am sure that many supporters of Cultural Revolution have families to look after and want to get more rights not only for themselves, but for their children to have an education and a better life. After looking into the idea of Cultural Revolution, it’s easier to see how so many people supported it. Doing away with the class system gives something back to the lower class citizens, and this is especially appealing if you are one of those citizens. Also, as a government official the last thing you want is for your people to be unhappy with you. If you do away with the Confucian ideals like the class system then the people that are positively affected by this will be astounded at you initiative to take action against poverty. The only downside is as a government official deciding to go through with Cultural Revolution, you have to take the side of the poor or the rich, not both. And as a government official it’s usually a good idea to get the people with money on your side. It’s a sacrifice to the higher class to help the lower class.
Ryan
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fi-china3-2008jul03,0,1650028.story
“U.S. businessman released from China prison”
Jude Shao was arrested in 1998 accused of fraud. He was taken in as a political prisoner and sentenced to jail for 16 years. Shao had not been given the choice of parole. Condoleezza Rice recently traveled to Beijing to talk about Shao’s human rights. Following this meeting, Jude Shao was released out of prison with 5 years left remaining on his sentence. Many of Shao’s previous college classmates started campaigns to pressure China’s government to release him.
I think this article relates to our previous discussions in class because it has a lot to do with legalism. This article reminded me a lot about reading the book about Judge Dee and his cases. The article says that Shao had been qualified to receive parole a few years ago. The Chinese government still didn’t allow Shao to go on parole. He didn’t receive a reason why he didn’t get parole. Another reason why this article displayed the practice of legalism is because it talks about how his classmates told officials the statements made about Shao being guilty were false. Even if they may have not had sufficient evidence to convict him, they did anyway.
-patrice
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7486789.stm
Comment:
This article talked about the gathering of various environment ministers from the South Asian regional grouping, Saarc, who gathered in Bangladesh on Thursday, July 3, 2008. The topic of discussion in Bangladesh was a plan to tackle climate change, with the threat of rising seas, melting glaciers, floods, droughts, cyclones and the fact that the monsoon is in full swing. Bangladesh proposes the creation of a joint fund to help communities adjust to the changing climate. The article mentioned that approximately 140 million people living in Bangladesh are closely tied to the weather because of their closeness in location to huge river, which flow down from the Himalayas.
This article directly relates to the flooding in southern china, which we discussed in class as well as to the movie we watched in class called “The Unruly Dragon.” This movie discussed how the “unruly dragon” (Yellow river) has overflowed its banks many times in the past and has claimed many lives of the people living along the river in the process. The movies briefly talked about various methods that are in practice today for controlling the river and the people around it, which directly relates to the article because the environment ministers who attended this meeting, tried to come up with more methods to protect and control their various “unruly dragons.”
The Cultural Revolution was led by Chairman Mao. It tried to do away with the "four olds": old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits. Western clothing, flowers, stamps, tobacco, perfume, and even riding in trains or private cars were banned because they seemed to reflect an upper class lifestyle. This could be good for the poor people because it did away with social classes, no one was rich (or the rich people were killed) so no one was poor. The upper class people probably didn't like it too much, it but it was kind of good in a way for the poor people. The guy we saw in the movie today would have been killed if he didn't lose his mansion and money to the guy he gambled it away to. The cultural revolution was also against the old ways, which kept China from dwelling on the past, and brought it toward more modern times, which is important for China's development. Literature and art was changed to Chairman Mao's teachings and paintings of him were everywhere. In the movie we saw, they had painted pictures of him on the wall of their house, and got gifts of huge pictures of him. Everyone seemed to be obsessed with Chairman Mao, whether they actually respected him or were just brainwashed and forced to worship him. However, this could be good for China as a whole because it gives everyone a common hero and interest, which probably boosts moral and unites China as a whole
http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/History/China/02/carr
http://www.newscentralasia.net/Regional-News/129.html
In the article that is on the website above, it discuses China and Turkmenistan’s relations. On July 17, 2007 Turkmenistan and China signed a landmark gas deal as well as other agreements on the very first visit of the Turkmen president to Beijing. It talks about the trade of China with Turkmenistan as well as with the United States. The article states that the trade turnover between China and Turkmenistan has increased ten times since 2000 and it now is at $340 million. It also says that China is doing 45 investment projects in Turkmenistan that value up to $878.2 million dollars, which is equivalent to 1.5 billion Yuan. The article shows that China is mainly active in oil and gas, communications, railways, transportation, healthcare, construction and trading in Turkmenistan.
This article has a lot to do with what we have been studying in class. Just today we were talking about China and how large its influence was over trade was in the Imperial Age. We have also been talking about how China has been influencing our daily lives, since a lot of common goods originated from China. This article has a lot of information about how China is putting out their trade capabilities with the outside world.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7488965.stm
This article is about how there will be flights from major cities in China to Taiwan. The China Southern Airlines Flights flew the first flight from Guangzhou that held about 250 passengers. I think these new flights represent Taiwan and China working together to create more peace between countries. From creating peace with one country, it could also lead to peace with other Asian countries like Korea and Myanmar.
The Cultural Revolution in China made sense for many, especially the poor and underprivileged. When you consider the principles that Confucian society operated on, the people who got the worst end of it were really the poor people. What Chairman Mao hoped to accomplish with the Cultural Revolution was to level the difference between the rich and poor, and to get rid of social distinctions. For the rich, if they cooperated, life would be less luxurious, but still comfortable enough. With all of China's history leading back to large gaps in classes, and even richer rich people to make even poorer poor people, it's no wonder that people would have wanted to turn away from that kind of life. Many people would have had better prospects under the cultural revolution than they would have under Confucian rule. If I were a poor Chinese citizen, I think I would see this as a way to start over. It would give people a chance to make better lives for themselves and their families, and that would be worth the cause.
-Emily
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/china_tibet;_ylt=Ao_WVfTbCWYdkmCyUplVC79PzWQA
This article talks about how China is forcing the Dalai Lama to say that he does not support Tibetan independence or the disruption of the Olympics. Beijing is accusing him of conducting anti-government protests recently. Talks between the two sides are working on being formed in order to have a good Olympic games in Beijing. This relates to class because Tibet was one of the places we had to know on our map quiz and we have been talking a little about the place and the current controversy.
-Kanoe
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