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Journal 2/19/09

I thought that it was very true how the women were treated at the Chosan dynasty. I like how the author organized the historical events in chronological order and how each event affected women’s status. Before Confucianism entered, the author says that women were a little bit more independent, but I think that more than rights, women were treated as humans. Still then, the women were not equal because they could not have more than one man, while men had multiple wives. The Confucianism lowered women’s status as servants. Daughters were not subject to inheritances, they couldn’t talk to boys or men older than 7 years old. The Koreans valued traditions, so this Confucianism is still practiced till today. The women still have very limited roles in the society in Korean society today.

If is Rabbit too smart for his own good, Owl is the Brain, and Piglet...Pooh...? 2/23/09

Piglet and Pooh represent the Confucianists in the book. They rely on experience and find themselves to be rather "chilled out." Based on the homework about the assigned pages, Owl proves to represent the Confucian side of the human intellect. This means that Owl emphasizes the importance of knowledge and finds knowing information to be more important than actual experience. He shows this by spelling out the days of the week, thus making him the brain. On the other hand, Piglet and Pooh reply without the same knowledge but instead they rely their answers on experience. This makes them kind of like "wise men," who use their past experiences to improve their lives and avoid similar mistakes in the near future. As a result, I would like to conclude the statement "If Rabbit is too smart for his own good, Owl is the Brain, and Piglet and Pooh are the old men."

 2/26-2/27 The Tao says that the ruler should "rule by inaction" How do you make sense of this? Is it at all possible? When the Tao says that the ruler should "rule by inaction" means kind of similar to paradox the best government does not govern. The rulers should only rule without oppressing people and let everything flow through. Taoist thinks that instead of forcing and interfering with people, rulers can only impose rules when there is a need.

3/11/09 Explain right mindfulness and right concentration. Do you see how you could apply this to your daily life? Why or why not?

Right mindfulness and right concentration are eight folds parts that you can be liberated from miserable state of being. The right mindfulness involves precision and clarity. You are mindful of details of our experience. We have to be mindful of the way we talk, perform, and etc. The right concentration or absorption is the eighth point of the path. Usually we are absorbed in absentmindedness. Our minds are completely captivated by all sorts of entertainment and speculations. Right absorption means that we are completely absorbed in nowness, in things as they are. This can only happen if we have some sort of discipline, such as sitting meditation. Mindfulness and Awareness is called meditation in English. I think this can be good to our daily life because we can concentrate on things as they are instead of what we wish the things to be. We can practice discipline by studying for our classes instead of wishing for just get good grades without studying for them. We can also prevent being offensive to people by mindfulness.

4/1/09 In describing Japanese development, a British Professor in 1873 declared that he felt 400 years old by the end of the century. Explain the historical context behind this quote. The Professor thought that Japanese developed what had taken U.S and other countries a long time to develop. They transitioned really well into democratic government such as ending feudal social class. The ancient samurai lost the privilege of wearing two swords, symbolic of the power of the samurai. Japan’s system of government established by the Constitution of 1889. The Constitution of 1889 established a legislature called the Diet. It was composed of two houses. The members of the lower house, the House of Representatives were to be elected by male taxpayers. The House of Peers consisted of hereditary nobles and appointed members from the new leaderships. Parliamentary government was also adopted where powers of government was based on the parliament or national legislature. They were successful in this aspect.

4/2/09 The question is asking if Japan is going too fast or not. I think that it is a good criticism, because problems always rise because when people build modern things very fast, it is not very efficient. Force and violence is used because founders have to build fast. Because they were establishing their countries and reforming in such a short amount of time. Things got out of control. Socially, people were confused about what to follow; tradition and new ideas.

4/30 Do countries have an obligation to compensate each other for injustices done in time of war? I do not really have an opinion on this one. I think countries should try to avoid war at all cost, but if they are dragged into the war and it was inevitable, they should still have order and laws in midst of war. I think they should set up a set of rules of atrocities to ban, which they already have. I don’t know what to think of this question because people always commit war crimes during and after wars. You can’t really prevent atrocities from happening during war and what is the point of compensation if they had already done wrong to civilians. Are they really sorry that it happened? I don't get why not just get rid of wars since war crimes almost always happen anyways

5/7/09 Chinese Entry into the War 1. U.S had to consider that China had no option but to enter the war when America was crossing the Yalu River. Americans had to consider if they should cross the Yalu River or not because Chinese could have entered the war. 2. The Chinese entered the war because they were threatened by America. They thought that if U.S is intervening in Korea to establish democracy, it was soon their turn to be bullied into democracy too. It was probable for Chinese to fear an invasion of Manchuria and they would seek to establish a cordon sanitaire for border security. They thought that they were obligated to help because many Koreans helped in Chinese Revolution and Anti-Japanses war. China was also determined to enter the war if North Korea had failed to ward off American attack. China was already determined to enter the war by August 4, 1950.  3. The effect of Chinese’s entry to the war was received as quite a shock to America because the media kept claiming that China had no intention of entering the war. ROK was also surprised and afraid that communism forces in the North would win the war. UN troops were alarmed and they reunited in forces to combat.

5/8 Explain the meaning of "Shattered Faith" how does it relate to the story? The shattered faith relates to Hongyoung’s experience. She had longed to find her eldest child so bad and she prayed for his safety. Later she finds out that he is actually dead despite her earnest prayer and hope. Her faith in God that He will keep her family safe was shattered. She no longer cared for anything; she lost interest in her children and their safety. Also her faith and trust in her country was shattered

6/2/09

Documents • who wrote the doc and when The Central Committee of the Party in the People’s Daily in August 9, 1966

• For what purpose To discourage the resistance to the movement against the Cultural Revolution.

• summarize main points Number 2 says that resistance comes from people taking capitalist road and old force of habit. number 10 is about importance of education number 7 is they should be aware of people who call themselves counterrevolutionaries. There should be no measure taken against students because of the problems that arise in the movement

• what important information does the doc give you

• Consider the affect it may have had It kept people aware of the counterrevolutionaries. • Significance: Why is this source important? What inferences can you draw from this document? Ask yourself, “So What”? In other words explain what the doc adds to the understanding of the CR

changes in the summer of 1966 written in 1966 by anonymous person. economic review. first few weeks of cultural revolution. Indoor colleges. students & workers revolution started to happen more outdoor. it was mostly procession. red poster for antirevolutionaries- they kind of failed bc no one goes there. red poster until the demands of Red guards fulfilled. antirevolutionaries and anti-imperialists became popular. people became more aggressive. effect that this document may have had. cult of personality. it tells the reader how it was in the beginning and the end. audience is pretty objective.

7D title: reactions to Mao 1966 middle school writer 1st letter is how the writer was really supported of Mao. he met Mao in Bejing. Afterwards, he had conflict with Red Guard leader at the school. The Red Guard labeled the teacher as counterrevolutionarie.(teacher=Bei Guancheng)- beaten up by his students. second letter is about really brave 19 years old student. Wanroang Fen he question Mao what he was doing to the country. if CR is really necessary, CR is not a mass mvt but one man moving mass. after this letter, he was sentenced life-long prison. Communist Youth League. effect is that it shows not all ppl supported Mao.

Red Guards smash the “four olds” article written by the Red Guard at Beijing. middle school. Red Guard should Great proletarian cultural revolution. washing away the old ideology, customs, habits, culture. Chairman Mao’s thought would bring out new China in the world. gives 6 experts from to tell destroy China 1. every house must have a picture of Mao and quotes. 2. copy of little Red Book carry and study. 3. children must sing the revolutionary songs. no traditional ones

the effect was that it was little demanding how mao could lead cultural revolution

Burning Books the daughter of black gang, enemies of CR she is a student. 1966 how the Red Guard came to her school and started burning the old books that spread feudalism, capitalist, revisionist ideas. attacked the authority including teachers, she was shocked to see her teacher being ripped. restrict the media

6/5/09

__Questions on Reflections on the Cultural Revolution pages 82-84__ 1) When was this document written and by whom? june 27, 1981, years after Cultural Revolution. this document was written by the CCP Central Committee 2) According to the document, who was largely to blame for the excesses and mistakes of the Cultural Revolution? The document says that the excesses and mistakes of the Cultural Revolution happened because the Gang of Four had made error, especially Lin Biao, Jiang Quing, and their followers. 3) What errors does the CCP believe Mao was responsible for? Cultural Revolution negated many of the correct principles, policies, and achievements of the seventeen years. Also, Mao placed people like Lin Biao, Jiang Qing and other erroneous leaders into position. The author says that Mao had made mistaken evaluation or judgment that Mao about the prevailing class relations and political situation in the Party and the state was wrong. 4) Who seems most responsible according to the document? How does this play into the memory of Mao as a leader and his Cult of Personality? The most important about the document is that the author never accused Mao being incapable. The author kind of target the Gang of Four because it was easy for the people to blame those leaders under Mao. This memory of Mao as leader and his Cult of Personality supported by the document. 5) What does the CCP believe the consequences of the Cultural Revolution are? (4 of them) each person in your group read one, and explain it to others 6) Why do you think the document mentions achievements made by China during the Cultural Revolution? the document mentions achievements made by China during the Cultural Revolution like economic progress, grain output increase, industry expansion, communications, capital construction. In science and technology. 7) Describe the tone at the end of the document. Why do you think it ends this way?

5) Four Criticism that the document highlights 1. Cultural Revolution negated correct principles, policies, and achievements of the People's Republic and the work of the Central Committee of the Party 2. The leaders under Mao for example, Lin Biao, Jiang Qing, and their followers were erroneous choice. However, many of the accomplished intellectuals were attacked and persecuted. 3. Cultural Revolution should have been relied on masses, but CR separated the Party Organization and masses. The consequences is that many activists and large member of the basic masses whom the Party relied on were rejected. The Party organizations at different levels were attacked and became partially or wholly paralyzed. 4. CR did not constitute revolution or social progress. there was no political or economic basis for conducting the revolution People were wrongly dismissed.