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ASIAN STUDIES JOURNALS

Journal #1: Please take a minute to respond to the reading. What do you agree/disagree upon? (The Women's Roles with Confucian Ideas)

Journal #2:

Q: If Rabbit is too smart for his own good, Owl is the brain, and Piglet...and Pooh...? A: If this is the case for Rabbit and Owl, the Piglet must be the quite, shy one that does not have all the answers. In //Spelling Tuesday//, Eeyore asks Piglet questions about the letter //A// like testing his knowledge about knowledge. Piglet is not obnoxious; he just answers Eeyore's questions honestly to the best of his ability. Pooh is the gentle, carefree one who is naturally who he is so he does not have to try hard with anything. He is the gentle, calm wise man. That is also why he is so lovable.

Journal #3: Q: The Tao says that the ruler should "rule by inaction" How do you make sense of this? Is it at all possible? A: Ruling by doing nothing seems fairly impossible for me. In some cases a person could get really lucky by just doing nothing and they get what they need to get done anyway. If they do nothing, then it seems like they are just waiting for a miracle to happen, so they might as well just rely on something else to get things done. Taoist think that it is best to leave things alone to be dealt with naturally, otherwise you will be interfering with the balance. In reality, how do you get things done if you did nothing? What can you gain by that? Maybe doing nothing would be overboard on the "keeping the balance" idea.

Journal #4:  Q: Explain right mindfulness and right concentration. Do you see how you could apply this to your daily life? Why or why not? A: Right mindfulness is when people are aware of what they are supposed to do because they believe that suffering and pain will be caused if their actions are bad. Right concentration is when people concentrate on making their wishes come true, instead of asking the Buddha for them. They believe in being independent and following the Buddha's teachings in order to get what they want. Both of these in a sense are meditation. I could apply some of this to my life because I can learn to be more independent and to not always wait for a miracle to strike me. I could also be more aware of how I do certain things in my life in order to make life easier and happier for me. I could apply some of these to my life because some of the ideas I do believe in, such as the examples I have already stated. I would follow some of these ideas because I would want my life to be better and the most productive as possible. That can happen if I am mindful and aware.

Journal #5: Q: 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. A: When the British Professor said this, he was just emphasizing the idea that Japan was not as modern or advanced as the British. By saying he felt "400 years old by the end of the century", he meant that the country was still in it's developing process, without much of new things going on in their country.

Journal #6: Q: Look on page 67 of the Modern World Packet and respond to the //New York Times// quote. A: In the quote, the writer says that Japan must be moving too fast with so many successes and achievements. The question is not uncommon and many people too are interested in that topic. Japan is not moving at too fast of a speed because they are just "on fire". At this time, countries were still developing into more modern nations. Japan was on track and did what they were supposed to do, but it's just that other countries have not taken that full opportunity yet. The Japanese just want to be a strong, independent nation, unlike Korea who wanted to stay by itself and not as evolved. When people have the opportunity and ideas, they should take advantage of the time and ideas they have if they want to get ahead. Obviously, Japan was like this and they are given credited for it in history today.

Journal #7: Q: What do you find most shocking about what you have read so far? How do you make sense of such cruelty? A: From what I have read so far, I find an events such as the massacre at Shanghai

Journal #8: SKIP

Journal #9: Q: Do countries have an obligation to compensate each other for injustices done in time of war? A: Countries do have some right to compensate for injustices done by other countries in times of war. They should because other countries that have done wrong should be stopped because if not, they will continue to keep doing as they please. In war it is necessary to do so because other people's lives are at stake, so interfering with the country's affairs is alright. People should not pity or go easy on certain countries because they feel sorry for them. People who commit crimes must face the consequences and should be dealt with for their rash actions.

 Chinese Entry into the War

1) What did the US have to consider in regards to China and the Yalu River? They thought China was not going to even enter the war and they had to decide whether to cross it or not. So they also had to decide whether to keep pushing more into the North or not.

2) According to the reading, what was the reason China entered the war? They entered the war because they saw their friend North Korea looked like it was about to lose all its land to the South and their allied forces. North Korea helped China in the Chinese Revolution and the anti-Japanese resistance, therefore they appeared to be friends with the Chinese. China did not want the enemy pushing their way beyond the parallel either.

3) What effect did Chinese entry have on the US, ROK, and UN troops? Chinese entry put the US, ROK, and Un troops on defense mode when they came in. Theses forces were hurt badly, forced back to the South more and more, and they just kept losing what they had. The Chinese attacks were brutal, unexpected, and strong for the forces to fight off.

 Journal #10: Q: Explain the meaning of "Shattered Faith" how does it relate to the story? A: The meaning of the title for the reading refers to the people of Korea. Their faith by the middle of the war has been shattered. They have lost hope in survival or going back to the happy days before the war, before everything went downhill. This can relate to the story because the main character Hongyong ended up losing her faith in her surroundings and family at some point. After she discovered that her son most likely is dead, she loses faith in finding him after many years. She started to move on, but her children kept with the search for her. In the end, she discovered that her son is still alive, but living in the North with a family. War makes people lost hope and faith.

7b Changes During the Summer of 1966- written sometime in 1966, written by anonymous correspondent written for Far Eastern Economic Review, the writer wrote to describe CR first few weeks in Shanghai, summary: rev. started indoors by students, workers. Between Aug. 10-21 the CR became more outdoors actions, mostly people carried national flags, photos of Mao carried around. Starting to look more like a rev. Red posters for anti-rev. people. That was for them to stick out that they were anti. People could not rip off the posters from walls. Doors sealed off sometimes. Red Guards were strict. Supporters of red flag, anti-imperialists, anti-revisionists, etc. became popular. Posters and portraits of Mao were important to CR. People became more aggressive, acting more against anti-rev. as time passed. The effect of the doc. emphasized the cult. of personality. Tell readers what methods used to change the minds of people during CR and the kind of people who were popular.

7c 16 Points- written by Central Committee of the Party in the People's Daily in Aug. 9, 1966 adopted in 1996. Purpose of newspaper to discourage the resistance in CR and Mao. People need to be aware of the counter Rev. How resistance comes from Capitalists, old force of habit, people should be aware of calling themselves Counter Rev., Counter Rev. are bad but they shouldn't hurt the students, Education is important how they should learn about farming and military, criticize middle class. Effect: people should be aware of counter rev. people. The doc, was important because it warns people about the counter re. and to go against them. To be more aware and on guard.

7d Reactions to Mao- the letters written in 1966 about the reactions to Mao. By a Chinese middle school teacher and a 19 yr. old student. First letter how the person was a strong supporter of Mao. Excited by his leader's actions. Told others to join him in the jumping around. Met Mao in Beijing. Met Mao and came back, then faced Red Guard problems. His name is Bei Guancheng, the teacher. He was beaten up by his students then he committed suicide. The letter was basically about persuasion to join him for Mao. Even though you support Mao, people might eventually turn their backs on you because people would not believe your words. Second letter was with Wan Rongfan, the 19 yr. old. The letter was directly to Mao. He asks what Mao is doing and asks him to stop what he is doing to China. So he is against Mao's leadership. About the one man who wants to gain his benefits. He wants to withdraw from the Communist Youth League. He was arrested and set free after CR. Doc. shows they two sides to Mao's leadership: so supported while some hated Mao. The readers will feel more skeptical and aware that not everyone believes in Mao as a great ruler.

7f Burning Books- the writer is a daughter of the black gang, she is a student. Doc from 1966. How the Red Guards came to the school to spread feudalist, capitalists, etc. ideas. Cam be seen in the document that Red Guards attacked the authority figures of the school. Red Guards tortured them with whips and making them stay near the fire to have burning feeling. "To be tried in the raging flames of the Great Cultural Revolution." The student saw her teacher being whipped, but could not do anything about it because she was apart of the Black Gang. The doc. would cause skepticism over readers. The significance is that Chinese only had restricted media because the Red Guards cut off media that countered Communism.

Questions on Reflections on the Cultural Revolution pages 82-84

1) When was this document written and by whom?

This document was written by the CCP Central Committee on June 27, 1981.

2) According to the document, who was largely to blame for the excesses and mistakes of the Cultural Revolution?

Lin Biao and Jiang Qing were largely to blame during the Cultural Revolution. Mao was not criticized so much.

3) What errors does the CCP believe Mao was responsible for? The CCP believed that Mao was responsible for giving power to the wrong people because people ended up using their power, for their own personal benefit and evil deeds. Basically, the people were corrupted.

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? Mao was the one who seemed the most responsible because Mao’s principles and way of rule was criticized for misleading the people and for being corrupt. Mao was remembered as a great leader during the Cultural Rev. because so many people looked up to him for support. He was praised for being perfect and wise. How the CCP sees him is very different.

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. 1 The CR did not have a set of right and wrongs, therefore the leaders of the re. Marxists principles actually recited by the revisionists. 2 CR corrupted the correct principles, policies, achievements of the old China. Negated people’s struggle the people had building social construction. 3 The masses contributed the most so the country relied on them for the most part. Party organizations were heavily hurt by the criticism. 4 The CR did not do anything to make the country more progressive and did not instigate a rev. in the first place. People of China remained unchanged by nature.

6) Why do you think the document mentions achievements made by China during the Cultural Revolution? The document was trying to make a point that the achievements were not really real. The achievements were not considered to have happened because of the CR. The CCP believed that the CR did not create a reform or social progress in China, so everything remained unchanged.

7) Describe the tone at the end of the document. Why do you think it ends this way? Before the tone of this document would be that is was condemning the Cultural Revolution as a whole. Then at the end doc. expresses how China has an excellent mass of people, where the Party and Social System are full of energy. This is a positive statement in the document, but before it was not as compassionate. The doc. ends that way because to obtain the people’s trust and support. They were also trying to spark up the energy within China to support the own country.