Read and then blog at this course blog thread below Chapters 8-15 of Rob Gifford's book CHINA ROAD: A JOURNEY INTO THE FUTURE OF A RISING POWER. Remember to begin keying in on Gifford's themes re: China.
BLOG GUIDELINES
1. In your blog post, list and describe FIVE of Gifford's observations about China in these chapters of the book that you find important, intriguing, confusing, or useful, using 2-3 sentences to describe each observation. Feel free to use quotes from his book, but keep your selected quotes to a sentence or shorter, and be sure to cite a page number. How do Gifford's observations compare with Hessler's? Similarities? Differences? What do you notice?
2. In the same blog post, raise one SPECIFIC question about China that these chapters of Gifford's book raises for you. Be sure your question starts with the following words: "My question about China is..."
Mojo a go go,
Dr. W
#1: Gifford introduces the "Aids Villages," of Henan, where 300,000 people have contracted and are living with the AIDS virus. He mentions that not many people associate the AIDS epidemic with China, something I had never thought about until now, but he reports that it was hypothesized by the UN that by 2010, there would be 10 million cases of AIDS in China. (88)
ReplyDelete#2: In his discussion of the AIDS problem of Henan, I was shocked to discover that it was caused and hidden by the local government. They exploited the farmers living in poverty, by convincing them to sell their blood in exchange for monetary reimbursement. The government in turned sold the plasma to global pharmaceutical companies in order to generate a profit for themselves, and left hundreds of thousands of locals with the virus. (89)
#3: Gifford observes the difference between individual representation in Chinese verses Western artwork.
This is a perspective I have previously read about, which examines the fact that Western work often focuses on figures of people; where as Chinese art is more about landscape. This may speak to the fact that Western countries generally place more emphasis on the individual. (108)
#4: Gifford speaks to the two major problems faced by the people living in the poorer sectors of China; a lack of water, and a lack of brides for their current generation. A repercussion of the second issue is that women from other countries are often abducted and brought into to China, and then sold as brides. The text provides an unfortunate example, where 69 Burmese women were brought into China and sold as wives to Chinese men for twenty five hundred dollars each. (136)
#5: I found the conversation between Gifford and the Chinese family planning officials to be very interesting, and unsettling at the same time. The woman who appeared to be the leader of the group explained the process of forced abortions (done on woman even in their eighth month of pregnancy) in a shockingly caviler manner. The woman kept repeated the phrase “There are too many Chinese people,” every time Gifford questioned the tactics used. (180)
My question about China is: What will it take for the repercussions of the one child policy to dissipate in Chinese culture (i.e infanticide/abandonment of females, shortage of women for men to marry)?
1. Chapter 8:The population of Henan is 93 million and over 300,00 is infected with HIV/AIDS because they are selling the blood of poor farmers who will do anything for some cash. The Chinese government does a good job covering up this top-secret act. There is a lot of corruption with the police in the countryside because for simply by disobeying they could put you jail.
ReplyDelete2. Page 131: Villages in Eastern China have local officials who encourage Christianity to the citizens, because Christians are the only ones who obey the law and pay taxes.
3. Page 134: More than 5,000 Chinese die in coal mining accidents annually. “That is more than one hundred times the number killed in American mines”
4. Page 136: The poor side of China is lacking water and women. Because of the one-child policy many women abort female fetuses because they would rather have sons. Now men are having hard times finding female mates.
5. Page 152: The smell of yaks’ milk is something that pervades everything in Tibetan areas. Interesting.
My question about China is: I wonder what other kind of sketchy operations the Chinese government have up their sleeves, just like the blood-selling in Shangcai—that operation is what caused all the spreading of AIDS/HIV in the section of China. People are dying left and right and the police are not doing anything about it, instead they are paying the victims to be silent.
Observation 1: pg 86. “When you go to places you are not supposed to in China, you are running the risk of being detained and searched by local police, who, needless to say, do not want you snooping around their turf and reporting on things that make them look bad.” This quote made me think about what we were discussing in our last class and how the government really wants to control that information that is being reported.
ReplyDeleteObservation 2: I liked the comparison to North Dakota. When Gifford related N. Dakota to a province in China I got a very visual image. I have been to North Dakota many times because my mom and family are from there. It gets ‘hated on’ because it’s so boring and there’s nothing there. I could just picture this small town that Gifford was comparing to North Dakota.
Observation 3: pg 93. “They gave us forty-five Yuan [nearly $6] each time we sold blood. He said that’s a lot of money. The government has now been forced to give us something. They give us these drugs and ten Yuan [$ 1.20] every month as a kind of silence money.” It was shocking to read about HIV and AIDS being such a huge issue in China. It’s surprising that the government is so careless about this problem. And the fact that the government is trying to cover up or pretend like this isn’t happening.
Observation 4: pg 167. “It seems as though every time someone starts to think outside the box politically, either the state collapses or the people doing the thinking are crushed. Many people’s mind sets about science and progress have been changed, but the government will still not allow people to think about political change…The system, whether Confucian or communist, is simply not built to permit it, because independent thinking will of course lead to questions about China’s political system, and if China is to hold together, questioning like that cannot be tolerated.” I just found this information interesting.
Observation 5: pg 136. “The government says China will be short 30 million brides by the year 2020. One of the mothers I met says the only hope is that her twenty-three-year-old son will go to the city and meet a migrant girl there. He will never find a wife here she says and even if he does, the bride-price will be too high. The market economy is working, even in mate selection.” In my other COR class I am learning and writing a three part paper on the One Child Policy. So I found this statistic and information interesting.
1.) I know that people have already posted about the AIDS villages, but I was really interested in that. In high school I was involved in AIDS Committee, which spread AIDS awareness, and to think that in China, it's almost the opposite. In Henan, the local government essentially caused the problem, and instead of spreading awareness, they covered it up.
ReplyDelete2.) Gifford had stated before that China has 16 of the world's most polluted cities, Lanzhou being one of them. I never really thought of geography as pertaining to pollution, but Lanzhou is surrounded by mountains, so any smog that is created is unable to escape the area. With environmental movements worldwide, right now it seems impossible that the pollution would get better.
3.) I thought it was interesting that the Tibetan monks went to Internet cafes and there were photos of them with bluetooth headsets, and that the Hermit of Hua Shan had a phone as well. When I think of monks, I think of them being away from technology , which I now know was a false assumption.
4.) I didn't really know how China enacted the one-child policy, and in Chapter 15 Gifford meets a woman doctor who goes around the countryside forcing abortions, even to women who are 8 months pregnant. I thought once a woman was too far along, China would force the parents to put the child in an orphanage. I believe in pro-choice, and even though in the US the argument is anti-abortion, it is interesting that half-way across the globe it's the other way around.
5.) I guess I'm still confused with the concept of Tibet. China controls Tibet, and the Dalai Lama cannot live in his native country, but I want to know if Tibet is still it's own country.
Q: Pertaining to my observation #2, I want to know what environmental movements are taking place in China, and if the government allows the movements to happen, or are they kept on the low down, like so many other problems in the country.
1. I had no idea that HIV/AIDS was such a huge problem in China. Most westerners, to the best of my knowledge, are under the impression the main focus of the AIDS problem and solution should be focused in Africa. This is only exemplary of our tendency to see the problems we want to see (or that the media wants us to see), and to not find out complete information on our own. It is also very interesting to me that most of the cases of AIDS in china developed from blood banks, not from drug use or sexual relations like much of the rest of the world.
ReplyDelete2. I found the analogy between China and the Roman Empire to be very interesting. In class, we have been trying to find our own historical counterparts of Chinese events like those at Tienanman’s Square in 1989, and have only found loose equivalents. The comparison of China and the Roman empire, however, is a very accurate and compelling parallel.
3. I found the section in “Power” about Qin very interesting. The western name for China is based on his name, despite Gifford’s beliefs that his dynasty helped make China incapable of changing its governmental structure. This intrigues me because his explanation makes a lot of sense, and the fact that we honor Qin with the name “China,” seems contradictory to our lack of faith in the way that China is governed.
4. Confucius believed that “man is by nature good, and therefore educable and perfectable” (Gifford 104). This is the exact opposite of many western philosophers, for example, Thomas Hobbs, and may contribute to the drastically different levels of obedience and individuality in addition to the general mindsets of China and the West.
5. As an artist, I found the conversation of Chinese art very interesting. When Gifford saw the photo of two infant corpses, he was taken aback, and when he questioned Su Zhongqui about Chinas tendency towards gruesome modern art, he responded, “life here in China is brutal. So art is just a mirror of life….People in other countries don’t have the pressure to survive that the Chinese people have…” (Gifford 109). He then goes on to say that because Americans have free education and a health care system, among other things, life is easier, therefore our art is boring.
My question is: In regards to the AIDS problem in China, how influential was the monetary compensation in someone’s decision to donate, how greatly was that money needed, and how much would compensation have to be if people had known that they would contract HIV/AIDS from the blood banks?
OBSERVATION ONE: Page 89, everyone is bringing up the AIDS epidemic. I find it really interesting as well. I had never thought about the spread of AIDS in China. It is a horrible thing but interesting to read about. The fact that in the “Aids Villages," of Henan, there were 300,000 people who have contracted and are living with the AIDS virus is a crazy thought to take in.
ReplyDeleteOBSERVATION TWO: Page 106, How Gifford introduces the topic of how Europeans built not only country houses but also different roads to prosperity and respectability. Whereas, in China becoming an official through Confucian examination system became the primary route to prosperity and respectability. This shows how much religion and education is taken seriously in China. But also it just shows how diverse all places are.
OBSERVATION THREE: Page 121, Gifford talks about a phrase that the Chinese people really abide by. “ The way that can be walked is not the true way, the name that can be named is not the true name.” In my mind this means not only that their isn’t any spiritual truth but that the Chinese believe in all different things and that there is many different paths an individual can take in life.
OBSERVATION FOUR: Page 135, the two major problems for the Chinese people living in poverty. One there is no water in northern China and second the farmers are having trouble-finding wives. Having no water is a HUGE issue. This is the one thing that mainly sticks out to me. It isn’t easy for them to get water; they have to work for it. Just makes you appreciate what you have a little more.
OBSERVATION FIVE: Page 137, “ In urban China you can see the pursuit of happiness emerging. In rural China it is still the pursuit of survival” It is just interesting to see both sides of a story and also sad to think that things in this world can’t be equal on at least necessities of life, such as, water.
QUESTION: I want to know more about the poverty in China and what they are doing about this problem?
#1: The Department of Health in Henan encouraged ordinary farmers to give blood, extracting the plasma and selling them to pharmaceutical companies for making vaccines. This has caused numerous blood-selling stations to pop up in Henan, spreading AIDS (89).
ReplyDelete#2: The Terracotta Army was “just the appetizer”. The Emperor’s tomb is said to be a “vast underground palace that took about 700,00” workers. The government apparently knows where this underground palace is, but have still yet to excavate it. The grand scale of the tomb matches the importance of the first Emperor anyhow (101).
#3: Gifford notes that the erosion of aristocratic power in China meant that there was greater social mobility. Imperial examinations, as I remember, began somewhere around the Tang Dynasty, and extends all the way (minus the Mongolian dynasties) to modern China (106).
#4: Gifford writes that mainstream China feels very secular. He attributes this to the CCP’s destruction of the old style of thinking. However, I believe that this is more because of the nature of the mainstream religions that have been in China. Gifford believes that the lack of spirituality in mainstream China is because of the CCP. I think that it’s just natural. Confucianism and Buddhism are both religions that are godless, and both are rather lenient in their belief system (115).
#5: In the loess plains of China, there is an abundance of underground coal. Mine owners maximize production at the expense of a safe environment for workers. This phenomenon doesn’t seem to be slowing down either, since poor workers are literally dependent on these mines. Either way, the situation is far from ideal for these workers (134).
My question about China is whether the country will remain socially ‘atheist’, or will it become religious?
1. On page 88 Gifford is describing some of the history for the province Henan. It was not so surprising that the place had an extraordinary population; it was fascinating that it was now considered bad by the other Chinese though. I found it particularly intriguing that he mentions there are long-lost descendants of Israelites who moved to Henan in the twelfth century.
ReplyDelete2. On page 104 Gifford is explaining some Confucianism philosophy and makes note of what role the philosophy plays in the government. One of the problems with Confucianism that Gifford highlights is that in it there is the belief that man is by nature good. This allows the individual police themselves without “external checks and balances” which in time have lead to what Gifford calls the gradual corruption of dynasties through history.
3. On page 115 Gifford sets the stage for how Communism has stripped China from many of its ancient cultural traditions. The support behind the movement was that the traditional philosophy was holding the country back. I just think it is depressing to think that these traditional beliefs were entirely wiped out. Though it has happened several times in the history of the country.
4. On page 130 Gifford is referring to the amount of Christian churches. I was not aware that there were millions of converted Christians and Catholics, and I was also surprised to hear that when the Communists came to power these people were persecuted. Gifford makes the excellent connection that “as with early Christianity in Rome, persecution led to the growth, not the death, of the Chinese church”.
5. On 149 I got a chuckle out of Gifford’s commentary on some of the billboards that riddle the rural areas in china. In response to one board that says “Broadband changes your life” Gifford makes the comment that “ If you’re going to bring life-changing inventions to this part of the country, it seems that some kind of basic agricultural mechanization might be a better place to start”. While it is fantastic that the government wants to grow the availability of the Internet it censors it seems like building a roof before building a foundation.
Q. My questions about china is that I wonder what the future has in store for the religious beliefs of the people.
1) My first observation is on page 91 Gifford explains the theories of where AIDS originated in China. The disease was brought in by the truck drivers who went to the golden triangle down near Laos and Burma. I found this interesting that they could pinpoint the origins of the epidemic that is in that province.
ReplyDelete2) My second observation is on page 92 when he is describing the way that Hu Jia has to travel in order to not get arrested it feels like the show "Conspiracy theory" with Jessie Ventura. Its basically a senator who travels around america uncovering work camps and hidden prisons and stuff. They chose to live their lives like that so that people can know the truth.
3) My third observation is on page 98 he talks about how much more advanced the city of Chang'an was than the greek and roman empires. The population was over a million where the other cities had no where near that many people. Chang'an is now Xi'an and is a very popular tourist city.
4) My fourth observation is on page 100 he is talking about the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an and it makes me wish we were still going there a little bit. I like to see large formations of statues built so long ago. It kind of amazes me that they could do that over a thousand years ago.
5) My fifth observation is on page 115 Gifford talks about how when communism came to China, they were quick to eliminate their old Daoist religion. This interests me because up until communism, China was all about Daoism and being peaceful and finding your harmony in the big picture of life.
My question about China is, what is the penalty for investigating the hidden government secrets in China? Does your life become like Hu Jia and you have to live under the radar constantly.
I thought it was interesting on page 102 where Gifford says that the best thing to compare China to is not the United States, but ancient Rome. I thought it was interesting unlike Rome whenever China's government collapses the new government reunifies the whole thing, instead of just letting it go off and Become a whole bunch of different countries.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I thought was interesting was a quote on page 110, "The government wants advanced education without encouraging people to think." I thought this was a really interesting view on the problems China currently faces.
I thought the passage about a power plant and rail road being built at the base of an ancient Daoist holy mountain was an interesting reflection on the unique culture of modern China. It's odd to hear about a modern facility at the base of a mountain that has a hermit, who just so happens to have a cellphone.
Something I found a bit disturbing was on page 136 where it's talking about the water shortage in Northern china. Its really sad that all the water is being used to power industry that pollutes all the rest of the water, killing all the people the industry is supposed to be helping.
I thought that the comparison on 163-164 between Tibetans, Scots and ultimately Native Americans was very interesting.
My question this time is, how bad is the air pollution in the places we're going to be staying in China?
Excellent CHINA ROAD insights, colleagues.
ReplyDeleteMissing: Dan, Max, Katie, Ian, Justin, Steve, Blythe.
Get on the blog here! A go go!
W
The first thing that I found interesting was on pages 86-7. I think that it is interesting that the local police will detain and search you if you are somewhere they don’t want you to be and are taking pictures. Taking pictures that will make them look bad on their turf is something they will not tolerate. I think it is interesting because it is on the local level.
ReplyDeleteShortly after this I found other things very interesting, still on page 87, Gifford points out that the province Henan is about the size of North Dakota, but has a population of 93 million. It is 150 times more densely populated.
The next thing that struck me was on the next two pages. I had no idea there were villages know as ‘AIDS villages’ and what really struck me was the fact that the people were mostly infected through acts directly related to their own government. This makes me really sad to think about; people doing what they think is best to help their country are getting screwed over by this incurable disease because they don’t understand the dangers of what they are doing.
In the next chapter Gifford talks about The Terracotta Army which was created to guard the grave of Emperor Qin Shihuang. On page 100, the book states there are about eight thousand warriors in all and there are several types of figures- archers, infantrymen, and crossbowmen- each assigned his place in rank, and each figure has a different facial expression. The individualism is amazing.
The final thing I’m going to write about (but most certainly not the final thing I found interesting) is the tomb of Qin itself. It is said to be a vast underground palace that took about 700,000 workmen more than 36 years to complete. There are models of underground palaces, pavilions and even seas of mercury to emulate the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.
My question about China is… Why haven’t they excavated the tomb? I want to know if the rivers of mercury really exist.
1. Gifford describes the precautions he took going into the Henen province, he went as far as keeping decoy mini disks and putting the real ones in his Jockeys. Cameras, and notebooks are almost always guaranteed to be confiscated, especially for journalists. Hopeful we will not have any problems with our cameras or other devices going through security.
ReplyDelete2. On page 93 Gifford talks about one of his experiences in Henan. He was in a brick occupied with AID patients. The country views Henan and it's people bad. His taxi driver even warned him that it was a bad place. I feel that AIDS can be transmitted and spread to anywhere in the world. I'm sure there are other parts of China where people have AIDS.
3. One page 118, Gifford stayed at a hostel and talked with a college student from Hubai and Henen about daoisim. Neither of them know anything about it because they do not learn about it in school. I was surprised because i thought Daoism and Confusciisism is universal in China. But it also relates to public schools in the US because religion is not allowed to be taught either. This is a very controversial topic.
4. I thought it was funny when a girl wanted to take a picture with Giffordd because he was a foreigner. After the picture she said 'Here's me with the foreigner! Look how he sweats as a pig!" 116.
5. I was surprised how many huge cities there were spread out in china that most are aware of. Some are larger and more populated then what we consider huge cities in the U'S.
My question in is on page 114 Gifford says Daosim compliment each other but our completely oppoesite? And did Buddha develep through there two faiths?
4.