GHS208-05 Fall 2019 China and the Islamic Middle East

Two bomb blasts that took place in Haska Maina, Nangarhar has claimed 62 lives. In addition, 50 people were also injured from this bombing. This attack took place inside a mosque during a weekly Friday prayer session. The Taliban refuted their involvement in the attack but commended whichever group will eventually claim the attack. As of currently, no group has actually claimed any involvement with this attack. However, on Thursday the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan let out a statement and report showing the civilian casualty rate in Afghanistan during 2019. So far, 2,563 civilian lives have been claimed to terrorist-related incidents. Another 5,676 civilians have been injured from terrorism in this area.

Afghanistan: Bomb blasts kills 62 during Friday prayers in mosque

Some of the Muslim chronology key events I would like to list are:
570: Birth of Muhammad
622: Muslim emigration to Medina
630: Muhammad’s victory over the Quraysh and the Muslim occupation of Mecca
1095: Christian Crusades
1281-1924: Ottoman empire
1947: Pakistan founded as first Islamic state
1948: Israel established
2001: 9/11
2011: Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan
I find it interesting how they use stories and history from the Old Testament and have their own version. I find it interesting as well that Abraham had two sons and those two sons’ descendants are who are in conflict today. Before Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, it is said they were pagans. There was a Jewish presence in Arabia due to the Jews being exiled to Babylon in 70. Like the Jews, the Arabs considered themselves descendants of Abraham. I just find it fascinating that two different religious groups argue that they came from the same person but have different twists and beliefs, but came from a common source.

While looking at the map in the GHS book, it has come to my attention on how closely different cultures and nations and groups of people are to each other. We learn in school from a young age, that how we act and what we wear and stuff we do is all from other nations and communities customs that they did an were brought over by travelers. And by looking at the map, I can only imagine how much culture and change was done by either travelers or local and native people bringing new ideas to their homelands to ty and become better.

Over Fall break Benny Ko was kind enough to take James, Cameron, and I to Newfields to walk around and explore the museum in general but also to obtain a deeper meaning into Asian history (especially Chinese). We started the trip by walking through the beautiful landscape surrounding Newfields. There was a very interesting tree in the middle of the front yard of the mansion, it’s base was shaped almost like a pyramid and had the distinctive red bark of a redwood. Benny explained to us how the tree was a Dawn Redwood, a tree that’s native to mainland China and not the US! The tree’s were brought over to the US during the late 19th and early 20th century as trade between the west and the US started to ramp up.

After walking the gardens we got to experience all of the exhibits that Newfields had on display, taking extra time on the Asian sections. We learned how a lot of design in the US was inspired by China and Japan. Starting in the early 20th century art pieces and even items such as silver bowls and houseware had incorporated oriental design elements including patterns and lines. In particular one of the sculptures we saw was very intriguing. There was a sculpture of a camel being ridden by a caucasian rider. The sculpture was produced during the Tang dynasty around 700AD. The caucasian rider had both European and Asian features, indicating that the people trading along the silk road were mixing cultures. This just goes to show how people of different cultures have been interwoven for thousands of years.

 

Pictures

For our first involvement with the Indianapolis Chinese Community Center, our group leader Benny, who you probably met in class when he visited, took us to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, now called “Newfields”. We walked around the museum, taking strong observations as to what events were occurring in history and with the development of culture at the time of each piece and type of art we examined. For me, it was really interesting to hear Benny’s perspective on what medias and styles spoke to him as art evolved alongside society and culture throughout history. Before this trip, I had been to the IMA a handful of times in the past year or so, but definitely had failed to appreciate some of the exhibits I was not as interested in. For someone who has amateur level knowledge of art history, I slightly appreciated neoclassical art, but not a lot. (If you have no idea what neoclassical is, feel free to click the link or see the pictures I included below, including Liberty Leading the People the famous Coldplay album cover – bottom.) I have never liked the large paintings with angelic depictions and porcelain skin everywhere, but I understand the history where Greek and Roman style art was revitalized with the columns and the grandeur of churches portrayed everywhere. Even so, hearing Benny talk about why he loved this style of art so much definitely increased my appreciation not only for the history and culture that gave rise to neoclassicism, but also greater appreciation for Chinese culture and Benny’s personal journey as a Chinese-American. Benny had a lot of really good commentary about things I had never really noticed with this type of art, such as the function of light and shadows, reasoning behind Biblical references, and reasons for subject matter selection. Hearing what was important to him and the others that were also on the IMA trip helped me to realize how your upbringing greatly affects how you see the world and how you see art. Even when forced to focus on a piece and talk about it critically, we all saw different elements and had different emotions in response. Overall, the experience was really fun and even though I had been before, going with Benny as our guide opened my eyes to things previously unseen.

China’s economy is talked about for many reasons, one being that by slightly liberal estimates, China will overtake U.S. as largest economy in the next 15 years. When we talk about the Chinese economy and its staggering growth, we need to talk about their real estate market and the ghost cities that have ensued. This VICE episode dives into the horrifying reality that is Chinese Ghost Towns. China’s fake Parisian town, Tianducheng, complete with its own Eiffel Tower and fountains replicating those in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, is completely empty. Everything in fact is completely empty; the buildings locked, the city square desolate, the entire city abandoned. You would think it were something out of Chernobyl, but rather this façade is the result of a real estate boom made in efforts to grow the nation’s economy. China’s real estate market has been a significant part of its recent economic growth, and that is partially because of how China calculates its GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Counting all property construction rather than property sales, China’s economy has shifted from exports to property development, and as a result looks much more profitable than it is. These buildings, and entire cities, remain empty which creates another problem in and of its own: excess supply in the real estate market. Estimates magnify this problem at scale with over 60 million empty homes in 11 ghost towns (seen with <2% occupancy). Most of these ghost towns were constructed on multi-billion dollar budgets to create housing and communities for over 1 million people, but with little to no occupancy they reflect the mentality that China would raise its GDP at any and all costs.

Politics play a large role in construction in China, but the shift away from supply and demand makes no sense. Though supply for housing is high and demand quite low, the price on most of the available homes is still incredibly high and they continue to remain unoccupied. As nation who was rocked by the horrors of our very own housing market crisis in 2008, we see this unsteady, and falsified, market growth as quite troublesome. In Chinese culture, it is typical for grooms to gift their brides an apartment or some type of housing, thus people are beginning to buy up apartments in these ghost towns with no intention of living there. The problem is exacerbated when so many people have been doing this that mortgage loans neared $2 trillion in 2017, and that is just for these completely vacant units. To make matters more concerning, in Chinese culture it is common to spend nearly 75% of one’s savings on housing, double that of the States, making them especially vulnerable when the market does crash.

Personally, I am a very avid recycler. In the past couple years, the process of recycling and disposal of waste, has been highlighted with some major emphasis on the great Pacific garbage patch and how it affects the health of our oceans. Many of us are asking “Who is to blame? What was our role in this? What about other countries developing more recently and contributing lots of waste like China?” With even fewer of us wondering what we can do about the problem now that it is here. Before we look at some of the numbers, we should highlight how this came to be and why China has been our world wastebasket for the past couple decades. If you did not already know, the U.S. and other countries have been sending our recyclables to China so that they can be made into shoes, bags, and new plastics among other things. Some reports say that in 2016, the U.S. exported 16 million tons of recyclable plastic, paper, and metals worth over $5 billion. The problem is that all of these other countries have been doing this too, and China became so oversaturated with waste products that a ban was instituted limiting the types of plastics and materials that would be accepted so that they can make their post-consumer products more efficiently. The Chinese ban has created a domino effect on other countries and all of the industries that rely on these recycled materials. With Chinese exports of post-consumer paper and plastic goods down 25% for paper and nearly 80% for plastics, there is need for new markets to emerge, but at what cost.

The problem is an incredibly sharp, incredibly sad double edged sword. China set the ban so that they could get a grip on their own excess waste problem and reduce the rate at which other countries treat China like their personal landfill. However, in doing so they have reduced production and thus the supply of materials needed all over the world, therefore raising prices and even hurting their own industries that also rely on such materials. There is nothing to say that A is the solution, or B might be the correct next step. We know that our consumption is a huge problem and our current recycling and disposal techniques will only aggravate the issue here and for the rest of the world.

There is so much that could be said, and yet it is very difficult to decide what should be done locally and globally. Below are some scary/cool facts with major future repercussions that hopefully encourage you to reduce your consumption, recycle, or compost if you do not already.

• Landfills are the biggest contributor of soil pollution
• Nearly 80% of materials buried in the bottoms of landfills are recyclable
• The U.S. throws away over $11.5 billion of recyclable materials each year
• The plastic water bottle you throw away instead of recycling takes around 500 years to decompose
• Less than 10% of the plastic we consume is actually recycled
• Over 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year— the equivalent of 5 grocery bags of plastic waste for each foot of coastline around the entire world

Last Wednesday (“A” day) at IPS Newcomer, I was in the same classroom which is Mr. G’s room (room 262 if ya curious). However, he was not there instead a substitute teacher was there. I did not have the opportunity to introduce myself to her since she was busy with other students up until the bell. Also, was not able to remember her name (I suck with names) but she went around to her best ability to take attendance. The activity assigned was for students to read an article on how Facebook ads manipulate users emotional states (positive or negative) and answer questions following it. She read aloud the paragraphs assigned to read and then once she finished that’s where I come in to help.

However, it has been awhile till I’ve had to experience what happened… I find it funny because its just an awkward moment. So, here it is… I had a small group of students at a table and I was translating certain words they did not understand while doing so the sub approached the table. She proceeded to talk very loudly and slowly at me saying, “put your name on the paper,” she then walked away. I was surprised she said that to me but then I realized the environment I was in, in a high school, majority of the students were foreign (Mexican), and to bluntly say it, I am brown (shocker). She assumed I was a student there which is kind of funny because I look older than them also my clothing violated the schools policy (students are only allowed to wear polo shirt and khakis/non-denim pants). Anyways, at the end of that class I explained to her I was a Butler University student and volunteer in the classroom. It was funny to me but I knew she felt embarrassed but I giggled because I am used to it to make her feel better about it.

Anyways, during the english class I explained to the students what the world “manipulate” means as well as, exchanged examples for manipulation. Next class was Math advisory, which is helping students with a mathematical assignment. It was another worksheet on volume, however, it was much bigger numbers and complicated shapes. I showed many students this time on how to separate the shapes and find the volume of each then add the numbers together. In addition, a lot of students are always interested in a new person in the class (aka me), so they always have questions to ask me. This time it was on privileges with cell phones because they can not have cell phones at school. We talked about when you get older how it because a privilege to have a cell phone with you in college and to be respectful while in class to not be on it. Always enjoy conversing with students each time and helping them with school work. Really gives me an insight on what education they had prior to coming to the states here and what they were taught differently there than here.

 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201910/15/WS5da4db34a310cf3e355706ff.html

This article is about China’s food availability for their population. According to China Daily, China has been intensely working with other countries to find solutions for the hungry. China’s population accounts for 20% of the world’s population, and they produce 25% of the world’s food on their farmlands. This article makes China look like a hero, but I wonder if they are also finding solutions for the people within their country that are starving.

As protests grow in Hong Kong it is becoming harder and harder for China and media outlets to hide the clear anti-communism and pro-democracy battle lines being drawn in China currently. This is this generations Tienanmen square, or it will be shortly, and I worry to some extent this may be the catalyst for U.S. involvement militarily. I am personally anti-war and discourage any involvement in foreign entanglements however, I also am an avid fan of the Balkanization of China. There are resources and investment opportunities throughout many regions of China that are currently blocked off for growth by the Chinese government. the CCP restricts business investment to their eastern coastline and rural and outlying regions who face human rights violations daily receive little support from China, the west or even other nations regionally. The Hong Kong protests if successful could spark other regions like Tibet and Xinjiang to also push for independence. Hong Kong is also extremely public which means China needs to tread carefully. it is a very interesting situation that we all should be watching as it unfolds.